Sant Singh Sekhon
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Sant Singh Sekhon (1908–1997) was an Indian playwright and fiction writer associated with
Punjabi literature Punjabi literature, specifically literary works written in the Punjabi language, is characteristic of the historical Punjab of present-day Pakistan and India and the Punjabi diaspora. The Punjabi language is written in several scripts, of which th ...
. He is part of the generation of Indian authors who mark the transition of India into an
independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...
nation, scarred by the tragedies of partition.


Life

Sekhon was born in
Lyallpur Faisalabad, formerly known as Lyallpur, is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, second-largest city and primary List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, industrial center of the Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan ...
,
Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...
,
British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...
(present-day Pakistan), and grew up in his father's village in Dakha, near
Ludhiana Ludhiana () is the most populous Cities in India, city in the Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab.164.100.161.224 http://164.100.161.224 › filesPDF Ludhiana State: Punjab Business & Industrial Centre, Tier 2 1 ... The city has an estima ...
. His father was an idealist but introverted while his mother was more practical and religious, practicing
Sikh Sikhs (singular Sikh: or ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ''Si ...
''Singh Sabha''. There was considerable marital discord in the family which colours many of his stories. Sekhon eventually graduated with master's degrees in Economics and also in English. In the 1930s, he started writing in English, and after some initial publications including some in shared publications with W.H. Auden and
Stephen Spender Sir Stephen Harold Spender (28 February 1909 – 16 July 1995) was an English poet, novelist and essayist whose work concentrated on themes of social injustice and the class struggle. He was appointed U.S. Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry ...
. But given the greater audience in Punjabi, he shifted to Punjabi, and initially made a mark as a playwright. Along with many South-Asian littérateurs of his generation (
Faiz Ahmed Faiz Chaudhry Faiz Ahmad Faiz (13 February 1911 – 20 November 1984) was a Pakistani poet and author of Punjabi and Urdu literature. Faiz was one of the most celebrated, popular, and influential Urdu writers of his time, and his works and ideas r ...
,
Harivansh Rai Bachchan Harivansh Rai Bachchan (; 27 November 1907 18 January 2003) was an Indian poet and writer of the Nayi Kavita literary movement (romantic upsurge) of early 20th century Hindi literature. He was also a poet of the Hindi Kavi Sammelan. He is be ...
, Buddhadev Bose), he taught English but wrote in an Indian language.


Literary career

His first collection of one-act plays, ''Chhe Ghar'' (Six homes, 1941) was a critical success, particularly the play ''Bhavi'', which unfolds a tragic cross-relationship between a king and his son with a daughter-mother. Like his contemporary
Mulk Raj Anand Mulk Raj Anand (12 December 1905 – 28 September 2004) was an Indian writer in the English language, recognised for his depiction of the lives of the poorer class in the traditional Indian society. One of the pioneers of Indo-Anglian fiction, ...
, Sekhon was influenced by the Progressive Writers' Movement. He was a strong believer in
Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...
, and also joined the
Communist party of India The Communist Party of India (CPI) is a political party in India. The CPI considers the Foundation of the Communist Party of India, December 26, 1925 Cawnpore (Kanpur) conference as its foundation date. Between 1946 and 1951, the CPI led m ...
, though he let his membership lapse. He contested elections four times, thrice for the Punjab legislature and once for Parliament, but never won. Much of his writing has a strong social activism message, but the questions and dilemmas facing the characters are subtly philosophical, and his plays did not see much success on stage. Subsequently, he also wrote a good bit of poetry, and also several full-length plays, mostly featuring modern themes, particularly man-woman relationships. The historical play ''Waris'' is both a love-story with the poet Waris Shah, set against the rise of Sikh power. The more contemporary ''Mittarpiara'' (beloved friend), develops on the notion of a group of Sikhs and other Indians developing a friendship with
Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...
to liberate India from the British. In total, his drama corpus runs into ten full-length plays and four one-act play collections. He also wrote five short story collections, of which ''Tija Pahar'' was very well received. Many of his stories have been translated into several languages. In addition, he also wrote two novels and five books of literary criticism, as well as several histories and translations. His scholarly works include ''Sahityarth'', a theory of literature, and the pioneering work, ''Punjabi boli da itihas'' (History of the Punjabi language). In 1972, he won the
Sahitya Akademi Award The Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honour in India, which the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the 22 languages of the ...
for ''Mittarpiara''. He was also awarded the
Padma Shri The Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī'', lit. 'Lotus Honour'), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. In ...
, one of India's highest civilian awards, in 1987. He was a Professor of Eminence at the Punjabi University in Patiala; after his death, a chair was set up at the university in his name.


Works

One-act plays: * ''Chhe Ghar'' (Six Homes, 1941): one-act plays - popular in Punjabi theatre. * ''Tapia Kyon Khapia'' (Why the Ascetic Got Confused, 1950), * ''Natsunehe'' (Dramatic Messages, 1954) * ''Sundrepad'' (Beautiful Feet, 1956) * ''Wiaholi'' (Bride) : verse play * ''Baba bohar'' (Old Oak) : verse play Full-length plays: * ''Kalakar'' (Artist, 1945) * ''Nal-Damayanti'' (Nala and Damayanti myth, 1960) * ''Narki'' (Denizens of Hell, 1953) riginally written as _Eve at Bay_ in English Historical plays (theme of Sikh history): * ''Moian Sar Na Kai'' (The Dead Knew It Not, 1954) * ''Bera Bandh Na Sakio'' (Fleet They Could Not Harness, 1954) * ''Waris'' (Inheritors, 1955) * ''Banda Bahadur'' (1985) * ''Vada Ghalughara'' (Holocaust 1986) * ''Mittarpiara'' (Beloved Friend, 1971) Novels * ''Lahu Mitti'' (Blood and Earth).


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sekhon, Sant Singh Indian male dramatists and playwrights Punjabi-language writers 1997 deaths 20th-century Indian dramatists and playwrights Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Punjabi 1908 births Indian male short story writers 20th-century Indian short story writers Dramatists and playwrights from Punjab, India 20th-century Indian male writers