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Punjabi Poems of Amrita Pritam in Gurmukhi, Hindi, Roman and English
- GenresPoetryIndian Literature
159 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
49 people are currently reading
1408 people want to read
About the author
Amrita Pritam
371 books471 followersAmrita Pritam (Punjabi: ਅਮ੍ਰਿਤਾ ਪ੍ਰੀਤਮ, امرتا پریتم ) was considered the first prominent woman Punjabi poet, novelist, and essayist. She was the leading 20th-century poet of the Punjabi language, who is equally loved on both the sides of the India-Pakistan border. With a career spanning over six decades, she produced over 100 books, of poetry, fiction, biographies, essays, a collection of Punjabi folk songs and an autobiography that were translated into several Indian and foreign languages.
She is most remembered for her poignant poem, Aj Aakhaan Waris Shah Nu (Today I invoke Waris Shah - "Ode to Waris Shah"), an elegy to the 18th-century Punjabi poet in which she expressed her anguish over massacres during the partition of India in 1947. As a novelist, her most noted work was Pinjar (The Skeleton) (1950), in which she created her memorable character, Puro and depicted loss of humanity and ultimate surrender to existential fate. The novel was made into an award-winning eponymous film in 2003.
When British India was partitioned into the independent states of India and Pakistan in 1947, she migrated from Lahore to India, though she remained equally popular in Pakistan throughout her life, as compared to her contemporaries like Mohan Singh and Shiv Kumar Batalvi.
Known as the most important voice for the women in Punjabi literature, in 1956, she became the first woman to win the Sahitya Akademi Award for her magnum opus, a long poem, Sunehe (Messages). She received the Bhartiya Jnanpith, one of India's highest literary awards in 1982 for Kagaz Te Canvas (The Paper and the Canvas). The Padma Shri came her way in 1969 and finally, Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian award in 2004, and in the same year she was honoured with India's highest literary award, given by the Sahitya Akademi (India's Academy of Letters), the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship given to the "immortals of literature" for lifetime achievement.
She is most remembered for her poignant poem, Aj Aakhaan Waris Shah Nu (Today I invoke Waris Shah - "Ode to Waris Shah"), an elegy to the 18th-century Punjabi poet in which she expressed her anguish over massacres during the partition of India in 1947. As a novelist, her most noted work was Pinjar (The Skeleton) (1950), in which she created her memorable character, Puro and depicted loss of humanity and ultimate surrender to existential fate. The novel was made into an award-winning eponymous film in 2003.
When British India was partitioned into the independent states of India and Pakistan in 1947, she migrated from Lahore to India, though she remained equally popular in Pakistan throughout her life, as compared to her contemporaries like Mohan Singh and Shiv Kumar Batalvi.
Known as the most important voice for the women in Punjabi literature, in 1956, she became the first woman to win the Sahitya Akademi Award for her magnum opus, a long poem, Sunehe (Messages). She received the Bhartiya Jnanpith, one of India's highest literary awards in 1982 for Kagaz Te Canvas (The Paper and the Canvas). The Padma Shri came her way in 1969 and finally, Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian award in 2004, and in the same year she was honoured with India's highest literary award, given by the Sahitya Akademi (India's Academy of Letters), the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship given to the "immortals of literature" for lifetime achievement.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
July 17, 2013
I searched for this book since I read a review on this book by great Khuswant Singh.....recently, one of my batchmates, who teaches in PenSU, brought me a copy from there....It's a great collection of poems.....as a non-Hindi, non-Gurmukhi reader I had to depend upon the English translation and they are just amazing....so rich in philosophic contents and the way she presented such deeper zones of soul....waves of emotion...dreams....deception....love and betrayal.....hope and despair....are all so inspiring to a life through.....I can imagine how powerful they are in original language by reading the English version....I would recommend readers to find time...it is worth spending over this marvelous book
January 20, 2021
This was on my wishlist since long! Thanks to my thoughtful cousin who gifted me this amazing read.
Nothing hits your heart like punjabi! And that's the reason I wanted to read it in original. This book was a great choice because my punjabi vocab is poor the english translation helped me understand the meaning and the hindi transliteration helped me read it and then going back to reading the original was such an involving experience.
Must read for all Amrita Pritam and punjabi lovers!
Nothing hits your heart like punjabi! And that's the reason I wanted to read it in original. This book was a great choice because my punjabi vocab is poor the english translation helped me understand the meaning and the hindi transliteration helped me read it and then going back to reading the original was such an involving experience.
Must read for all Amrita Pritam and punjabi lovers!
Read
April 22, 2014Intense and capturing ....you will not leave an opportunity to grab any book of Amritaji once you read her poems...!
August 8, 2017
Yes, she was a progressive writer and yes, some of her poems are exceptional.
The Hindi translations in the book are pathetic, since I can read Gurmukhi (very slow though) I thought reading in Hindi will make it quicker but then that's the problem, Hindi translator did not do a good job.
I would recommend, read the ones written in Gurmukhi. A lot is lost in translation.
The Hindi translations in the book are pathetic, since I can read Gurmukhi (very slow though) I thought reading in Hindi will make it quicker but then that's the problem, Hindi translator did not do a good job.
I would recommend, read the ones written in Gurmukhi. A lot is lost in translation.
Read
April 2, 2021I felt I was skimming the poems because the translations seemed weak somehow. I got a sense of the power that lies beneath but the typos added to the sense of weak translation. I speak Punjabi but can't read/write it...maybe time to fix that so I can read the poetry in it's original language.
Want to read
October 8, 2013i like Punjabi poems of Amrita Pritam
Want to read
January 31, 2016hope so i can read this easily .
May 8, 2018
book is good
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 19, 2019
Sometimes a hand reaches out from history and reminds you that you exist, that you matter. Your stories matter. One of the most beautiful gifts the world could have given me.
Read
January 16, 2026Conspiracy of silence
The night is drowsy
And someone has broken into the breast
To steal his dreams, the theft of dreams, is the greatest disaster
The tracks of the thieves are stamped on every street, of every city, of every country..
But no eye beholds them, no-one is shocked.
At times only a solitary poem howls like a dog, tied to a chain.
My Address
Today I effaced the number of my house and
The name of the street at the top of the street;
I removed the signposts of all the roads;
Even so if you must find where I am
You must knock at the door
Of every house in every street, city and country.
This is both a curse and a benediction
Wherever you come across a liberated soul
You can take it to be my home.
First Creation
I was a formless I...
The I, by its perception transformed itself into the waters.
And you, by your perception erupted into a flame of fire
and the flare of the fire floated over the waters.
But that's a tale of prehistoric times.
That was the thirst of the earthly I.
I asked my thirst from the river that was you, that was the vivid dream of an earthly I, That discovered you among the tangled woods.
It was the fragrance of our bodies, yours and mine, and that is truth about creation.
The creation of the universe came much later.
The night is drowsy
And someone has broken into the breast
To steal his dreams, the theft of dreams, is the greatest disaster
The tracks of the thieves are stamped on every street, of every city, of every country..
But no eye beholds them, no-one is shocked.
At times only a solitary poem howls like a dog, tied to a chain.
My Address
Today I effaced the number of my house and
The name of the street at the top of the street;
I removed the signposts of all the roads;
Even so if you must find where I am
You must knock at the door
Of every house in every street, city and country.
This is both a curse and a benediction
Wherever you come across a liberated soul
You can take it to be my home.
First Creation
I was a formless I...
The I, by its perception transformed itself into the waters.
And you, by your perception erupted into a flame of fire
and the flare of the fire floated over the waters.
But that's a tale of prehistoric times.
That was the thirst of the earthly I.
I asked my thirst from the river that was you, that was the vivid dream of an earthly I, That discovered you among the tangled woods.
It was the fragrance of our bodies, yours and mine, and that is truth about creation.
The creation of the universe came much later.
June 29, 2021
The experience has been surreal..
It’s funny how I ran into this book; I was just glossing over the poetry section at my local bookstore when I saw this collection. I’m so grateful that the serendipitous discovery took place.
The book is a collection of poems printed in 4 scripts. My Punjabi is only as good as someone who listens to Punjabi songs in Bollywood. The English translations were helpful, although they can use a round of revision by an Editor.
The poems have a myriad of themes- from love, desire, and sensuality, to institutions of marriage, social inequality, and call for international brotherhood. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Amrita was a revolutionary feminist at heart! Her poetry uses imagery that’s both sublime and crass.. and she doesn’t pull any punches.
By the time I finished the volume, I was left with lamentations for I only wanted more!
Highly recommended to all.
It’s funny how I ran into this book; I was just glossing over the poetry section at my local bookstore when I saw this collection. I’m so grateful that the serendipitous discovery took place.
The book is a collection of poems printed in 4 scripts. My Punjabi is only as good as someone who listens to Punjabi songs in Bollywood. The English translations were helpful, although they can use a round of revision by an Editor.
The poems have a myriad of themes- from love, desire, and sensuality, to institutions of marriage, social inequality, and call for international brotherhood. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Amrita was a revolutionary feminist at heart! Her poetry uses imagery that’s both sublime and crass.. and she doesn’t pull any punches.
By the time I finished the volume, I was left with lamentations for I only wanted more!
Highly recommended to all.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 20, 2025
someday I will learn Punjabi & urdu just for the rich poetry
beautiful revolutionary writing!
beautiful revolutionary writing!
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews