Shadows of Words: An Autobiography

by Amrita Pritam

This is an autobiography of Amrita Pritam. Not only does it capture her entire lifespan in its fold, but its warp and weft entails an entirely novel depiction on a spiritual plane. Viewed from various angles, it happens to be a distinctly adventurous autobiography, which like a serialised photographic frame keeps enhancing those images.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction

145 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Amrita 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.

Reviews

[Gorab · Rating 4 out of 5]

कहने को ये रसीदी टिकट के बाद आत्मकथा क्रमांक 2 है, मगर इसकी ख़ूबसूरती इसकी abstractness में है ।
एक कविता और कवि के रिश्ते को कुंती और कर्ण के रिश्ते से जिस प्रकार अलंकृत किया है - mindblowing!
अपनी जीवनी के मुख्य अंशों का कविताओं के ज़रिये विवरण किया गया है।
अगर आपको लिखने का शौक है, या फिर आप भाषा की शैली को समझना/सराहना चाहते हैं तो अवश्य पढ़ना चाहिए।

[Gurpreet Dhariwal · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish I knew her when she was alive and now reading her poems and books is like reliving her magic on the earth once again. I liked the fact that she was rebellious and brave in nature. She fought for her identity, and her words opened the doors for many others who were living in a myth to come and accept their own reality. Her boldness in writing about her personal life will always encourage me to speak my own truth. It feels like I knew her when she was alive, and even after her death I somehow feel she is watching on the earth from somewhere and embracing us.

[Sia · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s refreshing to read something like this. Golden age writing in advanced time. It was such a good change to read her writing.

[Pradeep Rajput · Rating 3 out of 5]

शब्दों में जादू सा कुछ है ....

जीवन के कुछ अध्यायों और अनुभवों को यहाँ साझा किया है, कुछ कविताएँ हैं ,कुछ शायरियाँ और बहुत कुछ जीवन का फ़लसफ़ा जो मन के भीतर ही भीतर जन्म लेता रहता है, पर कहने को शब्द नहीं मिलते। जीवन के उन छिपे हुए फलसफों को भीतर से निकालकर शब्द देने का प्रयत्न किया है।

भाषा शैली इतनी सुंदर है, कि एक बार पढ़ना आरम्भ करेंगे तो पढ़ते हुए उसमें खो जाएंगे।

[Asha Seth · Rating 4 out of 5]

अमृता प्रीतम की आत्मकथा एक अंतर्यात्रा - अक्षर जो कागजों पर उतरते रहे वे सबके सामने है- इसलिए मुझे और कुछ नहीं कहना पड़ता है। मैं सारी ज़िंदगी जो लिखती रही, सोचती रही, वह सब देवताओं को जगाने का प्रयत्न था, उन देवताओं को जो इंसान के भीतर सो रहें हैं।

[Bhagyashree]

Aksharo ke Saayein.....Worth reading and a must for those who wish to understand "Words" as Shadows...!

[Prabhat sharma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aksharon ke Saye (The Shadow of Words) by Amrita Pritam- First autobiography of the author Raseedi Ticket (Revenue Stamp) . This book is autobiographical. She is unapologetically bold and expressive about her writing and about her personal life. The book depicts all that a woman was not allowed or accepted to be at her times. She is a born rebel. In the present book, her life can be classified in three parts, first as a child who started composing poems and got them published at the age of 16. This is from 1936 to 1943 in Lahore Pakistan. Next part, is after Partition of India, August, 1947 onwards, her journey as a poet, novelist, travelogues to various countries, Member of Parliament, Mother of two children, third part is philosophy. Impression of work of Sufi saints, sadness of holocaust of partition, resonance of letters, books of Acharya Rajneesh. She mentions that shadow of death was all around her. Her brother died at the age of three. Her mother expired when she was about 11-year-old. The family shifted to Lahore from Gujranwala. Her father was a Punjabi Religious Preacher. He was a poet, a scholar of Braj Bhasha and editor of a magazine. He encouraged the author to compose poems. She was married at the age of 16 years. She worked at All India Radio Station Lahore, thus reading, writing and company of intellectuals was routine. Her mother was a school teacher. The author writes that her father was a scholar of Rishi history and Sikh history. He used to read the scriptures and prepare notes so that he could deliver a discourse at Sikh Samagams She read her father’s notes. Her father also read the notes for her. In Samagams, the people loved and respected her father. The author narrates one incident- Her father had prepared slides about Rishi and Sikh history. He purchased a projector. He organised a show of Sikh history on the wall of a Gurudwara. When the film was being shown on the screen, two Sikhs rose up, took out their arms and asked that the Sikh history show by stopped. Her father asked his assistants to close the show and bring all the paraphernalia to his house. While he took the author, who was a small child with him to his house. Next day when she questioned her father whether the persons who ordered to stop the show were Sikhs? Her father replied in the affirmative then commented that we should not it is useless to talk to fools. Second incident-Her mother was a school teacher. So, during school holidays, her mother travelled to her mother’s house by train. When the train stopped at a Railway Station, water was made available separately for Muslims and Hindus. Her mother did not reply to her question. Third, the author suffered the trauma of Partition of India and stayed at Dehradun. She was travelling from Dehradun to Delhi to join the All India Radio, New Delhi. Millions of dead and half dead bodies of men women and children. She wrote a poem addressing Waris Shah about his popular book Heer Ranjha. The author questions Waris Shah that when one girl of Punjab cried you penned her sadness and grief in your great book. Today, thousands of girls of Punjab are being killed, raped? Why do you not rise and open a new page of the book to bring out their grief before the people. The poem has been quoted in this book. The poem was published in a newspaper which was read on both sides of the border. She informs that people cut the poem from the newspaper, kept it in their pocket. They read the poem, wept and found relief from death of nears and dears. Contemporary Indian authors commented that in place of Waris Shah she could use the name of Guru Nanak or of Lenin. This is the irony of fate. The author narrates that the effect of Partition on her was such that poems about the grief of people came naturally. Second poem, Fate stepped on a horse in Pothar region of Punjab, he started to massacre people. Is there no strong man who can stop this? Third, General Shanawaz Khan of Subhas Chandra Bose’s India Army was in-charge of finding the kidnapped Indian girls and bring them back from Pakistan to India. These girls were pregnant. The author wrote a poem showing they were carrying the prize of freedom of the country. It is a class book for all to read.

[Tamanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first heard about her from my friend who is so into poetry and literature, the way he told me her stories including her events of life with sahir ji and imroj ji made me want to know more about her life and I am really glad I read this book and knew a little bit more about this legend who lived by her words and poetry. The way she described major events and selection of words be it urdu or hindi or even english is something only a real poet can do. Her writing made me fall in love with urdu language and made me feel connected more with my hindi language. Reading her stories makes me crave if I could see her live in some of her recitation programs and witness the great beauty in her words. Now a days, almost every stage is polluted with vulgarity and fake pleasure, it has just become a route to money, but she used to talk real sense, some of the serious burning topics that should be addressed by every coming generation. I wish we get more such writers who has potential to change the world like she did.

[Aadya Dubey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Did NOT expect so much Spirituality and Nationalism.

But Amrita Jee is Amrita jee and damn the intellect of her.
Under any kind of situation.
Her life certainly couldn't have been handled by most.

[Shivani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Legend

Made me cry, made me learn. It was a good one 😊 Will probably read her other books too... Soon ☺️

[Binge reading stories · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

पूर्वजन्म का साया 1&2 were best.
To express such deep emotions on paper for millions to read is scary & brave at the same times.