नागमणि [Nagmani]

by Amrita Pritam

121 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

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

[Saurabh Sharma · Rating 5 out of 5]

A novel way ahead of its time. Like every other work by Amrita Pritam, this novel unfurls the deeper connections which we form in love; best was that she so meticulously destroyed the myth of "purity of body" and at the same time validated the nuance of preserving the soul and heart for "the one" we love. Amazing book.

[विकास 'अंजान' · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating - 3.5/5

[Amrendra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read as one of the three novels of 'Amrita Pritam - Chune Hue Upanyas'

[Erum Siddiqui · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best novel i ever read.. reading from last 20 yrs repeatedly and will keep on.

[Gaurav · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short masterpiece by Amrita Pritam is not something you will find being touted as his best work but I think it is one of her best. It's not a typical story, Naagmani is a feeling , a feeling of love, madness, egos, mindset's. The book will take you through simple yet profound dialogues and with equal ease leave you stunned at times. It is layered and something that I will be re-reading every year. A light reading of this book might feel absurd but I would request the reader to peel its layers and read it with a certain "Thehraav"

[Amit Kumar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Its so deep, its not about the characters its about fighting with individual emotions. never thought back in that time we had these types of novels.
The situation is brilliantly complex it is in such a way completely hard to understand who is wrong and who is right. Amazing book. Quick read

[Hiren Bharwad · Rating 4 out of 5]

પરલોકવાસી બે પ્રેમી હૈયાની કશ્મકશની આ રોમાંચક કથા મુગ્ધ કરી દે છે.
એક વાક્ય બહુ ગમ્યું.
' It is so sacred that it may be too fragile to talk about; once it has left one's heart, it may evaporate !

[राम कृष्ण · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very nice and pleasant