Punjabi Literature

Today is the death anniversary of Amrita Pritam, the poet laureate of Punjab. She belonged to a generation of Punjabi feminists who brought the questions of the autonomy of women in the public space. She and other feminists allied themselves with a certain kind of political class, a certain form of mysticism, which many today may not find palatable. That said, she and her colleagues such as Dalit Kaur Tiwana, and Ajit Kaur have been the flag bearers of an earlier wave of Punjabi feminism, which also had its blind spots.

A new generation of feminists has started building on the foundations raised by the earlier waves. Hopefully, those blind spots of caste and the economic system will also get to see the light of day and time. ਦਖ਼ਲਅੰਦਾਜ਼ੀ/ دخلئندازی (Interference/Intervention), a collection of reflective essays by Nikita Azad is a manifesto of that new wave. Nikita has shown what happens at home, in next-door public places, and in the domestic and local, intimate places is connected with a larger picture, where variables such as caste, patriarchy and neoliberal nationalist ruling class are at play. These variables regulate and influence the power and relationship dynamics at home. Concerns about the environment and climate change are raised alongside. To highlight that environmental justice is very much a part of the feminist worldview.

Wherever Amrita Pritam is, she should know that a new generation of feminists is building on the foundations, she and her comrades raised.

Lal Singh Dil’s autobiography ਦਾਸਤਾਨ / داستان is a collection of significant memories and events in the life of the Punjabi poet laureate. He was deeply inspired by the egalitarian conception of Islam and Communism (Maoism). He was jailed and thrashed for his worldview during the Naxalite uprising. While in jail, a policeman told him that if Dil’s party comes to power, the police will be at the service of his party, the police force being the slaves of those in power.

In his ‘underground time,’ he travelled extensively in Uttar Pradesh and worked as a casual labourer on the farms. He was amazed by the lack of casteism amongst Imams and Sayyids and other Muslims, a Dalit will drink water from the same glass as an Imam. This spirit of equality inspired him to convert to Islam. He talks about the influence of Islam on the religion of his ancestors and how Ali was an inspiring figure in those ancestral beliefs. His ancestors never converted to Islam and yet always lived in the shadow of the given religion. He converted to Islam and died after being an Imam for a very long time.

He wrote poems in Punjabi and later Urdu. He was the bard of the working classes and castes in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, who lived amongst them. He tried a lot to earn a better living, but never managed to move up the social ladder. His battle was for socialism and equality, where Brahminism is defeated and its symbols are destroyed like the past in Mao’s China. He wrote about the inequalities of caste and described the events of caste-based violence. He had difficult family ties, and a very violent childhood, not very different from average Punjabi children. He was not very easy for his friends too. Even then, they found ways to help him. Punjabi author Prem Prakash gathered all his scattered writings and notes about his life and impressions of the world and gave them some order to present it as a biography.