Nanak Singh

Nanak Singh (4 July 1897 – 28 December 1971), born Hans Raj, was a poet, songwriter and novelist in the Punjabi language. His writing in support of India's independence movement led the British to arrest him. He published several novels which won him literary acclaim.

Early life

He was born as Hans Raj on 4 July 1897 to a poor Punjabi Hindu family in the Jhelum district (now in Pakistan) and changed his name to Nanak Singh after adopting Sikhism. Due to poverty, he did not receive a formal education. He started his writing career at an early age, writing verses on historical events. Later, Nanak Singh started to write devotional songs, encouraging Sikhs to join the Gurdwara Reform Movement. In 1918, he published his first book Satguru Mehma^[1] containing hymns in praise of the Sikh Gurus, which is considered his first commercial success.

Role in freedom struggle

On 13 April 1919, British troops shot and killed 379 peaceful rally participants in what became known as the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre on Baisakhi (Punjabi New Year) day in Amritsar. Nanak Singh was present at the rally in which two of his friends were killed. This incident impelled Nanak Singh to write Khooni Visakhi – Bloody Baisakhi (Punjabi New Year), an epic poem that mocked and targeted colonial rule. The British Government became extremely concerned about his provocative writing and banned the book.

Nanak Singh also participated in India’s independence struggle by joining the Akali movement. He began editing Akali papers. This also was noticed by the British Government. Singh was charged with participation in unlawful political activities and was sent to Borstal Jail, Lahore. He described the savagery and oppression of the British on peaceful Sikhs during the Guru ka Bagh Morcha demonstration in his second book of poetry, Zakhmi Dil. It was published in January 1923 and was banned within two weeks.

Nanak Singh wrote novels while in jail. He wrote over 40,000 pages in long hand Gurmukhi (Punjabi) script. He was recognized with many awards, including Punjab's highest literary award in 1960. His great historical novel, Ik Mian Do Talwaran (One Sheath and Two Swords, 1959), won him India’s highest literary honour, the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1962.

Prolific writer

He wrote the novel Pavitar Paapi in 1942. The novel became immensely popular and won him literary acclaim. It was translated into Hindi and several other Indian languages and was adapted into a successful motion picture (Pavitra Paapi) in 1968 by his ardent admirer, Balraj Sahani. Currently, the novel is in its 28th reprint in Punjabi. His grandson, Navdeep Singh Suri, translated the book into English (Saintly Sinner).^[2]

Quoting the Tribune, "Nanak Singh was the best selling novelist in India for thirty to forty years. He wrote over 50 books including novels and collection of short stories. He made significant contributions to various literary genres. For him character was the determination of incident and incident the illustration of character. His greatest contribution to Punjabi fiction is its secularisation. He depicted excerpts from contemporary life, cloaked with a veil of romantic idealism."

In his novel Chitta Lahu (White Blood), Nanak Singh writes, "It seems to imply that in the lifeblood of our society, red corpuscles have disappeared." In 2011, Nanak Singh's grandson, Dilraj Singh Suri, translated Chitta Lahu into English (titled White Blood). Natasha Tolstoy, granddaughter of novelist Leo Tolstoy, translated Nanak Singh's novel Chitta Lahu into Russian. She visited Nanak Singh in Amritsar to present the first copy of the translated novel to him.^[3]

Bibliography

Legacy

His centenary was celebrated in 1997. In Singh's honour, India’s Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral released a postal stamp in 1998.^[4]

References