Shiv Kumar Batalvi

  I am Harkaran Singh, a student of Business Economics at University of Delhi. This blog from me is a tribute or a Thank You Note to one of the greatest poets our mother tongue Punjabi ever had. Shiv Kumar Batalvi, holds a special place in the world of literature. Also known as the John Keats of Punjabi Poetry, Shiv, whom I often consider my imaginary friend is known for his contemporary poetry, melodious voice, fame he earned at a very young age and realisation of dying too early. The reason that the literary audience still loves him is that the literature he produced in the 1960s still seems relatable, understandable, and fresh. This post is like an Index to this blog. Shiv Kumar Batalvi was born in Pind Lohtian (Pakistan), and after partition his family moved to India. To read about his childhood in Pakistan and his village life visit this post: Village Life and Shiv's Childhood . The next chapter of his story is the beginning of his life in India and how he got into Poetry and...

  Parvinder Singh from B.A. Kwantlen Polytechnic University performed a thesis on ‘The heroine in modern Punjabi literature and the politics of desire’, talking about the version of Loona contributed by Shiv Kumar Batalvi. The link for the report is - https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/24/items/1.0073494 In one of the journals published by Sahitya Academi, Akshaya Kumar performed a research on the tale of Bhagat Pooran titled, ‘ From Spiritual to Subaltern: Shifting Semantics of "Kissa Pooran Bhagat'' in Modern Punjabi Literature’. Kumar mentions Shiv’s version of Loona in the study too. The link for the thesis is - https://www.jstor.org/stable/23341396 Gurdial Singh, a student at Department of Punjabi, Punjab University performed a research on Shiv Kumar Batalvi’s work. The thesis is done in Punjabi language. Singh talks about the culture of Mushairas and contribution of Shiv Kumar Batalvi in the success of Mushairas of modern poets. The thesis also ...

  The most common term or phrase his fans use to describe him is Birha Da Sultaan (The King of Sadness). In this post of the Blog, we will talk about the stories associated with the name of Shiv Kumar and the opinions of fellow poets and his friends. Once Shiv Kumar Batalvi mentioned that he was sitting with Amrita Pritam (Punjabi Poetess) and Achla Devi (Bollywood Actor), when he started singing his poems in front of them they both got emotional and he could see tears in their eyes. To break the sadness in the environment Shiv stopped his singing in between. When Shiv released his first anthology Peeran Da Paraga (The Scarf-full of Sorrows) in 1960, Amrita Pritam was so touched with his work that she wrote a letter to Shiv, a copy of which can be seen in the photograph below. Amrita blessed him for the pain in his poems writing, “ May the Pain in your Poems live Forever. I don’t know whether your Pain is a Blessing or a Curse ”. Bhushan Dhianpuri, a fellow poet, who was in Chandig...

  Born on 23rd July 1936 in Bara Pind Lohtian (Shakargarh tehsil) Punjab, which is now a part of Pakistan, Shiv Kumar used to talk a lot about his childhood days. The lands of Pind Lohtian used to be a part of Gurdaspur before the Partition of Indian Territories.  Being close to the mountains of Jammu & Kashmir, the weather of the village was quite cooler compared to other villages of Punjab. Shiv’s life before partition was really peaceful, his village has around 500 families with majority of Hindus. Both Hindus & Muslims used to drink water from the same wells, and their kids also played together. Religious and seasonal festivals were given importance by the villagers, and Pind Lohtian was also known for his political stability and social law and order. Every dispute was settled within the village through Panchayats, no major crimes were reported and police never came to the village. The village was named Lohtian because merchants there used to bring Loha (Iron) from...

  The play of Loona makes Shiv Kumar Batalvi a contemporary poet. The book Loona was published in 1965, which helped Shiv to touch a new peak of success. He was awarded the Sahitya Academy Award for this book, and till date he is known to be the youngest recipient of this award. He was 28 years old when he received the award. Loona embraced the changes taking place in modern Punjabi literature.  The Tale of Loona was actually known as the Folk Tale of Bhagat Pooran. Loona had sexual and emotional desires which were often tagged as ‘lust’. Raja (King) Salwaan was an old king of Sialkot. He was married to queen Ichhra and they had a son named Pooran. Accepting the suggestions of his astrologers, the king sent his son Pooran away from him for first 12 years of his life, as he can’t see his face during that period. In between this time, king Salvaan married another young lady named Loona. Loona was a beautiful girl from a small middle class family living in a village. After his is...

From 1968 to 1972 the four years of Chandigarh gave both fame and pain to Shiv. Wishing for some peace and to get a change in his life, Shiv was looking for a trip abroad, which was fulfilled by the invitation for a trip to England, from Dr. Gurpal Puri and Mrs Kailash Puri. When he reached England he realised that his work has the same popularity in the Punjabi Community of other lands too. His arrival was announced in the local newspapers of India with big headlines and photographs.  He had a busy time in England too, many public and private shows were organized for him. The very first function after his arrival was organised by Dr. Gurpal Puri in Coventry (a city in England). Kuldip Takhar, Santokh SinghSantokh and Tarsem Piurewal, the famous poets of that time, also attended the event. Another big public event was organised in Rochester for his honour. It was said that S. Sobha Singh flew to England at his own expense, especially to attend events of Shiv Kumar Batalvi. Events o...

  After leaving S.N. College, Shiv Kumar realised that writing and composing poems is his actual passion, and from that time he constantly gave importance to his artistic desires. During the decade of 1960, Shiv explored literature of four different languages- Punjabi, Urdu, Hindi and English. Shiv resigned his job in the Revenue Department of Patwari office in  1961 and remained unemployed till 1966, and successfully established himself as a poet. Shiv never asked for any financial help from his family during this period, he survived and managed his financial needs through royalty from his works. His bohemian lifestyle was the reason he always had differences with his father. Most of the days in the first five years of this decade, Shiv used to stay at his friends’ places.    In the first five years of this decade, Shiv Kumar published five of his anthologies; Peeran da Paraga (The Scarf-full of Sorrows) (1960), Lajwanti (Touch Me Not) (1961), Atte Dian Chirian (...

Shiv Kumar Batalvi moved to Chandigarh with many hopes and expectations of a better life, but four years of his life in this city gave him a lot of disappointments. While his stay in Chandigarh, Shiv was at peak of his success, he had fame, recognition and respect of the literary audiences, which every artist aims to achieve. Shiv was least interested in his job at the State Bank of India. There he was given the charge of books lying around the bank, for which Shiv simply kept a register on which one can make an entry and take a book of his wish available there. Later he was shifter to the work of Public Relations, but his attitude towards the work remained same. Shiv Kumar used to live in a house at Sector 21 of Chandigarh. It is said that he spent most of his Chandigarh days at the watch shop of Preetam Kanwal Singh, which was close to the liquor shops of Sector 22. It was a small booth type shop, where Shiv used to come in the morning and stay there till evening, sometimes he used t...

    (The Picture above is of Anusuya) The saying that there is always a woman behind every great man is true in Shiv Kumar's case too. In a book titled 'Shiv Kumar Batalvi' by Sa Soza, the author comments Shiv was basically a lover who understood female psyche to its core. He further wrote, "Shiv who wrote and died at the prime of his life, holds a special charm for the moon struck adolescents, surpasses, any mature or age-wised writer. He had his fingertips on the pulse of Cupidians". Shiv was a tall, smart and handsome man with a melodious voice, due to which he was already famous among females of his age. Even before his college days, he used to be in the company of a lot of females. Another great excerpt from Sa Soza’s book says, “Shiv’s poem bears ample testimony through his recurring allusions and references to his passion and weakness for some particular female. Though it all ended in separation or death and resulted in casting a dismal shadow of the pangs ...

After the partition, the Kumar family settled down in Darussalam Mohalla of Batala, which is now known as Prem Nagar. Shiv’s father always wanted to see his son getting the best possible education and building a respectable career ahead, but Shiv had his mind involved in Literature. After completing his matriculation in first division from Punjab University in 1953, following his father’s insistence, he got himself enrolled in F.sc. program at Baring Union Christian College of Batala. Although he spent 2 years there, he ended up getting dropped out for not appearing in the final examinations. Then he enrolled in R.D. College, Nabha, where he spent the next few months, but again left the college. Shiv finally got admission to another college named S.N. College, Qadian (a town in Batala) in arts subject, but dropped out again after spending a couple of years there. Because of never attempting the final examinations of any of these colleges, Shiv Kumar never got any degree qualification. ...