Renowned Hindi writer Krishna Sobti died in New Delhi on Friday, ABP News reported. She was 93.
Sobti, best known for her 1966 novel Mitro Marjani, won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1980 for her novel Zindaginama. Some of her other novels are Daar Se Bichhuri, Surajmukhi Andhere Ke and Yaaron Ke Yaar.
She filed a suit against novelist Amrita Pritam in 1984 for publishing a book titled Hardatt Ka Zindaginama. Sobti claimed that Pritam had violated copyright laws by using a title similar to her book. The suit was decided in her favour in 2011, six years after Pritam’s death.
Sobti also won the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship, the highest award given by the Akademi, in 1996. The writer was honoured with the Jnanpith Award in 2017 for her contribution to Indian literature.
“The loss of Krishna Sobti is an irreparable one for Indian literature,” said writer Amitabha Bagchi. “Krishna Sobti’s love for the world and her love for language were inextricably linked. If there was one writer who showed us how to embrace this world with all its flaws, it was her. She was a sage of our time.”
Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury said Sobti was “a fine and bold chronicler of our times, a progressive and modern voice, who exemplified courage and freedom in her work and life”.
Writer Nilanjana Roy said Sobti’s books made her feel “that writing could open up endless horizons”. “I am glad I had a chance to meet her over the years, and say thank you to her for what she meant to me,” Roy added.
Sobti was born in Gujrat, now in Pakistan’s Punjab province, and grew up in Delhi and Shimla. Here is an excerpt from the translation of Zindaginama published in Scroll.in in 2016.
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