Popati
Hiranandani - the revolutionary woman
sindhi writer was born on 17-9-1924
at Karachi [ presently in Pakistan],
She was one among the seven children
of her parents. Though she belongs to
Amil family - a family with the
tradition of education - but we should
not forget that she was born in sindhi
community in which education levels
are always low.
She was only of 10 years
of age at the time of death of her
father hence she has not only saw the
troubles faced by her mother in
bringing up all the seven kids but
also she learned many lessons of
courage and patience from her mother
for unfavorable times . After the
death of husband her mother shifted to
Hyderabad. As the high education is
tradition of the Amil family so is the
high dowry demands is also a custom
among Amil families. The first
revolutionary step taken by Popati was
not to be married with a person
demanding dowry, even she forced the
boy family - with whom her engaged was
done by mother - to return back all
the goods given at the time of
engagement. She decided to remain
Single and help the mother. After the
partition the family shifted to Mumbai
India.
Popati Hiranandani was busy
with her teaching job and finding time
for her writings, she has a keen will
of upholding the dignity of woman in
the society. All his writings are
revolutionary in the sense that she
always tried to keep her will on the
top, Even in her biography she wrote"
woman is made to suffer ,not on
account of any vice in her character
but because of her virtues." She
dared to write about the Ishq [Love]
in the men dominant society in which
women is not even supposed to talk
about the topic.
She was felicitated with
the "Sahitya Academy Award" in
1982 for her biography "Muhanji Hayati
Ja Sona Roopa Varkka"[ Golden Silver
Pages Of My Life]. The citation of the
award goes like "This profound
engaging autobiography of hers gives a
remarkable insight into Sindhi
society, the social and political
upheaval following partition of India,
and the great tragedy overtaking the
country." She fall pray to deadly
disease cancer and suffered many pain
full years of illness. She died on
16-12-2005 in Mumbai. Some of
Her writings are :-
Ruha
sandi runch (1975) & Man Sindhini
(1988) (both poetry),
Pukar
(1953) & Zindagi-a-ji-photri (1993)
(both short stories),
Sailab
zindagi-a-jo (1980) (novel),
Sindhi
kalahain aju (1985) (essays),
Shah,
Sindhi-tahiziba jo ruh (1983)
(literary criticism),
Bhasha
shastra (1962) (linguistics),
Manik-Motilala (1993) (biography),
Muhinje
hayatia ja sona ropa varqa (1980)
(autobiography),
History
of Sindhi literature (in Sindhi).