GOPAL SINGH (1917-1990)

GOPAL SINGH Gopal Singh (1917-1990), an eminent punjabi poet, journalist and critic, was born to Bhai Atmaram Singh in Amritsar in 1917 who belonged to a respectable Sikh family, well established in trade. He did his M.A. (English) from Khalsa College, Amritsar and for some time edited the weekly magazine Mauji of S.S. Charan Singh \’Shahid\’ after his death. While working as a lecturer in D.A.V. and Khalsa Colleges at Rawalpindi, he began to take interest in politics and founded an English weekly paper Liberator.

After partition he also worked for nearly a year and a half as editor in the Publication Bureau of the Punjab University (then named as East Punjab University) stationed at Solan, Shimla. He got his Ph.D. degree in 1943 from Punjab University, Lahore for his thesis New Trends in Punjabi Literature. He was nominated to the Rajya Sabha and was then sent as Ambassador to Bulgaria in 1970. At present he is the Lt. Governor ofGoa, Daman and Dieu. He was honoured by the Punjab Government in 1961 as an outstanding writer of Punjabi. His pen name is \’Dardi\’.

Basically a poet and a critic, he also wrote biographies of Guru Gobind Singh and Guru Nanak in 1966 and 1969 respectively. His monumental work is the translation of Sri Guru Granth Sahib into English published in two volumes. His other prominent works are: Romantic Punjabi kavi (1933), Jhanan (poetry, 1943), Punjabi sahit da itihas (1947), Hanire sawire (poetry, 1949), Sahit diparakh (1950) and Sri Guru Sahib di sahitak visheshta (1958) in the field of literary criticism.

References :

1. Amarjit Singh, Punjabi sahit da itihas—Qissa kal, Amritsar, 1981.
2. Kohli, S.S., Punjabi Sahit da Itihas, Ludhiana, 1955.
3. Mohan Singh, A History of Punjabi Literature, Amritsar, 1956.
4. Ramdev, Jaginder Singh (ed.), Punjabi Likhari Kosh, Jullundur, 1964.
5. Sekhon, S.S. .and K.S. Duggal, A History of Punjabi Literature, Delhi, 1992.