Balwant Gargi

Balwant Gargi studied at Government College University and Forman Christian College. The recorded working language is Punjabi, Hindi and English. The field of work recorded is creative and professional writing, prose and short story. Employment is recorded with Harvard University, University of Washington and Vassar College. Works named in the authority record are Rangmanch. Distinctions recorded are Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, Sahitya Akademi Award and Padma Shri in literature and education.

• Name — Balwant Gargi • Born — 4 December 1916 • Birthplace — Sehna, Barnala (Punjab) • Died — 21 April 2003 • Place of death — Mumbai, India • Occupation — Writer, Theatre Director • Awards — Sahitya Akademi Award (1962) Padma Shri (1972) Sangeet Natan Akademi Award (1998)

On 4 December 1916, in Canal House in Sehna, Barnala (Punjab), Balwant Gargi was born in a house near the Sirhind Canal, famous for being the spot where Razia Sultana was imprisoned. The second son in the family of Shiv Chand Garg, a head clerk in the Irrigation Department, he would go on create history in the world of Indian and Punjabi literature. Gargi studied at Government College Lahore, and completed his M.A.(English) and M.A.(Political Science) from FC College in Lahore. He also studied theatre with Norah Richards at her school in Kangra Valley.

Gargi wrote several plays, including Loha Kutt, Kesro, Kanak Di Balli, Sohni Mahiwal, Sultan Razia, Soukan, Mirza Sahiba and Dhooni di Agg and short stories Mircha Wala Sadh, Pattan di Berhi and Kuari Disi. His plays were translated into 12 languages, and have been performed around the world, including Moscow, London, New Delhi and around the United States. Gargi's first play, Loha kutt (English: Blacksmith) in 1944 became controversial for its stark picture of the Punjab countryside. At that juncture, he focused on poverty, illiteracy, ignorance, and superstition marking rural life, which continued in Saelpathar (English: Petrified Stone) in 1949, Navan mudh (English: New Beginning) in 1950, and Ghugi (English: Dove) in 1950. In the 1950 edition of Loha kutt, he resorted to drawing poetic and dramatic elements from J. M. Synge and Garcia Lorca. In subsequent works like Kanak di balli (English: Stalk of Wheat) in 1968 and Dhuni di agg (English: Fire in the Furnace) in 1977, these became his chief vehicles. For all the specificity of native locale, the former deflected as much towards Lorca's Blood Wedding as the latter reminded one of Yerma. In Mirza-Sahiban in 1976, customs and conventions came in for bitter censure. Gradually, Gargi's preoccupation with sex, violence, and death became almost an obsession. Antonin Artaud`s theatre of cruelty grew into his categorical imperative. This required his dramaturgy to proceed through mythopoeia, which turns explicit in his last plays. • Illustration — Balwant Gargi. New Delhi. 1992 In Saunkan (English: Rival Women) in 1979, the paradigm of Yama-Yami, the Hindu god of death and his twin sister, becomes an occasion to glorify sexual union. Altogether dispensing with socio-political discourse, he turned to his new theme with a vengeance in Abhisarka (English: Lover) in 1990. Gargi's penchant for the unexpected grew all-powerful. For subject matter Gargi moved freely over social milieu, mythology, history, and folklore. For form and technique he relied as much upon Sanskrit classics as on Lorca's poetic drama, Brecht's epic theatre, or Artaud's theatre of cruelty. In the composition and performance of his dozen full-length plays and five collections of one-act drama, he traveled from the realistic to the mythopoeic mode.

Balwant Gargi is recorded as having received Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, Sahitya Akademi Award and Padma Shri in literature and education.