Ram Sarup Ankhi

• Name — Ram Sarup Ankhi • Birth Name — Ram Sarup • Born — 28 August 1932 • Birthplace — Dhaula, Punjab Province, British India • Died — 14 February 2010 • Place of death — Barnala, Punjab, India • Known for — Partapi, Kothe Kharak Singh • Occupation — Writer, Novelist, Poet

Ankhi was born on 28 August 1932, in the village of Dhaula in Barnala district of Indian Punjab. After completing his education from Government Mohindra College, Patiala, Ankhi continued with his ancestral profession of farming. Later, he served as an English teacher in a government school, but wrote in Punjabi language. He died on 13 February 2010, and he was survived by his wife, three daughters and two sons. One daughter pre-deceased him Three of his wives died, and he later married a lady who spoke only broken Punjabi, leading everyone to conclude that his fourth wife was from outside Punjab, but from another Indian province.

He started his career as a poet but ended as fiction writer. There are 15 novels, eight-story-books and five poem collections to his credit. He mostly wrote about the village life of Punjab; about farmer suicide and indebtedness and drug addiction etc. His well-known works include Kothe Kharak Singh (1985), Partapi (1993), Dulle Di Dhab (2003), Salphas, Kanak Da Qatleam. Malhe Jharhian (1988) and Apni Mitti De Rukh (2004) are both autobiographies. The scene of most of his writings are a cluster of 50 villages in the Malwa region, from the districts of Mansa, Bathinda, Barnala, and Sangrur.