Popati Hiranandani


Popati Hiranandani was a prominent Sindhi language writer who authored more than sixty books during her life. She was an essayist, fiction writer, poetess, educationist, feminist and social activist. She made significant contributions to Sindhi language literature before and after the partition of India. She won several awards including the Sahitya Akademi Award, Woman of the Year Award and the Gaurav Puraskar among others.

Biography

She was born on 17th September 1924 in a Hindu Amil family of Hyderabad Sindh. Her father Ramchand Hiranandani was a forest officer. She was the second eldest of seven children, and lost her father at the age of ten. She studied at Kundan Mal High School and Miran College Hyderabad. In order to support her family, she joined as a music teacher at Kundan Mal High School and Pigit Girls School Hyderabad, while continuing her studies simultaneously. After graduating from Banaras Hindu University in 1943 with a distinction in Sanskrit, she began teaching languages and literature. She retired as Chairperson of Sindhi Department of Kichinchand Chellaram College Bombay. During the last years of her service at this college, she also taught and supervised postgraduate students of the Bombay University.
In 1970, she was nominated as a member of a panel of advisors of the Audition Committee of All India Radio Bombay. In the same year, she was nominated as a member of the Advisory Board for Sindhi, Ministry of Education, Government of India. In 1972, she was selected as a member of Sahitya Academy's Advisory Board for Sindhi. In 1974, she served as Secretary of All India Sindhi Language and Literary Association. In 1977, she was honored to be a member of the selection committee for Dictionary of Scientific and technical terminology and 1979 as a member of the selection committee of Union Public Service Commission. In 1988, she was the convener of the Sahitya Academy's Advisory Board.
She visited many countries including England, France, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, and Spain.

Books

She authored more than 60 books which include short stories, novels, poems, Criticism, Essays, Autobiography and translations. An incomplete list of her books is given below in alphabetical order:
Following two books have been written on life and literary contributions of Popti Hiranandani:
Popati Hiranandai died on 16 December 2005.