Padma Shri Prof. Ram Panjwani

Sindh have the fame of being the land of Saints, Darvesh, fakirs, poets and personalities larger than life. The day of 20th November 1911 is written with the golden ink in the history of Sindh and Sindhis as on this day the great poet, singer, Bhagat and educationist Prof. Ram Panjwani was born at Larkana Sindh, in the family of Diwan Prataprai Panjwani, the famous zamindar family of the area. As the family was closely related with culture of the Sindh so this family atmosphere helped the kid to develop an attitude for the specific vision towards literature and culture of Sindh. Being part of zamindar family soon he learned the importance of heritage so become more conscious for preserving rich heritage and spiritual ideology of Sindh and Sindhi community.
Prof. Ram Panjwani was a great writer and true worshiper of Sindhi literature and culture. Beside the mother tongue, Persian, Hindi, English, Urdu and Punjabi were the other languages well known to him. He Joined D. J. Sindh college Karachi as a teacher after completing his B. A. from Bombay University in the year 1934.
After the partition family shifted to Bombay [Mumbai] and he joined Jai Hind college as the Head of sindhi department. soon he joined Bombay [Mumbai] university as the first reader and went on become Head of sindhi department [from 15-06-1974 to 19-11-1976].
He was a singer of the calibre of Bhagat Kanwar ram, His melodious voice was having such a mesmerizing effect that often the audiences forget even about the self. He will also be remembered for providing new destinations to Sindhi Folk and music as during the Bhagat, he was used to use “Mataki” earthen pot for creating music. He was master of storytelling during his sessions of Bhagat, writer is fortunate to witness this great artist during his one of the most famous Bhagat session “Kutchh Gujari Kutchh Baki, Baki Bhi Gujar Jai, Rang Mein Bhang Na Pai, Dholan Rang Mein Bhang Na Pai. [some part we had spent, some part is remaining, remaining will also be spent, don’t break the tempo, dear don’t break the tempo].
His journey as the writer was started in the year 1939 with the publication of his first novel “Padma”. Some of his other writings which made his popular includes “Qaidy, Sharmila, Asanjo Ghar, Ahe Na ahe, Shall Dhiaru Na Jaman”.
In the year 1964 his creation “Anokha Azmda” brought prestigious “Sahitya Academy award” for him. His dedication towards the sindhi language was reflecting from his untiring efforts for the inclusion of Sindhi language in the eighth schedule of the Indian constitution.
For the preservation and propagation of Sindhi culture and folk he established “Sita Sindhu Bhavan” at Mumbai and directed many plays including Moomal Rano and Umar Marvi written by legendry and great writer of Sindh Shah Abdul Latif and are part of “Shah-Jo-Risalo. Prof. Ram Panjwani also acted in few Sindhi films like “Jhulelal, Ladlee, Hojmalo” and “Shall Dhiaru Na Jaman” based on his own novel with same title. His countless services to Sindhi community and ultimately to people of India were recognized by Government of India and in the year 1981 he was honored with “Padma Shri” a national civilian award of India. He left this physical world in the year 1987 on the last day of economic year [31-03-1987].