Amrit Rai

Indian writer (1921–1996)

Amrit Rai (3 September 1921 – 14 August 1996) was an Indian writer, poet and biographer in both the Hindi and Urdu styles of the Hindustani language. He was the son of Munshi Premchand, a pioneer of modern Urdu literature and of Hindi literature. A prolific writer, Rai made his literary debut with novel Beej in 1952 and went on to write an acclaimed biography of his father, Premchand, Kalam ka Sipahi (1970),^[1] which later won him the Sahitya Akademi award for 1963.^[2]

He also co-edited Chitthi Patri (1962), a two-volume book on the letters of Premchand along with his biographer, Madan Gopal. In 1982, he donated a collection of his father's 236 letters to the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) at Teen Murti House, Delhi.^[3] His A House Divided is an influential account of how the shared Hindi/Hindavī linguistic tradition became differentiated into Modern Standard Hindi and Urdu.^{[citation needed]}

Rai died in Allahabad, in August 1996 at the age of 75. He had suffered a paralytic stroke earlier in March.^[2]

Bibliography

Rai, Amrit. Premchand: A Life. Harish Trivedi, translator. New Delhi: People's Publishing House, 1982.
Rai, Amrit. A House Divided: The Origin and Development of Hindi/Hindavi. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1984.

References

^ Amratray (1962). Premchand Kalam Ka Sipahi.
^ ^a ^b "Amrit Rai, prolific Hindi writer & son of Munshi Premchand, passes away in Allahabad". India Today. 16 October 2012. Archived from the original on 26 March 2014. Retrieved 30 October 2013.
^ "New light on Premchand". The Hindu. 10 August 2012. Archived from the original on 3 February 2014. Retrieved 30 October 2013.