SHIV KUMAR BATALVI - A BIOGRAPHY

SHIV KUMAR BATALVI - A BIOGRAPHY

Shiv Kumar was born in Bara Pind Lohtian (Shakargarh tehsil), in Punjab (now Pakistan). Shiv’s date of birth as recorded on his horoscope is July 23, 1936, while a latter birth date, October 23, 1937 is recorded on his matriculation certificate that was the only official birth record at that time. His father was a Patwari by the name of Pandit Krishan Gopal. After the partition his family moved to Batala. As a child Shiv is said to have been fascinated by birds and rugged, thorny plants on the Punjabi landscape. Shiv was exposed to the ramlila at an early age, and it is to be expected that he received what was later to become his instinctive understanding of drama from these early performances.

Shiv passed his matriculate exams in 1953, from Punjab University. He went on to enroll in the F.Sc. programme at Baring Union Christian College in Batala. Before completing his degree he moved to S.N. College, Qadian into their Arts program. It is here that he began to sing ghazals and songs for his class-mates. Shiv never gave the final exams he needed to pass to receive his degree.

Around this period, he met a girl named Maina at a fair in Baijnath. When he went back to look for her in her hometown, he heard the news of her death and wrote his elegy 'Maina'. This episode was to prefigure numerous other partings that would serve as material to distill into poems. Perhaps the most celebrated such episode is his fascination for Gurbaksh Singh's daughter who left for the US and married someone else. When he heard of the birth of her first child, Shiv wrote 'Main ek shikra yaar banaya', perhaps his most famous love poem.

In 1965 Shiv won the Sahitya Akademi award for his verse-drama Loona.

He married on Feb 5, 1967. His wife Aruna was a Brahmin from Kir Mangyal in district Gurdaspur. By all accounts Shiv had a happy marriage. He had two children, Meharbaan (b. Apr. 12, 1968) and Puja (b. Sep. 23, 1969) whom he loved immensely.

By 1968 he had moved to Chandigarh, but both Batala and Chandigarh became soulless in his eyes. Chandigarh brought him fame, but scathing criticism as well, Shiv replied with an article titled 'My hostile critics'. Meanwhile his epilepsy got worse and he had a serious attack while at a store in Chandigarh's Sector 22.

Shiv Kumar Batalvi, the poet, literally dominated poetic gatherings in his short life.

In the early 70's Shiv came to Bombay for a literary conference. In keeping with Shiv's outrageous behaviour there is a story about his trip to Bombay as well. Part of the conference involved readings at Shanmukananda hall. After a few people had read their work (one of whom was Meena Kumari), Shiv got on the stage and began "Almost everyone today has begun to consider themselves a poet, each and every person off the streets is writing ghazals". By the time he'd finished with his diatribe, there was not a sound in the hall. This is when he began to read 'Ek kuri jeeda naam mohabbat. gum hai, gum hai...'. There wasn't a sound when he finished either.

Another thing great about Shiv, was that he wrote one poem :-

PRABH JI SAANU IK GIIT UDHAARAA HOR DEYO

By saying, "Prabh Ji Saanu Ik Giit Udhaaraa Hor Deyo", Shiv gave all credit for his writings to The Almighty God, as if all his poetry was from that Divine Power. This speaks of his spritual leanings. This was the greatness of a poet who wrote best of the Punjabi Giits but according to him it was only God who had bestowed on him the power to write and he had nothing, of his own, to write or say.

Shiv has been called a Bohemian. There were complaints about his drinking and some suggestions that his 'friends' had him drink so he would exhibit his outrageous self.

Shiv Kumar died in the 36th year of his life on May 7, 1973 in his father-in-law's house at Kir Mangyal near Pathankot.

Here is a live interview of Shiv with Mahendra Kaul in London :-

SHIV'S PREMONITION OF HIS OWN DEATH

SHIV'S PREMONITION OF HIS OWN DEATH

Great creative personalities often burn themselves to illuminate the world. Shiv Kumar Batalvi is reported to have said, "We don’t do PhDs; other people will do PhDs on us". Such great artists come as a blessing to the world. But, not for themselves or their families, and one can hardly blame their families or the monotonous world for making their lives difficult.

Shiv often used to say that he was going to die soon ..... Asaan taan joban rutey marna .... Kabraan udeekadiyan .... and so on.

Excessive drinking had finally taken its toll. It was a sad end to a poet who, according to Amrita Pritam, was the ‘darling’ poet of Punjab. As friends and relatives watched in silence, fearing for the worst, the poets words rang in their ears : Jadon meri arthi utha key chalan gey ..... (very soulfully sung by Assa Singh Mastana)

Jadon meri arthi utha ke chalan ge
Mere yaar sab humm humma ke chalan ge

Chalan ge mere naal dushman ve mere
Eh vakhri hai gal muskura ke chalan ge

Rehian tan te liraan mere zindagi bhar
Par maran baad mainu sajjaa ke chalan ge

Jehnaa de main pairan ch rulda reha haan
Uh hathaan te mainu utha ke chalan ge

Mere yaar modda vattavan bahaane
Tere dar te sajda kara ke chalan ge

Bithayaa jenha nu main palkaan di chaavain
Oh baldi hoi aag te bitha ke chalan ge

Jadon meri arthi utha ke chalan ge
Mere yaar sab humm humma ke chalan ge

Shiv BaTalvi kii likhii huyii yeh nazam suniye Assa Singh Mastana ji kii aawaaz mein :-

पंडित जवाहर लाल नेहरु की मृत्यु पर

सूरज दा मर्सिया

अज अमनां दा बाबल मरया
सारी धरत नड़ोये आयी
ते अम्बर ने हौका भरया
इंज फ़ैली दिल दी खुश्बोई
ईकन रंग सोग दा चड़या
जीकन संघने वन विच किदरे
चन्दन दा इक बूटा सड़या
तहज़ीबां ने फूहड़ी पाई
त्वारीख़ दा मथा ठर्या
महज़बां नूं अज आई तरेली
कौमां घुट कलेजा फड़या
राम रहीम गए पथराये
हरमंदिर दा पानी डरया
फेर किसे मरियम दा जाया
अज फरज़ान दी सूली चड़या
अज सूरज दी अर्थी निकली
अज धरतीदा सूरज मरया
कुल लोकी मोढा दित्ता
ते नैनां विच हंजू भरया
पई मनुखता ताईं दंद्लन
काला दुःख ना जावे जरया
रो रो मारे ढिढी मुक्कियां
दस्से दिशावां सोगी होइयां
ईकन चुप दा नाग है लड़या
जियों धरती ने अज सूरज दा
रो रो के मर्सिया पढ़या
अज अमनां दा बाबल मरया