Narendra Kohli
Encyclopedia
Sialkot
Sialkot is a city in Pakistan situated in the north-east of the Punjab province at the foothills of snow-covered peaks of Kashmir near the Chenab river. It is the capital of Sialkot District. The city is about north-west of Lahore and only a few kilometers from Indian-controlled Jammu.The...
) is a Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
-language author. He is credited with reinventing the ancient form of epic writing in modern prose. He is also regarded as a trend-setter in the sense that he pioneered the creation of literary works based on the "Puranas". Because of the large impact of his body of work on Hindi literature, this era of contemporary modern Hindi literature, since about 1975, is sometimes referred to as the 'Kohli Era'.
Life
Narendra Kohli was born to Parmananda Kohli and Vidyavanti in PunjabPunjab (British India)
Punjab was a province of British India, it was one of the last areas of the Indian subcontinent to fall under British rule. With the end of British rule in 1947 the province was split between West Punjab, which went to Pakistan, and East Punjab, which went to India...
province of British India. His first school was the Dev Samaj High School in Lahore
Lahore
Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...
. Then he attended the Ganda Singh High School in Sialkot
Sialkot
Sialkot is a city in Pakistan situated in the north-east of the Punjab province at the foothills of snow-covered peaks of Kashmir near the Chenab river. It is the capital of Sialkot District. The city is about north-west of Lahore and only a few kilometers from Indian-controlled Jammu.The...
for a few months. In 1947, after the partition of India
Partition of India
The Partition of India was the partition of British India on the basis of religious demographics that led to the creation of the sovereign states of the Dominion of Pakistan and the Union of India on 14 and 15...
, the family moved to Jamshedpur (Bihar
Bihar
Bihar is a state in eastern India. It is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at and 3rd largest by population. Almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, which is the highest proportion in India....
). He resumed his schooling in third grade at Dhatkidih Lower Primary school. He spent fourth to seventh grade (1949–53) at New Middle English school. Urdu
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
was the medium of instruction for all subjects except English, which was limited to reading and writing. From eighth to eleventh grade, he attended KMPM High School in Jamshedpur. He selected the science stream in high school. The medium of instruction was Urdu till this point.
For higher education, he joined the Jamshedpur Co-operative College. He took the IA exams in 1959 from Bihar University
B. R. Ambedkar Bihar University
B. R. Ambedkar Bihar University, officially Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University, is a public university located in the north prime of Bihar state in the city of Muzaffarpur in India. Established in 1960, this university has 37 constituent colleges. Distance education courses are also...
with Compulsory English, Compulsory Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
, Psychology, Logic, and special Hindi as his subjects. He completed his BA (Hons.) in 1961 from Jamshedpur Co-operative College (Ranchi University
Ranchi University
The Ranchi University is a university in Jharkhand state of India. It was established on 12th July 1960 as a teaching-cum-affiliating university, and its first vice chancellor was Sri Vishnudeo Narayan Singh...
) in Hindi. He completed his MA in 1963 at Ramjas College (University of Delhi
University of Delhi
The University of Delhi is a central university situated in Delhi, India and is funded by Government of India. Established in 1922, it offers courses at the undergraduate and post-graduate level. Vice-President of India Mohammad Hamid Ansari is the Chancellor of the university...
), and in 1970, received his Ph.D. from the University of Delhi.
Early writings
Patna
Paṭnā , is the capital of the Indian state of Bihar and the second largest city in Eastern India . Patna is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the world...
) and Avaaz (Dhanbad
Dhanbad
Dhanbad features climate that is transitional between a humid subtropical climate and a tropical wet and dry climate. Summer starts from last week of March and ends in mid-June. Peak temperature in summer can reach 47oC. Dhanbad also receives heavy rainfall...
). During his IA years, Sarita (Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
) published his story Paani ka Jug, Gilas aur Ketli in its Nae Ankur ("New Sprouts") column.
After February 1960 his works started getting published regularly. He considers Do Haath published by Kahani (Allahabad
Allahabad
Allahabad , or Settled by God in Persian, is a major city of India and is one of the main holy cities of Hinduism. It was renamed by the Mughals from the ancient name of Prayaga , and is by some accounts the second-oldest city in India. It is located in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh,...
) as his first published work.
He wrote a few novels based on the life of families and societies as well. But just portraying the society, or ridiculing its flaws and dilemmas was not going to satisfy him. He realized, that literature cannot reach its ultimate goal just by a narrow, partial and limited display of society, nor can the society benefit from such literature. The demonstration of poor human qualities will only encourage the evil and the foul. Therefore, it must be the goal of literature to demonstrate the great, honourable and moral aspect of life, he believes.
Abhyudaya
He took the entire material of Ram Katha and wrote a huge novel of 1,800 pages, `Abhyudaya' in four parts. This was perhaps the first novel in any language that dealt with the entire Ram Katha. It is a novel, and therefore is contemporary, progressive, modern, and logic- based. Its basic story line comes from the cultural tradition of India and therefore it portrays the higher values of life. It shows the greatness of human kind. This book turned out to be big success.Work
- Ek aur lal tikon - 1970
- Paanch absurd upanyas - 1972
- Aashriton ka vidroh - 1973
- Jagane ka apradh - 1973
- Pareshaniyan - 1986
- Gantantra ka ganit - 1997
- Aadhunik ladki ki peeda - 1978
- Trasidiyan - 1982
- Mere mohalle ke phool - 2000
- Samagra vyang - 2002
- Sabse bada satya - 2003
- Woh kahan hai - 2003
- Aatma ki pavitrata - 1996
- Meri shreshth vyang rachnayen - 1977
- Samagra natak - 1990
- Samagra vyang (part 1, 2, 3) - 1998
- Samagra kahaniyan (Part 1, 2) - 1991, 1992
- Abhyuday (2 parts) - 1989
- Narendra kohli: Chuni hui rachnayen - 1990
- Narendra kohli ne kaha - 1997
- Meri ekyavan vyang rachnayen - 1997
- Meri terah kahaniyan - 1998
- Na bhuto na bhavishyati - 2004
- Swami vivekanand - 2004
- Das pratinidhi kahaniyan - 2006
- Premchand ke sahitya sidhhant - 1966
- Premchand (aalochana) - 1976
- Parineeti - 1969
- Kahani ka aabhav - 1977
- Drishti desh me ekaek - 1979
- Shatal - 1982
- Namak ka kaidi - 1983
- Nichale flat me - 1984
- Sanchit bhookh - 1985
- Punarambh - 1972
- Aatank - 1972
- Saha gaya dukh - 1974
- Mera apna sansar - 1975
- Deeksha - 1975
- Awsar - 1976
- Jangal ki kahani - 1977
- Sangharsh ki oor - 1978
- Yuddh (2 parts) - 1979
- Abhigyan - 1981
- Aatmadan - 1983
- Preetikatha - 1986
- Mahasamr 1 (Bandhan) - 1988
- Mahasamr 2 (Adhikar) - 1990
- Mahasamr 3 (Karm) - 1991
- Todo kara todo 1 (Nirman) - 1992
- Mahasamr 4 (Dharm) - 1993
- Todo kara todo 2 (Sadhana) - 1993
- Mahasamr 5 (Antaral) - 1995
- Kshama karna jiji - 1995
- Mahasamr 6 (prachhanna) - 1997
- Mahasamr 7 (Pratyaksh) - 1998
- Mahasamr 8 (Nirbandh) - 2000
- Todo kara todo 3 (Parivrajak) - 2003
- Todo kara todo 4 (Nirdesh) - 2004
- Ganit ka prashna - 1978
- Aasan rasta - 1985
- Ek din mathura me - 1991
- Abhi tum bachche ho - 1995
- Kukur - 1997
- Samadhan - 1997
- Shambook ki hatya - 1975
- Nirnay ruka hua - 1985
- Hatyare - 1985
- Gare ki deewar - 1986
- Kishkindha - 1998
- Agastya katha - 1998
- Hatyare - 1999
- Kise Jagau - 1996
- Pratinaad - 1996
- Nepathya - 1983
- Majra kya hai - 1989
- Baba nagarjun - 1987
- Smarami - 2000