Bhisham Sahni, 1915

Bhisham Sahni, born on Aug 08, 1915 at Rawalpindi in present day Pakistan, is a distinguished Hindi fiction writer, playwright, translator, teacher and polyglot. His works reflect his unflinching commitment to India's pluralist ethos and secular foundations. Tamas (Darkness), his magnum opus, translated into English in 1988, gained worldwide acclaim for its sensitive and anguished portrayal of the communal riots and carnage that accompanied India's partition. Tamas is considered one of the most powerful and passionate fictional accounts of the human tragedy that marked the period. He uses literature to expose the divide and rule policy of the British and the rank opportunism of the upper classes of both the Hindu and Muslim communities. He made the point that the real victims of all sectarian violence are the hapless common folk, irrespective of religious or denominational differences. All his works are characterized by a sense of compassion, values of universal humanism and lucid narrative.