Dogri loses its devoted emissary

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 8:  With passing away of Shiv Nath, the Dogri language has lost its one of the devoted emissaries. One who since half a century silently worked to catapult Dogri literature to the world stage through his quality English translations and other publications, the 89 years old Shiv Nath, breathed his last at Delhi on February 7.
Born at Jammu in 1925, Shiv Nath was first State Subject to be selected in Indian Administrative Services in 1949, but he could not join IAS due to non-integration of J&K at that time. He was therefore allotted Indian Postal Service cadre and he retired as Post Director General Post and Telegraph. He also served as member of Posts and Telegraph Board.
Apart from his illustrious career as bureaucrat, his life-long-service to bring to fore Dogri’s cultural and literary excellence to the world would remain an inseparable chapter of Dogri’s renaissance and its subsequent official status as one of the national languages.
Through his extensive critical writings and translations in English of varied aspects of rich treasure of Dogri folklore along with modern literary expressions, he almost single handedly took out mother tongue of Dogras from its narrow sphere and placed it on national and international platform. Besides masterly History of Dogri Literature in 1976 in English, which was later on updated, translated into Dogri and published in 1990, he wrote number of monographs, English anthologies of translated Dogri short stories, poetry and biographies of Dogri writers, poets, dramatists in Encyclopedia of Indian Literature. He also has to credit more than 20 publications in English and Dogri. He was also associated with many prestigious projects of Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi. Two of his original works in English are ” Jammu Miscellany’ and “Doyens of Dogri”.
In acknowledgement of Shiv Nath’s prowess as a creative writer, his collection of essays in Dogri, ‘Cheten Di Chitkabri’ received Sahitya Akedami award for 2004.  He was also conferred the Jammu & Kashmir State Award for his services to Dogri literature. Shiv Nath was settled in Delhi where he lived with eminent Hindi litterateur Krishan Sobti, his companion for more than two decades.
Shiv Nath’s death has been widely condoled in literary, cultural and social circle in Jammu. Dogri Sanstha, the premier literary organization of Dogri, in a special meeting of prominent writers paid tributes to Shiv Nath and remembered his outstanding contribution to Dogri language and literature.

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