Padma Sachdev

Padma Sachdev Biography

Padma Sachdev is the first modern poetess of Dogri language and she is equally popular as a novelist too. She hails from Jammu and is married to noted politician and MLA of Delhi, Surinder Singh of Aam Admi Party. She is a recipient of Sahitya Akademi Award in 1971 and she won it for her poetry collection - Meri Kavita Mere Geet. Indian government honoured her with Padma Shri in 2001 for her overall contributions to Indian literature. She is also a recipient of the prestigious Kabir Samman for poetry for the year 2007.

Sachdev was born in Jammu in 1940 as the first child of Sanskrit scholar and Professor Jai Dev Badu. She had two younger siblings. She lost her father at the age of 7 during the uprisings of India Partition in 1947. She married Surinder Singh of the popular duo composer brothers - Singh Bandhu and Tejpal Singh is her brother-in-law. The duo is a joint recipient of Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for the year 2004. Padma currently stays in Delhi with her husband Surinder Singh. She met Singh for the first time while working as a radio announcer of All India radio, Jammu. Surinder Singh was a duty officer of AIR then.

Her lyrical poem, Raja Diyan Mandiyan at the age of 14 earned her critics’ appreciation for the first time. Sachdev’s works are considered amongst the finest in the Indian contemporary literary canon. Padma’s published books include - Tavi Te Chanhan (1976), Nheriyan Galiyan (1982), Pota Pota Nimbal (1987), Uttar Vahini (1992) and Tainthian (1992). She mostly wrote in Dogri language, one of the rare, less popular and unknown Indian languages. She wrote short stories, poems and lyrics.

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Updated: July 21, 2014