Amrita Pritam, the young poet who emotively invoked Waris Shah in what would become her best known poem, ‘Ajjaakhaan Waris Shah nu’, was one of the foremost women writers in 20th century India. Pritam, who wrote in Punjabi and Hindi, was a bold and courageous woman who lived life on her own terms unlike the more subjugated women of her time.

   A prolific writer, she produced over 100 books including poetry collections, fictions, biographies and essays. Born in undivided India in 1919, she witnessed the horrors of the partition as a young woman, an experience that shook her to the core and shattered her soul.

   It was in the aftermath of the terrible experience that she expressed her anguish in the poem ‘Ajjaakhaan Waris Shahnu’, reflecting the sense of hopelessness, terror and sadness that swept over everyone who had witnessed the partition. Her experiences during the partition also inspired her to....