Born on August 18, 1941 in Tharparkar, Valiram had command over Sindhi, Urdu, English, Sanskrit, Dhatki, Gujarati and Punjabi languages. He authored dozens of books
Hyderabad Sindh
Renowned Sindhi Writer Valiram Vallabh passes away on October 29, 2023 at 1a.m at his residence in Hyderabad. Valiram Vallabh departed to his eternal abode at the age of 82.
Born on August 18, 1941 in Tharparkar, Valiram had command over Sindhi, Urdu, English, Sanskrit, Dhatki, Gujarati and Punjabi languages. He authored dozens of books.
Sindh Courier reproduces an article on the life and works of Valiram Vallab, published on August 22, 2021 to pay him homage.
Valiram Vallabh – A diamond carved at the foothills of Gadhi Bhit of Thar
By Dr. Ashok Bakhtani
Valiram Vallabh was born on August 18, 1941. Valiram’s father, Kaka Keval Ram was a police constable, and had to be transferred to various places in Tharparkar district. Blessings in the disguise, the child Valiram received primary education at different schools in Tharparkar and had great opportunity to see legendary Raichand Rathore drafting famous Tarikh-e-Registan (History of Desert) in Chelhar town.
He did his matriculation from Government High school Mithi in 1959. He joined government job with forest department, where he served for nine years. He graduated from Sachal Arts College, Hyderabad and did masters in Sociology, Urdu and Mass Communication from University of Sindh, Jamshoro. He had Law degree from Sindh Law College, Hyderabad in 1969.
Valiram, innately passionate, had a keen interest in arts, culture and literature and was lucky having the guidance of Bhagat Khemchand and Comrade Rochiram. The troika of Valiram, Saroopchandar Shad and Haji Mohammad Dal rendered great services – really laid a foundation of arts, culture and literature during post-independence period in Mithi.
In 1969, he joined an advertising company as a manger and then settled in Hyderabad. In 1988, he joined the job at University of Sindh where he served with Anthropology and Research departments and finally retired as Deputy Director, Institute of Sindhology, Jamshoro on March 15, 2001.
Literary Services
Valiram Vallabh, beside Sindhi and Urdu, knew Sanskrit, Dhatki, Gujarati and Punjabi languages. He has written and translated dozens of books. He is one of the renowned translators in Sindh and has translated nine novels of different writers including Krishan Chander, Amrita Pritam and Qurat-ul- Ain Hyder.
He has translated the poetry from 26 languages of 112 of poets of 19 countries and published in four books in Sindhi. He was close friend of late Tariq ashraf, renowned writer and editor of magazine ‘Suhni’, and used to translate short stories for the magazine from foreign literature.
Valiram has authored eight biographies and interviews, about a dozen of books on religion, literature, philosophy and stories in Sindhi and English.
Awards
Valiram Vallabh, besides being the recipient of Presidential award in 2010, has been honored with several awards from reputable literary and cultural institutions in the country and abroad as well.
I have been very lucky to have several meetings with this extremely soft spoken person way back from 1973. He used to meet my brother-in-law Saeen Gianchand regarding the education of his daughters Dr. Pushpa and Gori. Gori has been my batch mate in intermediate in Hyderabad. His son Kamlesh Kumar serves as assistant professor at MUET, Jamshoro. I used to teach him English and Science during vacation in Mithi in early eighties.
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