Dr. Satish Rohra was one of the founder directors of Indian Institute of Sindhology and author of several books. He was also the Chairman of Cultural University Development Board of Sindhology
Adipur, India: Dr. Satish Kumar Rohra, a veteran Sindhi scholar, short story writer, critic and linguist, passed away on February 24 in Adipur, Gandhidham Kutch India at the age of 92. He was former Director, Indian Institute of Sindhology, Adipur.
Dr. Satish Rohra was born on 15th August 1929 at Dadu Sindh. He was 18 years of age when his family had to migrate to India in 1948 due to situation developed after partition in 1947.
In an interview, Dr. Satish recalling an incident, told that a train carrying the ‘Muhajirs’ from Punjab stationed at Dadu and they started looting the shops. “My brother had a shop and the mob intended to attack, but a Muslim Sindhi named Salih saved the shop,” Dr. Satish said.
Watch interview of Dr. Satish Kumar Rohra
He was one of the founder directors of Indian Institute of Sindhology and remained one for 12 years. He was also the Chairman of Cultural University Development Board of Sindhology.
Dr. Rohra was a distinguished Sindhi scholar, writer, critic, poet, a linguist and a good speaker. With his clear thinking and rational ideas he always put forth his arguments with full conviction. Dr. Rohra used to keep his audience spell bound for hours enumerating the qualities of Sindhi culture. He often narrated many episodes from Sindhi history which delighted the audience and brought awareness about Sindhi culture and its relevance to modern times. He was one of the most sought after speaker in Sindhi community with an excellent command over Sindhi, Hindi and English languages.
Dr. Rohra was very optimistic about the future of Sindhi community. According to him, Sindhis, scattered around the globe, can remain united through the bond of Sindhi culture. With his clear vision he played a pioneering role in establishing Indian Institute of Sindhology, a center of higher learning and research into Sindhi studies, which is being developed into Sindhi Cultural University. Institute of Sindhology was established in Sindh in 1964 and on the same pattern it was founded in Adipur, India.
Watch another interview of Dr. Satish Rohra
Dr. Rohra did Masters in Hindi and obtained his Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of Poona. He was professor of Hindi at Banaras Hindu University and also a visiting professor of Hindi at University of Guyana, West Indies. He retired from the central Institute of Hindi in 1990 as a professor of applied linguistics.
Here is another interview of Dr. Satish Rohra
Dr. Rohra has several books to his credit which include books in Sindhi, Hindi and English. He has done research on origin of Sindhi language. His philosophy of life was to pay back to the society with full interest the debt which he has incurred from it. Whatever he was today, he believed, was because of the gifts society had bestowed on him.
Some of his Sindhi books are: Rishto (Relationship) Short Stories, 1989; Chhand Chhan (Analysis), Critical essays, 1996; Undahi jo Sachhu (Truth of Darkness), Short Stories, 1997 and Bhasha Ain Bhasha Vigyan (Language & Linguistics). He also authored English books including ‘Cultural Bypass Surgery’.
__________________
