Zinda Kaul

Zinda Kaul (1884–1965) was a well-known Indian poet, writer & teacher. He composed in Persian, Hindi, Urdu and Kashmiri. Kaul also translated works of Kashmiri into English, Persian and Devnagari.

Personal life

Zinda Kaul was also known as MasterJi by his students and friends. He came to be called 'Masterji' because he used to teach many Kashmiris, both in school as well as at his home.

Kaul was born into a Kashmiri Pandit family. His father, Lakshman Pandit, was indifferent to his formal education and Kaul had to face many difficulties in his life. He was a school teacher for a long time. After that, he worked as a clerk. In 1939, Kaul retired from the Publicity office of Kashmir as a translator. He died in Jammu in the winter of 1965.

Literary work

Zinda Kaul was the first Kashmiri poet to win the Sahitya Academy award in 1956, for his book of poetry compilations Sumran. It was first published in Devanagari, and later the government had it printed in the Persio-Arabic script. The Sahitya Academy of India gave Kaul an award of five thousand rupees for this book.