Kuldeep Sumbli (born 3 May 1956), better known by his pen name Agnishekhar,The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics (Princeton University Press, 2012), p. 768. is a Kashmiri Pandit writer and political activist. He is the founder of Panun Kashmir ("Our Kashmir") organization, a group that advocates for the cultural rights of Pandits and a homeland.Ananya Jahanara Kabir, Territory of Desire: Representing the Valley of Kashmir (University of Minnesota Press, 2009), p. 160.Kabir, Territory of Desire, p. 167. As a poet, he has contributed to the development of a Hindi poetry of exile from a distinctly Kashmiri perspective.The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, p. 768. He views pre-Islamic culture as a source for contemporary Pandit identity.Kabir, Territory of Desire, p. 169.
Works Agnishekhar is the author of Kisi Bhi Samay (At Any Moment), a collection of poetry published in 1992. The book is organized into two sections: the 49 poems of "Kram" ("Sequence"), and the ten poems of "Visthapit Kashmir" ("Displaced Kashmir") which differ from "Kram" in being labeled by place of composition (always Jammu) and a date ranging from mid-1990 to early 1991.Kabir, Territory of Desire, p. 162. The poem "Mahavipada" ("Great Trouble"), from the "Displaced Kashmir" section, criticizes the camps into which displaced Pandits were settled.Kabir, Territory of Desire, p. 166–167.
Agnishekhar also contributed to the screenplay for the "Bollywood-style" movie Sheen, which uses Pandit displacement as the context of a love story.Kabir, Territory of Desire, p. 170.
Athrot is an organization of displaced artists and writers organized its first ever Kashmiri Poetry day on 27 August 2018 and Agnishekar presided over the poetic session.
Mohammed Ayub Betab's poems in original Kashmiri are translated to Hindi by Agni Shekhar.
References
External links "Snow Still Falls," an English translation of a poem by Agnishekhar