Garhwali, Kumaoni, Himalaya Literature

Ishwari Datt Juyal ‘Sharma’ :A Satiric and Humorous Garhwali Playwright
Bhishma Kukreti

Ishwari Datt Juyal “ Sharma’ is famous for his satiric and humorous Garhwali drama and uniting emigrant Uttarakhandis in Karachi now, in Pakistan.
Ishwari Datt Juyal ‘ Sharma’ was born in a Himalayan village Khetu, Patti Khatli, British Garhwal (Pauri Garhwal) in 1895.
After passing high school , he joined Indian railway services in Karachi now, in Pakistan. Ishwari Datt Juyal took keen interest in organizing emigrant Garhwalis, Uttarakhandis in Karachi and arranging cultural shows regularly in Karachi. Ishwari Datt used to participate in many conferences and mini meetings of emigrant Uttarakhandis of Karachi for knowing and solving the problems being faced by migrated Uttarakhandis in Karachi.
His interest in social problems and social causes. Inspired him to write articles in Garhwali and Hindi about many social issues of Garhwali, Himalaya..

Ishwari Datt Juyal ’ Sharma’ published a Garhwali, Mid Himalayan play ‘Parivartan’. Ishwari Datt and many social organizations staged ‘Parivartan ‘ many times. Every time, audiences accepted this play because the dialogues are hilarious, humorous, and with lot of wit and satire. No doubt, the subject of play is social but crisped script, characterization of characters, daily use dialogues, blending of Hindi sentences with Garhwali language made this play the darling of audience.
After partition . Ishwari Datt had to shift from Karachi to Saharanpur . Unfortunately, his writing in Garhwali, Himalayan langue was lost in shifting from Karachi.
Ishwari Datt Juyal ‘Sharma’ expired 18th April, 1969 in Saharpur.

Copyright @ Bhishma Kukreti, Mumbai, India, 2009