Writer and translator

Sharif Kunjahi was a Punjabi and Urdu writer, teacher and translator associated with Kunjah in Punjab’s Gujrat district. Accounts disagree on his birth date: Rekhta gives 13 May 1914, while Kazy Javed’s 2005 profile gives 13 October 1915. Both describe a career spanning Punjabi and other languages; this entry does not resolve the discrepancy.[1][2]

Education and teaching

A Rekhta profile describes Sharif Kunjahi as a Punjabi and Urdu writer, poet, researcher, translator and teacher. It traces his schooling to Kunjah and says he passed examinations through the University of the Punjab as a private student in 1943. It records later master’s qualifications in Urdu in 1954 and Persian in 1956. The profile also lists Punjabi literary, reference and translation works. Sources do not agree on his precise date of birth, so this account does not select one. The dates of qualifications are taken from the reference profile and do not represent an independent examination of university registers.[1]

Writing and translation

In a 2005 literary report, Kazy Javed recalled meeting Kunjahi and discussed his writing in Punjabi, Urdu and Persian. Javed reported that Kunjahi felt most comfortable in his mother tongue, Punjabi, even though he also composed in the other languages. The report dates his first Punjabi poetry collection, Jigrattey, to a 1958 Gurmukhi edition in India and describes a later Pakistani edition. It also identifies a range of translation work, including Punjabi or Urdu versions of religious and literary texts. Javed’s account provides a contemporary retrospective and recollection of the writer’s expressed preference. It is not an independent reading of every translation or poem he mentions.[2]

A study of translation

Muhammad Sakhi Khan and Abdul Wajid examine Kunjahi’s Urdu rendering of Heer Waris Shah in a translation study. Their abstract places the rendering in 1991–92 and presents their work as an assessment of his translation. The study is a separate critical source from the literary works it discusses. This entry draws on its selected description rather than claiming to have reviewed the complete translation or deciding whether it was the first of its kind.[3]

Sources & notes

Source records include access dates and, where known, limits on what was examined. Checks used AI assistance; independent human or specialist review has not been completed.

  1. Rekhta Foundation. Sharif Kunjahi: profile ↗Author reference · Source date: publication date not established · Locator: Urdu professional profile. Accessed 2026-11-02.Selected Urdu profile read; exact birth date unresolved.Return to Writer and translator, paragraph 1 ↑Return to Education and teaching, paragraph 1 ↑
  2. Kazy Javed. Sharif Kunjahi: Writer, translator ↗Authored literary report · Source date: 2005-09-25 · Locator: Selected report and remembered meetings. Accessed 2026-11-02.The News reprint read; recollections remain attributed.Return to Writer and translator, paragraph 1 ↑Return to Writing and translation, paragraph 1 ↑
  3. Muhammad Sakhi Khan and Abdul Wajid. Urdu Nasri Tarjma Heer Waris Shah az Sharif Kunjahi ka Tajziyati Mutaleya ↗Translation study · Source date: 2021 printed issue · Locator: Khoj 44(1),131,142–144. Accessed 2026-11-02.Selected argument read; earlier theories and verse excluded.Return to A study of translation, paragraph 1 ↑
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Record PH-PEO-0140 · English edition · human review not performed