KITAB HUT

Ram Saroop Ankhi: where to start

2026-09-29 · 5 min read · Kitab Hut, Moosa

Start Ram Saroop Ankhi with Partapi or with his short stories, then read Kothe Kharak Singh, the long novel of one Malwa village that won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1987. He wrote farmers and labourers without romance, which is why they read him.

Ankhi is the writer people in this part of Punjab ask for by surname alone. The villages in his books are the villages around Barnala and Mansa, and readers here recognise the lanes. That is not the reason to read him, but it is the reason he is trusted.

Kothe Kharak Singh is the book, but not the first book

Kothe Kharak Singh follows a whole village across three generations, told through the people at the bottom of it. It is the novel his name rests on. It is also long, with a large cast, and a reader who is still getting used to reading Punjabi can lose the thread in the first hundred pages.

So read something shorter first. Once you know how he writes a scene, the long book is a pleasure instead of a task.

Read Partapi first

Partapi is a single life rather than a whole village. It shows what he does best: a person who is not a hero, in a place that will not change for them, described without pity and without contempt.

Or begin with the stories

The collected stories are the best value on the Ankhi shelf. A story is finished in one sitting, so you can read one a night and stop anywhere. If you like three of them, you will like the novels.

Then the rest, in any order

After Kothe Kharak Singh there is no required order. Dulle Di Dhab and Jamina Wale stay with land and the people who work it. Pick by length and by price.

Every Ram Saroop Ankhi title in stock

Gurdial Singh, the other great writer of Malwa

Questions readers ask

Which Ram Saroop Ankhi book should I read first?

Partapi, or a volume of his short stories. Both are easier to start than Kothe Kharak Singh and show how he writes before you take on the long novel.

What is Kothe Kharak Singh about?

The life of one Malwa village across three generations, told through its poorest families. It won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1987.

Is Ram Saroop Ankhi hard to read?

No. He writes the Punjabi that Malwa villages speak. The only difficulty in Kothe Kharak Singh is its length and the number of characters.

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