Surjit Hans

Hans was born in Doaba area of Punjab, India on 31 October 1930.[1] After completing his primary and secondary schooling, he attended the Panjab University Swami Sarvanand Giri Regional Centre, Hoshiarpur where he studied English and Philosophy. He took a keen interest in Shakespeare's writings after receiving education from professor Dinah Stock, and later in 1965, he went to Southall, London and worked as a postman at the Heathrow Airport[2] as well as a bus conductor. He stayed there for six to seven years.[7] Hans joined Royal Shakespeare Company and started working on Shakespeare's projects.

In 1973, he returned to his hometown and joined the Guru Nanak Dev University for the department of Guru Nanak studies faculty where he worked as a lecturer, and later in 1981, he became head of the department from 1986 to 1989 and 1990 to 1991 in history faculty at the Guru Nanak Dev University until he retired in 1993. He published his first doctoral project on Sikh literature titled "A Reconstruction of Sikh History" which is recognized as a prominent research among his other work. It is believed he was inspired by methodology of a New Zealand scholar W. H. McLeod. He was also involved in research work of Punjab's insurgency.[2][8]

Hans chiefly wrote about literature, language, psychology, history, and philosophy. As a fellow at the Punjabi University, Patiala, he began translating Shakespeare's projects into Punjabi on 1 January 1993[2] with Othello tragedy.[9] As a translator for twenty years, he played multiple fictional characters' roles, including Laertes in Hamlet and Seyton in Macbeth, and is also credited with translating Henry VIII that was his last work and Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species. He also used to write novels and poetry themed psychology and social. His prominent publications include Mitti Di Dheri, Gallo, Apsara, Pushtan, Harijan, Loon Di Dali, Imtihan, and Sikh Ki Karan. He wrote about the all ethnic groups of Punjab in one of his research works titled Jallianwala Bagh: The Construction of a Nationalist Symbol that appeared in the prominent publications.[2]

On August 31, 2014, he suffered from a myocardial infarction but recovered later. On 17 January 2020, he died of chronic condition in Mohali city of Punjab.[2][12]