Maharaj Krishen Raina

Brief Biography

Maharaj Krishen Raina

Born on 10th February 1948 at Chhattabal, Srinagar, Kashmir, Maharaj Krishen Raina (MKR) is a civil engineer by profession. Having worked in his professional capacity at Baramulla in JandK Flood Control Deptt, at Uri in Uri Hydel Project, at Kangan in Civil Investigation wing of Power Development Deptt, and finally on Upper Sindh Hydel Project – Phase-II at Kangan and Sumbhal, MKR migrated to Jammu in February 1990 at the height of militancy in the Valley. In 1995, he shifted along with his family to Mumbai for a peaceful living and for providing better education to his children. He is now settled in Vasai, a northern suburb of Mumbai.

MKR has four children. Mansi is married to Nikhil, S/o Shri Shiban K. Nagri and settled in Mumbai. Vishal is a professional Animator and Web Designer. Shifali is married to Captain Prithvi Malhotra (Kingfisher Airlines) and is settled in Mumbai. Ashwin is pursuing a career in Animation and Editing. MKR's wife Sonia, who has a Master's Degree in Education, has been a great support to MKR in his zeal for service to Kashmiri language and literature. Her abnormal patience has contributed heavily to the ambitions of her husband.

Born to Smt. Shamrani Raina and Shri Shamboo Nath Raina, MKR is the second child of his parents. He has one elder sister Usha Razdan (W/o Shri Jawahar Lal Razdan, settled in Mumbai), two younger sisters Lalita Koul (W/o Shri Maharaj Krishen Koul, now settled in Mumbai) and Sarla Bhat (W/o Shri Ashok Bhat, settled post-exodus in Jammu) and a younger brother Rajinder Raina (settled post-exodus in Mumbai).

MKR lost his father in 1959 at a very young age, when MKR himself was only 11 years old. Left without any regular income, mother Shamrani took up the challenge and worked hard for the survival of her children against all odds. The courageous lady did not allow her children to think even for a while, that they were without a father. And she succeeded in providing good education to her children and bring them up at par with those in the close relations and neighborhood. MKR considers all his assets as a consequence of his mother’s will and hard work and above all, her great motherhood.

In connection with his service in Kashmir, MKR spent most of his time at various scenic places, on snow-clad mountains, in dense jungles, at lakesides and the like. He got used to live a camper's life for most part of his service at the places like Booniyar (famous for heavy snowfall and Mahaseer fish), Mount Hatam Mir (famous for Budloo pine and birchwood), Nav Baalan (the high altitude snow-clad route from Uri to Gulmarg, passing through LOC at various points), Mount Viji (the high mountain separating Uri and Handwara), Bandi Brahmana, Wangath, Narain Naag (a Hindu Tirtha with old temple ruins on the banks of sacred Krenka Nadi, Mahalish (a vast meadow at the top of mountain range below Harmukh), Koul Sar, Brahma Sar, Nundakhol and Gangabal (all sacred lakes at the base of Harmukh, Gangabal being the largest, about 3.5 Kms long, half a Km. wide and more than 80 meters deep at the centre), Sonamarg and other places of tourist interest. This brought him closer to the charming scenic beauty of the Valley and also provided him the peaceful atmosphere to write. He is as comfortable with Nastaliq as he is with Devanagari script.

MKR had a natural tendency to write poetry from his childhood. He wrote some poetry and short stories in his school and college days. His first published poem was ‘ya dekh kar woh chup hai, ya la-makaan hai khali’ in Urdu, published in the Srinagar Times sometime in mid 80’s. Later his poems, mostly in Urdu, were also published in other Urdu dailies like Aftab and Shahmir.

MKR started writing on a regular basis only after his exodus from the Valley in 1990, when he got attracted to write in Kashmiri language in Devanagari Script. Koshur Samachar of New Delhi and Milchar of Mumbai provided him a platform to make his writings public. His write-ups are a regular feature of some KP journals like Koshur Samachar, Milchar, aalav etc.

MKR’s first collection of short stories in Kashmiri ‘tsók módúr’ containing 6 short stories, was published in January 2004. His second collection of short stories in Kashmiri 'kénh nón, kénh són' came out in May 2006. 'Pentachord', comprising his 5 short stories in English was published in April 2005. His collection of poems ‘pévàn chhúm yàd’ is also slated for release in the near future. He composed the title song of the Kashmiri TV serial ‘Kashmiri Bachon ki Lok Kathayen’ and worked on its 12 episode-screenplay with Shri Vikas Kapoor, writer and producer. He has also written Kashmiri screenplay for two films (both comedies) for Shri Jyoti Sarup (Director of film ‘Bub’).

MKR is the Convener of Project Zaan, a joint project of Kashmiri Pandits’ Association and Lalla Ded Educational and Welfare Trust, Mumbai. His contribution to the cause of Kashmiri Literature and Kashmiri language is well known. He is the Co-author of ‘Basic Reader for Kashmiri Language’ and the 'Information Digest' series published under the Project Zaan. MKR is the Editor of ‘Milchar’, a bi-monthly KP magazine published from Mumbai. He has been instrumental in development of software for Kashmiri language in Devanagari-Kashmiri and the Indo-Roman Scripts, under an arrangement with the Cyberscape Multimedia Ltd., the Akruti software people. He has already transformed the Bhajans and Leelas of Swami Krishen Joo Razdan and the ‘Man Pamposh’ of Bhawani Bhagyavaan Pandit into Standardised Devanagari-Kashmiri. He has provided the Standardised Devanagari-Kashmiri text for 'A Dictionary of Kashmiri Proverbs' of Prof. Omkar Nath Kaul. He has also compiled Lalla-Vaakhs, Sheikh-ul-Alam's Shrukhs, Poetry of renowned Kashmiri poets and Kashmiri Mystic Poetry in Devanagari-Kashmiri scripts. Apart from writing short stories in Kashmiri and English himself, MKR has done a lot of work on  transliteration of some invaluable Kashmiri literature (including Gulrez and Gule-Bakavali) into Devanagari-Kashmiri for benefit of the general KP masses.