From clerk to Joint Director
Renthlei Lalrawna’s story treats translation as a kind of nation-building. According to his official Padma citation, he was born on 22 December 1940 in Dawn village, Lunglei district. He graduated from Pachhunga Memorial College in 1963 and took a Master’s degree from Gauhati University in 1975.
He joined government service as a lower division clerk and rose step by step to Joint Director of School Education, retiring on 1 January 2003.
Fourteen of his own, fifteen brought home
He was a novelist, essayist, critic and fiction writer, and also a prolific translator. The government citation records 14 original volumes and 15 volumes translated from English literature.
Bringing Shakespeare, Jules Verne, John Bunyan and others to Mizo readers was not only about literary taste. It was also about filling the gap in academic and reading material in Mizo. Two of his books and one essay have been part of the syllabi of the Mizoram Board of School Education and Mizoram University.
Literacy, together
In the Education Department he worked on textbooks and action plans for the Adult Education Wing and on the state-wide literacy campaign, bringing in community bodies such as the YMA, MHIP, churches and village councils.
He also compiled Mizo songs in Mizo Rohlu and served for long years with the Mizo Writers Association, the Publication Board and the Language Committee.
Sources
- Padma Awards 2025: official citation
- The Assam Tribune: profile
- Padma Awards 2025: notification
- padmaawards.gov.in/Document/pdf/CitationsForTickets/2025/2025111.pdf
- assamtribune.com/north-east/from-the-arabian-nights-to-padma-shri-meet-mizorams-master-translator-r-lalrawna-1566001
- origin1-padma.padmaawards.gov.in/Document/pdf/notifications/PadmaAwards/2025.pdf