Harbhajan Singh (poet)

2021-03-30T16:04:41Z

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{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Harbhajan Singh
| image = Poet_Harbhajan_Singh_in_2000.jpg
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1920|08|8}}
| birth_place = [[Lumding]], [[Assam Province]], [[British India]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2002|10|21|1920|08|8}}
| death_place =
| nationality = Indian
| other_names =
| known_for =
| occupation = Poet, critic, [[cultural commentator]], translator
}}

'''Harbhajan Singh''' (8 August 1920 – 21 October 2002) was an Indian poet, critic, [[cultural commentator]], and translator in the [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]]-language. Along with [[Amrita Pritam]], Harbhajan is credited with revolutionising the Punjabi poetry writing style. He published 17 collections of poems, including ''Registan Vich Lakarhara'', 19 works of [[literary history]] and translated 14 pieces of literature of others including those of [[Aristotle]], [[Sophocles]], [[Rabindranath Tagore]] and selections from the [[Rig Veda]].

==Early life and education==
Harbhajan Singh was born in [[Lumding]], Assam, on 8 August 1920 to Ganga Devi and Ganda Singh, his father, who was suffering from [[tuberculosis]]. The family had to move to [[Lahore]] where they bought two houses in [[Gawalmandi]]. His father died before he was one year old. Then his mother and two sisters died leaving him without a direct family by the time he was 4 years of age. He was brought up by his mother's younger sister who lived in [[Ichhra]], [[Lahore]]. He was educated in the local DAV School and was a top student from a very early age. In his educational ventures, he was among the top three in Punjab but had to stop his studies for lack of money. He took up odd jobs as a sales-boy at a Homoepathic Chemist Shop in [[Lahore]], as a lower-division clerk with the [[Government of India]] in New Delhi and then as an Assistant Librarian in Khalsa School, New Delhi.

Singh completed his higher education without going to college, he had two degrees in English and Hindi Literature, both from the [[University of Delhi]]. His PhD thesis discussed [[Hindi poetry]] in the [[Gurumukhi]] script.

One of his three sons [[Madan Gopal Singh]] is a well-known singer and scholar.

==Career==
He started his academic career as an English teacher before switching to Hindi and then to Punjabi. He worked at the [[University of Delhi]] as Professor Emeritus until he retired in 1984. He visited and gave lectures at many prestigious universities and institutions including the [[Indian Institute of Technology]], [[Guru Nanak Dev University]], [[Panjab University, Chandigarh|Punjab University]], [[Jammu University]] and [[Gauhati University]].

He was invited to join the Department of Modern Indian Languages by a Board of [[anthropologists]] and [[linguists]], including Professor Pritam Singh, who Singh supported greatly until his death.

==Influences==
He praised Ustad Reham Din, Lala Suraj Bhan, Dr Mohan Singh Diwana, and Dr Nagendra as his most preferred teachers throughout his education. The poets he most admired and rated highest were [[Guru Nanak Dev]], [[Guru Arjan Dev]], [[Shah Hussain]], [[Waris Shah]], Bulle Shah, Mir Taqi Mir, [[Federico García Lorca|Lorca]], [[Rabindranath Tagore]], [[Noon Meem Rashid]], and Puran Singh.

Many prolific poets and scholars did their PhDs under him, including Attar Singh, Tirlok Singh Kanwar, Atamjit Singh, Mohinder Kaur Gill and Satinder Singh.

==Honours==
*1969: '''[[Sahitya Akademi Award]]''', [[Sahitya Akademi]], India, for ''Na Dhuppe Na Chaanve''<ref>[http://www.sahitya-akademi.gov.in/old_version/awa10316.htm#punjabi Punjabi] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090331234058/http://www.sahitya-akademi.gov.in/old_version/awa10316.htm |date=31 March 2009 }} ''[[Sahitya Akademi]]''.</ref>
* 1987: ''' Kabir Samman''' – one of the highest literary honours in India given by the [[Madhya Pradesh]] Government.
* 1994: '''[[Saraswati Samman]]''' – award for literary excellence in India, in
* 1994: '''[[List of Sahitya Akademi fellows|Sahitya Akademi Fellowship]]''', New Delhi – a title only one other Punjabi writer received; Sardar Gurbax Singh Preet Lari.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.apnaorg.com/poetry/harbhajan/haribhajan_main_index_english.htm|title= Biography|access-date= 10 August 2006}}</ref>
* '''Soviet Land Nehru Award''' – a now extinct award highly coveted while it existed
* 2002: '''Dhaliwal Sanmaan''' – the highest award presented to him by the Punjabi Sahitya Akademi, [[Ludhiana]]

==Bibliography==
* ''A Light Within: Selected Poems of Harbhajan Singh'', tr. by S. C. Narula, [[Sahitya Akademi]], 1998. {{ISBN|81-260-0540-8}}.
* ''The Spirit of Khalsa – Three centuries of Interface'', 2000.
* ''Sheikh Farid'' (Hindi). Hind Pocket Books, 2002. {{ISBN|81-216-0255-6}}.
* ''Bulleshah'' (Hindi). Hind Pocket Books, 2003. {{ISBN|81-216-0152-5}}.

==Works in translation==
* ''Ni Chhiyan Ni Tavaro'' (Rajasthani), tr. by Chandra Prakash Deval. Sahitya Akademi, 1997. {{ISBN|81-260-0304-9}}.
* ''Punjabni Lokakatha'' (Gujarati), National Book Trust, 2000. {{ISBN|81-237-3279-1}}.

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=QA1V7sICaIwC&pg=PA448&lpg=PA448&dq=%22Harbhajan+Singh%22+Punjabi+%22poet%22&source=web&ots=iZmcc5SQHg&sig=yC4quTgftPRl1z7s5KXzlXPMz_U&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=6&ct=result Harbhajan Singh, Punjabi Poet] ''Who's who of Indian Writers'', 1999: End-century Edition, by Kartik Chandra Dutt, Ramakanta Rath, [[Sahitya Akademi]]. {{ISBN|81-260-0873-3}}. Page 448.

==External links==


*{{cite web|url=http://www.apnaorg.com/poetry/harbhajan/haribhajan_main_index_english.htm|title=Biography with selected poems}}
* {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091026144556/http://geocities.com/indian_poets/punjabi.html |date=26 October 2009 |title=Harbhajan Singh (1920 –2002) Biography and works }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20081123114405/http://www.indiaclub.com/shop/AuthorSelect.asp?Author=Harbhajan+Singh Books by ''Harbhajan Singh'']


{{SahityaAkademiFellowship}}
{{Saraswati Samman}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Harbhajan}}
[[Category:Indian academics]]
[[Category:1920 births]]
[[Category:2002 deaths]]
[[Category:Poets from Lahore]]
[[Category:Punjabi-language poets]]
[[Category:University of Delhi alumni]]
[[Category:University of Delhi faculty]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Saraswati Samman Award]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Punjabi]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship]]
[[Category:Indian literary historians]]
[[Category:Indian Sikhs]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian poets]]
[[Category:Indian male poets]]
[[Category:Poets from Assam]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian male writers]]

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Harbhajan Singh (poet)