Harbhajan Singh

(18 Aug 1920- 21 Oct 2002)

Celebrated Punjabi poet, cultural commentator, critic and translator, Harbhajan is reckoned as a pioneer of the modern Punjabi poetry along with Amrita Pritam. His works include 17 collections of poetry including Rukh Te Rishi and Registan Vich Lakarhara; 19 works of literary history, criticism and biography including Sahit Shastar and Chola Taakian Wala; 14 translated works including those of Aristotle, Longinus, Sophocles, modern Russian novelists, critics and poets, Tagore and  selections from the Rig Veda. 

Included amongst the many honours received by him some are 

                Dhaliwal Sanmaan – the highest award given by the Punjabi Sahit Akademi, Ludhiana 2002

                Saraswati Sanmaan – one of the two most coveted awards for literary excellence in India, 1994

Kabir Sanmaan – amongst the highest literary honours in India given by the Madhya Pradesh Government, 1987

Sahitaya Akademi Award – given by the Sahitya Akademi, India, 1969

Soviet Land Nehru Award – was rated amongst the top honours while it existed 

He was also the Fellow, Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi – the only other Punjabi writer to have been so honoured was the legendary Sardar Gurbax Singh Preet Lari. 

Harbhajan Singh started his academic career as a teacher of English before switching over to Hindi and finally Punajbi. He retired from the University of Delhi as Professor Emeritus in 1984. He was a visiting Professor in many prestigious universities and institutions including Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur; Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar; Punjab University, Chandigarh; Jammu University, J&K; Gwahauti University, Assam… 

Harbhajan Singh was born in Lumding, Assam to Ganga Dei and Ganda Singh who was chief-foreman with the East India Railways at their Headquarters in Kamrup distric of Assam. At the time of his birth, Ganda Singh was already afllicted with the killer tuberculosis which happened to be a dreaded scourge at the turn of the last century. The family had to move to Lahore where Ganda Singh bought two houses in Gwal Mandi. As fate would have it the father passed away when Harbhajan Singh was less than a year old. The family briefly shifted to their ancestral village Bhullar in District Taran Taran. But quite tragically, one by one his mother and two sisters passed away when he was barely 4 years old. He was brought up quite affectionately by his mother’s younger sister – herself a widow – who lived in Ichhara, Lahore. He studied in the local DAV School and was a brilliant student throughout. He was also gifted with a haunting voice. In his matriculation, he was amongst the 3 toppers in Punjab but had to discontinue studies for paucity of funds. He took up odd jobs as a part-time apprentice at the Railway Workshop in Mughalpura, a sales-boy at a Homoepathic Chemist Shop in Lahore, a lower-division clerk with the Government of India in New Delhi and then an Assistant Librarian in Khalsa School, New Delhi. 

Before becoming a teacher, he completed his higher education without ever going to a regular college. He had two post-graduation degrees in English and Hindi Literature both from the University of Delhi. His doctoral thesis dealt with the Hindi poetry written in the Gurumukhi script. 

Amongst his teachers, he rated Ustad Reham Din, Lala Suraj Bhan, Dr Mohan Singh Diwana and Dr Nagendra in the highest esteem. 

Amongst the poets, he was deeply enamoured of were Guru Nanak Dev, Guru Arjun Dev, Shah Husain, Waris Shah, Bulle Shah, Mir Taki Mir, Lorca, Tagore, Noon Meem Rashid and Puran Singh. 

Amongst the younger poets he greatly admired the poetry of Harnam, Amarjit Chandan, Lal Singh Dil and Harbaksh Maksoodpuri. Amongst the fiction writers, he was a great admirer of Fakhr Zaman, Sohan Singh Sital, Prem Prakash, Waryam Sandhu, Gurdev Rupana 

There was a long list of eminent poets and scholars who did their Ph.Ds under him. Some of his eminent students were: Dr Attar Singh, Dr Tirlok Singh Kanwar, Dr Atamjit Singh (currently teaching somewhere in California), Dr Mahinder Kaur Gill, Dr Satinder  Singh (currently the PVC of Guru Nanak Dev University) and Dr Satinder Singh Noor. 

It may be mentioned that he was invited to join the Department of Modern Indian Languages by a Board of Experts that included Dr Suniti Kumar Chatterjee (a doyen of anthropologist linguist), Prof Nihar Ranjan Ray (an equally eminent Indologist), Prof RC Mazumdar (eminent historian), Prof RK Dasgupta (Eminent scholar of Bengali letters), Prof SC Ganguly (eminent India economist) and, not the least, Prof Pritam Singh whom Harbhajan Singh continued to adore till the end of his life. 

It may be pointed out that Harbhajan was appointed to the chair of Professorship in Punjabi without a formal degree in the said literature.