Harsh Brahmbhatt (

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub ...

: હર્ષ બ્રહ્મભટ્ટ; born 1954) is a Gujarati language poet and writer from

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. He has also made significant contributions to the Urdu ghazal form. He is a recipient of several awards, including the

Shayda Award Shayda Award (Gujarati:શયદા ઍવોર્ડ) is an annual award given to a young Gujarati ghazal poet. It was founded by the INT Aditya Birla Centre for Performing Arts & Research. The award is named after Gujarati ghazal poet Harji La ...

Kalapi Award The Kalapi Award (Gujarati:કલાપી ઍવોર્ડ) is an annual award given to Gujarati ghazal poets. It was founded by the INT Aditya Birla Centre for Performing Arts and Research. The award is named after Gujarati poet Kalapi. The ...

, Kumar Suvarna Chandrak and

Dhanji Kanji Gandhi Suvarna Chandrak Dhanji Kanji Gandhi Suvarna Chandrak also known as Dhanji Kanji Gandhi Gold Medal, is a literary honour in Gujarat, India given by Gujarat Sahitya Sabha. Established in 1983, the award is conferred annually on the most outstanding literate for his ...

Early life

Brahmbhatt was born on 31 July 1954 in

Mahesana Mehsana (), also spelled Mahesana, is a city and municipality in Mehsana district, in the Indian state of Gujarat. Established in 14th century, the city was under Gaekwads of Baroda State from 18th century to the independence of India in 194 ...

, to Vadilal and Sushila Brahmbhatt. He completed his Bachelor of Science in 1975 and Master of Science in 1977 from the

Gujarat University The Gujarat University is a public state university located at Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. The university is an affiliating university at the under-graduate level and a teaching university at the postgraduate level. It is accredited B++ by N ...

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ; Gujarati: Amdavad ) is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 (per t ...

, with Physics as one of his subjects.

Career

He served as an additional secretary of

Gujarat government The Government of Gujarat, also known as Gujarat Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Gujarat and its 33 districts. It consists of an executive of the legislators appointed by the Governor of Gujarat, a judiciar ...

and then as an additional secretary of the

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...

of Gujarat. He retired in July 2014. Presently, he serves as an advisor in

Reliance Industries Ltd Reliance Industries Limited is an Indian multinational conglomerate company, headquartered in Mumbai. It has diverse businesses including energy, petrochemicals, natural gas, retail, telecommunications, mass media, and textiles. Reliance is o ...

Works

''Ekalta Ni Bheedman'' (2012), his first anthology of

ghazal The ''ghazal'' ( ar, غَزَل, bn, গজল, Hindi-Urdu: /, fa, غزل, az, qəzəl, tr, gazel, tm, gazal, uz, gʻazal, gu, ગઝલ) is a form of amatory poem or ode, originating in Arabic poetry. A ghazal may be understood as a ...

, was published in 1992, followed by ''Andar Diwadandi'' (2002), ''Maun Ni Mahefil'' (2009), ''Jivavano Riaz'' (2010), ''Khud Ne Ya Kyan Malyo Chu?'' (2012), ''Jhakal Ne Tadka Ni Vachche'' and ''Aabh Doryu To Surya Ugyo'to''. His collection of Urdu ghazals includes ''Kandil'' (1998), ''Sargoshi'' (2004), ''Mera Apna Aasman'' (2011), ''Khamoshi Hain Ibadat'' (2013) and ''Manzilo Ko Hatake Chalte Hain''. ''Kodiyaman Petavi Raat'' (2015) is his collection of short poetry and

free verse Free verse is an open form of poetry, which in its modern form arose through the French ''vers libre'' form. It does not use consistent meter patterns, rhyme, or any musical pattern. It thus tends to follow the rhythm of natural speech. Definit ...

. Some of his Urdu ghazals have been sung by

Ustad Rashid Khan Ustad Rashid Khan (born 1 July 1968) is an Indian classical musician in the Hindustani music tradition. He belongs to the Rampur-Sahaswan gharana, and is the great-grandson of gharana founder Inayat Hussain Khan. He is married to Soma Khan. ...

, Ustad Ahmed and Mohammed Hussain, Hariharan,

Sonu Nigam Sonu Nigam (born 30 July 1973) is an Indian singer, music director and actor. He has been described in the media as one of the most popular and successful playback singers of Hindi Cinema and Kannada Cinema. He has been honoured by the Govern ...

Kavita Krishnamurthy Sharada Krishnamurthy, popularly known as Kavita Krishnamurthy or Kavita Subramaniam, is an Indian playback and classical singer. She has recorded 50,000 songs in 45 various Indian languages including Hindi, Bengali, Kannada, Rajasthani, Bhojp ...

Arijit Singh Arijit Singh (born 25 April 1987) is an Indian singer and music composer. He sings predominantly in Bengali and Hindi, but has also performed in various other Indian languages. He is the recipient of a National Award and six Filmfare Awards ...

Javed Ali Javed Ali is an Indian playback singer who predominantly sings in Hindi. He has also sung in various Indian languages including Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Gujarati, Marathi, Odia, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. Early life Javed Ali was born Javed H ...

Anup Jalota Anup Jalota, (born 29 July 1953) is an Indian singer, musician and actor, best known for his contributions to the Bhajan genre of Indian Music. He is popularly known as the "Bhajan Samraat" (Emperor of Bhajans).Bhupinder Singh,

Mitali Mukherjee Mitali Singh (née Mukherjee) is an Indian-Bangladeshi Classical music, classical and playback singer, she hails from Mymensingh, Bangladesh. She received the National Film Awards (Bangladesh), National Film Award of Bangladesh in 1982 for the ...

and the Shyamal-Saumil Munshi brothers. His Gujarati ghazals have had been sung with musical accompaniment composed by the singers Purushottam Upadhyay,

Parthiv Gohil Parthiv Gohil (born 18 February 1976) is a playback singer for Indian films including ''Devdas'', ''Saawariya'', '' Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster'', and ''Kisaan''. He is known in Gujarati Cinema for hit songs ''Aasmani'', ''Thai Jashe'', and ''Son ...

Sadhana Sargam Sadhana Sargam (née Ghanekar, born 7 March 1969) is an Indian singer known for her playback career in Indian cinema predominantly in Hindi, Bengali, Telugu and Tamil language films. She is a recipient of the National Film Award and Filmfare Awa ...

Ashit The Ashit (russian: Ашит) or Aşıt ( tt-Cyrl, Ашыт, translit=Aşıt ) is a river in Tatarstan and Mari El, Russia, Russian Federation, a left-bank tributary of the Ilet. It is long, and its drainage basin covers .

and Hema Desai, Aalap Desai, the Shyamal-Saumil Munshi brothers, Naynesh Jani and Bhupinder Singh. He has edited several books, including ''Vismi Sadini Gujarati Kavya Mudra'' (with

Chandrakant Sheth Chandrakant Sheth (born 3 February 1938) is a Gujarati poet, essayist, critic, translator and compiler from Gujarat, India. His pen names include Aryaputra, Nand Samavedi, Balchadra and Daksh Prajapati. He won the Sahitya Akademi Award for Gujar ...

, Yogesh Joshi and Urmila Thaker), ''Best of Miskin'' (2013; selected ghazals of

Rajesh Vyas Rajesh Vyas (Gujarati: રાજેશ વ્યાસ), better known by his pen name Miskin, is a Gujarati poet from India. Born and brought up in Ahmedabad, he completed his doctorate in Gujarati literature. He writes ghazal poetry and column ...

'Miskin', ''Shabda Sathe Maro Sambandh'' (2013; with

Anil Chavda Anil or Anıl may refer to: People * Anil (given name), an Indian given name (including a list of persons with the name) * Anıl (given name), a Turkish given name (including a list of persons with the name) * Anil (director), active in the Mala ...

), ''Yogesh Joshini Shreshtha Vartao'' (2008; with Urmila Thakar; selected short stories of Yogesh Joshi), ''Maru Satya'' (2006; with

Ankit Trivedi Ankit Trivedi (born 9 March 1981) is a Gujarati language poet, writer, columnist, and emcee from Gujarat, India. His significant works include ''Gazal Purvak'' (collection of ghazals) and ''Geet Purvak'' (collection of geets). The Indian Nation ...

), ''Prem Vishe'' (with Anil Chavda) and ''Sahityama Dariyo'' (with

Praful Raval Praful Raval ( gu, પ્રફુલ રાવલ) is a Gujarati teacher, poet, essayist and short story writer. Raval is a co-editor of ''Kavilok'' and '' Kumar'' and works as a general secretary of Gujarati Sahitya Parishad. He received Kuma ...

and

Rajendra Patel Rajendra Patel (Gujarati: રાજેન્દ્ર પટેલ) is a Gujarati language poet, short story writer and critic from Gujarat, India. He has served as Vice President of Gujarati Sahitya Parishad since 2014. His significant works incl ...

Recognition

He received the

(2010) and the

(2012) for his contribution and development of Gujarati ghazal.

Gujarati Sahitya Parishad Gujarati Sahitya Parishad () is a literary organisation for the promotion of Gujarati literature located in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. It was founded by Ranjitram Mehta with the aim of creating literature appealing to all classes of society an ...

conferred on him the Dilip Mehta Award (2008-2009) for his work ''Maun Ni Mahefil'' and

Uma-Snehrashmi Prize Uma-Snehrashmi Prize, also known as Uma-Snehrashmi Paritoshik ( gu, ઉમા-સ્નેહરશ્મિ પારિતોષિક) is a literary award in Gujarat, India founded by Snehrashmi in 1963 in a remembrance of his deceased daughter ...

(2012-2013) for his work ''Jhakal Ne Tadkani Vachche''. His book ''Javavano Riaz'' also earned an award in 2009, given by Ghazal Sabha, a

Vadodara Vadodara (), also known as Baroda, is the second largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Vadodara district and is situated on the banks of the Vishwamitri River, from the state capital ...

based institution. He is also a recipient of the Kumar Suvarna Chandrak (2015) and

(2015) and Harindra Dave Smriti Paritoshik (2015), presented by Harindra Dave Memorial Trust. In 2016, he was nominated for Urdu Sahitya Gaurav Puraskar for his book ''Mera Apna Aasman'' by

Gujarat Sahitya Akademi The Gujarat Sahitya Akademi ( gu, ગુજરાત સાહિત્ય અકાદમી) or Gujarat Sahitya Academy, established in 1981, is a government institution dedicated to the development of the languages spoken in Gujarat, India an ...

but he refused to accept the award in protest against lack of autonomy in the Akademi. He said that it was being given by a 'non-autonomous' body.

References

External links