Guru Bhakt Singh 'Bhakt'

Guru Bhakt Singh 'Bhakt' (गुरु भक्त सिंह 'भक्त', 7 August 1893 – 17 May 1983) was a renowned poet and dramatist from northern India.

Life

Guru Bhakt Singh was born in Zamnia, in a civil servant family. His father, Shri Kalika Prasad Singh, in civil service, held the charge of the Government hospital, Zamania-Ghazipur. After completing his primary education in Ballia and Gorakhpur, he came to Allahabad. Here he completed his B.A. and L.L.B.. After working as an advocate for some time, he switched to a government job. In Allahabad, he came in contact with many famous poets and writers.

He was one of the knot of scholars of the Muir Central College, Allahabad which included luminaries like Dr. Amar Nath Jha.

He was married to Shashimukhi Devi with whom he had two sons (Anand & Arvind) and four daughters (Nandini, Ratan, Chndrakala & Shakuntala).

Family Tree

- Anand Kumar Singh (married to Kusum Singh)

 - Ashish Singh (married to Archana Singh)
 - Vaibhav Singh (married to Mamata)
 - Shweta Singh (married to Ved Prakash Singh)

- Arvind Kumar Singh (married to Nirmala Singh)

 - Anurag Chauhan (married to Taurika Singh)
   -- Apoorv Chauhan
   -- Arushi Chauhan
 - Gaurav Chauhan (married to Nidhi Singh)
   -- Shreya Chauhan
   -- Sanvi Chauhan

- Nandini Devi (married to Kalpanath Singh)

 - Uma Singh (married to Yashwant Singh)
 - Sushma Singh (married to Akshaywar Singh)
 - Ashutosh Singh (married to Vibha Singh)

- Ratan Kumari (married to Gajendra Pal Singh)

 - Chandra Pal Singh

- Chandrakala Singh (married to Kripa Shankar Singh)

 - Shailendra Singh
 - Rajendra Singh
 - Veerendra Singh
 - Ravindra Singh
 - Sangita Singh

- Shakuntala Singh (married to Rama Shankar Singh)

 - Ajay Singh
 - Vijay Singh
 - Sanjai Singh
 - Neelima Singh

Poetic themes

Guru Bhakt Singh dealt with different subjects and wrote on various aspects and objects of nature.

Details about his work

In the year 1925 all of a sudden when Saras Suman, the first poetic work of Shri Guru Bhakt Singh Bhakta was published through the efforts of Nagari Pracharini Sabha Ballia, its meteroic brilliance dazzled the Hindi world and overnight he was declared poet. Pt. Ajodhya Singh Upadhya Hariaudh declared him the founder of the Nature school in Hindi and the eminent scholar Dr. Amar Nath Jha saw in him the genius of Wordsworth, sweetness of Hafiz and vividness of Goldsmith.

A Collection of his poems, mostly on Nature, was published later as Kusum Kunj and Bansi Dhwani.

In 1935, the dramatic poetry work Nur Jahan was published to wide acclaim. It was later translated into English.

Thakur Guru Bhakta Singh has won for himself a unique position. Dr. Amarnath Jha, late Vice Chancellor of Allahabad University, called him "The Wordwsorth of Hindi Poetry".

In 1948 appeared his second Mahakavya Vikramaditya a dramatic piece in verse which bears the imprint of scholarship and research and its inclusion in post graduate course of different universities has put a seal to the hall mark of its excellence.

His son, Arvind Singh, later on took his father's work and wrote a book upon it. Due to his death on 30 May 2004, the book remains unpublished. Only 3 copies were ever made.

Awards and honours

Honoured with 'साहित्य- वारिधि' award in the Uttar Pradesh Hindi Sahitya Samelan.
Honoured by Morarji Desai (Former Prime Minister), in Aug 1977, for his exemplary services to the Hindi Literature.
He received "मंगला प्रसाद पारितोषिक" award for Nurjahan.
He was also awarded with रत्नाकर पदक,

बलदेव दास पदक,
मंगला प्रसाद पारितोषिक

Bibliography

Poetry

Saras Suman (1925)
Kusum Kunj (1927)
Vanshidwani (1932)
Nurjahan (1935)
Vikramaditya (1944)
Do Phool (1963)

Dramas

Prem-paash (1919) - Unpublished
Tasneem (1920) - Unpublished
Radhiya (1924) - Unpublished