Harmohinder Singh Bedi

Harmohinder Singh Bedi is a Hindi writer and academic from Punjab and the chancellor of the Central University of Himachal Pradesh in Dharamshala. He was named for the Padma Shri in 2022 in the field of literature and education, from Punjab ^[1].

A teacher at Amritsar

Bedi was born on 12 March 1950 in Mukerian, Hoshiarpur district ^[2]. His father nurtured his early love of literature and language ^[2]. He took MAs in Hindi and Punjabi and a PhD in Hindi at Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, where he joined the faculty in 1978, and later earned a DLitt from Bhagalpur University ^[2]. He retired as professor and head of the Hindi department, and was professor emeritus at Punjabi University, Patiala, from 2012 to 2014 ^[2].

Hindi in Gurmukhi

At Guru Nanak Dev University he began research to find and compile Hindi literature written in the Gurmukhi script ^[2]. With his students he discovered and edited many such works, and wrote histories of medieval Hindi literature that bring out Punjab’s part in it ^[2]. His three-volume edition of the works of Shardha Ram Phillauri reshaped the history of Hindi literature ^[2]. He has compiled the hymns of Guru Tegh Bahadur and the works of poets at Guru Gobind Singh’s court, and written on the message of the Guru Granth Sahib ^[2].

He has also published more than 15 books of poems and writes columns for Hindi newspapers ^[2].