Har darshan kee pyaasee ankhiyaan
Posted by: Atul on: August 3, 2025
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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The worlds of film songs and the NonFilm Songs are totally different. Of course there was a time when people went for only NFS, but 1) that time film song records were not available like today and 2) that was a long time ago i.e. during the late 1920s to the 1940s. The set of people who liked NFS and collected these records or songs has long gone behind the curtain of the time !
Most lovers of music today are barely aware of a NFS which once made music lovers mad in the last mid century. There is no blame as times change, so do the trends and likings. Today, even classical vocal music is also in the background. Ask any film music lover 5 names of classical singers and most can not tell you. Here also no blame This is how the world takes turns. Public tastes change as per availability, like the way people dressed in olden times and modern times.
As a lover of NFS, let me tell you a story of a song and a singer which has a backdrop of this Blog. Ours was a family of Shiv Bhakts. My father had a Shiv mandir built next to our Bungalow. A big festival used to be celebrated every year on maha Shivratri. We Had a gramophone and many records of Shiv bhajans. One day my father brought a record of Shiv Bhajan. This song or rather a Bhajan was heard by us several times on the Radio, but did not know anything about the singer or the writer . The Bhajan was ” Hath Chakra Trishul Sadashiv, aalakh jagaate hai nagari mein”.
This bhajan was sung by Abhram Bhagat. This was sometime in the early 1950s- maybe 1952 or so. In those days I used to note down details of every film I saw. In one diary I wrote down the lyrics of this bhajan. As time passed on, I completed my education, joined a Multinational company’s Pharma division and years went by raising a family and building a career.
When I started writing on old films in 2012, I used information from my old diaries. One day I found the lyrics of that bhajan by Abhram Bhagat and all old memories crowded up in my mind. That was the time this Blog had also started posting NFS. This was an opportunity to write on that bhajan. But the biggest problem was, I did not have that bhajan with me.
I started searching for that song on you tube. After a few months, I found that song, but before I could download it, it disappeared. However, it reappeared after a few months, posted by one Suresh Shandilya from Australia. Hurriedly, I first downloaded it and I wrote an email to mr. Shandilya through Youtube. He promptly responded and told me how he got this Bhajan from the FIJI Island Radio. He also permitted me to use the song.
Now I have the song and lyrics but no information on the singer. I contacted Harish Raghuwanshi ji of Surat. He helped me and his friend Rajnikumar Pandya ji sent me all the required information. With all this material I wrote the post and it was published on the Blog on20-4-2013. There were 32 comments, from various places, like Australia, Fiji, African countries, Uk and the USA, telling me how this bhajan was sung in their homes. They were all nostalgic about it. The son of Abhram Bhagat also wrote a comment.
In the last 12 years the profile of the Blog readers has changed. That is why I gave the story behind finding the singer. Here is his Life story….
The singer of today’s bhajan is Abhram Bhagat. You will be surprised that the bhajan singer is a Muslim ! IBRAHIM KARIM SUMARA was born on 24-10-1920 ,at a small village Navagadh near Jaitpur,in Saurashtra region of Gujrat. His father was a police sepoy. Due to poverty of the family, Ibrahim could attend school only upto First standard. He left school and after a few years started working as a labourer in the Ghulam Hussain Mill. One day unfortunately he met with an accident in the Mill and one of his legs was caught in a machine. He was taken to Jaitpur’s Sir Adamji Haji Dawood Hospital the next day, but by that time there was infection in his leg and finally the entire leg had to be amputated.
Ibrahim was a handicapped person now and additionally he had no job also. His Uncle was a Police patel in a nearby village Khirasara, near jaitpur. Ibrahim went there. In that village,on every full moon night a Bhajan programme was arranged in the house of Rambhai Khod bhai. Young Ibrahim used to go there and play Manjira(an instrument) while Bhajans were sung. Slowly he started singing Bhajans himself and soon his Golden voice became popular in the village.
Once he started singing Krishna Bhajans, his fame spread and he was invited to the Junagadh Bhavnath Fair. Thousands of people enjoyed his bhajans and then started his Bhajan yatra in several towns of Saurashtra. His Bhajan singing changed his name from Ibrahim to Abhram and due to Krishna Bhajans Bhagat was added, thus ABHRAM BHAGAT was born as an expert Bhajan singer. The darbar of Wadia gave him accommodation in the Suragpara area. He built a house and married Halim Bano, daughter of sepoy Kalubhai of Jaitpur.
Although handicapped, he reached the top through sheer grit and determination. By singing Krishna Bhajans, he became a favourite of Vaishnav Community. In those day, about 50-60 years ago, there were many Bhajan singers in Gujarat like Yeshwant Bhatt, Mohanlal Rayani, Kanubhai Barot, Dula Bhagat etc, but Abhram Bhagat was the most popular.
Abhram Bhagat was very good in ” AKHYAN”-which has a story and songs are built around the story. His famous akhyan was ‘ Kunwarbai nu Mameru “. He also sang various other types like, Ardha, Katari, Prabhatiya, Ramgarhi etc.
Within a short period his fame spread far and wide and his shows became housefull even in Bombay and other places. His popularity grew further after he sang bhajans by Dula Bhaya Kag.
Many Recording companies like Columbia and HMV etc entered into contract with him .His Gujrati and Hindi Bhajan records( called “Tawdi”, locally) were fast sellers. In those days HMV did not have the Gold Disc system, otherwise 50% of his records would have qualified for it,surely. His Hindi records of SaiBaba bhajans were extremely popular. In those days, his popularity was such that people would go to only those Hotels which played his records !
The 1965 war was started by Pakistan on the Kutch Border. Abhram Bhagat sent his entire earnings to the Prime Minister’s Relief fund.
This Muslim singer was appreciated by Mahatma Gandhi, who wrote a personal letter to him lauding his songs. He sang Krishna Bhajans in the presence of Lal Bahadur Shastri (then our Prime Minister),at New Delhi and he was praised by him. In his letter he said that he was spellbound by his Bhajans.
He became so popular that he started getting invitations from various countries. In 1973, he undertook a visit to the USA on the invitation of ” American society for Eastern Arts”, “Centre for International progress and service” and ” New York state University(Dept. of Education)”. This tour lasted for almost a year. His every show was housefull in New York, Washington, Chicago and other cities, where the Indian population was sizable.
He also visited Canada, UK and many countries in Eastern Africa and Europe.
Money started flowing in and Abhram Bhagat purchased Agricultural land in Wadia. He put his son Mihir in Rajkot’s famous Rajkumar College( for rich class only). He also married off his daughters and saw that they are settled properly.
Despite being handicapped and illiterate( Gujarat Government had sent their Information officer Mr. P.L. Sadhu along with Bhagat as his interpreter to all foreign countries.) Abhram Bhagat became a successful Bhajan Singer. Haji Issabhai, a regular Dholak player in his troup describes Bhagat as a very simple person with his feet on the ground. Bhagat himself enjoyed singing Bhajans.
Though he was not ill or in advanced age, Abhram died on 27-2-1988 peacefully. All newspapers reported his death by saying “Tanpure ka ek Taar toot gaya”.
Today’s bhajan is of Saint Surdas. The music was probably given by Abhram himself, like his other bhajans. Enjoy….
Song- Har darshan kee pyaasee aankhiyaan (Abhram Bhagat NFS)(1940) Singer- Abhram Bhagat, Lyrics- Bhakt Soordas, Music- Abhram Bhagat
Lyrics
Har darshan kee pyaasee ankhiyaan
Har darshan kee pyaasee ankhiyaan
Prabhu daras kee pyaasee
dekhan chaahat kamal nayan ko
nis din rahat udaasee ee
Har darshan kee pyaasee ankhiyaan
Har darshan kee pyaasee ankhiyaan
Prabhu daras kee pyaasee
kesar tilak motiyan maala
Bindravan ka vaasee ee
Har darshan kee pyaasee ankhiyaan
Har darshan kee pyaasee ankhiyaan
Prabhu daras kee pyaasee
kaahu ke man kee kaun kya jaane
lokan ke man haansee ee
neh lagaay kya ??
daal gaye galfaansee re
Soordas Prabhu tihaare milan ko
Soordas Prabhu tihaare milan ko
karwat leu jaikaasee ankhiyaan
Har darshan kee pyaasee
Har darshan kee pyaasee ankhiyaan
Har darshan kee pyaasee
Har darshan kee pyaasee ankhiyaan
Har darshan kee pyaasee
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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