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Professor Harivallabh Bhayani : Biographical Portrait
Prof. Harivallabh Bhayani was born in Mahuvā (ancient Madhumatī) in Saurashtra on the 26th of May 1917. His parents were Sthānakavāsi Jaina and of the śrīmālī community of Bhavnagar. Unfortunatly, Prof. Bhayani lost both the parents in his early childhood. He was then brought up by his grandmother who hailed from a Vaisnava family. Thanks to her, he was deeply soaked in Vaisnava religious environment which determined his orientations and shaped his future aptitudes. After passing matriculation with merits in 1934, he did his B. A. in 1939 and next moved to Bombay for further studies. He got his M. A. degree with Sanskrit and Prakrit which won him the Bhagwandas Purushottamdas Prize in Sanskrit. In 1945, he was appointed as a Lecturer in Post-graduate and Research Department in Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay. Under the guidance of Muni Jin Vijay, he got Ph. D. from the University of Bombay in 1951. Soon after he was appointed Reader. He continued teaching there till 1965. In those years, he was elected President of the Jainism Section of All India Oriental Conference (1955). In 1963, he delivered Narottam Hansraja Lectures at the Parshwanath Vidyashram, Benaras. In the same year, he was decorated with the Ranjitram Gold Medal for his notable contribution to Gujarati literature. In 1965, he was appointed Professor of Linguistics, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad, the position from which he retired in 1975. In those years, in 1967 to be precise, he delivered Wilson Philosophical Lectures and Thakkur Vasanji Lectures (1967), both at the University of Bombay. In 1972 he was elected as the President of the Research and Criticism Section of the Gujarati Sahitya Parishad Conference. From 1975 to 1985 he worked as the honorary Professor of Prakrit, L. D. Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad. In 1975, he delivered K. P. Trivedi Lectures in South Gujarat University, Surat, and in 1978 the I. C. Jhala Lectures, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay and, in 1980, the B. J. Sandesara Lecture in M. S. University, Baroda. In 1980-1981 he was awarded the Sahitya Academy Award for the best Gujarāti book of the year. In the same year he delivered Bhogilal Leherchand Annual Lecture, B. L. Institute of Indology, Pāțan, as also the Yashwant Pandya lecture, Gujarati Sahitya Parishad, Ahmedabad. In 1985 he got the President's Award of the Certificate of Honour as an outstanding Sanskrit scholar and also delivered the Vishnuprasad Trivedi Lectures in S.N.D.T. Women's University, Bombay, as well as the Gujarati Sahitya Parishad's Annual lectures.
Even after retiring from the L. D. Institute, his academic activities continued without interruption, for example, in 1986, he delivered the P. V. Kane lecture, Asiatic Society, Bombay. In 1987 he was awarded the Premanand Sahitya Sabha Medal. Then on streamed in a series of honours, some of which also were at the national, and one at the International level. For example, in 1990 he got the Gujarati Sahitya Academy
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