Labhshankar Thakar

Labhshankar Thakar Biography

Labhshankar Thakar was a noted writer belonging to Gujarati literature. His full name is Labhshankar Jadavji Thakar, and was also known by his pen names Lagharo and Vaidya Punarvasu. He contributed to Gujarati literature in the form of plays, short stories and poems. One of the prominent modern writers of Gujarati literature, a reader can notice the influence of experimental literature and absurd theatre in his works. Thakar, along with Madhu Rye belongs to Rye School, a modernist tradition of Gujarati literature. In 1991 he received Sahitya Akademi award for his poetry, Tolan Aawaz Ghunghat. Ranjitram Suvarna Chandrak in 1980, Kumar Chandrak in 1962 and Sahitya Gaurav Puraskar from Gujarati Sahitya Akademi in 2002 are the major honours received by him.

Thakar was born on 14 January 1935 in Sedla village of Surendranagar district, Gujarat. After completing his master’s degree in 1956, he started his professional career as a lecturer at Ahmedabad. During this time he completed Diploma in Suddha Ayurveda in 1964 and opened an Ayurvedic clinic, where he practised till his death most recently on 6 January 2016. As a writer he concentrated on poetry and plays than other forms of work, though he has given contributions to journalism, criticism, biography etc. He authored biography of his mother titled - Maari Ba (1989).

As a writer though he started off with normal traditional methods of writing poems like Vahi Jati Pachhal Ramya Ghosha in 1965, slowly he shifted to experimental means and he gave preference to write poetry as a process rather than a single entity. Three years later when he published his next work - Manasni Vaat, he adapted a new style for this work. His innovative methods and styles can be well noticed through the works -Boom Kagalma Kora, Mara Namne Darwaje, Pravahan, Kalagranthi etc. He also wrote books on Ayurveda.

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Updated: March 06, 2016