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22 Apr 2025

82-year old Ramilaben Shukla Completes PhD on Ghazalkar Shunya Palanpuri

82-year-old Ramilaben Shukla recently fulfilled her dream as she received her PhD degree at the 10th convocation ceremony of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University (BAOU) in the presence of Governor of Gujarat Acharya Devvrat. She was also felicitated by Gujarat’s Education Minister Prafulla Pansheriya and Health Minister Rishikesh Patel, as well as University Vice Chancellor Ms Amiben Upadhyay. Ramilaben is the wife of Late Sanatbhai Shukla, and the daughter of Late Rukmini (Rukiben) and Late Popatlal Mohanlal Mehta.

Born in Palanpur in 1943, Ramilaben was married in 1968 to Sanatbhai, a respected professional in banking and later media from Palanpur. She had to put aside her plans to study further after completing her BSc from Ahmedabad due to family and social responsibilities. But, decades later, she returned to the Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University, completing her MA in Gujarati in 2016, and now getting her PhD from the same institution in 2025.

Due to a deep interest in Gujarati literature, she chose 'Ghazalkar Shyuni Palanpuri-A Study' as the theme for her PhD thesis. The thesis focused on the life and poetic works of Ali Khan Usman Khan Baloch, popularly known as Shunya Palanpuri in Gujarati literary circles. He passed away in 1987. He had been writing ghazals from the age of 16.

Speaking to Mid-day, she said that a compendium of all Shunya Palanpuri’s writing in a single edition, “Shunya no Vaibhav” was compiled at her home. She was part of the team that executed the that mammoth project. “I got deeply engaged with Shunya saheb’s writing during this phase. I also got to meet him during many Mushairas and Gazal- baithaks. I started appreciating the depth and highest quality of his writing during that journey, When I completed my MA, I decided that I will further carry out research on Shunya Palanpuri and in a way, offer my Shraddhanjali to him,” she explained.

Guided by Professor Yogendra Parekh she did in depth research, studying over 125 books of ghazals and the works of 10 ghazalkars too. At her age this involved long hours in libraries and poring over books, as well as interestingly, having to learn typing, as well as use of computers and the Internet to access data spread across India and the world.

Ramilaben's work analyses the structure, emotional depth, social context of Shunya Palanpuris ghazals and the impact they had on Gujarati literature. The PhD presents this in-depth analysis in the context of other contributions made at the time by his contemporary artistes.

Click here to view a video interview with Ramilaben Shukla