Chandrabhan Khayal was born on April 3, 1946 at Babai Hoshangabad district. In recent years, he has emerged as leading poet of Urdu Nazm and regarded as a giant among non-Muslim poets in line with Pt Daya Shankar Naseem, Pt Labbhuram Josh Malsiyani, Dr. Jagannath Azad and Raghupati Sahai Firaq Gorakhpuri. Babai is a place where he live Urdu teaching facilities were not available. Therefore, Khayal acquired the knowledge of Urdu through self-reading.

After graduation he reached Delhi where he came into contact with Pt Ramkrishna Muztar Kakodwi, under whose guidance he became an expert of Urdu. In the early years, he used to writer poetry under the pseudonym 'Chandra' but later changed it to 'Khayal' on the suggestion of Firaq Gorakhpuri At present, he is the vice-chairman of Council for Promotion of Urdu Language in India at New Delhi. His books include 1. Sholon Ka Shajar (collection of poetry) 2. Gumshuda Admi ka Intezar (poetry), 3. Kumar Pashi-Ek Intekhab 4. Laulak (A long poem based on the life of Prophet Hazrat Mohammad (SAWS) 5. Sulagti soch ke saaye (Hindi poetry) 6. Subh-e-Mashriq ki azan (A collection of poems).

Khayal has won a number of prestigious awards including Sheri Bhopali Award of MP Urdu Akademi and Makhanlal Chaturvedi Rashtriya Samman of Madhya Pradeshgovernment.

Best couplets:

Parbat se utar kar chali jangal mein hawa tez 
Main bhi usi raftaar se kuchh door chala tez 
Phir dhoop mein saayon ke huey sainkdon tukde 
Phir waqt ki talwar ko suraj ne kiya tez 
Inhen mandir banana hai, unhen masjid banana hai 
Koi sunta naheen unki, jinhen ik ghar banana hai