Padma Awards 2022
Indian President Ram Nath Kovind presented Padma Awards to 74 distinguished personalities for the year 2022 at the Civil Investiture Ceremony II at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Monday. As part of the event, several people from different fields including art, entertainment, social work, sports and science among others were honored with Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri.
For the unversed, this year, the list includes 4 Padma Vibhushans, 17 Padma Bhushans and 107 Padma Shris.
Here are some of the awardees who were recognized for their contribution to the field of art. Follow Spotlife Asia for the latest news and updates.
President Kovind presented the Padma Shri honour to Lalita Vakil, a Chamba Rumal embroider who aims to preserve, practice and impart the training of this cultural dying form. Promoted under the patronage of the former rulers of the Chamba kingdom, the Chamba Rumal is an embroidered handicraft and has been registered for protection under the Geographical Indication (GI) of the Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).
Born in 1944, Lourembam Bino Devi is the oldest expert in the traditional method of applique art called ‘Leeba’ in Manipur. She was awarded the honor for rendering her service in the revival of this cultural asset for the last 53 years. To revive this art form, she provides training and workshops in several places in the country. Leeba, the ancient applique art of Manipur, was popular during the royal era and was practised at Phiribi Loishang – house for maintaining clothes worn by the deities and royals.
A renowned Kuchipudi dancer, Gaddam Padmaja Reddy, was awarded Padma Shri for her relentless effort to promote the dance form. She has been performing Kuchipudi for over 50 years now.
Sakini Ramachandraiah, a vocal folk singer and dhol player, was presented Padma Shri by the President. He is known for ‘Kanchu melam-Kanchuthalam’ – a tribal art form belonging to the Koya people in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. In February, K Chandrashekar Rao had announced a site for Ramachandraiah in Kothagudem and Rs 1 crore towards construction costs.
A woodcraft artist, Tsering Namgyal from Ladakh was conferred with the Padma Shri His family has practised this art for successive generations and he has been preserving and promoting this art for the past four decades.
Thavil exponent Kongampattu AV Murugaiyan was awarded Padma Shri at the ceremony for his immense contribution to conserving the ancient Carnatic musical instrument, thavil. Currently working as a thavil teacher in Villupuram in Tamil Nadu, he has trained more than 300 students in his 23 years of teaching service. He was also conferred with the Kalaimamani award, the highest civilian award in the state of Tamil Nadu, in 2006.
An exponent of the Benares Gharana school of Indian classical music, Pandit Shivnath Mishra was honored for representing a long lineage of Benares Gharana music tradition. He plays the four styles of Benares Gayaki Ang – Dhrupad, Khayal, Thumri and Tappa. He is the 10th generation of the prominent Benares Gharana lineage and has performed on several prestigious platforms.
H R Keshavamurthy, an artist of the art form ‘gamka’, was presented the honor for his distinguished singing style. His style is proven to be Keshavamurthy Gharana just like Varanasi, Kanpur, Jaipur, Mumbai and Puna gharanas. Earlier, he was honored with Kumaravyasa Prashasti in the year 2009 and Karnataka Ratna by the government of Karnataka in 2002.
Also known as Sowcar Janaki, Sankaramanchi Janaki was honored in the field of art, she is a versatile film actor and a TV, voice, radio and stage artist who has performed in over 450 films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi and performed on stage in over 3000 shows. She is also the recipient of two Nandi Awards.
Folk dancer Arjun Singh Dhurve, who is famous for popularizing Baiga folk songs and dance of the Baiga tribe, was also conferred with the honor. In this form of dance, the performers wear the masks of peacocks, elephants, horses and so on. He has also presented the program at the residences of the then President APJ Abdul Kalam and Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh earlier.
Sulochana Chavan, an Indian singer known for her lavanis in Marathi, was among the awardees in the field of art. So far, she has rendered her voice to around 250 Hindi songs and over 5,000 songs in Marathi.
Khandu Wangchuk Bhutia, an artist from Sikkim known for his exquisite works in the Thangka style of painting, was awarded the honor for her contributions that have been influential in the preservation of the art form in the Himalayan regions. Thangka is a Tibetan Buddhist painting style done on cotton, silk applique usually depicting a Buddhist deity, scene or mandala.
Kathak exponent Nalini Asthana was awarded the honour at the ceremony on Monday. Asthana’s Kathak, which has been evolved by her, has educational content and is fit for taking classical arts to the masses, thereby, contributing to its growth and reach. Nalini’s sister Kamlini Asthana was also awarded for serving the art field for over five decades. She is a senior Kathak exponent of Varansi gharana.
Additionally, Dr Prabha Atre, Victor Banerjee and Sonu Nigam were also conferred with Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri respectively for their outstanding contributions in the field of art.
