The Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship, also known as Akademi Ratna Sadasyata, is an Indian honour for the performing arts presented by Sangeet Natak Akademi. It is "the most prestigious and rare honour" conferred by the Akademi and is "restricted to 40 individuals at any given time".
Background In 1945, The Asiatic Society of Bengal submitted a proposal to establish a National Cultural Trust consisting of three academies: an Academy of Music, Dance, and Drama, an Academy of Letters, and an Academy of Art and Architecture. The proposal was reconsidered in the Conference on Art held in Kolkata in 1949, and two conferences, the Conference on Letters, and the Conference on Dance, Drama, and Music, were held in New Delhi in 1951. All three conferences were organized by the Government of India and recommended the establishment of three national academies: an Academy of Music, Dance, and Drama (Sangeet Natak Akademi), an Academy of Letters (Sahitya Akademi), and an Academy of Art (Lalit Kala Akademi).
The Sangeet Natak Akademi, established on 31 May 1952 by a resolution of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (then the Ministry of Education), Government of India, headed by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, is India's National Academy for Music, Dance, and Drama. The Akademi was officially inaugurated on 28 January 1953 by the first President of India, Rajendra Prasad and P. V. Rajamannar was appointed as its first Chairman. The first members of the Executive Board of the Akademi consisted of Maharaja Sri Sir Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar Bahadur, T. L. Venkatarama Aiyar, S. N. Mozumdar, N. R. Ray, Dharma Vira, A.K. Ghosh, J. C. Mathur, and A. V. Venkateswaran. Other two institutes were established later; the Sahitya Akademi was inaugurated on 12 March 1954 and the Lalit Kala Akademi was inaugurated on 5 August 1954. Later, on 11 September 1961, it was reorganized as a society and registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. Though the Sangeet Natak Akademi functions as an autonomous organization of the Ministry of Culture, its programmes are completely funded by the Government.
The Sangeet Natak Akademi is defined as "the apex body of the performing arts" in the country and primarily focuses on "preserving and promoting the vast intangible heritage of India's diverse culture expressed in the forms of music, dance and drama". The Akademi has also established various institutions in the fields of performing arts: the National School of Drama in New Delhi in 1959, the Jawaharlal Nehru Manipur Dance Academy in Imphal and the National Institute of Kathak Dance in New Delhi in 1964, and the Koodiyattam Kendra in Thiruvananthapuram in 1990. Since 1965, the Akademi also publishes a quarterly journal, Sangeet Natak.
Description The Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship is conferred without distinction of nationality, race, caste, religion, creed, or sex. Although it can be seen from the list of awardees that most of them are brahmins or upper caste hindus. The criteria restricts any person below the age of 50 to ordinarily be considered for the honour, although a minimum age of 35 is required. Persons who are already deceased do not qualify; if an honoree dies before the honour is conferred, however, the honour will be assigned posthumously. The criteria also excludes any institution along with the members of the General Council of the Akademi from consideration. The fellowship does not refer to any specific work or achievement of an artist but to the "significant and lasting contribution on a sustained basis over a period of time". The recommendations are received from the current fellows along with the members of the General Council of the Akademi.
The fellowship was established in 1954 and the first elected fellows were Carnatic music vocalist Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, Veena player Karaikudi Sambasiva Aiyer, and film and theatre actor Prithviraj Kapoor. , the fellowship has been conferred upon 148 individuals, including 32 dancers, 31 theater performers, 76 musicians, and 9 individuals awarded for their overall contributions in all three fields. Since its inception, the honour has been bestowed upon 26 female artists and, in 1958, a Hindustani classical vocalist, belonging to the Bhendibazaar gharana, Anjanibai Malpekar became the first woman fellow of the Akademi. A French national and musicologist Alain Daniélou is the only non-Indian national awarded with the fellowship.
As per the constitutional provision under Rule 12 (vi) of the Rules and Regulations of the Akademi, the number of fellows is restricted to 30. On 25 March 2003, the General Council of the Akademi recommended restricting the number of fellows to 40 living persons and a total of 60 at any given time. However, the recommendation is not yet approved by the Ministry. , there are 39 Fellows of the Sangeet Natak Akademi. Each recipient is awarded with a cash prize of , an Angavastram (Shawl), and a Tamrapatra (citation plaque) given under the seal of Akademi and signature of its Chairman. There were ten recipients for the year 2019, 2020 and 2021. The most recent fellowship was announced on 27 February 2024 and awarded to six recipients for the year 2022 and 2023.
List of fellows
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+List of Central Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellows, showing the year, and field(s) Year Image Recipient Field(s) 1954 Music 1954 Music 1954 Music 1954 Music 1954 Theatre 1958 Music 1962 Music 1962 Music 1962 Dance 1962 Music 1963 Music 1963 Music 1963 Music 1963 Theatre 1964 Music 1964 Music 1964 Music 1964 Music 1964 Music 1964 Theatre 1965 Music 1965 Music 1965 Music 1965 Music 1965 Music 1966 Music 1966 Overall Contribution/Scholarship 1966 Theatre 1966 Music 1967 Theatre 1967 Dance 1967 Music 1967 Music 1967 Dance 1967 Dance 1967 Dance 1967 Theatre 1968 Overall Contribution/Scholarship 1970 Music 1970 Dance 1970 Music 1972 Music 1972 Music 1972 Music 1973 Theatre 1974 Theatre 1974 Music 1974 Music 1975 Dance 1975 Music 1975 Theatre 1975 Music 1975 Music 1976 Overall Contribution/Scholarship 1976 Music 1977 Music 1978 Music 1978 Theatre 1979 Theatre 1979 Music 1979 Music 1979 Dance 1980 Overall Contribution/Scholarship 1982 Dance 1982 Music 1984 Music 1984 Theatre 1984 Music 1986 Music 1986 Music 1986 Music 1986 Music 1988 Music 1989 Music 1990 Theatre 1990 Dance 1991 Music 1991 Dance 1991 Overall Contribution/Scholarship 1992 Music 1992 Music 1992 Music 1993 Theatre 1993 Dance 1994 Music 1994 Music 1994 Overall Contribution/Scholarship 1995 Music 1996 Dance 1996 Music 1996 Theatre 1997 Theatre 1998 Music 1998 Dance 1998 Dance 1998 Theatre 2001 Music 2001 Theatre 2001 Dance 2002 Music 2002 Theatre 2004 Dance 2004 Music 2004 Other performing arts 2004 Dance 2004 Theatre 2004 Theatre 2006 Dance 2006 Music 2006 Music 2006 Theatre 2006 Dance 2007 Overall Contribution/Scholarship 2008 Theatre 2008 Dance 2008 Music 2008 Music 2009 Music 2009 Music 2009 Music 2009 Dance 2009 Theatre 2009 Theatre 2010 Music 2010 Music 2010 Dance 2010 Music 2011 Music 2011 Music 2011 Dance 2011 Theatre 2011 Theatre 2011 Overall Contribution/Scholarship 2011 Music 2011 Dance 2011 Music 2011 Dance 2011 Music 2012 Music 2012 Theatre 2012 Music 2013 Theatre 2013 Dance 2013 Dance 2014 Music 2014 Music 2014 Music 2014 Theatre 2015 Dance 2016 Music 2016 Music 2016 Theatre 2016 Overall Contribution/Scholarship 2018 Music 2018 Dance 2018 Dance 2018 Dance 2019-21 Dance 2019-21 Dance 2019-21 Dance 2019-21 Music 2019-21 Music 2019-21 Music 2019-21 Music 2019-21 Music 2019-21 Music 2019-21 Overall Contribution/Scholarship 2022-23 Vinayak Khedekar Overall Contribution/Scholarship 2022-23 Music 2022-23 Dance 2022-23 Dance 2022-23Dulal Roy Theater 2022-23 Theater
See also List of Sahitya Akademi fellows List of Lalit Kala Akademi fellows
Explanatory notes
References
External links