Pratap Singh I, popularly known as Maharana Pratap, was a king of Mewar, a region in north-western India in the present-day state of Rajasthan. He is notable for leading the Rajput resistance against the expansionist policy of the Mughal Emperor Akbar including the Battle of Haldighati and Battle of Dewair which have turned him into a folk hero.
Udaipur is a city and municipal corporation in Udaipur district of the state of Rajasthan, India. It is also known as the 'City of Lakes' and serves as the administrative headquarters of Udaipur district. It is the historic capital of the kingdom of Mewar in the former Rajputana Agency. It was founded in 1559 by Udai Singh II of the Sisodia clan of Rajputs, when he shifted his capital from the city of Chittorgarh to Udaipur after Chittorgarh was besieged by Akbar. It remained as the capital city till 1818 when it became a British princely state, and thereafter the Mewar province became a part of Rajasthan when India gained independence in 1947.
Bhama Shah (1547–1600) was a noted general, minister and close aide of Maharana Pratap Singh. The financial support provided by him allowed Maharana Pratap to restore his army and reclaim much of his lost territory.
Gopaldas Saxena was an Indian poet and author of Hindi literature. He was also a poet of Hindi Kavi sammelan. He wrote under the pen name "Neeraj".
Mohanlal Chaturbhuj Kumhar is an artisan of Rajasthan. He won the Shilp Guru award in 2003 for his skills in terracotta sculpture. Born in 1939 he is resident of Nathdwara. In 23rd Surajkund Crafts Mela. Mohan Lal Chaturbhuj of Rajasthan was also awarded the Kalamani for his works in terracotta. He has participated in promoting this traditional art in various countries like Spain, USA and Australia. The Government of India awarded him the civilian honour of Padma Shri in 2012.
Bhogilal Pandya (1904-1981) was a freedom fighter and social worker from Dungarpur in the Indian state of Rajasthan. On 3 April 1976, the Government of India awarded him the Padma Bhushan for his social services. The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, given for distinguished service to the nation. For his championing of education and rights for the poor and underprivileged, he is referred by the people of Rajasthan as "Gandhi of Vahgad". His home is in the Gandhi aashram area of Dungarpur.
Vijaydan Detha, also known as Bijji, was a noted Indian writer of Rajasthani literature. He was a recipient of several awards including the Padma Shri and the Sahitya Akademi Award.
Bhuvneshwari Kumari is a former women's squash champion from India. She is recipient of prestigious awards like Padma Shri and Arjuna Award. She is also a record holder of Guinness Book of World Records by being National champion 16 times in a row. She belongs to the former royal family of Alwar.
Vaidya Suresh Chaturvedi (1928-2017) was an Ayurveda practitioner from Rajasthan, India. Previously he was a professor at Bombay University and has written many books on Ayurveda. In 2000, he was awarded the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in the India. As an active practitioner of the ancient science of Ayurveda (healing), he is known in the national and international arenas of alternate medicines and has presented numerous papers. He has held a number of conferences in India. He was, a Ph.D guide in the University of Mumbai.
Chandra Prakash Deval is a Rajasthani poet and translator. He is also the convener of Rajasthani Advisory Council of Sahitya Akademi.
Ram Bahadur Rai is a senior Hindi journalist. He is Former news editor of Hindi daily Jansatta. He has published and authored and edited several of books. He is known for some impressive biographies, written in Hindi, namely Shashwat Vidrohi Rajneta based on life and acts of Gandhian socialist Acharya J. B. Kripalani, Rahvari ke Sawal on Chandrashekhar and Manjil se Jyada Safar on V P Singh. He was a close associate of the Indian freedom fighter and political leader Jayaprakash Narayan and was also part of a Steering Committee of JP Movement.
Mohammed Tayab Khan is a noted craftsman from Rajasthan state in India. He was awarded Padma Shri award in 2001 by Government of India for his contribution. He hails from Jodhpur.
Haribhau Upadhyaya was an Indian politician and an Indian independence activist. He was the Chief Minister of Ajmer State from 1952 to 1956.
Shanno Khurana is a noted Indian classical vocalist and composer, from the Rampur-Sahaswan gharana of Hindustani classical music. A disciple of the doyen of the gharana, Ustad Mushtaq Hussain Khan, she is known for performing rare bandish and raag, though her singing style includes genres like khayal, tarana, thumri, dadra, tappa, to chaiti and bhajan. Born and brought up in Jodhpur, she started singing on All India Radio in 1945 in Lahore, later shifted to Delhi, where she continued her singing on All India Radio, Delhi and in concerts and music festivals. She also pursued music education, finally earning her M.Phil. and PhD in music from the Kairagarh University, and has undertakes extensive research on folk music of Rajasthan.
Gyan Chaturvedi is an Indian writer and satirist in Hindi language, known for his satirical novels, Baramasi and Narak Yathra. He was honoured by the Government of India in 2015 with Padma Shri, the fourth highest Indian civilian award.
Leeladhar Jagudi is an Indian teacher, journalist and poet of Hindi literature. He is the author of several poetry anthologies including Natak Jari Hai and Shankha Mukhi Shikharon Par and is a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award, for his 1997 anthology, Anubhav Ke Aakash Mein Chand. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2004, for his contributions to Hindi literature.
Sushil Kumar Jain known professionally as Sushil Doshi is an Indian journalist, writer, sports commentator and the first cricket commentator in Hindi. Born to Niranjanlal and Madan Kunwar at Indore, in the second largest Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, he graduated in engineering from Shri Govindram Seksaria Institute of Technology and Science (SGSITS) Indore and started his commentating career in 1968 at the Nehru Stadium for a Ranji Trophy match between Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Over the years, he is reported to have covered nine Cricket World Cups, 85 test matches and over 400 One Day Internationals, besides several Twenty20 Internationals. His contributions are reported in making cricket commentary in Hindi popular. He has also written two books in Hindi on sports, Khel Patrakarita published in 2003 and Cricket Ka Mahabharat, published in 2016.
Prakash Chand Surana was an Indian jeweler, business person, philanthropist and a music connoisseur, known for his efforts to promote Hindustani music. He was the co-founder of Shruti Mandal, a music community in Jaipur and served as its president, under the aegis of which he reportedly attempted to revive Jaipur gharana tradition. Founded in 1964, the forum has hosted, over the years, such musicians as Kumar Gandharv, Ravi Shankar, Zakir Hussain, Bhimsen Joshi and Hariprasad Chaurasia. Born in 1939 in Jaipur in the Indian state of Rajasthan in a Marwari family, he inherited the family jewelry business and contributed to reviving the Kundan meenakari tradition of jewelry making. Surana, who was married to Shobha Devi and had four children- Chandra, Manju, Pracheer & Priti, died on 5 February 2015, succumbing to a cardiac arrest. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, posthumously in 2016, for his contributions to arts. He was also a recipient of Sawai Bhawani Singh Award for excellence in business and industry and Dagar Gharana Award of the Maharana of Mewar Foundation.
Surender Sharma is an Indian poet, writer and humorist. He often writes and performs comic sketches of himself and his wife and known for his refrain chaar lainaa suna raha hoon in Haryanavi dialect. He was honoured by the Government of India in 2013, with the award of Padma Shri for his contributions to the field of literature.
