Beyond the Spotlight: 5 Unsung Traditional Artists Honoured in Padma 2026

This year’s Padma awards were surprising in many aspects. There were many veterans, well-known personalities in their respective fields, and they are very highly recognisable and respected in their fields of art. But this year in the list of awardees, there were very few known people, whose contributions in the field of Arts was immense but little known, their contributions were honoured and these deserving people got Padma awards this year. These people have spent decades in their respective fields, worked tirelessly very hard and a day in their lives came when Government of India recognised their devotion to their arts and awarded a Padma award. This article honours them and their contribution, and tries to throw a spotlight on these lesser-known artists.

Shri Dharmiklal Chunilal Pandya and the Art of Manbhatt Akhyan Storytelling Tradition of Gujarat

Dharmiklal Chunilal Pandya, a ninety-four-year-old folk artist residing in Vadodara, Gujarat, has been conferred the Padma Shri award this year for his enormous contributions to the field of art. He learnt this art from his father, Chunnilal Govindram. After the death of his father in his childhood, he started giving Akhyan performances to support himself and his family, leaving his school education midway. Pandya has spent his entire life practising and performing the ancient Gujarati art of Manbhatt Akhyan, a musical narration of Hindu mythological stories from Ramayana, Mahabharata, and various Puranas, along with the rhythm created by striking finger rings on metal pots (usually a huge pot made of copper called Man). Pandya has preserved this art through performing, practising, teaching students, writing stories, and composing music. He has established a school, Shri Maan Akhyan Sikshan Kendra, where he teaches the art of Manbhatt Akhyan to young students. He has so far performed more than 2,500 Akhyans in India and abroad. A couple of his most acclaimed works include ‘Shri Harivansh Puran’ (a 28-episode series on All India Radio), ‘Shri Shiv Mam Puran’, and ‘Shri Sangeet Shrimad Bhagwat’. Pandya has also used Akhyan as a medium to raise awareness on ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’, de-addiction, and various environmental issues. He has written books in Gujarati, such as ‘Gujarati Akhyan’ and ‘Govindgun Sagar’. He was awarded by the Sangeet Natak Academi in 1983.

Tribal Sound, it took  Bhiklya Ladakya Dhinda eighty years of practice and perseverance to get the Padma Shri award this year 

 Bhiklya Ladakya Dhinda, a resident of Palghar in Maharashtra, has been awarded Padma Shri for his contribution in the field of art. He plays a very ancient tribal musical wind instrument called Tarpa, made of bamboo reeds and a long gourd. Tarpa is associated with the Warli and other Adivasi tribes of the region. Tarpa is much more than a simple musical instrument; it is his tribal identity, ancient tradition, spirituality, organically linked with the culture and soul of Dhinda. Bhiklya Ladakya Dhinda took up his Harpa when he was in his early teens, and today, at the ripe age of ninety, he is still in love with Tarpa, never willing to leave it playing. The Indian government has honoured this nonagenarian tribal from Palghar this year. Tarpa has been in his family for generations. He saw his father and grandfather playing Tarpa, and he picked it up very early from them. Throughout his life, he played his Tarpa at festivities, gatherings, tribal ceremonies, and occasions associated with public gatherings and official events. He received applause, adulation, admiration, appreciation, and awards from the society. Now, at last, the Government of India has recognised his services to the community and his devotion to his art by conferring the Padma Shri Award on him.

Gafruddin Mewati Jogi and his Unique Musical Instrument called Bhapang.

Gafruddin Mewati Jogi, as his name suggests, belongs to the Mewat region of Rajasthan, and he is a jogi, a community of which Yogi Adityanath is head. The jogi community, among its adherents, has always had a good number of Muslims. He is a resident of Alwar, where he settled from Deeg in 1978. He plays a musical instrument called the Bhapang and sings folk songs based on the Mahabharata, Raja Bhartrihari, Krishna, and even Holi this season. He has recorded more than 2800 songs, and many of them have been copied by music directors from the film industry. He learnt his art from his father Budh Singh, and since his childhood he is performing daily, roaming, singing, seeking alms from householders was his daily routine, a routine associated with the jogis. Soon, his art was recognised and patronised by people in the region, and he became a sought-after folk artist for various occasions, gatherings, and functions. His dates were booked months in advance. He has not only performed in Rajasthan and across many parts of India, but also abroad. Since 1992, he has regularly performed in many countries, including England, Australia, Canada, France, and the UAE. Indian Prime Minister Modi also liked his performances and added him to his Swachh Bharat Mission (cleanliness drive). His brother and his son, too, are folk artists like him, and they will carry his legacy forward. He wishes to open a school that promotes folk arts like his and where students can learn and keep these folk arts alive for future generations. 

Nuruddin Ahmed, Sculptor, Art Director, and Puppet Maker from Assam, Awarded Padma Shri This Year

 Nuruddin Ahmed is a sculptor, theatre artist, and art director from Assam who received this year's Padma Shri award for his contributions to the promotion and preservation of traditional regional Assamese folk arts. He is renowned for his stagecraft. He was born on 17 January 1958 in Sathikuchi village in Nalbari district, Assam. He received formal training at J.J. College of Arts and later at the Lalit Kala Academy, where he honed his skills and learnt modern techniques in sculpture. From the Centre for Cultural Resources and Training (CCRT), he earned a diploma in kathputli (puppet) making. Beginning as a puppet maker, he moved into many fields, especially mobile theatre in Assam, where he contributed immensely to the cultural movement. Renown and rewarded for his stagecraft, he has designed more than three hundred plays, sets, and stages for theatre, visual presentations, and cultural performances. He has performed along with his troupe not only in Assam but also in countries like Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. He has been honoured by many state and national-level institutions. Assam Sahitya Sabha awarded him the Kala Ratna Bata Samman in 2012; he received the Chamanlal Memorial Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award from Ekjute, Mumbai. He received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2017 for his contribution to stagecraft in Indian theatre. A book on his life titled Kalakar Nuruddin Ahmedor Jiban aru Sadhana has been published by Gati Assam and Sahari Foundation.

Shri Jyotish Debnath and the Magic of Muslin and Jamdani lives on

Jyotish Debnath, a resident of Kalna in Burdwan district of West Bengal, is a master weaver of Jamdani sarees and muslin textiles, which were much famous in Mughal and East India Company times of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. As a master weaver, Debnath specialises in using 500 count needles for muslin weaving and creating fine Jamdani sarees. He is training many people of his region in the art of muslin weaving, which was a dying art and needed a strong revival. He is working for the revival of muslin weaving. He nowadays supports his son Rajib Debnath, who is also a master weaver like his father. He has created a name for himself and generated a revival of muslin and Jamdani saree making. He has been awarded the Sant Kabir Award, recognising his contribution in the field of muslin and Jamdani sarees as a master weaver.