Arjun Singh Shekhawat

Arjun Singh Shekhawat is a scholar, teacher and writer who has spent decades recording the life of Rajasthan’s tribal communities and campaigning for the Rajasthani language. He was named for the Padma Shri in 2021 in the field of literature and education, from Rajasthan ^[1].

Teacher and student

Shekhawat was born on 4 February 1934 in the Pali district village of Bhadarlau, and finished high school in Jodhpur ^[2]. He began work as a technical officer at a locust control centre before becoming a teacher ^[2]. While teaching he earned an MA in Hindi and Rajasthani along with titles in literature, Ayurveda and Vedic studies, and he later received honorary doctorates in 2003 and 2015 ^[2].

He led the district teachers’ association from 1970 to 1978, served for nine years as district convenor of the Indian Cultural Fund and for ten years as an education extension officer ^[2]. He founded the Rajasthan Gyanpeeth Sansthan and an Adivasi Academy ^[2].

Thirty books

His first book on Rajasthani literature and culture, Bhil Dharti Meh Pavno, came out in 1952 ^[2]. He has written 30 books in all, among them Anboliya Bol (1976), Rajasthani Vrath Kathava (1999), Bhakar Ra Bhomiya (2006), Aadavalo Ardayo (2010) and Mailo Minakh (2016) ^[2]. He has also translated Russian and English stories and Malayalam and Hindi poems into Rajasthani ^[2].

Shekhawat spent long stretches in remote and difficult tribal areas to gather rare material on the folk literature and culture of the Garasia people ^[2]. At the time of the award he was writing about the Dewasi and Kalbelia communities ^[2], and with help from the University Grants Commission he made four films on tribal life ^[2].

The language campaign

Since 1992 he has campaigned for Rajasthani to be added to the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, and he has been district president of a committee pressing that demand ^[2]. He has represented Rajasthan at cultural programmes of the Sangeet Natak Akademi, the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts and other bodies, and has received some 25 awards, including the Rajasthani Language Literature Academy’s award in 2006 ^[2].