Maharana Sajjan Singh Award

(Established 1983)

Although Maharana Sajjan Singhji (1874-1884) passed away prematurely at a very young age, his achievement and contributions to the State of Mewar were unparalleled. He provided electrification and piped drinking water and established a municipal council in the city of Udaipur. He created the Sajjan Niwas garden and employed foreign gardeners to look after it. He personally drew maps and drawings of buildings he designed and constructed which astonished qualified engineers.

He founded a printing press called “Sajjan Mudranalaya”. “Sajjan Kirti Sudhakar” was published from there as a weekly journal. A library was housed under the appointment of “Kavi Raja Shamaldasji” in the Palace named “Sajjan Vani Vilas” where several scholarly collections in Sanskrit, Hindi and English were maintained. It was here that Kavi wrote one of the most important works on Mewar history called “Vir Vinod” and he organised weekly poetry readings every Monday. Learned scholars who visited Udaipur during his time were given great respect and support. He was greatly influenced by Swami Dayanand Saraswati and accepted to become chairman of the “Arya Samaj’s Representative Council.”

Maharana Sajjan Singh award is a State award. This award was instituted to honour work of permanent value to society through the medium of paintings, fine art, sculpture, architecture and craft.

This annual State award consists of :

1. A Ceremonial Shawl.
2. A silver “Toran” plaque of honour.
3. A Felicitation Certificate
4. One Cash Award of Rs. 10,001/-,
   or
   Two Cash Awards of Rs. 5,001/- each

Previuos Honour Roll