The

Arjuna Award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards given for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjun ...

, officially known as the Arjuna Awards for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is a sports honour of the

Republic of India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area; the most populous country since 2023; and, since its independence in 1947, the world's most populous democracy. Bounded by ...

. It is awarded annually by the

Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports is a branch of the Government of India which administers the Department of Youth Affairs and the Department of Sports in India. Mansukh Mandaviya is the current Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports foll ...

. Before the introduction of the

Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna The Khel Ratna Award (; Sport Jewel Award), officially known as the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award, formerly known as the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, is the highest sporting honour of India. It is awarded annually by the Ministry of ...

in 1991–1992, the Arjuna Award was the highest sporting honour of India. , the award comprises "a

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

statuette A figurine (a diminutive form of the word ''figure'') or statuette is a small, three-dimensional sculpture that represents a human, deity or animal, or, in practice, a pair or small group of them. Figurines have been made in many media, with cla ...

of Arjuna, certificate, ceremonial dress, and a cash prize of ."

Name

The award is named after

Arjuna Arjuna (, , Help:IPA/Sanskrit, �ɾd͡ʒun̪ə is one of the central characters of the ancient Hindu epic ''Mahabharata''. He is the third of the five Pandava brothers, and is widely regarded as the most important and renowned among them. ...

, a character from the

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

epic ''

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; , , ) is one of the two major Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India revered as Smriti texts in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kuru ...

'' of

ancient India Anatomically modern humans first arrived on the Indian subcontinent between 73,000 and 55,000 years ago. The earliest known human remains in South Asia date to 30,000 years ago. Sedentism, Sedentariness began in South Asia around 7000 BCE; ...

. He is one of the

Pandavas The Pandavas (Sanskrit: पाण्डव, aɳɖɐʋᵊ IAST: Pāṇḍava) is a group name referring to the five legendary brothers, Yudhishtira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadeva, who are central figures of the Hindu epic ''Mahabhara ...

, depicted as a skilled

archer Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In modern ...

winning the hand of

Draupadi Draupadi (), also referred to as Krishnā, Panchali and Yajnaseni, is the central heroine of the Indian epic poetry, ancient Indian epic ''Mahabharata''. In the epic, she is the princess of Panchala Kingdom, who later becomes the empress of K ...

in marriage. In the

Kurukshetra War The Kurukshetra War (), also called the Mahabharata War, is a war described in the Hindu Indian epic poetry, epic poem ''Mahabharata'', arising from a dynastic struggle between two groups of cousins, the Kauravas and the Pandavas, for the thr ...

, Lord

Krishna Krishna (; Sanskrit language, Sanskrit: कृष्ण, ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme God (Hinduism), Supreme God in his own right. He is the god of protection, c ...

becomes his charioteer teaching him the sacred knowledge of

Gita The Bhagavad Gita (; ), often referred to as the Gita (), is a Hindu scripture, dated to the second or first century BCE, which forms part of the epic poem Mahabharata. The Gita is a synthesis of various strands of Indian religious thought, ...

. In

Hindu mythology Hindu mythology refers to the collection of myths associated with Hinduism, derived from various Hindu texts and traditions. These myths are found in sacred texts such as the Vedas, the Itihasas (the ''Mahabharata'' and the ''Ramayan ...

, he has been seen as a symbol of hard work, dedication and concentration.

History

Instituted in 1961 to honour the outstanding sportspersons of the country, the award over the years has undergone a number of expansions, reviews, and rationalizations. The award was expanded to include all the recognised disciplines in 1977, has introduced indigenous games and physically handicapped categories in 1995 and introduced a lifetime contribution category in 1995 leading to creation of a separate Dhyan Chand Award in 2002. The latest revision in 2018 stipulates that the award is given only to the disciplines included in the events like

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

Paralympic Games The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disability, disabilities. There are Winter Paralympic Games, Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 ...

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years for athletes of Asia. The Games were regulated by Asian Games Federation from the 1951 Asian Games, first Games in New Delhi, India in 1951, until ...

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

and

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

along with

Cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

, Indigenous Games, and

Parasports Parasports are sports played by people with a disability, including physical and intellectual disabilities. Some parasports are forms of adapted physical activities from existing non-disabled sports, while others have been specifically created f ...

. It also recommends giving only fifteen awards in a year, relaxing in case of excellent performance in major

multi-sport event A multi-sport event is an organized sporting event, often held over multiple days, featuring competition in many different sports among organized teams of athletes from (mostly) nation-states. The first major, modern, multi-sport event of intern ...

s, team sports, across gender and giving away of at least one award to the physically challenged category. The nominations for the award are received from all government-recognised National Sports Federations, the

Indian Olympic Association The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) or Indian Olympic Committee (IOC) (ISO 15919, ISO: ''Bhāratīya Olaṃpika Saṃgha'') is responsible for selecting athletes to represent India at the Olympic Games, Asian Games and other international spor ...

, the

Sports Authority of India The Sports Authority of India, SAI, was set up in 1984 to carry forward the legacy of the 1982 Asian Games held in New Delhi under the Department of Sports. SAl has been entrusted with promoting sport in India and achieving sporting excellen ...

(SAI), the Sports Promotion and Control Boards, the state and the union territory governments and the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Arjuna,

Dhyan Chand Major Dhyan Chand (29 August 1905 – 3 December 1979) was an Indian field hockey player. He is widely regarded as the greatest field hockey player in history. He was known for his extraordinary ball control and goal-scoring feats, in add ...

and Dronacharya awardees of the previous years. The recipients are selected by a committee constituted by the Ministry and are honoured for their "good performance in the field of sports over a period of four years" at international level and for having shown "qualities of leadership, sportsmanship and a sense of discipline".

Recipients

A total of 95 individual awards were presented in the 1960s: twenty in 1961, followed by nine in 1962, seven in 1963, seven in 1964, seven in 1965, thirteen in 1966, fifteen in 1967, seven in 1968, and ten in 1969. Individuals from twenty-one different sports were awarded, which include thirteen from hockey, twelve from athletics, eight from football, seven each from cricket and wrestling, six from weightlifting, five each from badminton and table tennis, four each from basketball, boxing, lawn tennis and swimming, three each from golf, polo and shooting, two each from squash and volleyball, and one each from billiards & snooker, chess and gymnastics. In an unusual move, the first and only team award to date was presented to the entire team of twenty mountaineers in 1965 representing the successful Indian Everest expedition of 1965. Amongst the notable winners was

Manuel Aaron Manuel Aaron (born 30 December 1935) is the first Indian people , Indian chess chess master, master in the second half of the 20th century. He dominated chess in India in the 1960s to the 1980s, was the Indian Chess Championship , national c ...

, awarded in 1961. He was India's first chess International Master (IM). He obtained the title in 1961 and India did not produce a second IM for the next seventeen years. He dominated the

chess in India Chess has a deep-rooted history in India, widely believed to have originated from the game of chaturanga during the Gupta Empire in circa 6th century CE. Over centuries, it evolved and spread across the world, influencing modern chess as we know ...

, becoming national champion nine times between 1959 and 1981. Hockey players Charanjit Singh and

Shankar Lakshman Honorary Captain Shankar Lakshman (7 July 1933 – 29 April 2006) was an Indian hockey player who played as a goalkeeper. He was part of the Indian team in the 1956, 1960 and 1964 Olympics, that won two gold medals and one silver medal. He was ...

were awarded in 1963 and 1964 respectively. The former was the captain of the gold winning Indian men's hockey team at

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this honor was subseq ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

. The latter was the goalkeeper of the Indian team in the 1956, 1960 and 1964 Olympics, helping the team win two gold medals and one silver medal.

List of recipients

An Indian postage stamp ''(pictured)'' commemorated Indian's first successful Everest Expedition in 1965 (awarded team award in 1965). Avtar Singh Cheema and Nawang Gombu as seen here reached the summit in the morning of 19 May 1965. India in a single expedition placed nine men on the top of Everest, an unbroken record for the next 17 years.

Explanatory notes

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:List of Arjuna Award recipients (1961-1969) 1961-1969 Indian sports trophies and awards