Padma Vibhushan Award Winners in Literature & Education

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Published Sep 9, 2026 Updated Sep 9, 2026 1 min read

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Name	Padma Vibhushan
Type	Civilian Awards
Award For	Exceptional and Distinguished Service
Award By	Goverment of India
First	1954
Last	26th January 2026
Status	Active
Country	India

About Padma Vibhushan Award Winners in Literature & Education

The Padma Vibhushan is the second-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "exceptional and distinguished service". All persons without distinction of race, occupation, position or sex are eligible for these awards.

History of Padma Vibhushan Award Winners in Literature & Education

India's Padma Vibhushan in Literature & Education has honored generations of writers and scholars. Dhondo Keshav Karve (1955) pioneered women's education; linguist Suniti Kumar Chatterji (1963) advanced Indian philology; Kannada poet Kuvempu and Hindi poet Mahadevi Varma both received it in 1988. Novelist R.K. Narayan was honored in 2000, Punjabi poet Amrita Pritam in 2004, writer-activist Mahasweta Devi in 2006, and essayist Khushwant Singh in 2007, with Malayalam author M.T. Vasudevan Nair honored posthumously in 2025.

Padma Vibhushan Award Winners in Literature & Education Winners List

This Winners List features 44 winners of the Padma Vibhushan Award Winners in Literature & Education, from 1955 to 2026.

Year	Recipient Name	Gender	State, Country	Fields

2026	P. Narayanan	male	Kerala, India	Literature & Education
2025	Madath Thekepat Vasudevan Nair Also won: Padma Bhushan	male	Kerala, India	Literature & Education
2022	Radhey Shyam Khemka (Posthumous)	male	Uttar Pradesh, India	Literature & Education
2018	P Parameswaran	male	Kerala, India	Literature & Education
2016	Avinash Kamlakar Dixit (Non-citizen)	male	Maharashtra, India	Literature & Education
2016	Ramoji Rao	male	Andhra Pradesh, India	Literature & Education
2015	Jagadguru Swami Rambhadracharya	male	Uttar Pradesh, India	Literature & Education
2011	Dr. Sitakant Mahapatra Also won: Padma Bhushan	male	Odisha, India	Literature & Education
2011	Prof. Ottaplakkal Neelakandan Velu Kurup	male	Kerala, India	Literature & Education
2009	Prof. Debi Prasad Chattopadhyaya Also won: Padma Bhushan	male	West Bengal, India	Literature & Education
2007	Khushwant Singh Also won: Padma Bhushan	male	Delhi, India	Literature & Education
2007	Raja Rao Also won: Padma Bhushan	male	Karnataka, India	Literature & Education
2006	Mahasweta Devi Also won: Ramon Magsaysay Award	female	West Bengal, India	Literature & Education
2004	Ms. Amrita Pritam	female	Delhi, India	Literature & Education
2003	Bal Ram Nanda Also won: Padma Bhushan	male	Delhi, India	Literature & Education
2002	Dr. Chakravarthi Rangarajan	male	Tamil Nadu, India	Literature & Education
2001	Prof. Kotta Satchidananda Murty Also won: Padma Bhushan	male	Andhra Pradesh, India	Literature & Education
2001	John Kenneth Galbraith (Non-citizen)	male	Massachusetts, United States	Literature & Education
2000	Rasipuram Krishnaswami Narayan Also won: Padma Bhushan	male	Tamil Nadu, India	Literature & Education
2000	Prof. Jagdish Natwarlal Bhagwati (Non-citizen)	male	New York, United States	Literature & Education
2000	Prof. Kakkadan Nandanath Raj	male	Kerala, India	Literature & Education
1999	Dr. Sarvepalli Gopal	male	Tamil Nadu, India	Literature & Education
1992	Laxman shastri Balaji Joshi	male	Maharashtra, India	Literature & Education
1992	Govinddas Mannulal Shroff	male	Maharashtra, India	Literature & Education
1991	Prof. Rajaram Shastri	male	Uttar Pradesh, India	Literature & Education
1990	Dr. Vallampadugai Srinivasa Raghavan Arunachalam Also won: Padma Bhushan , Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology	male	Delhi, India	Literature & Education
1990	Prof. Bhabatosh Datta	male	West Bengal, India	Literature & Education
1988	Dr. Kuppali Venkatappa Gowda Puttappa Also won: Padma Bhushan	male	Karnataka, India	Literature & Education
1988	Mahadevi Varma Also won: Padma Bhushan	female	Uttar Pradesh, India	Literature & Education
1977	Chandreshwar Prasad Narayan Singh	male	Delhi, India	Literature & Education
1976	Giani Gurmukh Singh 'Musafir' (Posthumous)	male	Punjab, India	Literature & Education
1976	Dr. Kalu Lal Shrimali	male	Uttar Pradesh, India	Literature & Education
1976	Col. Bashir Hussain Zaidi	male	Delhi, India	Literature & Education
1975	Dr. Basanti Dulal Nag Chaudhuri	male	West Bengal, India	Literature & Education
1975	Dr. Premlila Vithaldas Thackersey	female	Maharashtra, India	Literature & Education
1972	Hormusji Maneckji Seervai	male	Maharashtra, India	Literature & Education
1970	Dr. Tara Chand	male	Uttar Pradesh, India	Literature & Education
1969	Dr. Hargobind Khorana (Non-citizen)	male	Massachusetts, United States	Literature & Education
1968	Prof. Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis	male	Delhi, India	Literature & Education
1964	Acharya Kakasaheb (Dattatreya Balkrishna) Kalelkar	male	Maharashtra, India	Literature & Education
1964	Pt. Gopinath Kaviraj	male	Uttar Pradesh, India	Literature & Education
1963	Dr. Suniti Kumar Chatterjee	male	West Bengal, India	Literature & Education
1959	Dr. John Matthai	male	Kerala, India	Literature & Education
1955	Dr. Dhondo Keshav Karve	male	Maharashtra, India	Literature & Education

Padma Vibhushan Award Winners in Literature & Education Award Chart by Gender

This chart groups 44 Padma Vibhushan Award Winners in Literature & Education winners by Gender, across 2 distinct entries — male leads with 40 wins.

Padma Vibhushan Award Winners in Literature & Education Award Chart by Fields

This chart tracks Padma Vibhushan Award Winners in Literature & Education winners by year from 1955 to 2026, spanning 31 years, with the most wins (3) recorded in 1976.