The Kalidas Samman is a prestigious arts award presented annually by the government of Madhya Pradesh

Government of Madhya Pradesh

The Government of Madhya Pradesh also known as the State Government of Madhya Pradesh, or locally as State Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and its 50 districts...

 in India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. The award is named after Kālidāsa

Kalidasa

Kālidāsa was a renowned Classical Sanskrit writer, widely regarded as the greatest poet and dramatist in the Sanskrit language...

, a renowned Classical Sanskrit writer of ancient India, widely regarded as the greatest poet and dramatist in the Sanskrit language.

The Kalidas Samman was first awarded in 1980. It was initially conferred in alternate years in the fields of Classical Music

Classical music

Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...

, Classical Dance, Theatre

Theatre

Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...

 and Plastic Arts. From 1986-87 onwards, the awards were presented in all four fields every year. The award is presented for outstanding achievement in one of the four categories.

Prize and selection

At present, the award carries a cash prize of 2 lakh

Lakh

A lakh is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand . It is widely used both in official and other contexts in Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and is often used in Indian English.-Usage:...

 (200,000) rupee

Rupee

The rupee is the common name for the monetary unit of account in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan, Mauritius, Seychelles, Maldives, and formerly in Burma, and Afghanistan. Historically, the first currency called "rupee" was introduced in the 16th century...

s. The winners are selected by a five member committee appointed by the Government of Madhya Pradesh, which consists of eminent artist

Artist

An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...

s, art critic

Art critic

An art critic is a person who specializes in evaluating art. Their written critiques, or reviews, are published in newspapers, magazines, books and on web sites...

s and officials from the Sangeet Natak Akademi

Sangeet Natak Akademi

Sangeet Natak Akademi is the national level academy for performing arts set up by the Government of India.-History:...

 (India's National Academy for Music, Dance and Drama).

Recipients

The recipients of the Kalidas Samman include:

Year	Name	Field
1980-81	Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer is considered to be one of the greatest Carnatic vocalists of the twentieth century...	Classical Music
	Mallikarjun Mansur Mallikarjun Mansur Mallikarjun Bheemarayappa Mansur was an Indian classical singer of the khyal style in the Jaipur-Atrauli gharana. He received the three national Padma Awards: Padma Shri in 1970, Padma Bhushan in 1976, and Padma Vibhushan in 1992.-Early life:...	Classical Music
1981-82	K.G. Subramanian	Plastic Arts
1982-83	Sombhu Mitra Sombhu Mitra Sombhu Mitra was an Indian film and stage actor, director, playwright and one of the pre-eminent Indian theatre personalities, especially Bengali theatre, where he is considered a pioneer. He remained associated with Indian People’s Theatre Association for a few years before founding Bohurupree...	Theatre
1983-84	Rukmini Devi Arundale Rukmini Devi Arundale Rukmini Devi Arundale was an Indian theosophist, dancer and choreographer of the Indian classical dance form of Bharatnatyam, and also an activist for animal rights and welfare....	Classical Dance
1984-85	Kumar Gandharva Kumar Gandharva Kumar Gandharva or Shivaputra Siddharamayya Komkallimath was a Hindustani classical singer, famous for his unique vocal style, refusal to be bound by the tradition of any gharana, and his innovative genius...	Classical Music
1985-86	Ram Kumar Ram Kumar Ram Kumar is a contemporary Indian artist who has been described as one of India's foremost abstract painters. Educated as an economist with an M.A. from St. Stephen's College, Delhi, Ram Kumar took classes at the Sharda Ukil School of Art, and then went to Paris and studied further there under...	Plastic Arts
1986-87	Zia Mohiuddin Dagar	Classical Music
	Birju Maharaj Birju Maharaj Brijmo Mishra popularly known as Pandit Birju Maharaj is currently the leading exponent of the Varanasi Kalka-Bindadin gharana of Kathak dance in India.He is a descendant of the legendary Maharaj family of Kathak dancers, including his two uncles, Shambhu Maharaj and Lachhu Maharaj, and his father...	Classical Dance
	Ebrahim Alkazi Ebrahim Alkazi Ebrahim Alkazi is one of the most influential Indian theatre directors and Drama teachers in 20th century Indian theatre. He also remained the Director of National School of Drama, New Delhi He has also been a noted art connoisseur, collector and gallery owner, and found Art Heritage Gallery in...	Theatre
	Narayan Shridhar Bendre Narayan Shridhar Bendre Narayan Shridhar Bendre was one of India's celebrated artists of the 20th century.-Life and career:...	Plastic Arts
1987-88	Ravi Shankar Ravi Shankar Ravi Shankar , often referred to by the title Pandit, is an Indian musician and composer who plays the plucked string instrument sitar. He has been described as the best known contemporary Indian musician by Hans Neuhoff in Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart.Shankar was born in Varanasi and spent...	Classical Music
	Vedantam Satyanarayana Sarma	Classical Dance
	P.L. Deshpande	Theatre
	M.F. Husain	Plastic Arts
1988-89	M.S. Subbulakshmi	Classical Music
	Kelucharan Mohapatra Kelucharan Mohapatra Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra was an Indian classical dancer, guru and proponent of Odissi dance, who is credited for the revival of the classical dance form in the 20th century....	Classical Dance
	Tripti Mitra	Theatre
	Tyeb Mehta Tyeb Mehta Tayyabb Mehta was a noted Indian painter. He was part of the noted Bombay Progressive Artists' Group, which included greats like F.N. Souza, S.H. Raza and M.F...	Plastic Arts
1989-90	Vilayat Khan Vilayat Khan Ustad Vilayat Khan was one of India's well known sitar maestros, born in Gauripur in Mymensingh, Bengal...	Classical Music
	Bipin Singh	Classical Dance
	Habib Tanvir Habib Tanvir Habib Tanvir was one of the most popular Indian Urdu, Hindi playwrights, a theatre director, poet and actor. He is the writer of plays such as, Agra Bazar and Charandas Chor...	Theatre
	V.S. Gaitonde	Plastic Arts
1990-91	Padma Subramanyam Padma Subramanyam Dr. Padma Subrahmanyam , is an Indian classical Bharatanatyam dancer. She is also a research scholar, choreographer, music composer, musician, teacher and author. She is famous in India as well as abroad: several films and documentaries have been made in her honor by countries like Japan, Australia...	Classical Dance
	Vijay Tendulkar Vijay Tendulkar Vijay Tendulkar was a leading Indian playwright, movie and television writer, literary essayist, political journalist, and social commentator primarily in Marāthi...	Theatre
1991-92	Ali Akbar Khan Ali Akbar Khan Ali Akbar Khan , often referred to as Khansahib or by the title Ustad , was a Hindustani classical musician of the Maihar gharana, known for his virtuosity in playing the sarod...	Classical Music
	Ram Narayan Ram Narayan Ram Narayan , often referred to by the title Pandit, is an Indian musician who popularized the bowed instrument sarangi as a solo concert instrument in Hindustani classical music and became the first internationally successful sarangi player....	Classical Music
	Vempati Chinna Satyam Vempati Chinna Satyam Dr. Vempati Chinna Satyam was born on October 25, 1929 in Kuchipudi, Andhra Pradesh. He is a legendary dancer and a guru of Kuchipudi dance form. Vedantam Lakshmi Narayana Sastry, a great master in the field, initiated Young Vempati into this great art...	Classical Dance
	Vijaya Mehta Vijaya Mehta Vijaya Mehta is an Indian Theatre and film director and also an actor in many films from the Parallel Cinema. She is most known for her acclaimed role in film Party and for her directorial ventures, Rao Saheb and Pestonjee ....	Theatre
	J. Swaminathan	Plastic Arts
1992-93	Ramankutty Nair Kalamandalam Ramankutty Nair Kalamandalam Ramankutty Nair is one of the most senior performers of Kathakali, having been a grand and sober presence on the art form's stage for a span of over seven decades...	Classical Dance
	Ammannur Madhava Chakyar Ammannur Madhava Chakyar Padma Bhushan Guru Ammannur Madhava Chakyar was a master of Kutiyattam, the classical Sanskrit theatrical form indigenous to Kerala...	Classical Dance
	Badal Sarkar Badal Sarkar Badal Sarkar , also known as Badal Sircar, was an influential Indian dramatist and theatre director, most known for his anti-establishment plays during the Naxalite movement in the 1970s and taking theatre out of the proscenium and into public arena, when he founded his own theatre company,...	Theatre
	Syed Haider Raza S.H. Raza Syed Haider Raza Alias S.H. Raza is an eminent Indian artist who has lived and worked in France since 1950, but maintains strong ties with India....	Plastic Arts
1993-94	Shanta Rao	Classical Dance
	B.V. Karanth	Theatre
1994-95	Padmavati Shaligram-Gokhale	Classical Music
	Kavalam Narayan Panikkar Kavalam Narayana Panicker Kavalam Narayana Panicker is an Indian dramatist, theatre director and poet. He has written over 26 Malayalam plays, many adapted from classical Sanskrit drama and Shakespeare, notably Madhyamavyayogam...	Theatre
1995-96	Alla Rakha	Classical Music
	Sitara Devi Sitara Devi Sitara Devi is an eminent Indian dancer of the classical Kathak style of dancing. When she was in her teens, Rabindranath Tagore, after watching a performance by her described her as Nritya Samragini, meaning, the empress of dance...	Classical Dance
1996-97	Kishan Maharaj Kishan Maharaj Pandit Kishan Maharaj was an Indian tabla player who belonged to the Benares gharana of Hindustani classical music.-Early life and background:...	Classical Music
	Mrinalini Sarabhai Mrinalini Sarabhai Mrinalini Sarabhai is a celebrated Indian classical dancer, choreographer and instructor. She is the founder director of the Darpana Academy of Performing Arts, an institute for imparting training in dance, drama, music and puppetry, in the city of Ahmedabad...	Classical Dance
	Shriram Lagoo Shriram Lagoo Dr. Shreeram Lagoo is an Indian film and theatre actor, in Hindi and Marathi. He is known for his character roles in films. He has acted in over 100 Hindi and Marathi films, over 40 Marathi, Hindi and Gujarati plays, and has directed over 20 Marathi plays. He is considered one of the greatest...	Theatre
	Sheila Bhatia	Theatre
	Bhupen Khakhar Bhupen Khakhar Bhupen Khakhar Bhupen Khakhar was a leading artist in Indian contemporary art. He worked in Baroda, and gained international recognition for his work.-Works:...	Plastic Arts
1997-98	Pandit Jasraj Pandit Jasraj Pandit Jasraj is an Indian classical vocalist. He is the foremost exponent of the Mewati Gharana of Hindustani classical music.-Early life:Jasraj was born in Hisar, Haryana in an orthodox brahmin family to Pandit Motiramji, a classical exponent. His family is well known for singing in the Mewati...	Classical Music
	Kalyani Kutiamma	Classical Dance
	Tapas Sen	Theatre
	Akbar Padamsee Akbar Padamsee Akbar Padamsee is a contemporary Indian artist.He received his diploma from the Sir J.J. School of Art, Mumbai, in 1951...	Plastic Arts
1998-99	D. K. Pattammal D. K. Pattammal Damal Krishnaswamy Pattammal was a prominent Carnatic musician and a playback singer for film songs in many Indian languages. She along with her contemporaries M. S. Subbulakshmi and M. L. Vasanthakumari were popularly referred to as the Female trinity of Carnatic Music...	Classical Music
	Kalanidhi Narayanan Kalanidhi Narayanan Kalanidhi Narayanan is an Indian dancer and teacher of Indian classical dance form of Bharatnatyam, who was the early non-devadasi girl to learn the dance form and perform it on stage in 1930s and 40s...	Classical Dance
	Girish Karnad Girish Karnad Girish Raghunath Karnad is a contemporary writer, playwright, screenwriter, actor and movie director in Kannada language...	Theatre
	Arpita Singh Arpita Singh Arpita Singh is an Indian artist. She was born in West Bengal, India in 1937. Currently she lives in Nizamuddin East, New Delhi. She is married to fellow painter Paramjit Singh and they have a daughter, the artist and socialite Anjum Singh...	Plastic Arts
1999-2000	Hariprasad Chaurasia Hariprasad Chaurasia Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia is an Indian classical instrumentalist. He is a player of the bansuri, the North Indian bamboo flute. Chaurasia is a classicist who has made a conscious effort to reach out and expand the audience for classical music.-Early life:Hariprasad Chaurasia was born in...	Classical Music
	K. P. Kittappa Pillai	Classical Dance
	Satyadev Dubey Satyadev Dubey Satyadev Dubey is an Indian theatre director, actor, playwright, screenwriter, and film actor and director. He was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1971....	Theatre
	Francis Newton Souza Francis Newton Souza Francis Newton Souza , commonly referred to as F. N. Souza, was an Indian artist. He was a founding member of the Progressive Artists' Group of Bombay, and was the first post-independence Indian artist to achieve high recognition in the West...	Plastic Arts
2000-01	M. Balamuralikrishna	Classical Music
	Rohini Bhate	Classical Dance
	Zohra Sehgal Zohra Sehgal Zohra Segal is an Indian stage and film actress, who started her career as dancer with dancer Uday Shankar in 1935 and worked with him for the next eight years. She has appeared in many Bollywood films as well as English language films and television series...	Theatre
	Sankho Chaudhuri Sankho Chaudhuri Sankho Chaudhuri was an Indian sculptor, a noted figure in the art scene of India....	Plastic Arts
2001-02	Sumati Mutatkar Sumati Mutatkar Sumati Mutatkar was an Indian classical music vocalist and musicologist from the Agra gharana of Hindustani classical music, and a Professor of Department of Music in University of Delhi....	Classical Music
	Yamini Krishnamurthy Yamini Krishnamurthy Mungara Yamini Krishnamurthy is an eminent Indian dancer of Bharatnatyam and Kuchipudi styles of dancing.-Early life: Yamini Krishnamurthy was born in Madanapalli, Andhra Pradesh...	Classical Dance
	K.V. Subbanna	Theatre
	Jogen Chowdhury Jogen Chowdhury Jogen Chowdhury is an eminent Indian painter and considered an important painter of 21st century India. He lives and works in Santiniketan. He graduated from the Government College of Art & Craft, Kolkata and subsequently at Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux Arts, Paris in the year 1967. He has...	Plastic Arts
2002-03	Rahim Fahimuddin Dagar	Classical Music
	Kumudini Lakhia Kumudini Lakhia Kumudini Lakhia is an Indian Kathak dancer and choreographer based in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, where she founded Kadamb School of Dance and Music, an institute of Indian dance and music in 1967....	Classical Dance
	Khalid Chaudhary	Theatre
	Ghulam Mohammed Sheikh Ghulam Mohammed Sheikh Gulam Mohammed Sheikh is an internationally renowned Painter, Writer and Art critic. He was awarded the prestigious Padmashri award for his contribution to art in 1983....	Plastic Arts
2003-04	V.G. Jog	Classical Music
	Chandralekha Chandralekha (dancer) Chandralekha Prabhudas Patel , commonly known as just Chandralekha, was a dancer and choreographer from India...	Classical Dance
	Gursharan Singh Gursharan Singh Gursharan Singh is a former Indian cricketer who played in one Test and one ODI in 1990....	Theatre
	Himmat Shah	Plastic Arts
2004-05	Prabha Atre	Classical Music
	Rajkumar Singhajit Singh Rajkumar Singhajit Singh Rajkumar Singhajit Singh, is a leading exponent, choreographer and a guru of Indian classical dance form of Manipuri, including the Pung cholom and Raslila...	Classical Dance
	Devendra Raj Ankur	Theatre
	Nagji Patel	Plastic Arts
2005-06	Zakir Hussain Zakir Hussain (musician) Zakir Hussain , , is an Indian tabla player, musical producer, film actor and composer.-Early life:Hussain was born in Mumbai, India to the legendary tabla player Alla Rakha. He attended St...	Classical Music
	Kanak Rele Kanak Rele Kanak Rele is an Indian dancer and academic who is most famous as an exponent of Mohiniyattom. She is the founder of the Nalanda Dance Research Centre in Mumbai....	Classical Dance
	Ratan Thiyam Ratan Thiyam Ratan Thiyam is an Indian playwright and theatre director, and the winner of Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1987, one of leading figures of the "theatre of roots" movement in Indian theatre, which started in 1970s...	Theatre
	Manjit Bawa Manjit Bawa Manjit Bawa , born in Dhuri, Punjab, India, was an Indian painter .-Biography:Manjit bawa born in 1941 dhuri,Punjab.Bawa's older brothers encouraged him to pursue art. He studied fine arts at the College of Art, New Delhi between 1958 and 1963, where his professors included Somnath Hore, Rakesh...	Plastic Arts
2006-07	Puttaraj Gavai	Classical Music
	Sonal Mansingh Sonal Mansingh Dr. Sonal Mansingh is an eminent Indian classical dancer and choreographer of Odissi dancing style; who is also proficient in other Indian classical dancing styles including Bharatnatyam, Kuchipudi, and Chhau.-Early life and background:...	Classical Dance
	Vimal Lath	Theatre
	Shanti Dave	Plastic Arts
2007-08	Balwantrai Bhatt Balwantrai Bhatt Pandit Balwant Rai Bhatt is a noted Indian composer and musician of Hindustani vocal music. He is also known as "Bhav Rang".-Early life and background:...	Classical Music
	C.V. Chandrasekhar C.V. Chandrasekhar C. V. Chandrasekhar is one of India's senior most Bharatanatyam dancers, academician, dance scholar, composer, and choreographer. He retired as Head of the Faculty of Performing Arts of M.S. University, Baroda in 1992...	Classical Dance
	Babasaheb Purandare Babasaheb Purandare Balwant Moreshwar Purandare , popularly known as Shivshahir Babasaheb Purandare is a historian, writer and theatre personality from Maharashtra, India. His works are mostly based on the events related to the life of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj...	Theatre
	Satish Gujral Satish Gujral Satish Gujral is an Indian painter, sculptor, muralist, graphic designer and architect. He was awarded Padma Vibhushan in 1999....	Plastic Arts
2008-09	Chhannulal Mishra	Classical Music

Award 2008-09:
National Kalidas award (plastic arts)- Jairma Patel
National Kalidas award (classical dance)-Kalamandlam Gopi
National Kalidas award(classical music)- Chhanulal Mishra

Award 2009-10:
National Kalidas award (plastic arts)- Krishna Kanhai