R-Day Special: Padma Winners Bhiklya Ladakya Dhinda & Raghuveer Tukaram Khedkar: Maharashtra's Cultural Legatees

In wake of India's highest civilian honors announced on Republic Day eve 2026, Maharashtra emerged as the leading state with 15 recipients across the Padma award, more than any other, celebrating a remarkable spectrum of contributions from art, culture, medicine and beyond. Among them shine two extraordinary guardians of the state's folk and tribal performing arts heritage, both honoured with the Padma Shri: Bhiklya Ladakya Dhinda and Raghuveer Tukaram Khedkar.

Bhiklya Ladakya Dhinda, the 92-year-old Warli Adivasi maestro from Walvanda village in Jawhar taluka, Palghar district, receives this recognition for his lifelong guardianship of the Tarpa, a rare towering wind instrument over five feet tall, crafted from bottle gourd (lauki) as its resonant chamber and bamboo pipes that stretch toward the heavens.

The Tarpa is no ordinary musical tool; it is a towering ritualistic wind instrument central to Warli tribal life, often measuring over five feet in length and evoking the very breath of the forest. Crafted entirely by hand using natural locally sourced materials, its construction reflects simplicity, ingenuity and deep harmony with the environment.

As a fourth-generation practitioner, Dhinda is widely regarded as the last living artist who plays the authentic full-sized Tarpa in its sacred ritualistic essence. To the Warli community, the instrument is far more than music; it is a divine vessel. Its profound rumbling tones invoke nature's forces, ancestors and deities during harvests, festivals, healing rites and communal ceremonies. Dhinda reveres the Tarpa as his own deity, its hypnotic circular melodies forging an unbreakable bond between performers, listeners, forests and fields, accompanying traditional Warli dances and storytelling in perfect harmony with the natural world.

From his remote tribal hamlet, amid challenges of youth migration, scarce materials for crafting the delicate instrument and the sweep of modernization, Dhinda has tirelessly transmitted this endangered tradition orally across generations. The Padma Shri celebrates him as an irreplaceable bridge sustaining Warli musical legacy and illuminating the artistic depth of Maharashtra's Adivasi communities on the national stage.

Complementing this introspective tribal reverence is Raghuveer Tukaram Khedkar, the veteran maestro of Tamasha, Maharashtra's vibrant rural folk theatre. With more than five decades and over 12,000 performances to his name across village squares, jatras, festivals and cultural venues, he has embodied the form's exuberant spirit: powerful singing, versatile acting in mythological and social tales, sharp comedy as the beloved songadya and engaging narration laced with humor, improvisation and commentary on everyday life.

Tamasha pulsates with energy, dynamic Lavani dances, folk songs, live rhythms from dholki, tuntune and harmonium, dazzling costumes and biting social satire that entertains while reflecting rural realities and addressing issues like addiction, dowry, corruption and more. Khedkar has kept its authenticity vibrant even as rural audiences thin and modern media compete, ensuring it remains a mirror and voice for village India.

Upon the announcement, an emotional Khedkar described the honour as the “salvation of seven generations” of his family's artistic lineage, expressing hope it will inspire the youth to embrace Tamasha. This recognition marks what is believed to be the first Padma award specifically for a Tamasha artist since Independence, a landmark moment for the beloved folk tradition