Historical Mira’: Akademi ‘cancels’ award ceremony

JAIPUR: The Rajasthan

Sahitya Akademi

(RSA) has cancelled its

annual award ceremony

at the eleventh hour, allegedly following a controversy that erupted over a work by Hardan Harsh on Sunday.

The ceremony was to be held on Sunday evening in Udaipur. Harsh’s fictional work, ‘Historical Mira’, was shortlisted by the RSA for its prestigious annual award, Raghey Raghav, given to an author for outstanding work in literature.


The controversy surfaced after a group of academicians raised objections to the content of the book and termed it objectionable, blasphemous and violative of freedom of expression.

“Mira Bai has been projected in a highly objectionable manner which shows the mental bankruptcy of the author. He ‘assassinated’ the character of Mira Bai by making up stories found in any B-grade movie. The author didn’t stop here, and also showed ‘maharanas’ in poor light. The author has made remarks such as coward, inefficient and childish while referring to ‘maharanas’ in the book by smartly quoting Mira Bai,” said

Chandra Shekar Sharma

, a noted historian based in Udaipur and an expert in Mewar history.

TOI called principal secretary

Subodh Agarwal

who refused to speak. While the director of RSA, Indusekhar Sharma, too failed to answer to calls made repeatedly, the minister of art and culture,

Krishnendra Deepa

, refused to speak, saying he was busy at a meeting in Bharatpur. Facing pressures from various corners, the RSA issued a press statement, cancelling the award ceremony without citing any reason. The author in question has been awarded earlier by the RSA in 2014.

He had then received the ‘Sudindre Puraskar’.

Sharma demanded to know how the academy had selected the book for the prestigious award. “If they fail to give an explanation, they should be immediately sacked from the position,” said Sharma.

TOI has learnt that RSA follows stringent procedures to shortlist a book for the award. They read and review shortlisted books. “It appears that nobody has read the book. His name must have been proposed by some higher authority. Anyone who has read the first 10 pages of the book would call for banning the book,” said

Shastri Koslendradas

, a renowned scholar and follower of the Ramananda sect.