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PARAM VIR CHAKRA
Param Vir Chakra ( PVC) is India’s highest military honour for bravery.
It honours the bravest of the brave while in action. It was instituted by the Indian Armed Forces after independence replacing the Victoria Cross of the British Empire.
The medal was designed by Mrs Savitri Khanolkar (born Eva Yuonne Linda Maday-de-Maros, to a Hungarian father and a Russian mother) who was married to an Indian Army officer, Vikram Khanolkar.
The medal is a circular bronze disc with the state emblem in the center, on a raised circle. Surrounding this are four replicas of Vajra, the all-powerful mythical weapon of Indra.
The motif symbolizes the sacrifice of Rishi Dadhichi, who had donated his bones to the Gods for making Vajra to kill Vritra.
On the rear, around a plain center, are two legends separated by lotus flowers. The words Param Vir Chakra are written in Hindi and English.
The medal is the highest military honour awarded for supreme act of valour or self-sacrifice in the face of the enemy by an Indian Soldier. Till date only Twenty One soldiers have been awarded with this coveted medal.
Savitri Khanolkar was a Swiss national whose real name was Eve Yvonne Maday de Maros. In 1929, she met and fell in love with Vikram Khanolkar, a young Indian Army cadet undergoing training at Sandhurst, who had come to Switzerland for a break.
She came to India in 1932 and married Vikram in Lucknow. After marriage, she changed her name to Savitri Bai.
In spite of her European background, she quickly adapted to the Indian culture and traditions. She became a vegetarian, learnt to speak fluent Marathi, Hindi and Sanskrit. She also learnt Indian music, dance and painting. She called herself a European with an Indian soul.
She had a deep interest in the Puranas, which she read extensively. She was also an ardent student of India’s ancient history and its legends.
It was Major General Hira Lal Atal, the first Indian Adjutant General of independent India, who asked her to help in designing the Param Vir Chakra. Drawing on her extensive knowledge of the Puranas, Savitri Bai thought of Rishi Dadhichi, who had given up his own body for Indra to make the deadly Vajra, or thunderbolt. She came up with the design of a double Vajra.
The Param Vir Chakra is cast in bronze. In the centre, on a raised circle, is the Ashok stambh, surrounded by four replicas of Indra’s Vajra and flanked by swords.
By an interesting coincidence, the first recipient of the PVC, Major Somnath Sharma, was the brother-in-law of Savitri Bai’s elder daughter Kumudini, who died while fighting at the Battle of Badgam during the 1948 war with Pakistan.
After her husband passed away in 1952, Savitri Bai sought refuge in spirituality and spent her later years with the Ramakrishna Math. She also wrote a book on the Saints of Maharashtra. She passed away on 26 November 1990 at the age of 77.
Savitri Khanolkar also designed the Mahavir Chakra, the Vir Chakra and the highest peacetime gallantry award, the Ashok Chakra.
In India’s official order of precedence, the PVC is second only to the Bharat Ratna.
– Joy Kallivayalil.
