Thread by @SantanuB01

The lady who Designed the PARAM VIR CHAKRA, #IndianArmy's highest gallantry award, Savitri Khanolkar, was a Swiss national whose real name was Eve Yvonne Maday de Maros, married to an Indian Army officer, Vikram Ramji Khanolkar 1/n ( please read all)

In 1929, she met Vikram Khanolkar, a young Indian Army cadet undergoing training at Sandhurst who had come to Switzerland for a break. She was still a teenager then; however, both fell in love although Vikram was much older than her. She came to India in 1932 and married Vikram

After marriage, she changed her name to Savitri. In spite of her European background, she quickly adapted to Indian culture and traditions. She became a vegetarian, learnt to speak fluent Marathi, Hindi and Sanskrit. And also learnt Indian music, dance and painting.

She called herself an European with an Indian soul, and never liked being called a foreigner. She had a deep interest in Puranas, which she read extensively, and also studied India's ancient history and its legends.

Major General Hira Lal Atal, first Indian Adjutant General of independent #India, asked her to design Param Vir Chakra. Drawing on Puranas, Savitri thought of Rishi Dadhichi, who had given up his own body for Indra to make deadly Vajra. She decided design of the 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

Incidentally, the first recipient of the PVC, Major Somnath Sharma, was the brother-in-law of Savitri'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 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 after leading a truly remarkable life.

Unknown to us most, a #Swiss national of mixed Hungarian-Russian descent, married to an Indian Army officer had designed the 'Param Vir Chakra, India's highest gallantry award 🙏🙏🙏