Governor Urmila Singh and Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal have congratulated Lalita Vakil of Chamba for being conferred with the first ever ‘Shilp Guru’ Award for her excellence in Chamba Embroidery, presented by the President of India, Pranav Mukherjee, at a ceremonial functional held in Rashtrapati Niwas, New Delhi. Lalita Vakil had also won National Award in practicing craft in year 1993.
In her felicitation message, the Governor said that Lalita Vakil and devoted her life for upkeep of the traditional art and craft of Chamba and had also kept the tradition of Chamba Rumaal’s uniqueness alive by her expertise and training the coming generations in this art. She said that Lalita Vakil had mastery in exquisite embroidery on Chamba Rumaal which also depicts scenes from Geet Govind, Bhagwat Puran, Radha Krishna and Shiv Parvati.
In his message, the Chief Minister said that Lalita Vakil had earned laurels to the State by winning such a prestigious Award for her excellence in Chamba Embroidery, especially in ‘Chamba Rumaal’. He said that ‘Chamba Rumaal’ had attained universal recognition for its unique embroidery work and vivid colour combination by the artist. He said that over 150 young artists who had undertaken embroidery training under the supervision of Lalita Vakil would be inspired and motivated to attain excellence in the embroidery work. He said that Chamba was known for its rich cultural heritage and ‘Chamba Rumaal’ was universally acknowledged as an identity for the heritage town. He said that the Award would go a long way in strengthening the embroidery work in the State and help youth learn the craft as their self employment avocation.
