Param Vir Chakra

(1952--)


Awarded to officers and enlisted personnel of all military branches for the highest degree of valor or self-sacrifice in the presence of the enemy. It may be awarded posthumously and, indeed, most of the awards have been posthumous. In many ways, the Param Vir Chakra can be seen as a post-Independence equivalent of the Victoria Cross.

Provision was made for the award of a bar for second (or subsequent) awards of the Param Vir Chakra. To date, there have been no such awards. Award of the decoration carries with it the right to use P.V.C. as a postnominal abbreviation.

The award also carries a cash allowance for those under the rank of second lieutenant (or the appropriate service equivalent) and, in some cases, a lump-sum cash award. On the death of the recipient, the pension was transferred to the widow until her death or remarriage. This pension has been a rather controversial issue throughout the life of the decoration. By March 1999, the stipend stood at Rs. 1500 per month. In addition, many states have established individual pension rewards for the recipients of the decoration.

Established: 26 January 1950, by the President of India, with awards effective from 15 August 1947; the statues were amended on 26 January 1980, when it was moved to second place in the order of wearing, behind the Bharat Ratna. Mrs. Savitri Khanolankar (born as Eva Yuonne Linda Maday-de-Maros) designed the medal; by coincidence, the first recipient was her son-in-law, Major Som Nath Sharma.

Obverse: 1-3/8 inch, circular bronze medal. In the center, on a raised circle, the state emblem. Surrounding this, four replicas of Indra's Vajra (the all-powerful mythic weapon on the ancient Vedic god of war). The decoration is suspended from a straight swiveling suspension bar. It is named on the edge.

Reverse: Around a plain center, two legends separated by lotus flowers: above "Param Vir Chakra" in Hindi and, below, "PARAM VIR CHAKRA" in English.

Ribbon: 32 mm, medium purple. When the ribbon bar is worn alone, a bronze replica of Indra’s Vajra is worn on the ribbon.

Awards:

In 1976, the Army Postal Service issued a stamp commemorating the PVC:

Individual covers were then issued for each PVC recipient, as, for example, that of 18 August 1977 for Havildar Major Piru Singh:

http://haynese.winthrop.edu/india/medals/PVC.html
last revised 22 October 1999
Ed Haynes
Back to Home Page