About Us
Who We Are
The Rajasthani Bhasha Academy is established as a Public Charitable Trust under the Indian Trusts Act (1882), with the objective of advancing the teaching and research of the Rajasthani language.
The Academy brings together academics, researchers, writers, and students committed to the preservation and propagation of Rajasthani. Seekho Rajasthani / सीखो राजस्थानी, our first course, was conceived with this aim, offering structured and accessible engagement with the language.
In 2023, the Academy launched the Rajasthan Summer School (RaSS), an intensive programme that enables students to work closely with archival materials in Rajasthan through guided reading groups, field visits, and hands-on archival research. In addition, the Academy conducts specialised workshops, reading groups, and year-round programmes in Rajasthan on a range of subjects, including architectural history, Raso literature, museum studies, and the history of art.
Advisors
Prof. Dalpat Rajpurohit
ADVISOR
Dalpat Rajpurohit is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Asian Studies at the University of Texas, Austin. He teaches Hindi language and literature and associated topics, with a focus on classics of the bhakti tradition. He also offers courses on South Asian history and cultures. His PhD is from Presidency University, Kolkata; he has previously taught at various institutions including the American Institute of Indian Studies and Columbia University. Dr Rajpurohit’s research interest is in the nirguṇ poetry of the several Hindi dialects at his command, including Marwari, his mother-tongue. His research has appeared in serval journals such as Ālocanā, Sammelan Patrikā, Bulletin of the SOAS, and Modern Asian Studies. He is currently finishing his monograph on the history of the Dādū Panth and the poetry of Sundardās. He is also coauthoring a book with Monika Horstmann which is centered on the networks, patronage, and translation of the poetry of the Sants of Rajasthan.
Prof. Ganesh Devy
ADVISOR
Ganesh N. Devy is a thinker, cultural activist and an institution builder best known for the People’s Linguistic Survey of India and the Adivasi Academy created by him. He writes in three languages—Marathi, Gujarati and English.
Educated at the Shivaji University, Kolhapur and the University of Leeds, UK, Devy has held fellowships at Leeds and Yale University and has been a T.H.B. Symons Fellow (1991-92) and Jawaharlal Nehru Fellow (1994-96). Among other prestigious international recognitions, Devy is a recepient of the Padma Shri (2014) and the Sahitya Akademi Award (1993), which he returned in 2015.
Team Members
Vishes Kothari
Member
A financial consultant by profession, Vishes Kothari completed his masters in mathematics from the University of Cambridge, prior to which he studied at St. Stephen’s College, Delhi, and King’s College, London. He then taught mathematics at Ashoka University before turning to financial consulting.
He is a native of Sadulpur in Rajasthan and has a keen interest in the oral and musical traditions of his state. He has been associated with UNESCO-Sahapedia on projects focused on the musical traditions of women in Rajasthan and as a language expert with the Jaipur Virasat Foundation.
Neha Malu
Member
Neha Malu is currently preparing for the final level of her Company Secretary examinations, having been a rank holder in the earlier levels. She was drawn to this project because of her attachment to her mother tongue.
Diya
Member
Diya is currently pursuing her masters in Applied Linguistics. With a keen interest in the languages, art, and folk traditions of Rajasthan, she seeks to explore the intricate ways in which the region’s linguistic and cultural diversity enrich each other.
Bharat
MEMBER
Bharat hails from Hanumangarh district of Rajasthan and is a proud Rajasthani. Bharat studies History at Ambedkar University, Delhi. His passion for different languages and cultures is reflected in his academic pursuit. The natural knowledge of Rajasthani language and culture, acquired through tradition, gives him a responsibility, a responsibility to preserve this knowledge – a responsibility to expand this knowledge, which he wishes to fulfill by every possible means.
Shreyans Dugar
Member
Inspired by oral traditions and folk music, Shreyans initially worked with the Rajasthan Kabir Yatra as a Language Expert and played a role in developing the translations for their archive of folk poetics. Currently, he is working on translating the works of Sahab Rohal Faqeer.
He is engaged with the Rajasthani Bhasha Academy, contributing to the development of its upcoming workshops and academic programs.
Sachin
Lead creative
Sachin is a Rajasthan-based filmmaker working with lens-based arts through an experimental approach. Coming from an agrarian family, his films engage with rural landscapes, agricultural practices, oral histories, folklore, and indigenous knowledge systems, reflecting on shifting beliefs and socio-ecological relationships.
He is the co-founder of Docustan and an alumnus of DocNomads (Erasmus Mundus), Interaction–Serbia, Taiwan Pitch, SUPVA Rohtak, and the Central University of Rajasthan. His films have screened at major international festivals including IDFA, Visions du Réel, IFFI Goa, MAMI, DIFF, and Busan.
Kshitij Jain
Member
Sawai Singh
RESEACHER
Sawai is a Jodhpur-based researcher who completed his bachelor’s and master’s in History in 2020 and 2022, respectively, from the University of Delhi. He has previously volunteered with the Sambhali Trust (UN-recognized NGO) in Jodhpur and worked as a Research Writer with Enroute Indian History. He was also professionally associated with the Maharaja Man Singh Pustak Prakash archive, where he acquired training in reading and transcription of old documents, such as the Jodhpur Bahis (ledgers) in the Marwari language (his mother tongue), to work on the history of Jodhpur-Marwar.
Currently, he is working with the Rajasthani Bhasha Academy on book projects, primarily dealing with the selection and transcription of Rajasthani manuscripts across various genres. He is also developing a ‘Beginner to Advanced Rajasthani’ course at the capacity of a language instructor. In this way, he wishes to contribute to the promotion of the Rajasthani language through historical and cultural perspectives.