Rita Sahai, Lecturer in Music and Director of the UC Davis Hindustani Vocal Ensemble, has been selected as a recipient of a Hind Rattan (Jewel of India) Award, which is given annually by the Welfare Society of India to accomplished Indians living abroad. Sahai will be presented the award in London on August 14, 2026, by some of India’s highest ranking government officials, as well as members of India’s Supreme Court.

Sahai is humbled to receive the award and said, “The Hind Rattan Award is a further encouragement for me to carry the message of peace and harmony through music.”

Sahai has been a lecturer in music at UC Davis for more than 20 years, teaching its Hindustani Vocal Ensemble. She also teaches Hindustani vocal music throughout Northern California and founded the Vasundhara Choir in 2006, comprised of adults and children from Sacramento, Davis, Fremont, Mountain View, San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley who have studied with Sahai for decades. Among her many honors Sahai is the winner of two Gold Medals and a Bronze Medal from the Global Music Awards for her recordings. Early in her career she earned the formal title of “Jewel of Music” by legendary sarod virtuoso Ustad Ali Akbar Khan at the Ali Akbar College of Music in India, a fitting title for one of the first Indian classical musicians living abroad to win a Hind Rattan (Jewel of India) award.

Sahai said, “My heartfelt desire has always been to invite everyone to appreciate and feel how human beings of all cultures, ethnicities and religions are united through the universal language of music.”