Mr Rakesh Dattatreya Dhawade was awarded a UK Travel Award (2000-01) when Assistant Curator, Mahatma Phule Museum, Pune, for research and study of historical arms and armour of Saurashtra, Gujarat, and Rajputana in the UK and their display and conservation.
The study aided by this grant and two subsequent grants the following year has helped Mr Dhawade to prepare a catalogue of arms and armour in the museums of Maharashtra, to catalogue the arms in the Government of Chennai’s collections, and to complete the identification of the arms collection in the Mahatma Phule Museum, Pune.
Mr Dhawade continues to work as a historian and as a conservator of Indian arms and armour.