Name	Image	Birth/ death	Age		Awarded	Notes
1	Chakravarti Rajgopalachari		1878–1972	94	76	1954	Independence activist, last Governor-General
2	Sir C. V. Raman		1888–1970	82	66	1954	Physicist
3	Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan		1888–1975	87	66	1954	Philosopher, India's First Vice President (1952-1962), and India's Second President(1962-1967)
4	Bhagwan Das		1869–1958	89	86	1955	Independence activist, author
5	Mokshagundam Visvesvarayya		1861–1962	101	94	1955	Civil engineer, Diwan of Mysore
6	Jawaharlal Nehru		1889–1964	75	66	1955	Independence activist, author, first Prime Minister
7	Govind Ballabh Pant		1887–1961	74	70	1957	Independence activist, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Home Minister
8	Dhondo Keshav Karve		1858–1962	104	100	1958	Educator, social reformer
9	Bidhan Chandra Roy		1882–1962	80	79	1961	Physician, Chief Minister of West Bengal
10	Purushottam Das Tandon		1882–1962	80	79	1961	Independence activist, educator
11	Rajendra Prasad		1884–1963	79	78	1962	Independence activist, jurist, first President
12	Zakir Hussain		1897–1969	72	66	1963	Independence activist, Scholar, third President
13	Pandurang Vaman Kane		1880–1972	92	83	1963	Indologist and Sanskrit scholar
14	Lal Bahadur Shastri		1904–1966	62	62	1966	Posthumous, independence activist, second Prime Minister
15	Indira Gandhi		1917–1984	67	54	1971	Third Prime Minister
16	V. V. Giri		1894–1980	86	81	1975	Trade unionist and fourth President
17	K. Kamaraj		1903–1975	75	73	1976	Posthumous, independence activist, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu State
18	Mother Teresa		1910–1997	87	70	1980	Catholic nun, founder of the Missionaries of Charity
19	Vinoba Bhave		1895–1982	87	88	1983	Posthumous, social reformer, independence activist
20	Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan		1890–1988	98	97	1987	First non-citizen, independence activist
21	M. G. Ramachandran		1917–1987	70	71	1988	Posthumous, film actor, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu
22	B. R. Ambedkar		1891–1956	65	99	1990	Posthumous, chief architect of the Indian Constitution, politician, economist, and scholar
23	Nelson Mandela		b. 1918	95	72	1990	Second non-citizen and non-Indian recipient, Leader of the Anti-Apartheid movement
24	Rajiv Gandhi		1944–1991	47	47	1991	Posthumous, Sixth Prime Minister
25	Vallabhbhai Patel		1875–1950	75	116	1991	Posthumous, independence activist, first Home Minister
26	Morarji Desai		1896–1995	99	95	1991	Independence activist, fourth Prime Minister
27	Abul Kalam Azad		1888–1958	70	104	1992	Posthumous, independence activist, first Minister of Education
28	J. R. D. Tata		1904–1993	89	88	1992	Industrialist and philanthropist
29	Satyajit Ray		1922–1992	70	70	1992	Bengali Filmmaker
30	A. P. J. Abdul Kalam		b. 1931	82	66	1997	Aeronautical Engineer,11th President of India
31	Gulzarilal Nanda		1898–1998	100	99	1997	Independence activist, interim Prime Minister
32	Aruna Asaf Ali		1908–1996	90	89	1997	Posthumous, independence activist
33	M. S. Subbulakshmi		1916–2004	88	82	1998	Carnatic classical singer
34	Chidambaram Subramaniam		1910–2000	90	88	1998	Independence activist, Minister of Agriculture
35	Jayaprakash Narayan		1902–1979	77	97	1999	Posthumous, independence activist and politician
36	Ravi Shankar		1920–2012	92	79	1999	Sitar player
37	Amartya Sen		b. 1933	80	66	1999	Economist
38	Gopinath Bordoloi		1890–1950	60	109	1999	Posthumous, independence activist, Chief Minister of Assam
39	Lata Mangeshkar		b. 1929	84	72	2001	Playback singer
40	Bismillah Khan		1916–2006	90	85	2001	Hindustani classical shehnai player
41	Bhimsen Joshi		1922–2011	89	86	2008	Hindustani classical singer
			Max Age	104
			Mini Age	47
				Max Age	116
				Mini Age	47