Jnanpith Award

Jnanpith Award, considered the highest literary award in India, given annually for the best creative literary output to writers in any of the 22 languages recognized by the Constitution of India and, from 2013, in the English language. The prize carries a cash award, a citation, and a bronze replica of Vagdevi (Saraswati), the goddess of learning. It is sponsored by the cultural organization Bharatiya Jnanpith.

History

Discussions about instituting a prestigious award for exceptional literary works in Indian languages first began in 1961, on the occasion of the 50th birthday of Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain, an Indian industrialist and the founder of Bharatiya Jnanpith. Plans solidified, and by 1963 a selection board met for the first time. The first award was given in 1965.

Until 1982 the award was presented for a specific work; thereafter, it was given for a writer’s overall contribution to literature. Since then the award has typically been given every year to one author, although in some years it has been jointly offered to two.

Selection process, committees, and rules

A language advisory committee (made up of three scholars and critics) is formed for each eligible language. The committee sifts through the nominations received for that language while keeping in mind any other author who might not have been nominated but is worthy of the award. A selection board (made up of 7 to 11 eminent figures) makes the final pick from the names forwarded by all the language advisory committees.

Each language advisory committee has a tenure of three years, following which new members are selected. Members of the selection board also have the same tenure, although they can extend their term by two years. The Jnanpith Award is not presented posthumously and does not take into account self-nominations. Works written in the language of the most recent awardee’s oeuvre are not taken into consideration for the following two years.

Awardees

G. Sankara Kurup received the first Jnanpith Award for his contributions to Malayalam literature. In 1976 Bengali author Ashapurna Devi became the first woman to win the prize. After her, seven women authors—Amrita Pritam (1981; Punjabi), Mahadevi Varma (1982; Hindi), Qurratulain Hyder (1989; Urdu), Mahasweta Devi (1996; Bengali), Indira Goswami (2000; Assamese), Pratibha Ray (2011; Odia), and Krishna Sobti (2017; Hindi)—have been recipients of the award. Amitav Ghosh, who won the award in 2018, became the first writer in English to receive it.

As of 2025 the Jnanpith Award had been presented to dual recipients on six occasions. For the year 2023 (presented in 2024) Gulzar—a legendary poet, lyricist, and director—and Rambhadracharya—a poet, writer, and Hindu spiritual leader—were awarded for their contributions to Urdu and Sanskrit literature, respectively. Gulzar, who is widely celebrated as an ingenious wordsmith and one of the foremost living Urdu poets, is also known for his award-winning works in Bollywood as a lyricist, screenwriter, and director. Rambhadracharya, a Sanskrit scholar, has authored numerous works in Sanskrit and several other Indian languages.

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In 1967 Kannada-language writer Kuppali Venkatappa Puttappa and Gujarati-language writer Umashankar Joshi were awarded the Jnanpith jointly. Odia-language writer Gopinath Mohanty and Kannada-language writer Dattatreya Ramachandra Bendre (also known as Da Ra Bendre) received the award in 1973. In 1999 Hindi-language writer Nirmal Verma and Punjabi-language writer Gurdial Singh won the award. Ravindra Kelekar, a Konkani-language writer, and Satya Vrat Shastri, a Sanskrit-language writer, were dual recipients in 2006. Hindi-language writers Shrilal Shukla and Amarkant were awarded together in 2009.

For the year 2024 the Jnanpith was awarded to writer Vinod Kumar Shukla for his contributions to Hindi literature.