Jnanpith honours Gulzar and Sanskrit Scholar Jagadguru Rambhadracharya

Gulzar and Rambhadracharya honored with Jnanpith Award 2023, celebrating excellence in Urdu and Sanskrit literature. Literary brilliance recognized!

on Feb 20, 2024

Jnanpith honours Gulzar and Sanskrit Scholar Jagadguru Rambhadracharya | Frontlist

The literary prize includes a financial component of ₹11 lakh, a statue of Vagdevi, and a citation. This is the second time the award is given for Sanskrit and the fifth for Urdu.
Gulzar, a celebrated Urdu poet, Bollywood writer, and director, and Jagadguru Rambhadracharya, a Sanskrit scholar, have been chosen for the Jnanpith prize, widely regarded as the country's greatest literary distinction.

Gulzar, also known as Sampooran Singh Kalra, is a prominent Hindi film director and writer, as well as one of the best Urdu poets of his period. Rambhadracharya is a notable Hindu spiritual leader, educator, and author of over 240 books and writings, including four epics. He is also the founder and head of the Tulsi Peeth in Chitrakoot, Madhya Pradesh.

"It has been decided to give the award (for 2023) to eminent writers from two languages: Sanskrit litterateur Jagadguru Rambhadracharya and well-known Urdu litterateur Shri Gulzar," a statement from the Jnanpith selection committee said. Since 1965, the Jnanpith Award has been granted yearly for outstanding achievements to Indian literature. This year marks the 58th edition. It is presented by the Bharatiya Jnanpith, which was founded in 1944.

The award includes a cash prize of ₹11 lakh, a statue of Vagdevi, and citation. This is the second time the award has been granted for Sanskrit, and the fifth for Urdu.

Gulzar was born in 1934 and has received the Sahitya Akademi Award for Urdu in 2002, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2013, the Padma Bhushan in 2004, and at least five National Film Awards for his work.

His song "Jai Ho'' from the film Slumdog Millionaire won an Oscar in 2009 and a Grammy in 2010. He is renowned for his roles in Maachhis, Omkara, Dil Se, Guru, and Aandhi.

He has directed classics including Koshish, Parichay, Mausam, Ijaazat, and the television series Mirza Ghalib.
According to a Bharatiya Jnanpith statement, "In addition to his long film career, Gulzar has set new literary milestones.

In poetry, he created a new genre known as 'Triveni', which is a non-mukaffa poem of three lines. Gulzar's poetry has always been innovative. For some time now, he has paid close attention to children's poetry."

Mr Rambhadracharya, a polyglot who knows 22 languages, is one of the current four Jagadguru Ramanandacharyas of the Ramananda sect, having held the position since 1982. He was a poet and writer in numerous Indian languages, including Sanskrit, Hindi, Awadhi, and Maithili, and was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 2015. He was born in 1950 in Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh.

A commission led by Odia writer Pratibha Rai chose the award winners. The selection committee also featured Madhav Kaushik, Damodar Mauzo, Suranjan Das, Purushottam Bilmale, Praful Shiledar, Harish Trivedi, Prabha Verma, Janaki Prasad Sharma, A. Krishna Rao, and Jnanpith director Madhusudan Anand.