50th Jnanpith Award conferred on Marathi litterateur Bhalchandra Nemade

50th Jnanpith Award was conferred on eminent Marathi litterateur Bhalchandra Nemade on 25 April 2015.
He was presented award comprising of 11 lakh rupees and a citation plaque and a bronze replica of Saraswati by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a function in Parliament House Complex in New Delhi.
His novel, Kosala, written in 1963 is considered as a path breaking in Marathi literature.

About Bhalchandra Nemade

• He was born in 1938 in the village of Jalgoan district of Maharashtra.
• He completed his bachelor’s degree from Fergusson College, Pune and received PhD and D.Lit. degrees from North Maharashtra University.
• He had taught English, Marathi, and comparative literature at various universities including the School of Oriental and African Studies at London and retired from Mumbai University’s Gurudeo Tagore Chair for comparative literature studies.
• In the 1960s, he had edited Marathi magazine Vacha.

His work

• Novel Collection- Kosla, Bidhar, Hool, Jarila, Jhool, Hindu- Jagnyachi Samruddha Adgal.
• Poem Collection- Melody, Dekhani.
• Criticism Collection- Teekaswayamvar, Sahityachi Bhasha, Tukaram, The Influence of English on Marathi: A Sociolinguistic and Stylistic Study, Indo-Anglian Writings: Two Lectures, Prasaranga Prakashan, Mysore, Nativism (Desivad).

Awards- He has received Sahitya Akademi Award (1990) for his critical work Teeka Svayanwar. He was also awarded Padma Shri (2011).
It should be noted that Bhalchandra Nemade is the 4th Marathi writer to receive the honour. Others are

• Vishnu Sakharam Khandekar (1974) for his work Yayati.
• Vishnu Vaman Shirwadkar (1987). He is famously known as Kusumagraj.
• Vinda Karandikar (2003).

Month: Current Affairs - April, 2015