Who are ‘2023 Jnanpith Award’ recipients?

On February 18th 2024, the Jnanpith Selection Board named famous Indian poet, lyricist and filmmaker Gulzar along with eminent Sanskrit scholar and educator Jagadguru Rambhadracharya as joint recipients of the prestigious Jnanpith Award for the year 2023.

About Jnanpith Award

Instituted in 1961, the Jnanpith Award recognizes landmark lifetime contributions by writers towards enriching Indian literature canvas encompassing works across all recognized Indian languages.

The Jnanpith award comprises a cash prize of Rs 11 lakh, a citation plaque and a bronze replica of goddess Saraswati.

Prior Laureates

To date, 58 literary giants including stalwarts like Mahadevi Verma, Subramania Bharathi, Amrita Pritam, U.R. Ananthamurthy etc have been conferred the highest literary recognition established by the Bharatiya Jnanpith Trust.

In 2022, the Jnanpith award was jointly conferred upon two writers Rajeswar and Sitanshu Yashaschandra recognizing their significant contributions to Gujarati and Marathi literature respectively.

Gulzar: Iconic Urdu Poet

One of India’s most influential Urdu poets and lyricists over the past half century, Gulzar has won 5 Indian National Film Awards; including Best Lyrics, Best Screenplay, Second Best Feature Film (director), and Best Popular Film (director);; one Academy Award; and one Grammy Award.

He was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award – Hindi in 2002, the third-highest civilian award in India- the Padma Bhushan in 2004, and the highest award in Indian cinema- Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2013.

Gulzar has written lyrics for over 300 Bollywood songs, dialogues and scripts for over 50 movies and various poetry anthologies in a six-decade career.

Rambhadracharya: Prolific Sanskrit Promoter

Based in Chitrakoot, the ascetic polyglot has authored over 120 books on spirituality, religion, philosophy and recitation in fluent Sanskrit promoting India’s rich classical language legacy while also pioneering pathbreaking assistive technologies for visually challenged.

He founded the Jagadguru Rambhadracharya Handicapped University, an institution of higher learning solely for disabled students.

He is only the third religious leader after former President S. Radhakrishnan (Sanskrit) and Tibetan spiritual head 14th Dalai Lama (Tibetan) to receive the Jnanpith award.

In July 2003 Rambhadracharya deposed as an expert witness for religious matters of the Ram Janmabhoomi Babri Masjid dispute case in the Allahabad High Court. In 2015, Rambhadracharya was awarded Padma Vibhushan, India’s second highest civilian honour.

Category: Awards, Honours & Persons in News