Celebrated Urdu poet and Bollywood writer and director Gulzar and Sanskrit scholar Jagadguru Rambhadracharya have been selected for the Jnanpith award, considered by many to be the country’s highest literary honour.
Gulzar or Sampooran Singh Kalra is considered one of the finest Urdu poets of his generation and is a top director and writer of Hindi cinema. Rambhadracharya, is a renowned Hindu spiritual leader, educator and writer of more than 240 books and texts, including four epics. He is also the founder and head of Tulsi Peeth in Chitrakoot in 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,” the Jnanpith selection committee said in a statement. This is the 58th edition of the Jnanpith Award given annually for outstanding contributions to Indian literature since 1965. It is presented by the Bharatiya Jnanpith, which was established in 1944.
The award carries a cash component of ₹11 lakh, a statue of Vagdevi and a citation. It is the second time the award is being given for Sanskrit and the fifth time for Urdu.
Gulzar, born in 1934, 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” for the film Slumdog Millionaire, received an Oscar in 2009 and Grammy in 2010. He is known for his work in Maachhis, Omkara, Dil Se, Guru and Aandhi.
He has directed classics such as Koshish, Parichay, Mausam, Ijaazat, as well as the television serial Mirza Ghalib.
A statement by the Bharatiya Jnanpith said: “Along with his long film journey, Gulzar has been setting new milestones in the field of literature. In poetry, he invented a new genre ‘Triveni’ which is a non-mukaffa poem of three lines. Gulzar has always created something new through his poetry. For some time now he has also been paying serious attention to children’s poetry”.
Mr Rambhadracharya, a polyglot, who speaks 22 languages, is one of the present four Jagadguru Ramanandacharyas of the Ramananda sect and has been holding this position since 1982. A poet and writer in several Indian languages including Sanskrit, Hindi, Awadhi and Maithili, he received the Padma Vibhushan in 2015. He was born in 1950 in Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh.
The awardees were selected by a committee headed by Odia writer Pratibha Rai. Other members of the selection committee included 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.
