New Delhi: The country’s highest literary honour, the Jnanpith Award for 2023, is being conferred upon famous Urdu lyricist Gulzar and eminent Sanskrit writer Jagadguru Rambhadracharya.
The Jnanpith Award Selection Committee on Saturday announced that the 58th Jnanpith Award for 2023 was being given to two eminent writers, Jagadguru Rambhadracharya for Sanskrit and Gulzar for Urdu respectively.
The literary and research organisation established in 1944, Bharatiya Jnanpith told IANS that the decision was taken in a meeting of the selection committee chaired by Jnanpith awardee and noted litterateur Pratibha Ray.
Since 1965, this award has been given annually by Bharatiya Jnanpith for outstanding contribution to Indian literature.
This is the second time that a Sanskrit writer has been given this award, while this is the fifth time that it is being conferred on an Urdu writer.
The award will carry prize money of Rs 11 lakh, a citation and a statue of Vagdevi the goddess of speech.
The committee said that Jagadguru Rambhadracharya who was born in 1950 in Khandi Khurd Village of Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh, is an eminent scholar, educationist, polyglot, writer, preacher, philosopher and a religious leader living in Chitrakoot, UP.
He is one of the present four Jagadguru Ramanandacharyas of the Ramananda sect and has been holding this position since 1988. He is the founder president of Tulsi Peeth, a religious and social service institution named after Saint Tulsidas that is based in Chitrakoot. He is a polyglot who speaks 22 languages. He is a poet and writer in many languages including Sanskrit, Hindi, Awadhi, and Maithili.
(IANS)
