This lesson explains the Jnanpith Award, India’s highest literary honour. It covers who started it, how winners are chosen and what changed after the 17th award. It also names the two latest winners and shows how to read the official list.
Contents
What should I know first about the Jnanpith Award?
What is the Jnanpith Award?
The Jnanpith Award is India’s highest literary honour. The Bharatiya Jnanpith gives it every year. It goes to an author for an outstanding contribution to literature in an Indian language.
What does the winner receive?
The winner gets three things. The first is a citation, which is a short written note praising the work. The second is a bronze replica of Vagdevi. Vagdevi is another name for Goddess Saraswati, the goddess of learning. The third is a cash prize of Rs 11 lakh.
Is it a prize for one book?
Not any more. It now honours a writer’s whole contribution to literature. Card 7 shows how that rule changed.
Sources: Bharatiya Jnanpith, the Jnanpith Award page, IANS, 60th Jnanpith Award report.
Who started the Bharatiya Jnanpith and the award?
Two people stand behind it. They were Rama Jain and her husband, Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain.
Who was Rama Jain?
She laid the foundation of the Bharatiya Jnanpith in 1944. She was born in Calcutta in 1915. The award page calls her the Founder President of the Jnanpith.
Who was Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain?
He was an industrialist and philanthropist. He was born at Najibabad in Uttar Pradesh on 22 May 1911. He took charge of Bennett, Coleman & Co in 1955. The official pages call him the founder of the Bharatiya Jnanpith.
How did the idea of the award arise?
It began on 22 May 1961. That was his fiftieth birthday. His family felt a unique scheme of national prestige should start in the literary field.
On 16 September 1961, the Board of Trustees was discussing a series of Hindi translations of outstanding works from other Indian languages. Rama Jain asked a question. Could the best book among the publications in Indian languages win a big award?
Sources: Bharatiya Jnanpith, the founders page, Bharatiya Jnanpith, the Jnanpith Award page.
How was the award planned?
The plan took more than a year. It was shared with writers before the first award was given.
What happened in 1961 and 1962?
- 22 November 1961: Rama Jain invited leading writers to her home in Kolkata. Kaka Kalelkar, Harivansh Rai Bachchan and Ramdhari Singh Dinkar were among them.
- Two days later: Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain showed a first plan to Dr Rajendra Prasad, the President of India. He liked it and promised help.
- 1 January 1962: Seventy-two writers in Kolkata discussed the idea.
- 2 April 1962: A symposium of nearly 300 writers met in Delhi. The Bharatiya Jnanpith and The Times of India held it together.
Who was to lead the Selection Board?
Dr Rajendra Prasad was asked to head the Selection Board. In Hindi it is called the Pravara Parishad. He fixed 16 March 1963 for its first meeting. He died before that date.
Kaka Kalelkar then chaired the meeting. Dr Sampurnanand headed the Board after that.
Sources: Bharatiya Jnanpith, the Jnanpith Award page, Bharatiya Jnanpith, the laureates list.
How are winners chosen?
The choice passes through three steps. Each step has its own group of people.
Where does the process start?
It starts with proposals. Writers, teachers, critics and readers can send them. Universities and literary and language groups can send them too.
What does a Language Advisory Committee do?
Each language has one committee. It has three eminent critics and scholars. The group is formed again every three years.
The committee studies the proposals. It may also look at other writers. It must weigh the author’s entire literary work against writing of the same period.
Who makes the final choice?
The Selection Board makes it. It has at least seven and at most eleven members. Each member serves three years and may continue for two more terms.
The Board compares what the language committees recommend. The official page says the Bharatiya Jnanpith Trust has no hand in the selection.
Example: the 60th award was decided at a meeting chaired by the writer Pratibha Ray.
Sources: Bharatiya Jnanpith, how winners are chosen, IANS, the selection committee.
Which languages can win?
Many languages compete. The official page speaks of fifteen or more.
Is English included?
Yes. English was added from the 49th Jnanpith Award. The official list shows one English-language winner. He is Amitav Ghosh, listed for 2018.
Who can win?
The award is open only to Indian citizens. The language may be one of the Indian languages or English. So a writer must be an Indian citizen, even when writing in English.
Sources: Bharatiya Jnanpith, the Rules and Regulations text, Bharatiya Jnanpith, the English winner.
What else is worth knowing?
What is the rule for languages?
A language that wins must wait. The wait keeps the award moving across languages.
What does the rule say?
The Rules and Regulations text says a winning language is not considered for the next two years. So two languages are out each year.
The History text on the same page gives three years and three languages. The official page does not agree with itself.
What should I do in an exam?
Read the option carefully. The Rules and Regulations text says two years. Do not mix it with the History text.
Sources: Bharatiya Jnanpith, the Rules and Regulations text.
What changed after the 17th award?
The award first honoured one work. Later it honoured the writer.
| Awards | Years | What the award honoured |
|---|---|---|
| First 17 | 1965 to 1981 | The most outstanding single work |
| From the 18th | 1982 onward | The writer’s entire contribution |
Why do exams say 1981?
The first 17 awards ran from 1965 to 1981. The 18th award came after that. By my count, the official list puts it in 1982. So “until 1981” means the first 17 awards.
Who won the first award under the new rule?
The official list gives Mahadevi Varma, a Hindi writer, for 1982. That year matches the 18th award by count.
Sources: Bharatiya Jnanpith, the rule revision, Bharatiya Jnanpith, the 1982 entry.
Who were the first winners?
The official list starts in 1965. It ends the early years with Amrita Pritam in 1981.
Who won first?
G.S. Kurup won in 1965. He wrote in Malayalam. The official list prints his name in that short form. An India Post stamp of 2003 calls him G. Sankara Kurup.
What do the next winners show?
- 1966: T. S. Bandyopadhyaya, who wrote in Bangla.
- 1967: Two writers shared the award. They were K.V. Puttappa for Kannada and Uma Shankar Joshi for Gujarati.
- 1968: Sumitranandan Pant, who wrote in Hindi.
- 1969: Firaq Gorakhpuri, who wrote in Urdu.
- 1981: Amrita Pritam, who wrote in Punjabi.
A joint award means two writers share one year’s award.
Sources: Bharatiya Jnanpith, the early winners.
What do the numbers and latest awards show?
Which languages have the most winners?
The official list names each winner’s language. That lets us count.
What do the counts show?
I counted the rows on the official list. It has 63 rows, from 1965 to 2023. It has no row for 2020.
- Hindi: 11 on the list. PTI calls Vinod Kumar Shukla the 12th Hindi winner. That makes 12.
- Kannada: 8.
- Malayalam: 6.
- Bangla: 6. One of them is Shankha Ghosh, listed for 2016.
- Tamil: 2 on the list, before the latest award.
What is odd about the official list?
The table stops at 2023 as at 9 October 2026. The two newest awards are not in it. The site’s banner does name the 60th award.
The list also spells some languages in older ways, such as Oriya and Assamia. Read counts with care.
Sources: Bharatiya Jnanpith, the language counts, PTI via DT Next, 59th Jnanpith Award, IANS, Vairamuthu profile.
Who won the two latest awards?
The 59th and 60th awards went to a Hindi writer and a Tamil writer.
Who won the 59th award?
Vinod Kumar Shukla won it. PTI reported the news on 22 March 2025. He was 88. He is a short story writer, poet and essayist. He is the first writer from Chhattisgarh to win the award.
Who won the 60th award?
R. Vairamuthu won it, for the year 2025. The Bharatiya Jnanpith announced it on 14 March 2026. He writes in Tamil. He is a poet, lyricist and writer. He was born on 13 July 1953.
IANS says he has written more than 37 books. They include Kallikattu Ethikasam and Karuvachi Kaaviyam. He has won the National Film Award for Best Lyrics seven times.
Who won just before them?
The official list shows Swami Rambhadracharya for 2023, who wrote in Sanskrit. Damodar Mauzo is listed for 2022, in Konkani. Nilamoni Phukan is listed for 2021, in Assamia.
Why is his win notable for Tamil?
The committee said only two Tamil writers had won before. They were P.V. Akilan in 1975 and D. Jayakanthan in 2002. So Tamil waited 23 years between 2002 and 2025.
Sources: PTI via DT Next, Vinod Kumar Shukla, IANS, the Tamil winners, Bharatiya Jnanpith, the list summary.
How do I revise the Jnanpith Award in one minute?
What should I remember about the Jnanpith Award?
What are the key points?
- What: India’s highest literary honour, given by the Bharatiya Jnanpith.
- Prize: Citation, bronze Vagdevi, Rs 11 lakh.
- Founders: Rama Jain began the Jnanpith in 1944. Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain is called its founder.
- Choice: Language committees send names. The Selection Board decides.
- Rule change: First 17 awards, one work. From the 18th, the whole body of work.
- Latest: 59th to Vinod Kumar Shukla. 60th to R. Vairamuthu.
Sources: Bharatiya Jnanpith, the prize, IANS, the prize, PTI via DT Next, the Hindi count.
What traps do examiners set on the Jnanpith Award? Exam practice
What do examiners test about the Jnanpith Award?
What are the traps?
- One book or many. The first 17 awards honoured one work. Later awards honour the writer.
- The year 1981. The first 17 awards end in 1981. The 18th award is the first under the new rule.
- Two or three years. The Rules text says two years. Read the option with care.
- Trust or Board. The Selection Board decides. The Trust has no hand in it.
- Award year or news year. The 60th award is for 2025. It was announced in March 2026.
- Counts. The official list stops at 2023. Always note the as-at date.
Sources: Bharatiya Jnanpith, the selection steps, Bharatiya Jnanpith, the list summary, IANS, the announcement.
Review your 6 understanding checks
Review the feedback after each answer. The understanding-check score lasts for this page session.
Reset the checks when you want another attempt. This score is separate from the practice score below.
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Questions to think through
Why does the exam say 1981 when the 18th award is for 1982?
Awards one to 17 covered 1965 to 1981. The rule changed after the 17th award. So “until 1981” means those early awards.
Why is the 60th award for 2025 but announced in 2026?
The award year names the year being honoured. The announcement came later. IANS reported it on 14 March 2026.
Who really picks the winner, the Trust or the Board?
The Selection Board picks the winner. It compares what the language committees recommend. The official page says the Trust has no hand in it.
Why check the date on a winner count?
The list grows each year. The official list I read stops at 2023. A count made later will differ.
Sources: Bharatiya Jnanpith, the summary, Bharatiya Jnanpith, the list check, IANS, the summary.
MCQ on the Jnanpith Award
Test the trust behind the award, the first winner, the rule change, the 2016 winner and the 60th award. Read the explanation after each answer.
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