Gulzar, Sanskrit Scholar Rambhadracharya Selected for Jnanpith Award

Renowned Urdu poet Gulzar and Sanskrit scholar Jagadguru Rambhadracharya have been named the recipients of the 58th Jnanpith Award. (Image: X/ANI)

New Delhi: Renowned Urdu poet Gulzar and Sanskrit scholar Jagadguru Rambhadracharya have been named the recipients of the 58th Jnanpith Award, the Jnanpith selection committee announced on Saturday.

Sampooran Singh Kalra, popularly known as Gulzar, 89, is celebrated for his works in Hindi cinema and is considered one of the finest Urdu poets of this era.

Rambhadracharya, 74, the founder and head of Tulsi Peeth in Chitrakoot, is a renowned Hindu spiritual leader, educator and writer of more than 240 books and texts, including four epics.

In a statement, the Jnanpith selection committee said, ”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.” Gulzar received Sahitya Akademi Award for Urdu in 2002, Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2013, Padma Bhushan in 2004, and at least five National Film awards for his works.

Some of his finest works include the song “Jai Ho” for film “Slumdog Millionaire”, which received an Oscar award in 2009 and Grammy Award in 2010, and songs for critically acclaimed films as ”Maachhis” (1996), “Omkara” (2006), “Dil Se…” (1998), and “Guru” (2007), among others.

Gulzar also directed some timeless award-winning classics, including ”Koshish” (1972), ”Parichay” (1972), “Mausam” (1975), “Ijaazat” (1977), and television serial “Mirza Ghalib” (1988).

“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,” Bharatiya Jnanpith said in a statement.

Rambhadracharya is one of the present four Jagadguru Ramanandacharyas of the Ramananda sect and has been holding this position since 1982.

A polyglot, who speaks 22 languages, Rambhadracharya is a poet and writer in several Indian languages including Sanskrit, Hindi, Awadhi, and Maithili.

In 2015, he received the Padma Vibhushan award.

He was named Giridhara Misra. He lost his eyesight at the age of two months due to trachoma and was home tutored during initial years by his grandfather. he had memorized the entire Bhagwad Gita and by eight, the entire Ramcharitmanas, according to his website.

Established in 1944, the Jnanpith Award is given annually for outstanding contributions to Indian literature and is considered the highest literary honour in the country. This is the second time the award is being given for Sanskrit language and for the fifth time for Urdu language.

The award carries a prize money of Rs 21 lakh, a statue of Vagdevi and a citation.

The recipients for the award were decided by a selection committee chaired by Jnanpith awardee Pratibha Rai.

Other members of the selection committee included Madhav Kaushik, Damodar Mauzo, Prof. Suranjan Das, Prof. Purushottam Bilmale, Praful Shiledar, Prof. Harish Trivedi, Prabha Verma, Dr. Janaki Prasad Sharma, A Krishna Rao and Jnanpith director Madhusudan Anand.

Goan writer Damodar Mauzo had received the prestigious award for 2022.