Kalidasa
Kalidasa, one of the chief figures in classic Sanskrit
literature was also a dramatist and poet.He was one
of the Navratnas (9 gems or the most accomplished men
of their times) at the court of Chandragupta Vikramaditya.
Kalidasa's works include plays, Epics and lyrics. His
play 'Abhinjnana Sakunthalam' (Recognition
of Sakunthala) is the most well-known of all his works
and it has been translated into various languages of
the world. In all, 7 works of Kalidasa are available
today. They are: 'Malavikagnimitra', 'Vikramorvasiyam'
and 'Abhijnana Sakunthalam' (plays); 'Raghu Vansa' and
'Kumara Sambhavam' (Epics); 'Meghdoot' and 'Ritu Samhara'
(lyrics). As far as literacy merits are concerned, Meghdoot
(cloud messenger) is the most excellent work.
Tulasidas
(1532 - 1623)
Goswami
Tulasidas was a saint, poet and has composed many
devotional songs and Kirtans. He was the leading poet
of the Bhakti movement and a great reformer of Hindu
Society. His 'Rama-charita-manas' (1575) is the greatest
work in Hindi Literature. It is considered as an immortal
classic by all Hindus. Tulasidas was the poet of common
people.
For
all Hindus, Tulasidas was a symbol of religion, culture
and true knowledge. Besides the religious importance,
the poetic creations of Tulasidas are marked for their
literary excellence. His other important poetic works
of Tulasidas are 'Bairavi Ramayana', 'Parvati Mangal',
'Gitavali', 'Vinaypatrika' and 'Hanuman Chalisa'.
Tulasidas was married, but later renounced worldly
life and became a devotee of Lord Rama making pilgrimages
most of his life.
Subramaniya Bharati
(1882 - 1921)
Subramaniyam Bharati was a poet of modern
Tamil. He was born at Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu. Nick
named "Subaiyya", he was a child prodigy
who started writing when only 7.
The
King of Ettayapuram was so impressed by his writings
that he conferred on him the title "Bharati".
When Subramaniyam Bharati was just 11 years old, the
King made him his court poet, the poet laureate. His
collection of poems 'Swadesh Geet' was published in
1907. In 1918, he was imprisoned for writing inflammatory
verses. In 1920, he re-joined the Tamil daily 'Swadesa
Mithran'. 'Kuyil Pattu' and 'Panchali Sapatam' are
his famous poems. He will always be remembered for
his fiery verses which lashed out for the cause of
the nation. He
was a great patriot and as well as a philosopher.
His impact on Tamil Literature is great
Mirza Ghalib
(1796 - 1868)
Mirza Ghalib is regarded as one of the greatest Urdu
Poets. Mirza Asadullah Begh Khan Ghalib was born in
Agra, Uttar Pradesh. Ghalib's poetry is distinguished
by its intense feelings, wistfulness and a strong
romantic mood which produce a charming effect on readers.
'Diwan-i-Ghalibin',
10 volumes is the collection of poetical works of
Ghalib. It has been translated into several Indian
and foreign languages . In 1850, he was appointed
poet Laureate by the last Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah
II. As a writer and poet, Ghalib believed in using
simple words. He laid the foundation of Urdu prose
and that is why he is called the father of the modern
Urdu Prose.
'Urdu-i-Hindi'
and 'Urdu-i-Muallah' are his two famous books of collection
of letters. Some other notable prose works of Ghalib
are : 'Naam-i-Ghalib', ' Lateif-i-Gaibi' and ' Dupshe
Kawaiyani'. Mirza Ghalib Academy in Delhi has been
established in the memory of this great Urdu poet
for research of his works and also to encourage Urdu
literature.
Rabindranath
Tagore
( 1861
- 1941)
Rabindranath
Tagore was a rare and great personality. He was a
scholar, freedom fighter, writer and painter and above
all a humble man. His contributions to Indian Literature
was immense. He won the noble prize in 1913 for his
collection of well known poems 'Gitanjali'.
Tagore was born on May 7, 1861 to Debendranath Tagore
and Sharada Devi at Jorasanko in West Bengal. He did
his schooling in the prestigious St. Xavier School.
He has written thousands of Poems and lyrics and about
35 plays about 12 novels, numerous short stories and
a mass of prose literature. He was called as 'Vishwa
Kavi'.
Besides the famous ' Gitanjali' his other well known
poetic works include ' Sonar Tari', 'Puravi', ' The
cycle of the spring', ' The evening songs' etc. The
names of his well known novels are: 'Gora', ' The
wreck', ' Raja Rani', ' Ghare Baire', ' Raj Rishi'
etc. ' Chitra' is his famous play in verse. ' Kabuli
Wallah' and ' Kshudita Pashan' are his famous stories.
In 1901, he founded the Vishwabharati University-
earlier known as Shantiniketan at Bolepur in West
Bengal. This was founded with the aim of evolving
a world culture, a synthesis of eastern and western
values. The National Anthem 'Jana Gana Mana ......'
was written by him.
R.K
Narayan
(1906 - 2001)
One of the most famous Indian writers in English Language,
R.K Narayan was born in 1906 in Madras. He was educated
in Mysore and settled there for over half a century.
Narayan created the enchanting fictional world of
Malgudi through his several novels and short stories
which captivated his readers throughout the world
and more recently millions of Indian Television viewers,
who saw TV adaptations of many Malgudi stories. His
famous works are ' Malgudi days' and ' Swamy and his
Friends'. Narayan has a humorous way of presenting
life around him.
First
Novel ' Swamy and Friends' (1935), and its successor,
' Bachelor of Art's (1937) are both set in the enchanting
fictional territory of Malgudi. His books are regularly
published in USA, UK and India and have also been
widely translated into several European and Indian
languages. His novel, ' the Guide' (1958) won him
the National Prize of the Indian Literary Academy,
the country’s highest Literary honour. He was
awarded the A.C.Benson Medal in 1980 by the Royal
Society of Literature and in 1981 he was made an Honoray
Member of the American Academy and Institutes of Arts
and letters. In addition to 4 collection of short
stories-A horse and 2 goats, An Astrologer’s
Day and other stories, Lawley Road and Malgudi Days-
he has published 2 travel books , 4 collection of
essays and several other books. His biography 'R.K.
Narayan, The Early Years' provides a splendid insight
into the first four decades of his life. The famous
cartoonist R.K.Laxman is his brother.
Arundhati Roy :
(1961 - )
Born in Bengal, Arundhati Roy grew up in Kerala. She
trained as an architect at the Delhi School of Architecture,
but became better known for her complex, scathing
film scripts. She wrote and starred in In Which Annie
Gives it Those Ones, and wrote the script for Pradip
Kishen's Electric Moon. Media attention came when
she spoke out in suapport of Phoolan Devi, who she
felt had been exploited by Shekhar Kapur's film Bandit
Queen. The controversy escalated into a court case,
after which she retired to private life to work on
her first book, The God of Small Things, which was
published in 1997. The half-million pound advance
on this book, more than Vikram Seth's for A Suitable
Boy, shot her to fame again. As the daughter of Mary
Roy, the woman whose court case changed the inheritance
laws in favour of women, she was closely acquainted
with the Syrian Christian traditions which feature
prominently in the book.
She says "a feminist is a woman who negotiates
herself into a position where she has choices.."
Vikram Seth
(1952 - )
Vikram Seth was born in Calcutta. He earned
degrees in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from
Oxford University. He has published 6 books of poetry
and 3 novels since 1980. His novel 'A suitable boy'
won the W.H.Smith prize in 1993. The latest novel
written by Vikram Seth is 'An Equal music' and it
is about the troubled love life of a violinist. Vikram
Seth received one of Britain top honours for his services
to literature. The award of the commander of the order
of the British Empire was announced earlier in the
year by Queen Elizabeth II and given to Seth on 14
February 2001. Vikram Seth creates a living, breathing
world that enchants and grips the reader in all his
novels.
THE JNANPITH AWARD
The Jnanpith Award is given for the best creative
literary writing by any Indian citizens in any of
the languages included in the VIII Schedule of the
Indian Constitution. The award carries a cash price
of Rs 2.5 lakh, a citation and a bronze replica of
Vagdevi.
The Jnanpith Award was instituted on May 22, 1961.
The first award was given in 1965. So far, 34 eminent
writers have received the award in 32 years. On two
occasions, the award was given to Kannada writers
six times, five times each to Hindi and Bengali writers,
four times to Malayalam, thrice to Oriya, twice each
to Gujarati, Marathi, Telugu and Urdu, and one each
to Assamese, Punjabi and Tamil writers.
List of Jnanpith Awardees
| Jnanpith
Awardees |
| Shankara
Kurup for his poems Odakkuzhal in Malayalam |
1965
|
| Tarashankar
Bandopadhyaya for the novel Ganadevta in Bengali |
1966
|
| Dr
KV Puttappa for Sri Ramayana Darshanam in Kannada |
1967
|
| Uma
Shankar Joshi for Nishitha in Gujarati |
1967
|
| Sumitra
Nandan Pant for Chidambara in Hindi |
1968
|
| Firaq
Gorakpuri for Gul-e-Naghma in Urdu |
1969
|
| Vishwanath
Satyanarayan for Ramayana Kalpavrikshamu in
Telugu |
1970
|
| Bishnu
Dey for Smriti Satta Bhavishyat in Bengali |
1971
|
| Ramdhari
Singh Dinkar for Urvashi in Hindi |
1972
|
| Dattatreya
Ramachandran Bendre for Nakutanti in Kannada |
1973
|
| Gopinath
Mohanty for Mattimatal in Oriya |
1973
|
| Vishnu
Sakaram Khandekar for Yayati in Marathi |
1974 |
| PV
Akilandam for his novel Chittirappavai in Tamil |
1975
|
| Asha
Purna Devi for Pratham Pratisruti, in Bengali |
1976
|
| K
Shivaram Karanth for Mukajjiya Kanasugalu in
Kannada |
1977
|
| S.H.V
Ajneya for his novel Kitni Navon men Kitni Bar
in Hindi |
1978
|
| Birendra
Kumar Bhattacharya for his novel Mrityunjay
in Assamese |
1979
|
| SK
Pottekkatt for his novel Oru Desattinte Katha
in Malayalam |
1980
|
| Amrita
Pritam for her literary collection Kagaz te
Canvas in Punjabi |
1981 |
| Mahadevi
Varma (Hindi) |
1982
|
| Masti
Venkatesh Ayengar (Kannada) |
1983
|
| Takazhi
Sivashankar Pillai (Malayalam) |
1984
|
| Pannalal
Patel (Gujarati) |
1985
|
| Sachidanand
Rout Roy (Oriya) |
1986
|
| Vishnu
Vaman Shirwadkar Kusumagraj (Marathi) |
1987
|
| Dr
C Narayanan Reddy (Telugu) |
1988
|
| Qurratulain
Hyder (Urdu) |
1989
|
| VK
Gokak (Kannada) |
1990
|
| Subhash
Mukhopadhyay (Bengali) |
1991
|
| Naresh
Mehta (Hindi) |
1992
|
| Sitakant
Mahapatra (Oriya) |
1993
|
| UR
Anantha Murthy (Kannada) |
1994
|
| MT
Vasudevan Nair (Malayalam) |
1995
|
| Mahesweta
Devi (Bengali) |
1996
|
| Ali
Sardar Jafri (Urdu) |
1997 |
| Girish
Karnad (Kannada) |
1998 |
| Nirmal
Verma (Hindi) |
1999 |
| Gurdial
Singh (Punjabi) |
1999 |
| Indira
Goswami (Assamese) |
2000 |
| Rajendra
Keshavlal Shah (Gujarati) |
2001 |
| D,
Jayakanthan (Tamil) |
2002 |
| Vinda
Karandikar (Marathi) |
2003 |
| Rahman
Rahi (Kashmiri) |
2004 |
| *
From 1982, the award was given for overall contribution
to literature |
