Moortidevi Award

Moortidevi Award
Award for contributions to literature
Awarded forLiterary award in India
Sponsored byBharatiya Jnanpith
Reward(s)4 lakh (US$4,700)
First awarded1983 (Instituted in 1961)
Last awarded2019
Most recent winnerVishwanath Prasad Tiwari
Highlights
Total awarded30
First winnerC. K. Nagaraja Rao

The Moortidevi Award is an Indian literary award annually presented by the Bharatiya Jnanpith, a literary and research organisation.[1] The award is given only to Indian writers writing in Indian languages included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India, and in English,[a] with no posthumous conferral or self nomination.[3]

From 2003, the award was given to the authors for their "contemplative and perceptive work" and consisted of a cash prize of lakh (US$1,600), a citation plaque, a shawl, and a statue of Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of knowledge and wisdom.[4][5][6] The cash prize was raised to 2 lakh (US$2,300) in 2011 and to 4 lakh (US$4,700) in 2013.[7][8] The first recipient of the award was the Kannada writer C. K. Nagaraja Rao who was honoured in 1983 for his novel, Pattamahadevi Shantala Devi, which was published in four volumes.[4][9]

Works have been presented the award in ten of the twenty-three eligible languages: Urdu, Telugu, Rajasthani, Marathi and Bengali (one each), Gujarati, Odia and Kannada (two), Malayalam (three) and Hindi (sixteen). No awards were given in 1985 and between 1996 and 1999. The award has been conferred upon twenty-nine writers including one female author: In 1991, Odia academic and writer Pratibha Ray became the first woman to win the award and was honoured for the 1985 novel Yajnasani.[10] Ray and Nirmal Verma have won both the Moortidevi as well as the Jnanpith Award.[11][12] As of 2019, Hindi writer and professor, Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari is the most recent recipient of the award.[13]

Background

The Bharatiya Jnanpith, a research and cultural institute founded in 1944 by industrialist Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain of the Sahu Jain family, conceived an idea in May 1961 to start a scheme "commanding national prestige and of international standard" to "select the best book out of the publications in Indian languages".[14][15] In November that year, Rama Jain, the Founder President of the Bharatiya Jnanpith, invited a few literary experts to discuss various aspects of the scheme. Jain, along with Kaka Kalelkar, Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Ramdhari Singh Dinkar, Jainendra Kumar, Jagdish Chandra Mathur, Prabhakar Machwe, Akshaya Kumar Jain, and Lakshmi Chandra Jain, presented the initial draft to the then President of IndiaRajendra Prasad who had shown interest in the scheme's implementation. The idea was also discussed at the 1962 annual sessions of the All India Gujarati Sahitya Parishad and the Bharatiya Bhasha Parishad.[14] The award is given in the memory of Moortidevi, mother of Sahu Jain, and was first presented in 1983.[1]

Selection process

Only the work of a living author, published at least one year and at the most ten years before the relevant award year, is considered. The Selection Committee is free to consider any other works besides the proposals submitted to it. No award may be declared for a year if the selection committee does not find any work measuring up to the required standard.[1] The nominations for the award are received from several literary experts, teachers, critics, universities, and numerous literary and language associations. Every three years, an advisory committee is constituted for each of the languages. Each committee consists of three literary critics and scholars of their respective languages.[3]

The Selection Board consists of between seven and eleven members of "high repute and integrity". Each member is part of the committee for a term of three years which can also be extended further for two more terms at most. The recommendations of all language advisory committees are evaluated by the board based on complete or partial translations of the selected writings of the proposed writers into Hindi or English.[1]

Recipients

An image of C.K Nagaraja Rao.
C. K. Nagaraja Rao was the first recipient of the award.
An image of Pratibha Ray.
Pratibha Ray is the only female recipient of the award.
an image of Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari.
Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari is the most recent recipient of the award.
List of award recipients, showing the year, and language[16]
Year Recipient Work Language Ref.
1983
(1st)
C. K. Nagaraja Rao Pattamahadevi Shantala Devi Kannada [4]
1984
(2nd)
Virendra Kumar Sakhlecha Hindi [17]
1986
(3rd)
Kanhaiyalal Sethia Rajasthani [18]
1987
(4th)
Manubhai Pancholi Zer To Pidha Chhe Jani Jani Gujarati [19]
1988
(5th)
Vishnu Prabhakar Hindi [20]
1989
(6th)
Vidya Niwas Mishra Hindi [21]
1990
(7th)
Munishree Nagraj Hindi [16]
1991
(8th)
Pratibha Ray Yagnaseni Odia [5]
1992
(9th)
Kuber Nath Rai Hindi [22]
1993
(10th)
Shyamacharan Dubey Hindi [3]
1994
(11th)
Shivaji Sawant Mrityunjay Marathi [4]
1995
(12th)
Nirmal Verma Bharat aur Europe: Pratishruti ke Shetra Hindi [4]
2000
(13th)
Govind Chandra Pande Sahitiya Saundarya aur Sanskriti Hindi [4]
2001
(14th)
Rammurti Tripathi Shriguru Mahima Hindi [4]
2002
(15th)
Yashdev Shalya Hindi [16]
2003
(16th)
Kalyan Mal Lodha Hindi [16]
2004
(17th)
Narayan Desai Maroon Jeewan Aaj Mari Vaani Gujarati [23]
2005
(18th)
Rammurti Sharma Bharatiya Darshan Ki Chintadhara Hindi [23]
2006
(19th)
Krishna Bihari Mishra Kalpataru ke Utsav Leela Hindi [24]
2007
(20th)
Veerappa Moily Shri Ramayana Mahanveshanam Kannada [25]
2008
(21st)
Raghuvansh Raghuvansh Paschimi Bhautik Samskriti Ka Utthan Aur Patan Hindi [7]
2009
(22nd)
Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri Various poems Malayalam [26]
2010
(23rd)
Gopi Chand Narang Urdu Ghazal aur Hindustani Zehn-o Tahzeeb Urdu [27]
2011
(24th)
Gulab Kothari Ahmev Radha, Ahmev Krishnah Hindi [28]
2012
(25th)
Haraprasad Das Vamsha Odia [5]
2013
(26th)
C. Radhakrishnan Theekkadal Katanhu Thirumadhuram Malayalam [8]
2014
(27th)
Vishwanath Tripathi Vyomkesh Darvesh Hindi [29]
2015
(28th)
Kolakaluri Enoch Ananta Jeevanam Telugu [30]
2016
(29th)
M. P. Veerendra Kumar Hymavathabhoovil Malayalam [31]
2017
(31st)
Joy Goswami Du Dondo Phowara Matro Bengali [32]
2019
(33rd)
Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari Asti Aur Bhavti Hindi [13]

Notes

  1. ^ The Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India consists of twenty-two languages viz. Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santhali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu.[2]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Moortidevi Award". Bharatiya Jnanpith. Archived from the original on 30 May 2017. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  2. ^ "The Constitution of India: Eighth Schedule" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs (India). p. 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 28 May 2016.
  3. ^ a b c "Proposal for the 29th Moortidevi Award" (PDF). Bharatiya Jnanpith. 10 August 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g "Moortidevi Awards for two writers". The Times of India. 24 February 2003. Archived from the original on 30 December 2016. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  5. ^ a b c "Moortidevi Award for Haraprasad Das". The Times of India. 3 September 2013. Archived from the original on 24 September 2016. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  6. ^ "Happy Basant Panchami 2017: Why We Celebrate This Festival". NDTV. 31 January 2017. Archived from the original on 2 December 2017. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  7. ^ a b "Hamid Ansari presents 'Moortidevi Award' to Dr. Raghuvansh". Sify. 16 May 2011. Archived from the original on 26 February 2014. Retrieved 29 March 2012.
  8. ^ a b "Moortidevi Award for C. Radhakrishnan". The Hindu. 14 June 2014. Archived from the original on 3 February 2018. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
  9. ^ "List of Hindi Books" (PDF). Vikram Sarabhai Library-IIM. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 July 2017. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  10. ^ Tiwari 2005, p. 108.
  11. ^ "Speech by the President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee at the presentation of 47th Jnanpith Award to Dr. Pratibha Ray" (Press release). Press Information Bureau, India. 22 May 2013. Archived from the original on 10 June 2016. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
  12. ^ "Nirmal Verma, Gurdial Singh jointly get Jnanpith Award". The Hindu. 11 March 2000. Archived from the original on 3 February 2018. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
  13. ^ a b "'अस्ति और भवति को सम्मान मिलने से आह्लादित हैं साहित्य अकादमी के पूर्व अध्यक्ष प्रो. विश्‍वनाथ तिवारी". Dainik Jagran (in Hindi). 7 December 2019. Retrieved 30 December 2019.
  14. ^ a b "Jnanpith Award @ Bharatiya Jnanpith". Bharatiya Jnanpith. Archived from the original on 9 March 2016. Retrieved 28 May 2016.
  15. ^ Datta 1987, p. 298.
  16. ^ a b c d "Moortidevi Laureates". Bharatiya Jnanpith. Archived from the original on 19 December 2013. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
  17. ^ "Bharatiya Jnanpith second moorti devi literary award". The Times Group. 27 April 1986. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
  18. ^ Thukral 2017, p. 5.
  19. ^ Vol 1987, p. 37.
  20. ^ Vipāsā 2009, p. 40.
  21. ^ India 1992, p. 1004.
  22. ^ Maheshwari 1999, p. 192.
  23. ^ a b "Narayan Desai to be awarded". Daily News and Analysis. 18 April 2007. Archived from the original on 23 December 2015. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
  24. ^ "Moily gets Moortidevi Award". Deccan Herald. 4 November 2009. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
  25. ^ "Moortidevi Award for Veerappa Moily". The Times of India. 19 March 2010. Archived from the original on 4 December 2017.
  26. ^ "Moortidevi Award for Akkitham". The Hindu. 19 January 2011. Archived from the original on 3 February 2018. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
  27. ^ Bhattacharya, Budhaditya (19 November 2012). "Reclaiming the ghazal's space". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 3 February 2018. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
  28. ^ "Vice President Calls upon People to Stay Connected with their Cultural Roots". Press Information Bureau. 4 September 2013. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
  29. ^ "Moortidevi Award for Hindi author Vishwanath Tripathi". Business Standard. 26 June 2015. Archived from the original on 12 January 2016. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  30. ^ "Award for Kolakaluri Enoch". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 2 December 2017. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
  31. ^ "M P Veerendra Kumar to get 30th Moortidevi Award on March 4". India Today. 23 February 2017. Archived from the original on 27 July 2017. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
  32. ^ "Bengali poet Joy Goswami to get 31st Moortidevi Award". India Today. 15 December 2017. Retrieved 16 December 2017.

Further reading