On 16 May 2025, President Draupadi Murmu conferred the 58th Jnanpith Award on Sanskrit Scholar Jagadguru Rambhadracharya for Sanskrit at an event held at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi, Delhi.
- Another awardee, renowned Indian Urdu poet and lyricist Sampooran Singh Kalra, popularly known as Gulzar, was honoured for his contribution to Urdu literature but was unable to attend the ceremony.
About Jnanpith Award:
i.Jnanpith Award, India’s highest literary honour, has been annually presented by the Bharatiya Jnanpith since 1965.
ii.The award recognizes the outstanding contributions towards literature in English and other Indian languages.
iii.The award carries a cash prize of Rs 11 lakhs, a bronze statue of Vagdevi (Hindu Goddess Saraswati) and a citation.
About Jagadguru Ramabhadracharya:
i.Jagadguru Ramabhadracharya was born in 1950 in Khandikurd village of Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh (UP).
ii.He is the founder and President of Tulsi Peeth in Chitrakoot, UP and one of the Jagadguru Ramabhadracharyas of the Ramananda sect. He has been holding the position since 1988.
iii.He is a Polyglot, who speaks 22 languages and is a poet and writer in several languages including Sanskrit, Hindi, Awadhi and Maithili.
iv.He has authored more than 240 books and texts including 2 epics in Sanskrit and 2 in hindi.
v.He was honoured with Padma Vibhushan in 2015 in the field of Literature and Education
About Gulzar:
i.Gulzar was born on August 18, 1934, in the village of Dina in the Jhelum district of Punjab, British India (Present day Pakistan).
ii.He is celebrated for his works in Hindi cinema and is considered one of the finest Urdu poets of this era.
iii.He wrote his first song “Mora Gora Ang Lai Le” for Bimal Roy’s film Bandini (1963).
- His other notable works are featured in films like Anand (1970), Guddi (1971), Bawarchi (1972), Khamoshi (1969) and Safar (1970)
Awards and Honours:
i.He received the Academy Award (Oscar) for Best Original Song in 2009 for the song “Jai Ho” from the film “Slumdog Millionaire”.
- He shared the award with A.R Rahman, Music Director of the film
- “Jai Ho” was the first Hindi song to win an Oscar in the Best Original Score and Best Original Song categories
ii.He also won the Grammy Award for Best Song written for motion picture, television or other Visual Media for the same song in 2010
iii.He also received the Sahitya Akademi Award for Urdu in 2002; the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2013.
iv.He was awarded Padma Bhushan in 2004 in the field of Art.
