Jnanpith Award – List of Jnanpith Award Winners for All Literature (1965-2020) Jnanpith GK

Jnanpith is the highest literary award in India. It is  given for the best creative literary writing. Indian citizen can write in any of the languages including the VIII Schedule of the Indian Constitution. The Award is the brain-child of late Smt. Rama Jain, the first President of and the moving spirit behind the Bharatiya Jnanpith or Bharatiya Gyanpeeth since its inception. It has become the highest literary award of the country. This award worth a sum of Rs. 11 lakhs with citation plaque and a bronze replica of goddess Saraswati.

Jnanpith Award was instituted in the year 1961. The first Jnanpith awarded to G. Sankara Kurup in 1965 for his great contribution in malayalam literature. Recent jnanpith awarded to Gujarati writer Raghuveer Chowdhury in 2015. Jnanpith Award for 2016 has been announced today. Famous Bengali poet Shankha Ghosh selected to be awarded 2016 Jnanpith Award. Famous Hindi fiction writer and essayist Krishna Sobti received the most recent 2017 Jnanpith Award for her outstanding contribution to the Indian literature. 

(Note: The Bharatiya Jnanpith organisation also presents Moortidevi Award for Indian philosophy and culture related works along with Jnanpith Award. The first Moortidevi Award given to C. K. Nagaraja Rao in 1983 for Kannada language.)

Here is an updated jnanpith award winner yearwise list from the inaugural year of 1965 to the latest. GK(General Knowledge)(Bengali:সাধারন জ্ঞান, জিকে)You will find general knowledge and current affairs question answers in Jnanpith Award topic which will help you to prepare for any type of competitive exams.

Jnanpith Award Winners List

Following is the list of Jnanpith Award winners based on their writings of own local indian language and literature from year 1965 To 2020. This list contains the books name for which jnanpith award given followed by year and author name.

In between brackets indicates the language and literature.

Year : Name – Works (Language/Literature)

1965 : G. Sankara Kurup – Odakkuzhal [Flute] (Malayalam)

1966 : Tarashankar Bandopadhyaya – Ganadevta (Bengali)-Literature

1967 : Kuppali Venkatappagowda Puttappa (Kuvempu) – Sri Ramayana Darshanam (Kannada)-Literature

1967 : Umashankar Joshi – Nishitha (Gujarati)-Literature

1968 : Sumitranandan Pant – Chidambara (Hindi)-Literature

1969 : Firaq Gorakhpuri – Gul-e-Naghma (Urdu)

1970 : Viswanatha Satyanarayana – Ramayana Kalpavrikshamu [A resourceful tree:Ramayana] (Telugu)-Literature

1971 : Bishnu Dey Smriti – Satta Bhavishyat (Bengali)-Literature

1972 : Ramdhari Singh ‘Dinkar’ – Urvashi (Hindi)(Language/Literature)

1973 : Dattatreya Ramachandra Bendre – Nakutanti [Naku Thanthi (Four Strings)] (Kannada)(Language/Literature)

1973 : Gopinath Mohanty – Paraja (Oriya)(Language/Literature)

1974 : Vishnu Sakharam Khandekar – Yayati (Marathi)(Language/Literature)

1975 : P. V. Akilan – Chitttrappavai (Tamil)-(Language/Literature)

1976 : Ashapurna Devi – Pratham Pratisruti (Bengali)-(Language/Literature)

1977 : K. Shivaram Karanth – Mookajjiya Kanasugalu [Mookajjis dreams] (Kannada)-(Language/Literature)

1978 : Sachchidananda Hirananda Vatsyayan ‘Ajneya’ – Kitni Navon Men Kitni Bar [How many times in many boats?] (Hindi)-(Language/Literature)

1979 : Birendra Kumar Bhattacharya – Mrityunjay [Immortal] (Assamese)-(Language/Literature)

1980 : S. K. Pottekkatt – Oru Desathinte Katha [Story of a land] (Malayalam)-(Language/Literature)

1981 : Amrita Pritam – Kagaj te Canvas (Punjabi)-(Language/Literature)

1982 : Mahadevi Varma – Yama (Hindi)-(Language/Literature)

1983 : Maasti Venkatesh Ayengar – Chikkaveera Rajendra [Life and struggle of Kodava King Chikkaveera Rajendra] (Kannada)-(Language/Literature)

1984 : Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai – Kayar [Coir] (Malayalam)-(Language/Literature)

1985 : Pannalal Patel – Maanavi Ni Bhavaai (Gujarati)-(Language/Literature)

1986 : Sachidananda Rout Roy (Oriya)-(Language/Literature)

1987 : Vishnu Vaman Shirwadkar (Kusumagraj) – Natsamrat (Marathi)-(Language/Literature)

1988 : Dr.C. Narayana Reddy – Vishwambhara (Telugu)-(Language/Literature)

1989 : Qurratulain Hyder – Akhire Shab Ke Humsafar (Urdu)-(Language/Literature)

1990 : V. K. Gokak (Vinayaka Krishna Gokak) – Bharatha Sindhu Rashmi (Kannada)-(Language/Literature)

1991 : Subhas Mukhopadhyay – Padati (Bengali)-(Language/Literature)

1992 : Naresh Mehta (Hindi)-(Language/Literature)

1993 : Sitakant Mahapatra – “for outstanding contribution to the enrichment of Indian literature, 1973-92” (Oriya)

1994 : U. R. Ananthamurthy – for his contributions to (Kannada) literature (Kannada)

1995 : M. T. Vasudevan Nair – Randamoozham [Second Chance] (Malayalam)

1996 : Mahasweta Devi – Hajar Churashir Ma (Bengali)- For contributions in bengali literature (Language/Literature)

1997 : Ali Sardar Jafri (Urdu)

1998 : Girish Karnad – “for his contributions to (Kannada) literature and for contributions to (Kannada) theater (yayati)” (Kannada)

1999 : Nirmal Verma (Hindi)

1999 : Gurdial Singh (Punjabi)-(Language/Literature)

2000 : Indira Goswami (Assamese)

2001 : Rajendra Keshavlal Shah (Gujarati)

2002 : D. Jayakanthan (Tamil)

2003 : Vinda Karandikar – Ashtadarshana (poetry) (Marathi)

2004 : Rahman Rahi – Subhuk Soda, Kalami Rahi and Siyah Rode Jaren Manz (Kashmiri)-(Language/Literature)

2005 : Kunwar Narayan (Hindi)

2006 : Ravindra Kelekar (Konkani)-(Language/Literature)

2006 : Satya Vrat Shastri (Sanskrit)-(Language/Literature)

2007 : O. N. V. Kurup (Malayalam)

2008 : Akhlaq Mohammed Khan ‘Shahryar’ (Urdu)-(Language/Literature)

2009 : Amar Kant (Hindi)-(Language/Literature)

2009 : Shrilal Shukla (Hindi)-(Language/Literature)

2010 : Chandrashekhara Kambara –for his contributions to Kannada literature (Kannada) (Language/Literature)

2011 : Pratibha RayYajnaseni (Oriya)

2012 : Ravuri Bharadhwaja –For his notable contribution to Telugu literature (Telugu)

2013 :   Kedarnath Singh – For his notable contribution to Hindi literature. ‘Abhi bilkul abhi’ and ‘Yahan se dekho’ are among his prominent works (Hindi)

2014  : Bhalchandra Vanaji Nemade (Marathi)-(Language/Literature)

2015 : Raghuveer Chaudhary (Gujrati)-(Language/Literature)

2016 : Shankha Ghosh(Bengali) – Shankha Ghosh is a Bengali poet who was born in 1932. He was also awarded Sahitya Akademi Award in 1977 for Babarer Praarthanaa and was awarded Padma Bhushan in 2011.

2017 : Krishna Sobti(Hindi) – Krishna Sobti won Sahitya Akademi Award for her novel Zindaginama in 1980. Her notable works are Mitro Marajani, Daar Se Bichchuri etc.

2018 : Amitav Ghosh(English) 54th

2019 : Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri(Malayalam) 55th

GK(General Knowledge) Quiz Question On Jnanpith Award

Here are frequently asked important general knowledge(gk) quiz questions on Jnanpith

1. Who is the recepient of the 1st Indian Jnanpith Award in 1965?

Ans:- G.Sankara Kurup in Malayalam. Kurup was born in 1901 at Nayathode, Kerala. He was a poet, essayist, translator and teacher also. One of his notable creations are Odakkujhal(The Bamboo Flute) in Malayalam.

2. Who is the first lady Jnanpith Award winner in 1976?

Ans:- Bengali novelist Ashapurna Devi received the award as first woman for ‘Pratham Pratisruti’ in bengali literature.

3. Which Gujarati writer has been honoured with current 51st Jnanpith Award organised in 2015?

Ans:- Raghuveer Chaudhary

4. Who is the first bengali novelist to receive the 2nd Jnanpith Award organised in 1966?

Ans:- Tarashankar Bandopadhyay for ‘Gandevta’.

5. Who is the first Kannada writer to receive the 3rd Jnanpith Award organised in 1967?

Ans:- Kuppali Venkatappa Puttppa for ‘Kuvempu’ in Kannada literature.

6. Who is the first Hindi writer to receive the 4th Jnanpith Award organised in 1968?

Ans:- Sumitranandan Pant

7. Who is the first Urdu writer to receive the 5th Jnanpith Award organised in 1969?

Ans:- Firaq Gorakhpuri for ‘Gul-e-nagma’  in Urdu literature

8. Who is the first Telugu writer to receive the 6th Jnanpith Award organised in 1970?

Ans:- Viswanatha Satyanarayana

9. Which Hindi writer won the 41st Jnanpith Award in 2005?

Ans:- Kunwar Narayan

10. Who is the winner of 43rd Jnanpith Award in Malayalam literature?

Ans:- O.N.V. Kurup in 2007

11. Who is the recepient of the most recent 52nd Jnanpith Award 2016?

Answer : Shankha Ghosh(Bengali poet)

12. Indira Goswami was awarded Jnanpith Award in 2000, for which language?

Answer: Asamese

13. In which year Amar Kant was honoured by Jnanpith Award in Hindi literature?

Answer: 2009

14. In which year D. Jayakanthan was honoured by Jnanpith award in Tamil literature?

Answer : 2002

15. In which year Gurdial Singh was honoured by Jnanpith Award in Punjabi literature?

Answer : 1999

16. Who was the Jnanpith Award winner in 1970 in Telugu literature?

Answer : Viswanatha Satyanarayana

17. In how many languages the Jnanpith Award has been conferred so far?

Answer : Fifteen languages

18. For which Punjabi literary works Amrita Pritam won Jnanpith Award in 1981?

Answer : Kagaj te Canvas

19. Who won the first Jnanpith Award in Odia language in 1973?

Answer : Gopinath Mohanty

20. Who received the first Jnanpith Award in Marathi language in 1974?

Answer : Vishnu Sakharam Khandekar

21. Who received the first Jnanpith Award in Kashmiri language?

Answer : Rehman Rahi in 2004

22. Who is the winner of 2006 Jnanpith Award in Sanskrit language?

Answer : Satya Vrat Sastri

23. Who received the most recent 53rd Jnanpith Award?

Answer: Krishna Sobti received 53rd Jnanpith Award in 2017 for Hindi literature

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