| Sahitya Akademi Award | |
|---|---|
| Award for individual contributions toLiterature | |
 | |
| Awarded for | Literary award in India |
| Sponsored by | Sahitya Akademi,Government of India |
| First award | 1954 |
| Final award | 2024 |
| Highlights | |
| Total awarded | 21 (2024) |
| Website | sahitya-akademi.gov.in |
| Part of a series on | |
|---|---|
| |
| Sahitya Akademi Awards | |
| Category | |
| Sahitya Akademi Award winners by language | |
| Sahitya Akademi Translation Prizes | |
| Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar | |
| Sahitya Akademi Bal Sahitya Puraskar | |
| Related | |
TheSahitya Akademi Award is a literary honour in India, which theSahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the 22languages of the 8th Schedule to the Indian constitution as well as inEnglish andRajasthani language.[1][2]
Established in 1954, the award comprises a plaque and a cash prize of ₹ 100,000.[3] The award's purpose is to recognise and promote excellence in Indian writing and acknowledge new trends. The annual process of selecting awardees runs for the preceding 12 months. The plaque awarded by theSahitya Akademi was designed by the Indian filmmakerSatyajit Ray.[4] Prior to this, the plaque occasionally was made of marble, but this practice was discontinued because of its excessive weight. During theIndo-Pakistan War of 1965, theplaque was substituted with national savings bonds.[5]
Lists of Sahitya Akademi Award winners cover winners of theSahitya Akademi Award, a literary honor in India whichSahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of outstanding works in one of the twenty-four major Indian languages.[6]The lists are alphabetically organized by language.
 | This sectiondoes notcite anysources. Please helpimprove this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved.(December 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
They form the highest honor which the Akademi confers through a system of electingFellows and Honorary Fellows. (Sahitya Akademi Award is the second-highest literary honor next to a Sahitya Akademi Fellowship).[7]
Sahitya Akademy gives these special awards to writers for significant contribution toIndian languages other than the above 24 major ones and also for contributions to classical and medieval literature. Like the Sahitya Akademi Awards, Bhasha Samman too comprise a plaque and a cash prize of ₹100,000 (from 2009). The Sahitya Akademi instituted the Bhasha Samman in 1996 to be given to writers, scholars, editors, collectors, performers or translators who have made considerable contribution to the propagation, modernization or enrichment of the languages concerned. TheSamman carries a plaque along with an amount equal to its awards for creative literature (i.e. ₹100,000. It was ₹25,000) at the time of inception, increased to ₹40,000 from 2001, ₹50,000 from 2003 and to ₹100,000 from 2009. The Sammans are given to 3-4 persons every year in different languages on the basis of recommendations of experts' committees constituted for the purpose.[8]
The first Bhasha Sammans were awarded toDharikshan Mishra forBhojpuri, Bansi Ram Sharma and M.R. Thakur forPahari (Himachali), K. Jathappa Rai and Mandara Keshava Bhat forTulu and Chandra Kanta Mura Singh forKokborok, for their contribution to the development of their respective languages. Bhojpuri language has received highest number of Bhasha Samman award.
Awards for translations were instituted in 1989 at the insistence of the then-Prime Minister of India,P. V. Narasimha Rao.[9] The Sahitya Akademi annually gives these awards for outstanding translations of major works in other languages into one of the 24 major Indian languages. The awards comprise a plaque and a cash prize of ₹50,0000. The initial proposal for translation prizes contained provisions for a prize for translations into each of the twenty-two languages recognised by the Akademi; however, this was soon found to be unviable for several reasons: the Akademi found that there were insufficient entries in all the languages, and there were difficulties in locating experts knowledgeable in both, the language of translation and the original language, to judge the translations.[9] Consequently, the Board decided to dispense with its original requirement for additional expert committees to evaluate the translations and also ruled that it was not obligated to grant prizes in languages where suitable books were not nominated.[9] The Akademi also requires that both, the original author as well as the translator, are to be Indian nationals.[9]
Over time, the Akademi has modified and expanded the conditions for the Translation Prizes. In 1982, the Akademi began to allow translations made in link languages to be eligible for the Awards, although it noted that translations made directly from the original language would always be preferred.[9] In 1985, the Akademi also held that joint translations would be eligible, and in 1997, it dispensed with the process of advertising for nominations and replaced it with invitations for recommendations from advisory boards and Committee members.[9] As of 2006, 268 prizes have been awarded to 256 translators.[9]
On the occasion of its Golden Jubilee,Sahitya Akademi awarded the following prizes for outstanding works ofpoetry in translation from Indian languages.
The Golden Jubilee Prizes for Life Time Achievement and young achievers were awarded toNamdeo Dhasal,Ranjit Hoskote,Mandakranta Sen,Abdul Rasheed,Sithara S. andNeelakshi Singh.
Named after theCeylon Tamil writerAnanda Coomaraswamy, the fellowship was started in 1996. It is given to scholars from Asian countries to spend three to twelve months in India to pursue a literary project.[11]
Named afterHindi andUrdu writerPremchand, the fellowship was started in 2005. It is given to persons of eminence in the field of Culture fromSAARC countries. Notable awardees includeIntizar Hussain,Selina Hossain,Yasmine Gooneratne,Jean Arasanayagam andKishwar Naheed.[12]
The Akademi has seen several instances of Awards being returned or declined as an act of protest.
In 1973,G.A. Kulkarni returned the Award for his collection of short stories inMarathi,Kajal Maya, because a controversy had arisen regarding the date of publication of the book and its consequent eligibility for the Award.[13] In 1969,Swami Anand declined the Award for contributions toGujarati literature on the grounds that his religious beliefs precluded him from accepting any pecuniary benefits for public services.[13]
In 1981, Telugu writerNarla Venkateswara Rao was given the Sahitya Akademi Award for his play,Sita Josyam, but returned it on the grounds that the Akademi had allowed an adverse review of the play to be published in their journal,Indian Literature.[14] In 1982, Deshbandhu Dogra Natan was given the Sahitya Akademi award for hisDogri novel,Qaidi ('Prisoner') but returned it on the grounds that he should have received the Award much earlier.[14] In 1983, Gujarati writerSuresh Joshi also returned the Award on the grounds that his book,Chintayami Manasa, did not, in his opinion, deserve the Award, and also expressed the opinion that the Award was generally granted to authors who were "spent forces".[14] This provoked a response from the then-President of the Akademi,Vinayaka Krishna Gokak, who said, concerning the awards that, "It is not possible to generalise on the basis of age. Nor can we expect the Akademi panels to be on the watch for a literary force on the upward curve and catch it at the moment before it starts going downwards. Panels change from year to year and they have to select not literary men but literary works which are adjudged to be the best among the publications of a particular period."[15]
In 1998,Gujarati writerJayant Kothari also declined the Sahitya Akademi Award on the grounds that he had made a religious vow that precluded his acceptance of any competitive award, prize or position.[13] In 1991,Jagannatha Prasad Das, who was given the Award for his poetry inOdia declined for 'personal reasons'.[13] In 1996,T. Padmanabhan, who was given the Award for a book of short stories inMalayalam, declined on the grounds that the Akademi had not shown interest in supporting the short story form, although he noted that he was grateful to the Akademi for the honour.[13]
As of 2015[update], the award has been returned by many writers for various reasons. 38 recipients had announced their returning of the award in protest of the "rising intolerance in India" under theModi government as also the murder of authorM M Kalburgi and theDadri lynching incident.[16][17] Among others, Ajmer Aulakh,Aman Sethi,Ganesh Devy,Kum. Veerabhadrappa andShashi Deshpande have publicly announced their return of the award.[18] To show their condemnation Deshpande,K. Satchidanandan, PK Parakkadvu andAravind Malagatti have also resigned their posts at the Sahitya Akademi institution.[17]
The recipients who announced to return the awards include:Ajmer Singh Aulakh (Punjabi),[19] Ambika Dutt (Hindi),[20]Anil R. Joshi (Gujarati),[21]Ashok Vajpeyi (Hindi),[22]Atamjit Singh (Punjabi),[19]Baldev Singh Sadaknama (Punjabi),[23]Bhoopal Reddy (Telugu),[24]Chaman Lal (Hindi),[25]Darshan Buttar (Punjabi),[26]Ganesh Devy (Gujarati/English),[27] Ghulam Nabi Khayal (Kashmiri),[28] G. N. Ranganatha Rao (Kannada),[29]Gurbachan Singh Bhullar (Punjabi),[30]Homen Borgohain (Assamese)[31]Jaswinder Singh (Punjabi),[23] K.Katyayani Vidmahe (Telugu),[20]Kashi Nath Singh (Hindi),[32]Keki N. Daruwalla (English),[33]Krishna Sobti (Hindi),[20]Kumbar Veerabhadrappa (Kannada),[34]Mandakranta Sen (Bengali),[35]Manglesh Dabral (Hindi),[36]Marghoob Banihali (Kashmiri),[20]Mohan Bhandari (Punjabi),[20]Munawwar Rana (Urdu),[37] Nand Bhardwaj (Rajasthani),[38]Nayantara Sahgal (English),[39]Nirupama Borgohain (Assamese),[20]Rahman Abbas (Urdu),[40]Rahamat Tarikere (Kannada),[41]Rajesh Joshi (Hindi),[42]Sarah Joseph (Malayalam),[43] Srinath DN (Kannada),[44]Surjit Patar (Punjabi),[45]Uday Prakash (Hindi),[46][36] andWaryam Singh Sandhu (Punjabi).[19]
.svg)
