Lyricist Gulzar conferred India’s highest literary award

Sanskrit scholar and spiritual leader Jagadguru Swami Rambhadracharya will also be honoured with the Jnanpith Award.

• Mohnish Singh
• 18 February, 2024

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By: Mohnish Singh

Legendary lyricist and poet Gulzar and Sanskrit scholar and spiritual leader Jagadguru Swami Rambhadracharya will be honoured with the Jnanpith Award.

According to the selection committee, the 58th Jnanpith Award for the year 2023 has been awarded to Swami Rambhadracharya for Sanskrit and Shri Gulzar for Urdu.

Sampooran Singh Kalra, popularly known as Gulzar, has penned several memorable and iconic songs in Hindi cinema.

He started his career as a lyricist with the film Kabuliwala, starring Balraj Sahni.

He has penned songs and scripts in numerous films, and also directed several acclaimed feature films including Maachis, Aandhi, Mausam, Khushboo, Parichay and Koshish.

He has earlier received the Sahitya Akademi Award for Urdu in 2002, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2013, the Padma Bhushan in 2004, and at least five National Film awards for his works.

Rambhadracharya, the founder and head of Tulsi Peeth in Chitrakoot, is a renowned Hindu spiritual leader, educator and writer of hundreds of books.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had lauded Swami Rambhadracharya’s contributions while addressing the Tulsi Peeth Programme in Chitrakoot last month

“Rambhadrachary ji is such a sage of our country, on whose knowledge base alone many universities of the world can conduct their studies and research. Despite not having eyesight since childhood, your eyes of wisdom are so developed that you have memorized all the Vedas. You have written hundreds of books. ‘Prasthanatrayi’ on Indian knowledge and philosophy is considered difficult even for great scholars. Jagadguru ji has also written his commentary in modern language,” PM Modi said.

“This level of knowledge, this level of intelligence is not limited to a personal level. This intelligence is the heritage of the entire nation. And that is why, our government honoured Swamiji with Padma Vibhushan in 2015,” he added.

The Jnanpith Award was instituted in 1961 by Bharatiya Jnanpith. Along with the Sahitya Akademi Awards, it is the foremost prize for Indian literature.