// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhy did Saraswati Samman win a prize? It was a award-able achievement.
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| Saraswati Samman | |
|---|---|
| Sponsored by | K. K. Birla Foundation[1] |
| Date | 1991 |
| Location | Delhi |
| Country | India |
| Reward | ₹15,00,000 |
| Most recent winner | Ramkumar Mukhopadhyay |
| Highlights | |
| Total awarded | 35 |
| First winner | Harivansh Rai Bachchan |
The Saraswati Samman is an annual award for outstanding prose or poetry literary works in any of the 23 languages of India listed in Schedule VIII of the Constitution of India.[1][2] It is named after the Hindu goddess of knowledge, Saraswati.[2]
History and selection process
[edit]The Saraswati Samman was instituted in 1991 by the K. K. Birla Foundation. It consists of ₹15,00,000,[3] a citation and a plaque.[1][2][4] Candidates are selected from literary works published in the previous ten years by a panel that included scholars and former award winners. The inaugural award was given to Harivansh Rai 'Bachchan' for his four volume autobiography, Kya Bhooloon Kya Yaad Karoon, Needa Ka Nirman Phir, Basere Se Door and Dashdwar se Sopan Tak.[5]
Shankha Ghosh, the 1998 recipient of Saraswati Samman, went on to win India's highest literary honor Jnanpith Award in 2016. Three recipients of Saraswati Samman -- Manubhai Pancholi (1997), Govind Chandra Pande (2003), and Veerappa Moily (2014) -- received Moortidevi Award, considered the second highest after the Jnanpith Award, in 1987, 2000, and 2007, respectively.
Awardees
[edit]| Year | Image | Recipient | Work | Language | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 |  | Harivansh Rai Bachchan | Autobiography in four volumes (Autobiography) | Hindi | [2][6] |
| 1992 |  | Ramakant Rath | "Sri Radha" (Poetry) | Odia | [2] |
| 1993 |  | Vijay Tendulkar | "Kanyadaan" (Play) | Marathi | [2] |
| 1994 |  | Harbhajan Singh | "Rukh Te Rishi" (Poetry collection) | Punjabi | [2] |
| 1995 |  | Balamani Amma | "Nivedyam" (Poetry collection) | Malayalam | [2] |
| 1996 |  | Shamsur Rahman Faruqi | "She`r-e Shor-Angez" | Urdu | [2] |
| 1997 | Manubhai Pancholi | "Kurukshetra" | Gujarati | [2] | |
| 1998 |  | Shankha Ghosh | "Gandharba Kabita Guccha" (Poetry collection) | Bengali | [2] |
| 1999 | – | Indira Parthasarathy | "Ramanujar" (Play) | Tamil | [2] |
| 2000 |  | Manoj Das | "Amruta Phala" (Novel) | Odia | [2][7] |
| 2001 |  | Dalip Kaur Tiwana | "Katha Kaho Urvashi" (Novel) | Punjabi | [2][8] |
| 2002 |  | Mahesh Elkunchwar | "Yugant" (Play) | Marathi | [2] |
| 2003 | – | Govind Chandra Pande | "Bhagirathi" (Poetry collection) | Sanskrit | [2] |
| 2004 |  | Sunil Gangopadhyay | "Pratham Alo" (Novel) | Bengali | [2] |
| 2005 |  | K. Ayyappa Panicker | "Ayyappa Panikarude Kritikal" (Poetry collection) | Malayalam | [2][9] |
| 2006 |  | Jagannath Prasad Das | "Parikrama" (Poetry collection) | Odia | [10] |
| 2007 | .jpg) | Naiyer Masud | "Taoos Chaman Ki Myna" (Short stories collection) | Urdu | [11][12] |
| 2008 |  |
Lakshmi Nandan Bora | "Kayakalpa" (Novel) | Assamese | [13] |
| 2009 |  | Surjit Paatar | "Lafzan Di Dargah" | Punjabi | [14] |
| 2010 |  | S. L. Bhyrappa | "Mandra" | Kannada | [4] |
| 2011 | – | A. A. Manavalan | "Irama Kathaiyum Iramayakalum" | Tamil | [15] |
| 2012 |  | Sugathakumari | "Manalezhuthu" (Poetry collection) | Malayalam | Poetry Collection |
| 2013 |  | Govind Mishra | "Dhool Paudho Par" (Novel) | Hindi | Novel |
| 2014 | .jpg) | Veerappa Moily | "Ramayana Mahanveshanam" (Poetry) | Kannada | Poetry |
| 2015 |  | Padma Sachdev | "Chitt-Chete" (Autobiography) | Dogri | [citation needed] |
| 2016 |  | Mahabaleshwar Sail | "Hawthan" (Novel) | Konkani | Novel |
| 2017 |  | Sitanshu Yashaschandra | "Vakhar" (Poetry collection) | Gujarati | Poetry |
| 2018 |  |
K Siva Reddy | "Pakkaki Ottigilite" (Poetry) |
Telugu | Poetry |
| 2019 |  |
Vasdev Mohi | "Chequebook" (Short Story Series) | Sindhi | Short Stories |
| 2020 | Sharankumar Limbale | "Sanatan" (Novel) | Marathi | Novel | |
| 2021 |  | Ram Darash Mishra | "Main to Yahan Hun" (Poetry) | Hindi | Poetry |
| 2022 | Sivasankari | "Surya Vamsam" (Memoir) | Tamil | Memoir | |
| 2023 |  |
Prabha Varma | "Roudra Sathwikam" (Novel in verse) | Malayalam | Verse Novel |
| 2024 |  |
Bhadreshdas Swami | "Swaminarayana Siddhanta Sudha" | Sanskrit | |
| 2025 | Dr. Ramkumar Mukhopadhyay | Hara Parbati Katha | Bengali | Novel | |
Recipients by language
[edit]Saraswati Samman has been presented for works in sixteen languages. The 34 awardees from 1991 to 2024 wrote in the following languages:
| Language | Number |
|---|---|
| Malayalam | 4 |
| Hindi | 3 |
| Marathi | |
| Odia | |
| Punjabi | |
| Bengali | |
| Tamil | 2 |
| Gujarati | |
| Kannada | |
| Sanskrit | |
| Urdu | |
| Assamese | 1 |
| Dogri | |
| Konkani | |
| Sindhi | |
| Telugu | |
See also
[edit]- Jnanpith Award, considered India's highest literary honor that is conferred by the Bharatiya Jnanpith.
- Moortidevi Award, another annual literary honor, regarded as the second highest,[16] and also awarded by the Bharatiya Jnanpith.
Notes
[edit]- 1 2 3 "About Saraswati Samman". K.K. Birla Foundation. Retrieved 2014-09-23.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 "Saraswati Samman for Prof Paniker". The Tribune. Chandigarh, India. 19 February 2006. Archived from the original on 16 December 2006.
- ↑ "Padma Sachdev to get Saraswati Samman". Archived from the original on 2017-05-05. Retrieved 2016-11-18.
- 1 2 "Saraswati Samman for writer Bhyrappa". The Times of India. 6 April 2011. Archived from the original on 5 December 2011.
- ↑ "Saraswati Samman Recipients". K.K. Birla Foundation. Retrieved 2014-09-23.
- ↑ "Harivansh Rai Bachchan". LitGloss, University at Buffalo. Archived from the original on 24 June 2010.
- ↑ Choudhury, Ashok K. (17 June 2001). "Manoj Das: True interpreter of India's cultural and spiritual heritage". Daily Excelsior. Jammu and Kashmir, India. Archived from the original on 1 July 2001.
- ↑ "Saraswati Samman for Dalip Kaur Tiwana". The Tribune. Chandigarh, India. 24 January 2002. Archived from the original on 13 February 2002.
- ↑ Joshua, Anita (18 February 2006). "Saraswati Samman for Ayyappa Paniker, Malayalam poet". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 28 January 2014.
- ↑ "Saraswati Samman for eminent Oriya writer". The Hindu. 13 February 2007. Archived from the original on 4 March 2007.
- ↑ "Saraswati Samman for Urdu author". The Hindu. 15 February 2008. Archived from the original on 19 February 2008.
- ↑ "I view the whole story like a movie: Naiyer Masud". The Tribune. Chandigarh, India. 24 February 2008. Archived from the original on 2008-10-06.
- ↑ ""Kayakalpa" gets Saraswati Samman". The Hindu. 12 February 2009. Archived from the original on 28 January 2014.
- ↑ "Punjabi poet Surjit Patar gets Saraswati Samman". The Hindu. 19 September 2010. Archived from the original on 28 January 2014.
- ↑ "Honour for Tamil writer". The Hindu. 23 March 2012. Archived from the original on 28 January 2014.
- ↑ "Hara Parasad Das gets Moortidevi Award". www.dailypioneer.com. Retrieved 2025-08-21.