With reference to Jnanpith Award, which of the following statements is/are correct?

Question

With reference to Jnanpith Award, which of the following statements is/are correct?

1. The 58th Jnanpith Award was conferred upon Sanskrit scholar Jagadguru Rambhadracharya Ji.

2. The 1st Jnanpith Award was given in 1965.

Select the correct answer from the code given below:

1. A. Only 2
2. B. Neither 1 nor 2
3. C. Both 1 and 2 (Correct answer)
4. D. Only 1

Correct Answer

Option C — Both 1 and 2

Detailed Solution & Explanation

The correct answer is Both 1 and 2.

Key Points

• Statement 1 is correct. The 58th Jnanpith Award was conferred on the Sanskrit scholar Jagadguru Rambhadracharya.
• Statement 2 is correct. The first Jnanpith Award was given in 1965, to the Malayalam poet G. Sankara Kurup for *Odakkuzhal*.
• Both hold, giving option (c).

Additional Information

• The Jnanpith Award is India's highest literary honour, instituted in 1961 by the Bharatiya Jnanpith, a trust founded by the Sahu Jain family. It carries a citation, a cash prize and a bronze replica of Vagdevi (Saraswati).
• It is given for languages listed in the Eighth Schedule and in English. Note that it is awarded by a private trust, not by the government — the contrast with the Sahitya Akademi Award is a favourite examination point.
• The 58th award (announced 2024) was shared between Jagadguru Rambhadracharya (Sanskrit) and the Urdu poet and lyricist Gulzar.
• Hindi has the most Jnanpith awards of any language, followed by Kannada.
• Ashapurna Devi (Bengali, 1976) was the first woman to receive it. Amitav Ghosh was the first Indian writer in English to win it, in 2018.