Moortidevi Award: Difference between revisions

Moortidevi Award
Moortidevi Award
Award for contributions to literature
Sponsored by	Bharatiya Jnanpith
Reward(s)	₹4 lakh (US$5,600)
First awarded	1983 (Instituted in 1961)
Last awarded	2019
Most recent winner	Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari
Highlights
Total awarded	30
First winner	C. K. Nagaraja Rao

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Latest revision as of 12:20, 25 November 2025

The Moortidevi Award is an Indian literary award annually presented by the Bharatiya Jnanpith, a literary and research organisation.^[1] The award is given only to Indian writers writing in Indian languages included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India, and in English,^{[lower-alpha 1]} with no posthumous conferral or self nomination.^[3]

From 2003, the award was given to the authors for their "contemplative and perceptive work" and consisted of a cash prize of ₹1 lakh (US$1,600), a citation plaque, a shawl, and a statue of Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of knowledge and wisdom.^[4]^[5]^[6] The cash prize was raised to ₹2 lakh (US$2,800) in 2011 and to ₹4 lakh (US$5,600) in 2013.^[7]^[8] The first recipient of the award was the Kannada writer C. K. Nagaraja Rao who was honoured in 1983 for his novel, Pattamahadevi Shantala Devi, which was published in four volumes.^[4]^[9]

No awards were given in 1985 and between 1996 and 1999. The award has been conferred upon 31 writers including one female author: In 1991, Odia academic and writer Pratibha Ray became the first woman to win the award and was honoured for the 1985 novel Yajnasani.^[10] Ray and Nirmal Verma have won both the Moortidevi as well as the Jnanpith Award.^[11]^[12] As of 2019, Hindi writer and professor, Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari is the most recent recipient of the award.^[13]

Three recipients of Moortidevi Award -- Pratibha Ray (1991), Nirmal Verma (1995), and Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri (2009) -- went on to win the Jnanpith Award, considered the highest Indian literary honor, in 2011, 1999, and 2019, respectively.

Background[edit | edit source]

Moortidevi Award Ceremony presided over by President S. D Sharma.

The Bharatiya Jnanpith, a research and cultural institute founded in 1944 by industrialist Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain of the Sahu Jain family, conceived an idea in May 1961 to start a scheme "commanding national prestige and of international standard" to "select the best book out of the publications in Indian languages".^[14]^[15] In November that year, Rama Jain, the Founder President of the Bharatiya Jnanpith, invited a few literary experts to discuss various aspects of the scheme. Jain, along with Kaka Kalelkar, Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Ramdhari Singh Dinkar, Jainendra Kumar, Jagdish Chandra Mathur, Prabhakar Machwe, Akshaya Kumar Jain, and Lakshmi Chandra Jain, presented the initial draft to the then President of India—Rajendra Prasad who had shown interest in the scheme's implementation. The idea was also discussed at the 1962 annual sessions of the All India Gujarati Sahitya Parishad and the Bharatiya Bhasha Parishad.^[14] The award is given in the memory of Moortidevi, mother of Sahu Jain, and was first presented in 1983.^[1]

Selection process[edit | edit source]

Only the work of a living author, published at least one year and at the most ten years before the relevant award year, is considered. The Selection Committee is free to consider any other works besides the proposals submitted to it. No award may be declared for a year if the selection committee does not find any work measuring up to the required standard.^[1] The nominations for the award are received from several literary experts, teachers, critics, universities, and numerous literary and language associations. Every three years, an advisory committee is constituted for each of the languages. Each committee consists of three literary critics and scholars of their respective languages.^[3]

The Selection Board consists of between seven and eleven members of "high repute and integrity". Each member is part of the committee for a term of three years which can also be extended further for two more terms at most. The recommendations of all language advisory committees are evaluated by the board based on complete or partial translations of the selected writings of the proposed writers into Hindi or English.^[1]

Recipients[edit | edit source]

An image of C.K Nagaraja Rao. — C. K. Nagaraja Rao was the first recipient of the award.

An image of Pratibha Ray. — Pratibha Ray is the only female recipient of the award.

an image of Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari. — Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari is the most recent recipient of the award.

List of award recipients, showing the year, and language^[16]
Year	Recipient	Work	Language	Ref.
1983 (1st)	C. K. Nagaraja Rao	Pattamahadevi Shantala Devi	Kannada	^[4]
1984 (2nd)	Virendra Kumar Sakhlecha	—	Hindi	^[17]
1986 (3rd)	Kanhaiyalal Sethia	—	Rajasthani	^[18]
1987 (4th)	Manubhai Pancholi	Zer To Pidha Chhe Jani Jani	Gujarati	^[19]
1988 (5th)	Vishnu Prabhakar	—	Hindi	^[20]
1989 (6th)	Vidya Niwas Mishra	—	Hindi	^[21]
1990 (7th)	Munishree Nagraj	—	Hindi	^[16]
1991 (8th)	Pratibha Ray	Yagnaseni	Odia	^[5]
1992 (9th)	Kuber Nath Rai	—	Hindi	^[22]
1993 (10th)	Shyamacharan Dubey	—	Hindi	^[3]
1994 (11th)	Shivaji Sawant	Mrityunjay	Marathi	^[4]
1995 (12th)	Nirmal Verma	Bharat aur Europe: Pratishruti ke Shetra	Hindi	^[4]
2000 (13th)	Govind Chandra Pande	Sahitiya Saundarya aur Sanskriti	Hindi	^[4]
2001 (14th)	Rammurti Tripathi	Shriguru Mahima	Hindi	^[4]
2002 (15th)	Yashdev Shalya	—	Hindi	^[16]
2003 (16th)	Kalyan Mal Lodha	—	Hindi	^[16]
2004 (17th)	Narayan Desai	Maroon Jeewan Aaj Mari Vaani	Gujarati	^[23]
2005 (18th)	Rammurti Sharma	Bharatiya Darshan Ki Chintadhara	Hindi	^[23]
2006 (19th)	Krishna Bihari Mishra	Kalpataru ke Utsav Leela	Hindi	^[24]
2007 (20th)	Veerappa Moily	Shri Ramayana Mahanveshanam	Kannada	^[25]
2008 (21st)	Raghuvansh Raghuvansh	Paschimi Bhautik Samskriti Ka Utthan Aur Patan	Hindi	^[7]
2009 (22nd)	Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri	Various poems	Malayalam	^[26]
2010 (23rd)	Gopi Chand Narang	Urdu Ghazal aur Hindustani Zehn-o Tahzeeb	Urdu	^[27]
2011 (24th)	Gulab Kothari	Ahmev Radha, Ahmev Krishnah	Hindi	^[28]
2012 (25th)	Haraprasad Das	Vamsha	Odia	^[5]
2013 (26th)	C. Radhakrishnan	Theekkadal Katanhu Thirumadhuram	Malayalam	^[8]
2014 (27th)	Vishwanath Tripathi	Vyomkesh Darvesh	Hindi	^[29]
2015 (28th)	Kolakaluri Enoch	Ananta Jeevanam	Telugu	^[30]
2016 (29th)	M. P. Veerendra Kumar	Hymavathabhoovil	Malayalam	^[31]
2017 (30th)	Joy Goswami	Du Dondo Phowara Matro	Bengali	^[32]
2019 (31st)	Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari	Asti Aur Bhavti	Hindi	^[13]

Moortidevi recipients by language[edit | edit source]

Out of twenty-three eligible languages, the award has been presented for works in ten languages. The 31 Moortidevi awardees from 1983 to 2019 wrote in the following languages:

Language	Number
Hindi	17
Malayalam	3
Gujarati	2
Kannada	2
Odia	2
Bengali	1
Marathi	1
Rajasthani	1^{[lower-alpha 2]}
Telugu	1
Urdu	1
Assamese	0
Bodo	0
Dogri	0
English	0
Kashmiri	0
Konkani	0
Maithili	0
Manipuri	0
Nepali	0
Punjabi	0
Sanskrit	0
Santali	0
Sindhi	0
Tamil	0

Notes[edit | edit source]

↑ The Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India consists of twenty-two languages viz. Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santhali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu.^[2]
↑ The 1986 awardee Kanhaiyalal Sethia wrote in Rajasthani, which is not included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India.

References[edit | edit source]

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 ^1.3 "Moortidevi Award". Bharatiya Jnanpith. Archived from the original on 30 May 2017. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
↑ "The Constitution of India: Eighth Schedule" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs (India). p. 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 28 May 2016.
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 ^3.2 "Proposal for the 29th Moortidevi Award" (PDF). Bharatiya Jnanpith. 10 August 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
↑ ^4.0 ^4.1 ^4.2 ^4.3 ^4.4 ^4.5 ^4.6 "Moortidevi Awards for two writers". The Times of India. 24 February 2003. Archived from the original on 30 December 2016. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
↑ ^5.0 ^5.1 ^5.2 "Moortidevi Award for Haraprasad Das". The Times of India. 3 September 2013. Archived from the original on 24 September 2016. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
↑ "Happy Basant Panchami 2017: Why We Celebrate This Festival". NDTV. 31 January 2017. Archived from the original on 2 December 2017. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
↑ ^7.0 ^7.1 "Hamid Ansari presents 'Moortidevi Award' to Dr. Raghuvansh". Sify. 16 May 2011. Archived from the original on 26 February 2014. Retrieved 29 March 2012.
↑ ^8.0 ^8.1 "Moortidevi Award for C. Radhakrishnan". The Hindu. 14 June 2014. Archived from the original on 3 February 2018. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
↑ "List of Hindi Books" (PDF). Vikram Sarabhai Library-IIM. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 July 2017. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
↑ Tiwari 2005, p. 108.
↑ "Speech by the President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee at the presentation of 47th Jnanpith Award to Dr. Pratibha Ray" (Press release). Press Information Bureau, India. 22 May 2013. Archived from the original on 10 June 2016. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
↑ "Nirmal Verma, Gurdial Singh jointly get Jnanpith Award". The Hindu. 11 March 2000. Archived from the original on 3 February 2018. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
↑ ^13.0 ^13.1 "'अस्ति और भवति को सम्मान मिलने से आह्लादित हैं साहित्य अकादमी के पूर्व अध्यक्ष प्रो. विश्‍वनाथ तिवारी". Dainik Jagran (in Hindi). 7 December 2019. Retrieved 30 December 2019.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
↑ ^14.0 ^14.1 "Jnanpith Award @ Bharatiya Jnanpith". Bharatiya Jnanpith. Archived from the original on 9 March 2016. Retrieved 28 May 2016.
↑ Datta 1987, p. 298.
↑ ^16.0 ^16.1 ^16.2 ^16.3 "Moortidevi Laureates". Bharatiya Jnanpith. Archived from the original on 19 December 2013. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
↑ "Bharatiya Jnanpith second moorti devi literary award". The Times Group. 27 April 1986. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
↑ Thukral 2017, p. 5.
↑ Vol 1987, p. 37.
↑ Vipāsā 2009, p. 40.
↑ India 1992, p. 1004.
↑ Maheshwari 1999, p. 192.
↑ ^23.0 ^23.1 "Narayan Desai to be awarded". Daily News and Analysis. 18 April 2007. Archived from the original on 23 December 2015. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
↑ "Moily gets Moortidevi Award". Deccan Herald. 4 November 2009. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
↑ "Moortidevi Award for Veerappa Moily". The Times of India. 19 March 2010. Archived from the original on 4 December 2017.
↑ "Moortidevi Award for Akkitham". The Hindu. 19 January 2011. Archived from the original on 3 February 2018. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
↑ Bhattacharya, Budhaditya (19 November 2012). "Reclaiming the ghazal's space". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 3 February 2018. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
↑ "Vice President Calls upon People to Stay Connected with their Cultural Roots". Press Information Bureau. 4 September 2013. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
↑ "Moortidevi Award for Hindi author Vishwanath Tripathi". Business Standard. 26 June 2015. Archived from the original on 12 January 2016. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
↑ "Award for Kolakaluri Enoch". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 2 December 2017. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
↑ "M P Veerendra Kumar to get 30th Moortidevi Award on March 4". India Today. 23 February 2017. Archived from the original on 27 July 2017. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
↑ "Bengali poet Joy Goswami to get 31st Moortidevi Award". India Today. 15 December 2017. Retrieved 16 December 2017.

External links[edit | edit source]

Official website

[lang-3] The Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India consists of twenty-two languages viz. Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santhali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu.^[2]

[34] The 1986 awardee Kanhaiyalal Sethia wrote in Rajasthani, which is not included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India.

[moorti-1] 1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 ^1.3 "Moortidevi Award". Bharatiya Jnanpith. Archived from the original on 30 May 2017. Retrieved 1 December 2017.

[2] "The Constitution of India: Eighth Schedule" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs (India). p. 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 28 May 2016.

[proposal-4] 3.0 ^3.1 ^3.2 "Proposal for the 29th Moortidevi Award" (PDF). Bharatiya Jnanpith. 10 August 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 1 December 2017.

[yr2003-5] 4.0 ^4.1 ^4.2 ^4.3 ^4.4 ^4.5 ^4.6 "Moortidevi Awards for two writers". The Times of India. 24 February 2003. Archived from the original on 30 December 2016. Retrieved 17 December 2015.

[Odia-6] 5.0 ^5.1 ^5.2 "Moortidevi Award for Haraprasad Das". The Times of India. 3 September 2013. Archived from the original on 24 September 2016. Retrieved 17 December 2015.

[7] "Happy Basant Panchami 2017: Why We Celebrate This Festival". NDTV. 31 January 2017. Archived from the original on 2 December 2017. Retrieved 1 December 2017.

[Raghuvansh-8] 7.0 ^7.1 "Hamid Ansari presents 'Moortidevi Award' to Dr. Raghuvansh". Sify. 16 May 2011. Archived from the original on 26 February 2014. Retrieved 29 March 2012.

[Y2013-9] 8.0 ^8.1 "Moortidevi Award for C. Radhakrishnan". The Hindu. 14 June 2014. Archived from the original on 3 February 2018. Retrieved 18 December 2015.

[10] "List of Hindi Books" (PDF). Vikram Sarabhai Library-IIM. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 July 2017. Retrieved 1 December 2017.

[FOOTNOTETiwari2005108-11] Tiwari 2005, p. 108.

[12] "Speech by the President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee at the presentation of 47th Jnanpith Award to Dr. Pratibha Ray" (Press release). Press Information Bureau, India. 22 May 2013. Archived from the original on 10 June 2016. Retrieved 20 May 2016.

[13] "Nirmal Verma, Gurdial Singh jointly get Jnanpith Award". The Hindu. 11 March 2000. Archived from the original on 3 February 2018. Retrieved 20 May 2016.

[tiwari-14] 13.0 ^13.1 "'अस्ति और भवति को सम्मान मिलने से आह्लादित हैं साहित्य अकादमी के पूर्व अध्यक्ष प्रो. विश्‍वनाथ तिवारी". Dainik Jagran (in Hindi). 7 December 2019. Retrieved 30 December 2019.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)

[Jnan-15] 14.0 ^14.1 "Jnanpith Award @ Bharatiya Jnanpith". Bharatiya Jnanpith. Archived from the original on 9 March 2016. Retrieved 28 May 2016.

[FOOTNOTEDatta1987298-16] Datta 1987, p. 298.

[laureates-17] 16.0 ^16.1 ^16.2 ^16.3 "Moortidevi Laureates". Bharatiya Jnanpith. Archived from the original on 19 December 2013. Retrieved 19 December 2013.

[18] "Bharatiya Jnanpith second moorti devi literary award". The Times Group. 27 April 1986. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 18 December 2015.

[FOOTNOTEThukral20175-19] Thukral 2017, p. 5.

[FOOTNOTEVol198737-20] Vol 1987, p. 37.

[FOOTNOTEVipāsā200940-21] Vipāsā 2009, p. 40.

[FOOTNOTEIndia19921004-22] India 1992, p. 1004.

[FOOTNOTEMaheshwari1999192-23] Maheshwari 1999, p. 192.

[Desai-24] 23.0 ^23.1 "Narayan Desai to be awarded". Daily News and Analysis. 18 April 2007. Archived from the original on 23 December 2015. Retrieved 18 December 2015.

[25] "Moily gets Moortidevi Award". Deccan Herald. 4 November 2009. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 18 December 2015.

[26] "Moortidevi Award for Veerappa Moily". The Times of India. 19 March 2010. Archived from the original on 4 December 2017.

[27] "Moortidevi Award for Akkitham". The Hindu. 19 January 2011. Archived from the original on 3 February 2018. Retrieved 18 December 2015.

[28] Bhattacharya, Budhaditya (19 November 2012). "Reclaiming the ghazal's space". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 3 February 2018. Retrieved 18 December 2015.

[29] "Vice President Calls upon People to Stay Connected with their Cultural Roots". Press Information Bureau. 4 September 2013. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 18 December 2015.

[30] "Moortidevi Award for Hindi author Vishwanath Tripathi". Business Standard. 26 June 2015. Archived from the original on 12 January 2016. Retrieved 17 December 2015.

[31] "Award for Kolakaluri Enoch". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 2 December 2017. Retrieved 28 February 2016.

[32] "M P Veerendra Kumar to get 30th Moortidevi Award on March 4". India Today. 23 February 2017. Archived from the original on 27 July 2017. Retrieved 3 December 2017.

[joy-33] "Bengali poet Joy Goswami to get 31st Moortidevi Award". India Today. 15 December 2017. Retrieved 16 December 2017.

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@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}
 {{Infobox award
-| country = India
 | name = Moortidevi Award
 | image =
@@ Line 21: / Line 20: @@
 | award2_type = First winner
 | award2_winner = [[C. K. Nagaraja Rao]]
-| award3_type = Last winner
+| award3_type =
-| award3_winner = Vishwanath Tiwari
+| award3_winner =
 | website =
 | previous =
@@ Line 30: / Line 29: @@
 The '''Moortidevi Award''' is an Indian literary award annually presented by the [[Bharatiya Jnanpith]], a literary and research organisation.<ref name=moorti>{{cite web|url=http://www.jnanpith.net/awards/moortidevi-award|title=Moortidevi Award|publisher=Bharatiya Jnanpith|access-date=1 December 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170530023119/http://www.jnanpith.net/awards/moortidevi-award|archive-date=30 May 2017}}</ref> The award is given only to Indian writers writing in Indian languages included in the [[Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India]], and in English,{{efn|name=lang|The Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India consists of twenty-two languages viz. [[Assamese language|Assamese]], [[Bengali language|Bengali]], [[Bodo language|Bodo]], [[Dogri language|Dogri]], [[Gujarati language|Gujarati]], [[Hindi]], [[Kannada]], [[Kashmiri language|Kashmiri]], [[Konkani language|Konkani]], [[Maithili language|Maithili]], [[Malayalam]], [[Meithei language|Manipuri]], [[Marathi language|Marathi]], [[Nepali language|Nepali]], [[Odia language|Odia]], [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]], [[Sanskrit]], [[Santali language|Santhali]], [[Sindhi language|Sindhi]], [[Tamil language|Tamil]], [[Telugu language|Telugu]], and [[Urdu]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mha.nic.in/hindi/sites/upload_files/mhahindi/files/pdf/Eighth_Schedule.pdf|title=The Constitution of India: Eighth Schedule|access-date=28 May 2016|page=1|publisher=Ministry of Home Affairs (India)|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305010536/http://mha.nic.in/hindi/sites/upload_files/mhahindi/files/pdf/Eighth_Schedule.pdf|archive-date=5 March 2016}}</ref>}} with no posthumous conferral or self nomination.<ref name=proposal>{{cite web|url=http://jnanpith.net/sites/default/files/Proposal%20Form%20for%2029th%20%20Moortidevi%20Award.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201232738/http://jnanpith.net/sites/default/files/Proposal%20Form%20for%2029th%20%20Moortidevi%20Award.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=1 December 2017|title=Proposal for the 29th Moortidevi Award|publisher=Bharatiya Jnanpith|date=10 August 2015|access-date=1 December 2017}}</ref>
-From 2003, the award was given to the authors for their "contemplative and perceptive work" and consisted of a cash prize of [[Indian rupee|₹]]1&nbsp;[[lakh]] (US$1,600), a citation plaque, a shawl, and a statue of [[Saraswati]], the Hindu goddess of knowledge and wisdom.<ref name="yr2003">{{cite news|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Moortidevi-Awards-for-two-writers/articleshow/38495816.cms|title=Moortidevi Awards for two writers|date=24 February 2003|work=The Times of India|access-date=17 December 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161230050344/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Moortidevi-Awards-for-two-writers/articleshow/38495816.cms|archive-date=30 December 2016}}</ref><ref name="Odia">{{cite news|title=Moortidevi Award for Haraprasad Das|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bhubaneswar/Moortidevi-Award-for-Haraprasad-Das/articleshow/22244628.cms|access-date=17 December 2015|date=3 September 2013|work=The Times of India|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160924205826/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bhubaneswar/Moortidevi-Award-for-Haraprasad-Das/articleshow/22244628.cms|archive-date=24 September 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://food.ndtv.com/food-drinks/happy-basant-panchami-2017-why-we-celebrate-this-festival-694639|title=Happy Basant Panchami 2017: Why We Celebrate This Festival|publisher=NDTV|date=31 January 2017|access-date=1 December 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171202052506/http://food.ndtv.com/food-drinks/happy-basant-panchami-2017-why-we-celebrate-this-festival-694639|archive-date=2 December 2017}}</ref> The cash prize was raised to {{INRConvert|2|l}} in 2011 and to {{INRConvert|4|l}} in 2013.<ref name="Raghuvansh">{{cite web|url=http://www.sify.com/news/hamid-ansari-presents-moortidevi-award-to-dr-raghuvansh-news-national-lfqvukjejig.html|title=Hamid Ansari presents 'Moortidevi Award' to Dr. Raghuvansh|publisher=Sify|date=16 May 2011|access-date=29 March 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140226070732/http://www.sify.com/news/hamid-ansari-presents-moortidevi-award-to-dr-raghuvansh-news-national-lfqvukjejig.html|archive-date=26 February 2014}}</ref><ref name="Y2013">{{cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-kerala/moortidevi-award-for-c-radhakrishnan/article6113763.ece|title=Moortidevi Award for C. Radhakrishnan|work=The Hindu|date=14 June 2014|access-date=18 December 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180203083155/http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-kerala/moortidevi-award-for-c-radhakrishnan/article6113763.ece|archive-date=3 February 2018}}</ref> The first recipient of the award was the [[Kannada]] writer [[C. K. Nagaraja Rao]] who was honoured in 1983 for his novel, ''Pattamahadevi Shantala Devi'', which was published in four volumes.<ref name="yr2003" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://library.iima.ac.in/public/download/hindi.pdf|title=List of Hindi Books|publisher=Vikram Sarabhai Library-IIM|access-date=1 December 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170712193315/http://library.iima.ac.in/public/download/hindi.pdf|archive-date=12 July 2017}}</ref>
+From 2003, the award was given to the authors for their "contemplative and perceptive work" and consisted of a cash prize of [[Indian rupee|₹]]1&nbsp;[[lakh]] (US$1,600), a citation plaque, a shawl, and a statue of [[Saraswati]], the Hindu goddess of knowledge and wisdom.<ref name="yr2003">{{cite news|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Moortidevi-Awards-for-two-writers/articleshow/38495816.cms|title=Moortidevi Awards for two writers|date=24 February 2003|work=The Times of India|access-date=17 December 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161230050344/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Moortidevi-Awards-for-two-writers/articleshow/38495816.cms|archive-date=30 December 2016}}</ref><ref name="Odia">{{cite news|title=Moortidevi Award for Haraprasad Das|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bhubaneswar/Moortidevi-Award-for-Haraprasad-Das/articleshow/22244628.cms|access-date=17 December 2015|date=3 September 2013|work=The Times of India|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160924205826/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bhubaneswar/Moortidevi-Award-for-Haraprasad-Das/articleshow/22244628.cms|archive-date=24 September 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://food.ndtv.com/food-drinks/happy-basant-panchami-2017-why-we-celebrate-this-festival-694639|title=Happy Basant Panchami 2017: Why We Celebrate This Festival|publisher=NDTV|date=31 January 2017|access-date=1 December 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171202052506/http://food.ndtv.com/food-drinks/happy-basant-panchami-2017-why-we-celebrate-this-festival-694639|archive-date=2 December 2017}}</ref> The cash prize was raised to {{INRConvert|2|l}} in 2011 and to {{INRConvert|4|l}} in 2013.<ref name="Raghuvansh">{{cite web|url=http://www.sify.com/news/hamid-ansari-presents-moortidevi-award-to-dr-raghuvansh-news-national-lfqvukjejig.html|title=Hamid Ansari presents 'Moortidevi Award' to Dr. Raghuvansh|website=[[Sify]]|date=16 May 2011|access-date=29 March 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140226070732/http://www.sify.com/news/hamid-ansari-presents-moortidevi-award-to-dr-raghuvansh-news-national-lfqvukjejig.html|archive-date=26 February 2014}}</ref><ref name="Y2013">{{cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-kerala/moortidevi-award-for-c-radhakrishnan/article6113763.ece|title=Moortidevi Award for C. Radhakrishnan|work=The Hindu|date=14 June 2014|access-date=18 December 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180203083155/http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-kerala/moortidevi-award-for-c-radhakrishnan/article6113763.ece|archive-date=3 February 2018}}</ref> The first recipient of the award was the [[Kannada]] writer [[C. K. Nagaraja Rao]] who was honoured in 1983 for his novel, ''Pattamahadevi Shantala Devi'', which was published in four volumes.<ref name="yr2003" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://library.iima.ac.in/public/download/hindi.pdf|title=List of Hindi Books|publisher=Vikram Sarabhai Library-IIM|access-date=1 December 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170712193315/http://library.iima.ac.in/public/download/hindi.pdf|archive-date=12 July 2017}}</ref>
-Works have been presented the award in ten of the twenty-three eligible languages: [[Urdu]], [[Telugu language|Telugu]], [[Rajasthani language|Rajasthani]], [[Marathi language|Marathi]] and [[Bengali language|Bengali]] (one each), [[Gujarati language|Gujarati]], [[Odia language|Odia]] and Kannada (two), [[Malayalam]] (three) and [[Hindi]] (sixteen). No awards were given in 1985 and between 1996 and 1999. The award has been conferred upon twenty-nine writers including one female author: In 1991, Odia academic and writer [[Pratibha Ray]] became the first woman to win the award and was honoured for the 1985 novel ''Yajnasani''.{{Sfn|Tiwari|2005|p=108}} Ray and [[Nirmal Verma]] have won both the Moortidevi as well as the [[Jnanpith Award]].<ref>{{cite press release|title=Speech by the President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee at the presentation of 47th Jnanpith Award to Dr. Pratibha Ray|url=http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelcontent.aspx?relid=96155|publisher=Press Information Bureau, India|date=22 May 2013|access-date=20 May 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160610212433/http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelcontent.aspx?relid=96155|archive-date=10 June 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/2000/03/11/stories/0211000b.htm|title=Nirmal Verma, Gurdial Singh jointly get Jnanpith Award|date=11 March 2000|access-date=20 May 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180203083155/http://www.thehindu.com/2000/03/11/stories/0211000b.htm|archive-date=3 February 2018|work=[[The Hindu]]}}</ref> As of 2019, Hindi writer and professor, Vishwanath Tiwari is the most recent recipient of the award.<ref name=tiwari>{{cite news|url=https://www.jagran.com/uttar-pradesh/gorakhpur-city-professor-vishwanath-tiwari-received-the-murti-devi-award-of-jnanpith-19821456.html|title='अस्ति और भवति को सम्मान मिलने से आह्लादित हैं साहित्य अकादमी के पूर्व अध्यक्ष प्रो. विश्‍वनाथ तिवारी|language=Hindi|work=Dainik Jagran|date=7 December 2019|access-date=30 December 2019}}</ref>
+No awards were given in 1985 and between 1996 and 1999. The award has been conferred upon 31 writers including one female author: In 1991, Odia academic and writer [[Pratibha Ray]] became the first woman to win the award and was honoured for the 1985 novel ''Yajnasani''.{{Sfn|Tiwari|2005|p=108}} Ray and [[Nirmal Verma]] have won both the Moortidevi as well as the [[Jnanpith Award]].<ref>{{cite press release|title=Speech by the President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee at the presentation of 47th Jnanpith Award to Dr. Pratibha Ray|url=http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelcontent.aspx?relid=96155|publisher=Press Information Bureau, India|date=22 May 2013|access-date=20 May 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160610212433/http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelcontent.aspx?relid=96155|archive-date=10 June 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/2000/03/11/stories/0211000b.htm|title=Nirmal Verma, Gurdial Singh jointly get Jnanpith Award|date=11 March 2000|access-date=20 May 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180203083155/http://www.thehindu.com/2000/03/11/stories/0211000b.htm|archive-date=3 February 2018|work=[[The Hindu]]}}</ref> As of 2019, Hindi writer and professor, [[Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari]] is the most recent recipient of the award.<ref name=tiwari>{{cite news|url=https://www.jagran.com/uttar-pradesh/gorakhpur-city-professor-vishwanath-tiwari-received-the-murti-devi-award-of-jnanpith-19821456.html|title='अस्ति और भवति को सम्मान मिलने से आह्लादित हैं साहित्य अकादमी के पूर्व अध्यक्ष प्रो. विश्‍वनाथ तिवारी|language=Hindi|work=Dainik Jagran|date=7 December 2019|access-date=30 December 2019}}</ref>
+Three recipients of Moortidevi Award -- [[Pratibha Ray]] (1991), [[Nirmal Verma]] (1995), and [[Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri]] (2009) -- went on to win the [[Jnanpith Award]], considered the highest Indian literary honor, in 2011, 1999, and 2019, respectively.
 ==Background==
+[[File:As Director, Bharatiya Jnanpith at Murthy Devi Award ceremony.jpg|thumb|Moortidevi Award Ceremony presided over by President S. D Sharma.]]
 The [[Bharatiya Jnanpith]], a research and cultural institute founded in 1944 by industrialist [[Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain]] of the [[Sahu Jain family]], conceived an idea in May 1961 to start a scheme "commanding national prestige and of international standard" to "select the best book out of the publications in Indian languages".<ref name=Jnan>{{cite web|url=http://jnanpith.net/awards/jnanpith-award|title=Jnanpith Award @ Bharatiya Jnanpith|access-date=28 May 2016|publisher=Bharatiya Jnanpith|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309070110/http://jnanpith.net/awards/jnanpith-award|archive-date=9 March 2016}}</ref>{{Sfn|Datta|1987|p=298}} In November that year, Rama Jain, the Founder President of the Bharatiya Jnanpith, invited a few literary experts to discuss various aspects of the scheme. Jain, along with [[Kaka Kalelkar]], [[Harivansh Rai Bachchan]], [[Ramdhari Singh Dinkar]], [[Jainendra Kumar]], [[Jagdish Chandra Mathur]], Prabhakar Machwe, Akshaya Kumar Jain, and Lakshmi Chandra Jain, presented the initial draft to the then [[President of India]]—[[Rajendra Prasad]] who had shown interest in the scheme's implementation. The idea was also discussed at the 1962 annual sessions of the [[Gujarati Sahitya Parishad|All India Gujarati Sahitya Parishad]] and the Bharatiya Bhasha Parishad.<ref name=Jnan/> The award is given in the memory of Moortidevi, mother of Sahu Jain, and was first presented in 1983.<ref name=moorti/>
@@ Line 44: / Line 46: @@
 ==Recipients==
 [[File:CK Nagaraja Rao.jpg|thumbnail|upright|[[C. K. Nagaraja Rao]] was the first recipient of the award.|alt=An image of C.K Nagaraja Rao.]]
 [[File:Pratiba Ray 2010.JPG|thumbnail|upright|[[Pratibha Ray]] is the only female recipient of the award.|alt=An image of Pratibha Ray.]]
+[[File:The Vice-President, Sahitya Akademi, Shri Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari addressing at the Writers’ Meet, in New Delhi on February 15, 2012.jpg|thumbnail|upright|[[Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari]] is the most recent recipient of the award.|alt=an image of Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari.]]
 {| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable"
 |+List of award recipients, showing the year, and language<ref name=laureates>{{cite web|url=http://www.jnanpith.net/page/moortidevi-laureates|title=Moortidevi Laureates|publisher=Bharatiya Jnanpith|access-date=19 December 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131219215302/http://www.jnanpith.net/page/moortidevi-laureates|archive-date=19 December 2013}}</ref>
@@ Line 108: / Line 113: @@
 |-
 | style="text-align:center" | 1993<br/>{{small|(10th)}}
-! scope="row" | {{sortname|Shyamacharan|Dubey}}
+! scope="row" | {{sortname|Shyamacharan|Dubey|Shyama Charan Dube}}
 | —
 | {{sort|Hindi}}
@@ Line 225: / Line 230: @@
 | ''Hymavathabhoovil''
 | {{sort|Malayalam}}
-| style="text-align:center" | <ref>{{Cite news|url=http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/m-p-veerendra-kumar-to-get-30th-moortidevi-award-on-march-4/1/890218.html|title=M P Veerendra Kumar to get 30th Moortidevi Award on March 4|work=India Today|date=23 February 2017|access-date=3 December 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170727125705/http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/m-p-veerendra-kumar-to-get-30th-moortidevi-award-on-march-4/1/890218.html|archive-date=27 July 2017}}</ref>
+| style="text-align:center" | <ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/pti-feed/story/m-p-veerendra-kumar-to-get-30th-moortidevi-award-on-march-4-880732-2017-02-23|title=M P Veerendra Kumar to get 30th Moortidevi Award on March 4|work=India Today|date=23 February 2017|access-date=3 December 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170727125705/http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/m-p-veerendra-kumar-to-get-30th-moortidevi-award-on-march-4/1/890218.html|archive-date=27 July 2017}}</ref>
 |-
-| style="text-align:center" | 2017<br/>{{small|(31st)}}
+| style="text-align:center" | 2017<br/>{{small|(30th)}}
 ! scope="row" | {{sortname|Joy|Goswami}}
 | ''Du Dondo Phowara Matro''
 | {{sort|Bengali|[[Bengali language|Bengali]]}}
-| style="text-align:center" |<ref name=joy>{{cite news|title =Bengali poet Joy Goswami to get 31st Moortidevi Award|url=http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/bengali-poet-joy-goswami-to-get-31st-moortidevi-award/1/1110992.html|work=India Today|date=15 December 2017|access-date=16 December 2017}}</ref>
+| style="text-align:center" |<ref name=joy>{{cite news|title =Bengali poet Joy Goswami to get 31st Moortidevi Award|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/pti-feed/story/bengali-poet-joy-goswami-to-get-31st-moortidevi-award-1112052-2017-12-15|work=India Today|date=15 December 2017|access-date=16 December 2017}}</ref>
 |-
-| style="text-align:center" | 2019<br/>{{small|(33th)}}
+| style="text-align:center" | 2019<br/>{{small|(31st)}}
 ! scope="row" | {{sortname|Vishwanath Prasad|Tiwari}}
 | ''Asti Aur Bhavti''
@@ Line 240: / Line 245: @@
 | style="text-align:center" |<ref name=tiwari/>
 |-
+|}
+==Moortidevi recipients by language==
+Out of twenty-three eligible languages, the award has been presented for works in ten languages. The 31 Moortidevi awardees from 1983 to 2019 wrote in the following languages:
+{| class="wikitable sortable"
+|-
+! Language
+! Number
+|-
+| [[Hindi language|Hindi]]
+| 17
+|-
+| [[Malayalam language|Malayalam]]
+| 3
+|-
+| [[Gujarati language|Gujarati]]
+| 2
+|-
+| [[Kannada language|Kannada]]
+| 2
+|-
+| [[Odia language|Odia]]
+| 2
+|-
+| [[Bengali language|Bengali]]
+| 1
+|-
+| [[Marathi language|Marathi]]
+| 1
+|-
+| [[Rajasthani language|Rajasthani]]
+| 1{{Efn|The 1986 awardee [[Kanhaiyalal Sethia]] wrote in [[Rajasthani languages|Rajasthani]], which is not included in the [[Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India]].}}
+|-
+| [[Telugu language|Telugu]]
+| 1
+|-
+| [[Urdu language|Urdu]]
+| 1
+|-
+| [[Assamese language|Assamese]]
+| 0
+|-
+| [[Bodo language|Bodo]]
+| 0
+|-
+| [[Dogri language|Dogri]]
+| 0
+|-
+| [[English language|English]]
+| 0
+|-
+| [[Kashmiri language|Kashmiri]]
+| 0
+|-
+| [[Konkani language|Konkani]]
+| 0
+|-
+| [[Maithili language|Maithili]]
+| 0
+|-
+| [[Manipuri language|Manipuri]]
+| 0
+|-
+| [[Nepali language|Nepali]]
+| 0
+|-
+| [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]]
+| 0
+|-
+| [[Sanskrit language|Sanskrit]]
+| 0
+|-
+| [[Santali language|Santali]]
+| 0
+|-
+| [[Sindhi language|Sindhi]]
+| 0
+|-
+| [[Tamil language|Tamil]]
+| 0
 |}
@@ Line 246: / Line 331: @@
 ==See also==
-* [[Jnanpith Award]]
+* [[Jnanpith Award]], another annual literary award, regarded as the highest Indian literary honor and also conferred by the Bharatiya Jnanpith.
+* [[Saraswati Samman]], a similar literary award in Indian languages conferred by the [[K. K. Birla Foundation]].
 ==References==