The first Jnanpith Award, for the year 1965, was given to a writer of which language?
- A.Kannada
- B.Malayalam
- C.Telugu
- D.Hindi
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, Malayalam. The first Jnanpith Award was conferred for the year 1965 on the Malayalam poet G. Sankara Kurup for his collection Odakkuzhal, which means the reed flute; the prize itself had been instituted in 1961 by the Bharatiya Jnanpith. Option A, Kannada, received its first Jnanpith two years later, in 1967, when it went to Kuvempu for Sri Ramayana Darshanam, and because Kannada has been honoured so often it is the strongest wrong answer here. Option C, Telugu, received its first in 1970, when Viswanatha Satyanarayana was awarded for Ramayana Kalpavrukshamu. Option D, Hindi, received its first award in the nineteen sixties as well but not the inaugural one, and the candidate who assumes that the first national literary prize must have gone to Hindi is exactly the candidate this question is set for. Keep the order: Malayalam in 1965, Kannada in 1967, Telugu in 1970.
Read the full article: Kannada, Malayalam and Telugu Literature: Classics and Awards
Practice Questions
View allWho is honoured as the Adikavi, the first poet, of Kannada literature?
- A.Pampa
- B.Nannaya
- C.Basavanna
- D.Kuvempu
Show answer
Pampa wrote in the tenth century and is called the Adikavi of Kannada on the strength of two works, Vikramarjuna Vijaya, also known as Pampa Bharata, which retells the Mahabharata with his patron in the place of Arjuna, and Adipurana, on the life of the first Jain Tirthankara.
Read the full explanation →Kuvempu received the Jnanpith Award in 1967 for which work?
- A.Mookajjiya Kanasugalu
- B.Sri Ramayana Darshanam
- C.Samskara
- D.Naku Tanti
Show answer
Kuvempu, whose full name was K. V. Puttappa, was awarded the Jnanpith in 1967 for this long poem, a retelling of the Ramayana in modern Kannada, and he was the first Kannada writer to receive the prize; he also wrote the state song of Karnataka.
Read the full explanation →Nannaya, Tikkana and Errana, known together as the Kavitrayam, belong to which language?
- A.Kannada
- B.Malayalam
- C.Telugu
- D.Tamil
Show answer
Nannaya, Tikkana and Errana are called the Kavitrayam, the trinity of poets, because between them they rendered the Mahabharata into Telugu over the course of several centuries; Nannaya, the Adikavi of Telugu, began the work and also wrote the grammar Andhra Shabda Chintamani, while Errana continued and Tikkana completed it.
Read the full explanation →Who wrote Ramayana Kalpavrukshamu, which won the Jnanpith Award in 1970?
- A.C. Narayana Reddy
- B.Viswanatha Satyanarayana
- C.Gurajada Appa Rao
- D.Ravuri Bharadwaja
Show answer
He was awarded the Jnanpith in 1970 for Ramayana Kalpavrukshamu, a retelling of the Ramayana in Telugu verse, and he was the first Telugu writer to receive the prize.
Read the full explanation →Vachana literature in Kannada is chiefly associated with
- A.Pampa
- B.Basavanna
- C.Purandara Dasa
- D.Masti Venkatesha Iyengar
Show answer
The vachanas are short, direct compositions in the rhythmic Kannada of ordinary speech, carrying devotion to Shiva together with a sharp attack on caste and empty ritual, and they belong to the Veerashaiva or Lingayat movement of the twelfth century, of which Basavanna was the central figure; the woman saint…
Read the full explanation →