Who is called the father of the Malayalam language?
- A.Thunchaththu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan
- B.Cherusseri Namboothiri
- C.Kumaran Asan
- D.G. Sankara Kurup
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is A, Thunchaththu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan. His Adhyatma Ramayanam, written in the kilippattu or parrot-song form in which a bird narrates the story, settled the vocabulary, script and metre of literary Malayalam and put the Ramayana within reach of ordinary readers, which is why he carries this title. Option B, Cherusseri Namboothiri, wrote the Krishnagatha and belongs to the period just before him, so he is an important early poet but not the one given the title. Option C, Kumaran Asan, is one of the three modern poets known as the Kavithrayam, along with Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer and Vallathol Narayana Menon, and belongs to the twentieth century. Option D, G. Sankara Kurup, is the poet who received the very first Jnanpith Award, in 1965, for Odakkuzhal, and that is the fact he is remembered for.
Read the full article: Kannada, Malayalam and Telugu Literature: Classics and Awards
Practice Questions
View allThe first Jnanpith Award, for the year 1965, was given to a writer of which language?
- A.Kannada
- B.Malayalam
- C.Telugu
- D.Hindi
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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.
Read the full explanation →Who is honoured as the Adikavi, the first poet, of Kannada literature?
- A.Pampa
- B.Nannaya
- C.Basavanna
- D.Kuvempu
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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