Who is the only Indian to have won the Nobel Prize in Literature?
- A.V. S. Naipaul
- B.Rabindranath Tagore
- C.Salman Rushdie
- D.Sri Aurobindo
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, Rabindranath Tagore. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913, largely on the strength of Gitanjali in his own English rendering, and he was the first Asian to win a Nobel Prize in any field. He also wrote the national anthems of India and Bangladesh and renounced his knighthood after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 1919.
Option A, V. S. Naipaul, won the prize in 2001 but was born in Trinidad to a family of Indian descent and was a British citizen, so he is not counted as an Indian winner; his name is the usual trap in this question. Option C, Salman Rushdie, won the Booker Prize in 1981 for Midnight's Children, not a Nobel. Option D, Sri Aurobindo, was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature but never received it. Papers sometimes phrase the question as the first Asian Nobel laureate, and the answer is the same.
Read the full article: Literary Awards of India: Full List for Exams
Practice Questions
View allThe Vyas Samman, started in 1991 is given for 'outstanding literary work' in ______.
- A.Rajasthani
- B.Hindi
- C.Sanskrit
- D.Konkani
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The Vyas Samman was instituted in 1991 by the K. K. Birla Foundation and is given for an outstanding literary work in Hindi published in the previous ten years.
Read the full explanation →Who among the following was awarded the 55th Jnanpith Award?
- A.Amitav Ghosh
- B.Raghuveer Chaudhari
- C.Chandrashekhara Kambara
- D.Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri
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The Malayalam poet, known simply as Akkitham, received the 55th Jnanpith Award, given for the year 2019. The Jnanpith is instituted by Bharatiya Jnanpith and is regarded as the highest literary award in India.
Read the full explanation →The Saraswati Samman is given by which of the following organisations?
- A.Sahitya Akademi
- B.Bharatiya Jnanpith
- C.K. K. Birla Foundation
- D.Ministry of Culture
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The foundation instituted the Saraswati Samman in 1991 for an outstanding literary work in any of the languages listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, published in the previous ten years, and the award carries the largest cash prize of any Indian literary honour.
Read the full explanation →Who was the first recipient of the Saraswati Samman?
- A.Harivansh Rai Bachchan
- B.Ram Vilas Sharma
- C.Vijay Tendulkar
- D.Kaifi Azmi
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The Hindi poet of the Chhayavaad and Halavaad periods, best known for Madhushala, received the first Saraswati Samman in 1991 for his autobiography written in four volumes.
Read the full explanation →The Moortidevi Award is given by which organisation?
- A.Sahitya Akademi
- B.Bharatiya Jnanpith
- C.K. K. Birla Foundation
- D.Government of Madhya Pradesh
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The trust that gives the Jnanpith Award instituted the Moortidevi Award in 1983 for a creative work that carries the spirit of Indian philosophy and culture, and the work may be in any of the languages of the Eighth Schedule or in English.
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