Indian poetry and

Indian literature Indian literature refers to the literature produced on the Indian subcontinent until 1947 and in the Republic of India thereafter. The Republic of India has 22 officially recognised languages. The earliest works of Indian literature were ...

in general, has a long history dating back to

Vedic upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute th ...

times. They were written in various Indian languages such as

Vedic Sanskrit Vedic Sanskrit was an ancient language of the Indo-Aryan subgroup of the Indo-European language family. It is attested in the Vedas and related literature compiled over the period of the mid- 2nd to mid-1st millennium BCE. It was orally preser ...

Classical Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the l ...

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, na ...

Odia Odia, also spelled Oriya or Odiya, may refer to: * Odia people in Odisha, India * Odia language, an Indian language, belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family * Odia alphabet, a writing system used for the Odia languag ...

, Maithili,

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode ...

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

, Assamese,

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

. Poetry in foreign languages such as

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

also has a strong influence on Indian poetry. The poetry reflects diverse spiritual traditions within India. In particular, many Indian poets have been inspired by mystical experiences. Poetry is the oldest form of literature and has a rich written and oral tradition.

Indian poetry awards

There are very few literary awards in India for poetry alone. The prestigious awards like Jnanapeeth,

Sahitya Akademi The Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India. Founded on 12 March 1954, it is supported by, though independent of, the Indian government. Its of ...

and Kalidas Samman etc. are given away to writers of both prose and poetry. Most of the awards have gone to novelists. Few poets have received these awards.

Jnanpith Award

The following poets have won the Jnanpith award for their poetry:

Firaq Gorakhpuri Raghupati Sahay (28 August 1896 – 3 March 1982), also known by his pen name Firaq Gorakhpuri, was an Indian writer, critic, and, according to one commentator, one of the most noted contemporary Urdu poets from India. He established himself ...

for his ''Gul-e-Naghma'' (1969),

Viswanatha Satyanarayana Viswanatha Satyanarayana (10 September 1885 – 18 October 1976) was a 20th-century Telugu writer. His works included poetry, novels, dramatic play, short stories and speeches, covering a wide range of subjects such as analysis of hist ...

for his ''Sreemadraamaayana Kalpavrukshamu'' in

(1970),

Amrita Pritam Amrita Pritam (; 31 August 1919 – 31 October 2005) was an Indian novelist, essayist and poet, who wrote in Punjabi and Hindi. A prominent figure in Punjabi literature, she is the recipient of the 1956 Sahitya Akademi Award. Her body of wo ...

for her ''Kagaz te Kanvas'' (1981), Qurratulain Hyder for her ''Akhire Sab ke Humsafar,'' Singireddi Narayana Reddi for his ''Viswambhara'' in

((1988) 1989), O. N. V. Kurup for his contribution to

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry ( Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam wa ...

poetry (2007) and Ravuri Bharadhwaja for his novel ''Paakuduraallu'' (

) (2012).

Ananda Puraskar and Rabindra Puraskar

Ananda Bazar Patrika have instituted the annual

Ananda Puraskar The Ananda Puraskar () is an award for Bengali literature awarded annually by the ABP Group to writers using Bengali, usually from West Bengal, India. History The award can be traced to a comment by Annada Shankar Ray ruing the absence of lite ...

for

literature. There is also

Rabindra Puraskar The Rabindra Puraskar (also Rabindra Smriti Puraskar) is the highest honorary literary award given in the Indian state of West Bengal. This award is named after the famous Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore and is administered by the Government of W ...

. But these awards have usually gone to novelists. The rare poets to have won these awards include

Premendra Mitra Premendra Mitra (4 September 1904 – 3 May 1988)Samsad Bengali Charitabhidhan Vol.II edited Anjali Bose, Published by Sagitta Samsad, Kolkata, Edition January,2019,Page-240 was an Indian poet, writer and film director in the Bengali language. ...

for '' Sagar Theke Phera'' (1957),

Buddhadeb Basu Buddhadeva Bose (; 1908–1974), also spelt Buddhadeb Bosu, was an Indian Bengali writer of the 20th century. Frequently referred to as a poet, he was a versatile writer who wrote novels, short stories, plays and essays in addition to poetry. ...

for ''Swagato Biday'' (1974), Aruna Mitra for ''Suddhu Rater Shabda'' (1979), Joy Goswami for ''Ghumeichho'' (1990), Srijato for ''Uranto Sab Joker'' (2004) and Pinaki Thakur for ''Chumbaner Kshato'' (2012).

Sahitya Akademi Awards

gives away annual prizes for both original works of poetry in the recognised Indian languages, as well as outstanding works of translation of Indian poetry. The award winners for English poetry include Jayanta Mahapatra for ''Relationship'' (1981), Nissim Ezekiel for ''Latter-Day Psalms'' (1983), Keki N. Daruwalla for ''The Keeper of the Dead'' (1984), Kamala Das for ''Collected Poems'' (1985),

Shiv K. Kumar Shiv K. Kumar (16 August 1921, Lahore, British India – 1 March 2017, Hyderabad, India) was an Indian English-language poet, playwright, novelist, and short story writer. His grandfather late Tulsi Das Kumar was a school teacher and his father B ...

for ''Trapfalls in the Sky'' (1987),

Dom Moraes Dominic Francis Moraes (19 July 1938 – 2 June 2004) was an Indian writer and poet who published nearly 30 books in English. He is widely seen as a foundational figure in Indian English literature. His poems are a meaningful and substantial ...

for ''Serendip'' (1994), A. K. Ramanujan for ''Collected Poems'' (1999) and

Jeet Thayil Jeet Thayil (born 1959) is an Indian poet, novelist, librettist and musician. He is the author of several poetry collections, including ''These Errors Are Correct'' (2008), which won the Sahitya Akademi Award. His first novel, '' Narcopolis,'' ( ...

for ''These Errors are Correct'' (1912). Prominent Akademi awardees for poetry in other Indian languages include H. S. Shivaprakash (

) and

K. Satchidanandan K. Satchidanandan (1946) is an Indian poet and critic, writing in Malayalam and English. A pioneer of modern poetry in Malayalam, a bilingual literary critic, playwright, editor, columnist and translator, he is the former editor of ''Indian L ...

(

). Other eminent Sahitya Akademi award-winning poets include

(

Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a British Th ...

) for ''Sunehe'' (1956), V. K. Gokak (

) for ''Divya Prithvi'' (1960),

G. Sankara Kurup G. Sankara Kurup, (3 June 1901 – 2 February 1978) also referred to as Mahakavi G (The Great Poet G), was an Indian poet, essayist and literary critic of Malayalam literature. Known as one of the greats of Malayalam poetry, he was the first r ...

(

) for ''Viswadarshanam'' (1963),

Kusumagraj Vishnū Vāman Shirwādkar (27 February 1912 – 10 March 1999), popularly known by his pen name, Kusumāgraj, was an Marathi poet, playwright, novelist and short story writer, who wrote of freedom, justice and emancipation of the deprived ...

( Marathi) for ''Natsamrat'' (1974),

Kaifi Azmi Kaifi Azmi (born Athar Husain Rizvi; 14 January 1919 – 10 May 2002) was an Indian Urdu poet. He is remembered as the one who brought Urdu literature to Indian motion pictures. Together with Pirzada Qasim, Jaun Elia and others he participat ...

(

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Sunil Gangopadhyay Sunil Gangopadhyay or Sunil Ganguly (7 September 1934 – 23 October 2012) was an Indian poet, historian and novelist in the Bengali language based in the city of Kolkata. He is a former Sheriff of Calcutta. Gangopadhyay obtained his m ...

(

) for ''Sei Somoy'' (1984),

Kanhaiyalal Sethia Kanhaiyalal Sethia ( – ) was a well-known Rajasthani and Hindi poet. He was born in Sujangarh, in what is now Churu District in the Indian state of Rajasthan. He was a passionate supporter of making Rajasthani, the mother tongue of the people ...

( Rajasthani) for ''Lilatamsa'' (1984), Hiren Bhattacharyya ( Assamese) for ''Saichor Pathar Manuh'' (1992),

Gunturu Seshendra Sarma Gunturu Seshendra Sarma B.A. B.L. (20 October 1927 – 30 May 2007), also known as Yuga Kavi, was a Telugu poet, critic and litterateur. He is well known for his works ''Naa Desam, Naa Prajalu'' and ''Kaala Rekha''. He authored over fifty w ...

(

) for ''Kaala Rekha'' (1994),

Srinivas Rath Srinivas Rath was a poet writing in Sanskrit. He lived at Ujjain, India and was instrumental in the sustenance of the Kalidas Akademi, a center of arts and literature in Western India. Rath Sahib, as he was called by many, had written a collect ...

(

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...

) for ''Tadaiva Gaganam Shaivadhara'' (1999) and Pratibha Satpathy (

) for ''Tanmaya Dhuli'' (2001). Eighteen poets have won Sahitya Akademi Awards in

Telugu language Telugu (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken by Telugu people predominantly living in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, where it is also the official language. It is the most widely spoken ...

Indian Literature Golden Jubilee Poetry Awards

On the occasion of its Golden Jubilee,

awarded the following prizes for outstanding works of poetry in translation from Indian languages. *

Rana Nayar Rana Nayar (born 1957) is a translator of poetry and short fiction from Punjabi to English. He has more than forty volumes of poetry and translation works to his credit. He is also a theatre artist and has participated in a number of major full- ...

for his translation of the verses of the Sikh saint Baba Farid from

. *

Tapan Kumar Pradhan Tapan Kumar Pradhan (born 1972) is an Indian poet, writer and translator from Odisha. He is best known for his poem collection "Kalahandi" which was awarded second place in Sahitya Akademi's Golden Jubilee ''Indian Literature'' Translation Prize ...

for English translation of his own

poem collection

Kalahandi Kalahandi (locally pronounced ''Kalahani'') is a district of Odisha in India. Archaeological evidence of Stone Age and Iron Age human settlement has been recovered from the region. Asurgarh offered an advanced, well civilised, cultured and u ...

* Paromita Das for English translation of

Parvati Prasad Baruwa Parvati Prasad Baruva (1904–1964) was a noted poet, lyricist, and dramatist: an icon of Assamese literature and the culture of Assam. Known for his simple and sensitive use of the Assamese language, he is popularly known as the ''Geetikavi''; ...

's poems in Assamese. The Golden Jubilee Prize for Life Time Achievement was won by Namdeo Dhasal, Ranjit Hoskote, Neelakshi Singh, Abdul Rashid and Sithara S.

All India Poetry Champions

The Poetry Society (India) The Poetry Society (India) was formed in July 1984 at New Delhi as a voluntary association to promote Indian poetry and to look after the interests of Indian Poets. The founding members included the Indian poets Keshav Malik, J P Das, H K Kaul ...

gives annual awards solely for poetry. The following poets have won the annual prizes instituted by the Poetry Society (India) in collaboration with

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...

and

Ministry of Human Resource Development (India) The Ministry of Education ( MoE; formerly the Ministry of Human Resource Development from 1985 to 2020) is a ministry of the Government of India, responsible for the implementation of the National Policy on Education. The Ministry is further ...

: * 1988:

Vijay Nambisan Vijay Nambisan was a poet, writer, critic and journalist from India writing in English. He won First Prize in the first ''All India Poetry Competition'' in 1990 organized by The Poetry Society (India) in collaboration with the British Council. He ...

for "

Madras Central Chennai Central (station code: MAS, short for ''Madras''), officially known as Puratchi Thalaivar Dr. M.G. Ramachandran Central Railway Station, is the main railway terminus in the city of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is the busiest railway ...

" * 1990:

Rukmini Bhaya Nair Rukmini Bhaya Nair is a linguist, poet, writer and critic of India. She won the First Prize for her poem ''kali'' in the "All India Poetry Competition" in 1990 organised by The Poetry Society (India) in collaboration with British Council. She i ...

for "Kali" * 1991: Rajlukshmee Debee Bhattacharya for "Punarnava" * 1993: Shampa Sinha for "

Siesta A ''siesta'' (from Spanish, pronounced and meaning "nap") is a short nap taken in the early afternoon, often after the midday meal. Such a period of sleep is a common tradition in some countries, particularly those in warm-weather zones. The ...

Tarun Cherian Tarun Cherian is an Indian poet. For his poem ''A Writer's Prayer'', he won the Second Prize in the ''All India Poetry Competition'' in 1990 organized by The Poetry Society (India) in collaboration with British Council. Biography Tarun Cherian ob ...

for "

A Writer's Prayer "A Writer's Prayer" is an English poem by the Indian poet and renowned spiritual healer Tarun Cherian. Cherian has had written many a poems beforehand with this one being his best work. ''A Writers Prayer'' won Second Prize in the Fifth All India ...

" * 1994: Anju Makhija for " A Farmer's Ghost"; Smita Agarwal for "Our Foster Nurse of Nature is Repose" * 1995: Tabish Khair for "

Birds of North Europe "Birds of North Europe" is a poem by Tabish Khair, the internationally acclaimed Indian English author and journalist. The poem won First Prize in the Sixth All India Poetry Competition conducted by The Poetry Society (India) in 1995. The poem brou ...

"; Gopi Krishnan Kottoor for "

The Coffin Maker "The Coffin Maker" is a poem by the Indian English poet Gopi Kottoor, Gopi Krishnan Kottoor. The poem won Second Prize in the Sixth All India Poetry Competition conducted by The Poetry Society (India) in 1995. This was the first major literary awar ...

" * 1997: Ranjit Hoskote for " Portrait of a Lady"; Gopi Kottoor for "

Digging Digging, also referred to as excavation, is the process of using some implement such as claws, hands, manual tools or heavy equipment, to remove material from a solid surface, usually soil, sand or rock on the surface of Earth. Digging is act ...

" * 1998: K. Sri Lata for " In Santa Cruz, Diagnosed Home Sick" * 2000:

Shahnaz Habib Shahnaz Habib is an Indian essayist, fiction writer, travel writer, and translator based in the United States of America. She teaches writing at Bay Path University and The New School, and works as a consultant for the United Nations. In 2018, sh ...

for "

Of Hypocrisy and Cheekbones "Of Hypocrisy and Cheekbones" is an Indian poem by the Indian English writer and translator Shahnaz Habib. The poem won First Prize in the Ninth All India Poetry Competition conducted by The Poetry Society (India) in 2000. Excerpts from the poem ...

"; Revathy Gopal for "I Would Know You Anywhere" * 2013: Mathew John for " Another Letter from Another Father to Another Son";

for "The Buddha Smiled"

Western thinkers and poets interested in Indian poetry

In the 19th century, American Transcendentalist writers and many German Romantic writers became interested in Indian poetry, literature and thought. In the 20th century, few Western poets became interested in Indian thought and literature, and the interest of many of those was minor: T. S. Eliot studied

at Harvard, but later lost interest.

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

brought

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...

and

Gary Snyder Gary Snyder (born May 8, 1930) is an American poet, essayist, lecturer, and environmental activist. His early poetry has been associated with the Beat Generation and the San Francisco Renaissance and he has been described as the "poet laureate of ...

to India, but they became more interested in Tibetan and Japanese forms of the religion. Mexican poet and writer

Octavio Paz Octavio Paz Lozano (March 31, 1914 – April 19, 1998) was a Mexican poet and diplomat. For his body of work, he was awarded the 1977 Jerusalem Prize, the 1981 Miguel de Cervantes Prize, the 1982 Neustadt International Prize for Literature, and ...

developed a strong, lasting interest in Indian poetry after living in the country as part of the Mexican diplomatic mission (and as ambassador in the 1960s). Paz married an Indian woman, translated Sanskrit ''kavyas'', and wrote extensively about India.

References

External links

The National Academy of Letters
{{Poetry of different cultures and languages Poetry by country

Indian poetry awards

Jnanpith Award

Ananda Puraskar and Rabindra Puraskar

Sahitya Akademi Awards

Indian Literature Golden Jubilee Poetry Awards

All India Poetry Champions

Western thinkers and poets interested in Indian poetry

See also

References

External links