Gujarati Sahitya Parishad () is a literary organisation for the promotion of

Gujarati literature The history of Gujarat, Gujarati literature () may be traced to 1000 AD, and this literature has flourished since then to the present. It is unique in having almost no patronage from a ruling dynasty, other than its composers. Gujarat Vidhya S ...

located in

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ), also spelled Amdavad (), is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 ...

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. It was founded by Ranjitram Mehta with the aim of creating literature appealing to all classes of society and cultivating a literary sense among the people. Many prominent people including

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...

and Kanaiyalal Munshi have presided over the organisation. Its headquarters, located on Ashram Road, is known as Govardhan Bhavan. It has a conference hall and library. ''Parab'' is the monthly magazine of the Gujarati Sahitya Parishad and is published on the 10th of every month.

Presidents

Chimanlal Mangaldas Granthalay library Gujarati Sahitya Parishad

Activities

It published seven volumes of the ''History of Gujarati Literature'', of which the first volume covers a period of 1150 A.D to 1450 A.D. A weekly poetry workshop known as Budh Sabha is held on every Wednesday at the World Poetry Center of Parishad. It gives 30 prizes to writers in different genres of literature. The prizes given every two years are: * Uma-Snehrashmi Prize for the best literary work * Shri Arvind Prize for the best book on devotional literature * Kakasaheb Kalelkar Prize for the best book of biography, essays, or travel * Bhagini Nivedita Prize is given to the best female writer * Batubhai Umarwadia Prize for the best one-act play * Jyotindra H. Dave Prize for the best humorous work * Parmanand Kunvarji Kapadia Prize for the best book on social education * P. Trivedi Prize for the best book on education * Ramprasad Bakshi Prize for the best book on poetic or on criticism * B. M. Mankad Prize for the best amongst writers first publication of poetry, drama, short story or novel * Harilal Maneklal Desai Prize for the best book on social philosophy or criticism * Ushnas Prize for the best long poem * Takhtasinh Parmar Prize for the best amongst writers first publication of poetry, drama, short story or novel * Natvar Malvi Prize for children's literature * Annieben Saraiya Prize for the best book on humanity * Mahendra Bhagat Prize for the best anthology of poem * Dilip Mehta Prize for the best anthology of

ghazal ''Ghazal'' is a form of amatory poem or ode, originating in Arabic poetry that often deals with topics of spiritual and romantic love. It may be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss, or separation from the beloved, and t ...

s * Raman Pathak Sashtipurti Prize for the best collection of short stories * Gopaldas Vidvans Prize for the best translation * Bhaskarao Vidvans Prize for the best book of sociology * Ramanlal Soni Prize for the best children's literature book * Suresh Majumdar Prize for the best female translator * Ramanlal Joshi Prize for the best book on criticism * Upendra Pandya Prize for the best Ph.D. thesis * Prabhashankar Teraiya Prize for the best book in linguistics or grammar * Pandit Bechardas Jivaraj Dhoshi Prize for the best book on Sanskrit, Prakrit and Gujarati grammar * Priyakant Parikh Prize for the best novel * Ramu Pandit Prize for the best book on human relations or economics.

Controversies

Gujarati Sahitya Parishad was fined by Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation in February 2022 for cutting trees illegally. Parishad did not pay attention for many months after getting notices from the corporation. Parishad also deleted this episode of illegally cutting trees from its annual report, which is again a breach by a public institution. Parishad received a lot of negative publicity in newspapers for this illegal and unethical conduct.

References

{{Authority control Gujarati literature Organisations based in Ahmedabad Gujarati literary institutions Non-profit organisations based in India 1905 establishments in India Book publishing companies of India Arts organizations established in 1905