The Jnanpith Award is one of the most prestigious literary awards in India.
It is presented annually to an author for their outstanding contribution to Indian literature.
The award was established in 1961 by the Sahu Jain family, a prominent business family in India, to honor and promote excellence in Indian literature.
The first recipient of the award was the Malayalam writer G. Sankara Kurup who received the award in 1965 for his collection of poems, 'Odakkuzhal' , published in 1950
