President Droupadi Murmu on Friday conferred the 58th Jnanpith Award on Sanskrit scholar Jagadguru Rambhadracharya and renowned poet-lyricist Gulzar for 2023 at a function here.

About Gulzar

• Sampooran Singh Kalra, who is popularly known as Gulzar, is a renowned figure in Hindi cinema and a highly regarded Urdu poet. He is considered one of the best poets of his time. 
• Gulzar has received many accolades for his works, including the Sahitya Akademi Award for Urdu in 2002, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2013, the Padma Bhushan in 2004, and at least five National Film Awards.
• Some of his most notable works include the song "Jai Ho" for the movie "Slumdog Millionaire," which won an Oscar in 2009 and a Grammy in 2010. He has also created songs for critically acclaimed films such as "Maachis" (1996), "Omkara" (2006), "Dil Se..." (1998), and "Guru" (2007), among others.
• Gulzar has directed timeless award-winning classics such as "Koshish", "Parichay'', "Mausam'', "Ijaazat", and the television serial "Mirza Ghalib''. Along with his long film journey, Gulzar has also set new milestones in the field of literature. In poetry, he created a new genre called 'Triveni', which is a non-mukaffa poem of three lines. 
• Gulzar has created something new through his poetry. Recently, he has been paying serious attention to writing children's poetry.

About Rambhadracharya

• Rambhadracharya, who is 74 years old, is a well-known Hindu spiritual leader, educator and writer. He is the founder and head of Tulsi Peeth in Chitrakoot and has written over 240 books and texts, including four epics. 
• Rambhadracharya has been holding the position under  the Ramananda sect as one of the current four Jagadguru Ramanandacharya since 1982.
• Despite being blind since the age of two months due to trachoma, Rambhadracharya is a polyglot who can speak 22 languages. He is also a poet and writer in several Indian languages, including Sanskrit, Hindi, Awadhi, and Maithili. 
• In recognition of his contributions, he received the Padma Vibhushan award in 2015. Rambhadracharya was born as Giridhara Misra and was home-schooled by his grandfather during his initial years. 
• He had memorized the entire Bhagavad Gita by the age of eight and the entire Ramcharitmanas.

About Jnanpith Awards 

• Established: 1961
• Presented by: Bharatiya Jnanpith (a literary and research organization founded by the Sahu Jain family)
• Awarded for: Outstanding literary work by an Indian citizen in any of the languages listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution (22 languages including Hindi, Bengali, Urdu, Kannada, Malayalam, etc.)