Sahitya Akademi awards presented

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, FEB. 20. At the `Sahitya Akademi awards for 2000' function held here today, a fervent call was made to fight the divisive forces that threaten the fabric of society.

Addressing the function, the president of the Akademi, Mr. Ramakanta Rath, said it was the duty of writers to have no truck with the perpetrators of a divisive culture. He said the recent earthquake drove home the point that ``all men, notwithstanding the differences imposed on them, share a common destiny''.

The poet, Mr. Keki N. Daruwalla, said the award-winning works were testimony to the fact that literature in all Indian languages is in good health. However, he lamented that the wealth of Indian literature loses much of its lustre in the not-so- adequate translations. And, the jewels in Indian poetry -- which had a considerable presence among the awards this time round -- fared even worse as verse, by nature, does not render itself well to translation.

In all, 22 awards were presented; one of them posthumously to Shantinath Kuberappa for his Kannada novel `Om Nama'. The award for a literary work in Assamese went to Mr. Apurba Sarma for his collection of short stories `Baghe Tapur Rati' while that for Bengali went to Mr. Joy Goswami's poetry `Pagli Tomar Sange'.

The award in Dogri went to a collection of short stories `Meel Pattha' by Mr.Bandhu Sharma; in English to Mr.Kiran Nagarkar for his novel `Cuckold'; in Gujarati to Mr. Vinesh Antani for his novel `Dhundhabhari Khin'; in Hindi to Mr. Manglesh Dabral for his poetry `Hum Jo Dekhte Hain'; in Kashmiri to another set of short stories `Yath Raaz Daanay' by Mr. Harikrishna Kaul; in Maithili to Mr. Ramanand Renu for his poetry `Katek Raas Baat'; in Manipuri to Laitonjam Premchand Singh for his short stories titled `Eemagi Phanek Machet'; in Marathi to Namdeo Dhondo Mahanor for his poetic work `Panzad'; in Nepali to Mr. Ramlal Adhikari's essays titled `Nisansmaran'; in Oriya to Mr.Pratibha Ray's short stories `Ullanghan'; in Punjabi to Mr. Waryam Singh Sandhu's short stories titled `Chauthi Koot'; in Rajasthani to Mr. Jaya Prakash Pandya `Jyotipunj' for his drama `Kankoo Kabandh'; in Sanskrit to Mr. S. Srinivas Sarma's poetry `Jagadguru Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Vijayam'; in Telugu to N. Gopi for his poetic work `Kalanni Nidra Ponivvanu'; and in Urdu to another poetic work `Sookhi Tahni Par Hariyal' by Mohd. Idrees Ambar Bahraichi.

Four of the awardees could not make it to the function. They were Mr. Pandurang Rajaram Shenay Bhangui who bagged the Konkani award for his poetic work ``Champhel'li Sanj'';Mr. R. Ramachandran who got the award in Malayalam for his poetry `R. Ramachandrante Kavithakal'; Param A. Abhichandani, the winner of the Sindhi award, for his criticism `Taka Tora'; and Thi. Ka. Sivasankaran who got the Tamil award for his criticism `Vimarsanangal Mathippuraikal Pettikal'.

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