Sahitya Akademi
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साहित्य अकादमी Sahitya Akademi Literature Academy |
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| founding | March 12, 1954 |
| founder | Indian government |
| Seat | Rabindra Bhawan, New Delhi, India |
| purpose | Promotion of the languages of India |
| Website | sahitya-akademi.gov.in |
The Sahitya Akademi ( Hindi साहित्य अकादमी , "Literature Academy") is India's national literary academy, which has set itself the task of promoting the literatures and languages of India .
history
Already at the time of British colonial rule in India there were considerations to found an Indian literary academy. In 1944, the British-Indian government gave its in-principle approval to the Bengali Asiatic Society's proposal that a society be established to protect the national historical heritage. The society should consist of three academies, one of which should be literary academy. After India gained independence in 1947, the project was continued by the new Indian government . In a series of conferences it was decided to create three national academies, one for literature, one for visual arts and a third for dance, drama and music. However, there were different views as to how active the state should be when it was founded. In particular, the then Indian Minister of Education Abul Kalam Azad was in favor of a state initiative and on March 12, 1954 the Sahitya Akademi was formally inaugurated as a literary academy. Regardless of the state initiative, however, the academy was set up as a non-governmental institution. On January 7, 1956, the Academy was registered as a society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 .
Tasks and activities
The constitution of the academy stipulates that as a national organization it should actively promote the development of Indian literatures and should work for high literary standards and good taste in literature. In addition, literary activities in the various Indian languages are to be coordinated and the cultural unity of India promoted. The means and methods with which the Academy wants to achieve or realize these goals are diverse. The Academy organizes or supports seminars, lectures, symposiums, public readings and artistic performances. It publishes or supports the publication of scientific journals, monographs , individual artistic works of various genres, anthologies , encyclopedias, dictionaries, bibliographies , lists of authors, and representations of literary history. Since its inception, it has published more than 6000 books and organizes at least 50 regional, national or international seminars every year, as well as more than 300 literature-related meetings or workshops, which are held under different titles, such as Meet the Author , Samvad , Kavisandhi , Kathasandhi , Loka: The Many Voices , People and Books , Through My Window , Mulakat , Asmita , Antaral , Avishkar , Nari Chetna , Yuva Sahiti , Bal Sahiti , Purvottari and Literary Forum meetings .
The academy holds annual seminars in each of the 24 recognized languages. The seminars are designed according to the recommendations of 24 language advisory boards. The language advisory boards are made up of 10 recognized writers, scholars or critics of the respective language. The composition of the advisory boards is redefined every 5 years. The Academy also publishes the English-language scientific journal Indian Literature ( ISSN 0019-5804).
Recognized languages
In addition to the 22 official languages of India listed in the Indian constitution, two other languages are recognized by the Academy: English and Rajasthani.
Library
The Central Library of the Academy in New Delhi is one of the most important multilingual libraries in India and has a collection of around 200,000 books (as of 2020). This also includes works on literary theory, language and translation studies in general, as well as special collections of the works of Rabindranath Tagore , Sri Aurobindo and Mahatma Gandhi . Many books are digitized and accessible on the Internet. The regional branches in Kolkata, Bengaluru and Mumbai also have their own larger libraries.
Regional branches
The Academy has the following five regional offices:
- Kolkata : responsible for Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Manipuri and Oriya, in addition to publications in English and Tibetan. The regional office is also responsible for other languages of Northeast India and has an extensive library,
- Bengaluru : responsible for the Dravidian languages (Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu), as well as publications in English. The regional office has an extensive library,
- Chennai : a sub-regional office dealing with Tamil,
- Mumbai : responsible for Gujarati, Konkani, Marathi and Sindhi, partly also publications in English and Hindi,
- Agartala : (Northeast Center for Oral Literature): focuses on the non-recognized languages of the Indian Northeast.
Prices
The Sahitya Akademi awards the following prizes each year in all 24 languages:
- Sahitya Akademi Award (award for outstanding book publications from the previous five years)
- Sahitya Akademi Prize for Translation (Prize for outstanding translations from one Indian language into another from the previous five years)
- Yuva Puraskar (for book publications by authors under 35 years of age)
- Bal Sahitya Puraskar (for children's books from the previous five years)
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Welcome to Sahitya Akademi. Academy website, accessed on February 17, 2020 .
- ↑ a b c d About Sahitya Akademi. Academy website, accessed on February 17, 2020 .
- ^ Literary Activities. Academy website, accessed on February 17, 2020 .
- ^ Indian Literature. Academy website, accessed on February 17, 2020 .
- ^ About the Library. Academy website, accessed on February 17, 2020 .
- ↑ Annual Report 2018–2019. (pdf) Sahitya Akademi, accessed on February 17, 2020 (English).
Coordinates: 28 ° 37 ′ 29.8 ″ N , 77 ° 13 ′ 52.9 ″ E