Poet Prabha Varma bags Saraswati Samman, Malayalam getting award after 12 years

NEW DELHI: Poet Prabha Varma has bagged the prestigious Saraswati Samman instituted by the K K Birla Foundation. He got the award for his work Roudra Sathwikam. The award carries a plaque, a citation and a cash prize of Rs 15 lakh. Malayalam is getting Saraswati Samman, the country's premier literary award, after 12 years.

The first recipient of the award was Harivansh Rai Bachchan. Malayalam got the first Saraswati Samman in 1995 through Balamani Amma. Poet Ayyappa Panicker got the award in 2005 and in 2012, Sugatha Kumari got the award.

The Saraswati Samman given annually for outstanding literary works in 22 Indian languages is among the highest recognitions in the field of Indian literature. Besides the Saraswati Samman, the Vyas Samman and the Bihari Puraskar are other literary awards instituted by the foundation.