| Year |
Recipient |
Work |
| 1965 |
G. Shankar Kurup |
Auda Kujai (Malayalam) |
| 1966 |
Tara Shankar Bandyopadhyay |
Ganadevata (Bengali) |
| 1967 |
K.V Putappa, Uma Shankar Joshi |
Ramayan Darshanam (Kannada), Nisheeth (Gujarati) |
| 1968 |
Sumitra Nandan Pant |
Chidambra (Hindi) |
| 1969 |
Prof. Raghpupati Sahay ‘Firaq Gorakhpuri’ |
Gul-e-Naghma (Urdu) |
| 1970 |
Vishwanth Satyanarayana |
Shreemad Ramayan Kalpavriksham (Telugu) |
| 1971 |
Vishnu Dey |
Smriti Satta Bhavishyat (Bengali) |
| 1972 |
Ramdhari Singh ‘Dinkar’ |
Urvashi (Hindi) |
| 1973 |
Gopinath Mohanty, D.R. Bendre |
Mati Matal (Oriya) Naku Thanthi (Kannada) |
| 1974 |
Vishnu Sakharam Khandekar |
Yayati (Marathi) |
| 1975 |
P.V. Akilandam |
Chittirappavai (Tamil) |
| 1976 |
Smt. Ashapurna Devi |
Pratham Pratishruti (Bengali) |
| 1977 |
Dr.K. Shivram Karanth |
Mukajjiya Kanasugalu (Kannada) |
| 1978 |
Dr Sachidananda Hiranand Vatsyayana ‘Agyeya’ |
Kitni Nawon Mein Kitni Bar (Hindi) |
| 1979 |
Dr. Virendra Kumar Bhattacharya |
Mrityunjay (Assamia) |
| 1980 |
S.K Pottekat |
Oru Dishatinate Katha |
| 1981 |
Amrita Pritam |
Kagaz te Canvas (Punjabi) |
| 1982 |
Mahadevi Verma |
Yama (Hindi) |
| 1983 |
Masti Venkatesh Iyengar |
Chikaveer Rajendra (Kannada) |
| 1984 |
T. Shiv Shankar Pillai |
Kayar (Malayalam) |
| 1985 |
Pannalal Patel |
Manvini Bhavai (Gujarati) |
| 1986 |
Sachida Nanda Routory |
Oriya Literature |
| 1987 |
Vishnu Vaman Shirwadkar |
Marathi Literature |
| 1988 |
Dr. C.Narayana Reddy |
Telugu Literature |
| 1989 |
Qurrtul –ain-Hyder |
Urdu Literature |
| 1990 |
Prof. Vinayak Krishna Gokak |
Kannada Literature |
| 1991 |
Subhash Mukhopadhyay |
Bengali Literature |
| 1992 |
Naresh Mehta |
Hindi Literature |
| 1993 |
Dr. Sitakant Mahapatra |
Oriya Literature |
| 1994 |
Prof. U.R. Ananthamurthy |
Kannada Literature |
| 1995 |
M.T. Vasudevan Nair |
Malayalam Literature |
| 1996 |
Mrs. Mahashweta Devi |
Bengali Literature |
| 1997 |
Ali Sardar Jafri |
Urdu Literature |
| 1998 |
Girish Karnad |
Kannada Literature |
| 1999 |
Nirmal Verma Gurdayal Singh |
Hindi Literature |
| 2000 |
Dr.Indira Goswami |
Assamese Literature |
| 2001 |
Rajendra Keshaval Shah |
Gujarati Literature |
| 2002 |
D. Jayakanthan |
Tamil Literature |
| 2003 |
Vinda Karandikar |
Marathi Literature |
| 2004 |
Rehman Rahi |
Kashmiri |
