Bharatiya Jnanpith (translates to knowledge seat), founded in 1944 by Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain is a literary and research organisation founded to encourage research and publication of Sanskrit, Prakrit, Pali, Apabhramsha texts. It is a trust run by the family of Sahu Jain, the publishers of the newspaper The Times of India. Since 1961, the Jnanpith Award was instituted by this organisation to reward any Indian citizen (through a selection process) who writes in one of the 22 languages listed in Schedule Eight of the Indian constitution.
