Prof Satyavrat Shastri was awarded the 42nd Jnanpith Award on Wednesday, the first time India’s highest literary honour has gone to a Sanskrit scholar. The award was handed to Shastri by the princess of Thailand Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, herself an eminent Sanskrit scholar and former student of Shastri.

Shastri has several literary achievements to his credit, including introducing genres like autobiography and diary into Sanskrit writing. The octogenarian is currently working on an autobiography as well as a multi-volume Mahakavya on the principal cultural currents of the world and a Sanskrit translation of the representative poems of European poet laureates. He shares the Award with Konkani author Ravindra Kelekar.