<P> From 1965 till 1981 , the award was given to the authors for their `` most outstanding work '' and consisted of a citation plaque , a cash prize of ₹ 1 lakh ( equivalent to ₹ 48 lakh or US $75,000 in 2017 ) , and a bronze replica of Saraswati , the Hindu goddess of knowledge and wisdom . The first recipient of the award was the Malayalam writer G. Sankara Kurup who received the award in 1965 for his collection of poems , Odakkuzhal ( The Bamboo Flute ) , published in 1950 . The rules were revised in subsequent years to consider only works published during the preceding twenty years , excluding the year for which the award was to be given and the cash prize was increased to ₹ 1.5 lakh ( equivalent to ₹ 22 lakh or US $34,000 in 2017 ) from 1981 . </P>
the recipient of first jnanpith award was an author which language
Malayalam