<Table> List of award recipients , showing the year , and language ( s ) <Tr> <Th> Year </Th> <Th> Recipient ( s ) </Th> <Th> Language ( s ) </Th> <Th> Refs. / Notes </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1965 ( 1st ) </Td> <Th> Kurup , G. Sankara G. Sankara Kurup </Th> <Td> Malayalam ! Malayalam </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1966 ( 2nd ) </Td> <Th> Bandyopadhyay , Tarasankar Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay </Th> <Td> Bengali ! Bengali </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1967 ( 3rd ) † </Td> <Th> Joshi , Umashankar Umashankar Joshi </Th> <Td> Gujarati ! Gujarati </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1967 ( 3rd ) † </Td> <Th> Puttappa ' Kuvempu ' , Kuppali Venkatappa Kuppali Venkatappa Puttappa ' Kuvempu ' </Th> <Td> Kannada ! Kannada </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1968 ( 4th ) </Td> <Th> Pant , Sumitranandan Sumitranandan Pant </Th> <Td> Hindi ! Hindi </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1969 ( 5th ) </Td> <Th> Gorakhpuri , Firaq Firaq Gorakhpuri </Th> <Td> Urdu ! Urdu </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1970 ( 6th ) </Td> <Th> Satyanarayana , Viswanatha Viswanatha Satyanarayana </Th> <Td> Telugu ! Telugu </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1971 ( 7th ) </Td> <Th> Dey , Bishnu Bishnu Dey </Th> <Td> Bengali ! Bengali </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1972 ( 8th ) </Td> <Th> Singh ' Dinkar ' , Ramdhari Ramdhari Singh ' Dinkar ' </Th> <Td> Hindi ! Hindi </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1973 ( 9th ) † </Td> <Th> Bendre , D.R. D.R. Bendre </Th> <Td> Kannada ! Kannada </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1973 ( 9th ) † </Td> <Th> Mohanty , Gopinath Gopinath Mohanty </Th> <Td> Odia ! Odia </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> ( 10th ) </Td> <Th> Khandekar , Vishnu Sakharam Vishnu Sakharam Khandekar </Th> <Td> Marathi ! Marathi </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> ( 11th ) </Td> <Th> , Akilan Akilan </Th> <Td> Tamil ! Tamil </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1976 ( 12th ) </Td> <Th> Devi , Ashapoorna Ashapoorna Devi </Th> <Td> Bengali ! Bengali </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1977 ( 13rd ) </Td> <Th> Karanth , K. Shivaram K. Shivaram Karanth </Th> <Td> Kannada ! Kannada </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1978 ( 14th ) </Td> <Th> Vatsyayan , Sachchidananda Sachchidananda Vatsyayan </Th> <Td> Hindi ! Hindi </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1979 ( 15th ) </Td> <Th> Bhattacharya , Birendra Kumar Birendra Kumar Bhattacharya </Th> <Td> Assamese ! Assamese </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1980 ( 16th ) </Td> <Th> Pottekkatt , S.K. S.K. Pottekkatt </Th> <Td> Malayalam ! Malayalam </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1981 ( 17th ) </Td> <Th> Pritam , Amrita Amrita Pritam </Th> <Td> Punjabi ! Punjabi </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1982 ( 18th ) </Td> <Th> Varma , Mahadevi Mahadevi Varma </Th> <Td> Hindi ! Hindi </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> ( 19th ) </Td> <Th> Iyengar , Masti Venkatesha Masti Venkatesha Iyengar </Th> <Td> Kannada ! Kannada </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1984 ( 20th ) </Td> <Th> Pillai , Thakazhi Sivasankara Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai </Th> <Td> Malayalam ! Malayalam </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1985 ( 21st ) </Td> <Th> Patel , Pannalal Pannalal Patel </Th> <Td> Gujarati ! Gujarati </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1986 ( 22nd ) </Td> <Th> Routray , Sachidananda Sachidananda Routray </Th> <Td> Odia ! Odia </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> ( 23rd ) </Td> <Th> Shirwadkar ' Kusumagraj ' , Vishnu Vaman Vishnu Vaman Shirwadkar ' Kusumagraj ' </Th> <Td> Marathi ! Marathi </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> ( 24th ) </Td> <Th> Reddy , C. Narayana C. Narayana Reddy </Th> <Td> Telugu ! Telugu </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> ( 25th ) </Td> <Th> Hyder , Qurratulain Qurratulain Hyder </Th> <Td> Urdu ! Urdu </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> ( 26th ) </Td> <Th> Gokak , Vinayaka Krishna Vinayaka Krishna Gokak </Th> <Td> Kannada ! Kannada </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1991 ( 27th ) </Td> <Th> Mukhopadhyay , Subhash Subhash Mukhopadhyay </Th> <Td> Bengali ! Bengali </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> ( 28th ) </Td> <Th> Mehta , Naresh Naresh Mehta </Th> <Td> Hindi ! Hindi </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> ( 29th ) </Td> <Th> Mahapatra , Sitakant Sitakant Mahapatra </Th> <Td> Odia ! Odia </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> ( 30th ) </Td> <Th> Ananthamurthy , U.R. U.R. Ananthamurthy </Th> <Td> Kannada ! Kannada </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1995 ( 31st ) </Td> <Th> Nair , M.T. Vasudevan M.T. Vasudevan Nair </Th> <Td> Malayalam ! Malayalam </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> ( 32nd )
the recipient of first jnanpith award was an author which language
Malayalam