# Gujarati Sahitya Parishad

Gujarati Sahitya Parishad (lit. 'Gujarati Literary Council') is a literary organisation for the promotion of Gujarati literature located in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. It was founded by Ranjitram Mehta with the aim of creating literature appealing to all classes of society and cultivating a literary sense among the people. Many prominent people including Mahatma Gandhi and Kanaiyalal Munshi have presided over the organisation. Its headquarters, located on Ashram Road, is known as Govardhan Bhavan. It has a conference hall and library.
Parab is the monthly magazine of the Gujarati Sahitya Parishad and is published on the 10th of every month.

## Presidents

| President | City | Year |
| Harshad Trivedi | Bhopal | 2023 |
| Prakash N. Shah | Ahmedabad | 2020 |
| Sitanshu Yashaschandra | Secunderabad | 2018 |
| Chandrakant Topiwala | Bhuj | 2016 |
| Dhiru Parikh | Anand | 2014 |
| Varsha Adalja | Ahmedabad | 2012 |
| Bholabhai Patel | Junagadh | 2011 |
| Bhagwatikumar Sharma | Surat | 2009 |
| Narayan Desai | Ahmedabad | 2007 |
| Kumarpal Desai | Ahmedabad | 2006 |
| Bakul Tripathi | Mumbai | 2005 |
| Dhiruben Patel | Mahuva | 2003 |
| Raghuveer Chaudhari | Patan | 2001 |
| Dhirubhai Thaker | Visnagar | 1999 |
| Niranjan Bhagat | Baroda | 1997 |
| Vinod Bhatt | Jamnagar | 1995 |
| Rajendra Shah | Kolkata | 1993 |
| Ushnas | Coimbatore | 1991 |
| Jayant Pathak | Rajkot | 1989 |
| Bhogilal Sandesara | Bombay | 1987 |
| Keshavram Kashiram Shastri | Pune | 1985 |
| Yashwant Shukla | Surat | 1983 |
| Manubhai Pancholi | Hyderabad | 1981 |
| Anantrai Raval | Baroda | 1979 |
| Chandravadan Mehta | | 1978 |
| Ramprasad Bakshi | Porbandar | 1976 |
| Gulabdas Broker | Vallabh | 1974 |
| Jhinabhai Desai 'Sneharasmi' | Chennai | 1972 |
| Tribhuvandas Luhar 'Sundaram' | Junagadh | 1970 |
| Umashankar Joshi | Delhi | 1968 |
| Jyotindra Dave | Surat | 1966 |
| Rasiklal Parikh | Mumbai | 1964 |
| Vishnuprasad Trivedi | Kolkata | 1961 |
| Kaka Kalelkar | Ahmedabad | 1959 |
| Kanaiyalal M. Munshi | Nadiad | 1955 |
| Harasidhdhabhai V. Divetiya | Navsari | 1952 |
| Kanaiyalal M. Munshi | Nadiad | 1949 |
| Ramnarayan V. Pathak | Rajkot | 1946 |
| Vidyagauri Nilkanth | Baroda | 1943 |
| Ardeshar Khabardar | Bombay | 1941 |
| Kanaiyalal M. Munshi | Karachi | 1937 |
| Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi | Ahmedabad | 1936 |
| Krishnalal Mohanlal Jhaveri | Lathi | 1931 |
| Bhulabhai Jivanaji Desai | Nadiad | 1931 |
| Anandshankar Dhruv | Nadiad | 1928 |
| Ramanbhai Nilkanth | Bombay | 1926 |
| Kamlashankar Trivedi | Bhavnagar | 1924 |
| Ranchhodlal Udayaram Dave | Baroda | 1921 |
| Hargovinddas Kantawala | Ahmedabad | 1920 |
| Narsinhrao Divetia | Surat | 1915 |
| Ambalal Sakarlal Desai | Rajkot | 1909 |
| Keshavlal Dhruv | Bombay | 1907 |
| Govardhanram Tripathi | Ahmedabad | 1905 |

## Activities

It published seven volumes of the History of Gujarati Literature, of which the first volume covers a period of 1150 A.D to 1450 A.D. A weekly poetry workshop known as Budh Sabha is held on every Wednesday at the World Poetry Center of Parishad.
It gives 30 prizes to writers in different genres of literature. The prizes given every two years are:
* Uma-Snehrashmi Prize for the best literary work
* Shri Arvind Prize for the best book on devotional literature
* Kakasaheb Kalelkar Prize for the best book of biography, essays, or travel
* Bhagini Nivedita Prize is given to the best female writer
* Batubhai Umarwadia Prize for the best one-act play
* Jyotindra H. Dave Prize for the best humorous work
* Parmanand Kunvarji Kapadia Prize for the best book on social education
* P. Trivedi Prize for the best book on education
* Ramprasad Bakshi Prize for the best book on poetic or on criticism
* B. M. Mankad Prize for the best amongst writers first publication of poetry, drama, short story or novel
* Harilal Maneklal Desai Prize for the best book on social philosophy or criticism
* Ushnas Prize for the best long poem
* Takhtasinh Parmar Prize for the best amongst writers first publication of poetry, drama, short story or novel
* Natvar Malvi Prize for children's literature
* Annieben Saraiya Prize for the best book on humanity
* Mahendra Bhagat Prize for the best anthology of poem
* Dilip Mehta Prize for the best anthology of ghazals
* Raman Pathak Sashtipurti Prize for the best collection of short stories
* Gopaldas Vidvans Prize for the best translation
* Bhaskarao Vidvans Prize for the best book of sociology
* Ramanlal Soni Prize for the best children's literature book
* Suresh Majumdar Prize for the best female translator
* Ramanlal Joshi Prize for the best book on criticism
* Upendra Pandya Prize for the best Ph.D. thesis
* Prabhashankar Teraiya Prize for the best book in linguistics or grammar
* Pandit Bechardas Jivaraj Dhoshi Prize for the best book on Sanskrit, Prakrit and Gujarati grammar
* Priyakant Parikh Prize for the best novel
* Ramu Pandit Prize for the best book on human relations or economics.

## Controversies

Gujarati Sahitya Parishad was fined by Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation in February 2022 for cutting trees illegally. Parishad did not pay attention for many months after getting notices from the corporation. Parishad also deleted this episode of illegally cutting trees from its annual report, which is again a breach by a public institution. Parishad received a lot of negative publicity in newspapers for this illegal and unethical conduct.