Akhil Bhartiya Sanskrit Kavi Sammelan

What is the Akhil Bhartiya Sanskrit Kavi Sammelan?

Akhil Bhartiya Sanskrit Kavi Sammelan is an all-India Sanskrit poets' conference implemented by the Uttarakhand Sanskrit Academy, Haridwar, under the Department of Sanskrit Education, Government of Uttarakhand. The name: often transliterated as Akhil Bharatiya Sanskrit Kavi Sammelan, means "All-India Sanskrit Poets' Conference", and the event does exactly that: it brings Sanskrit poets together on a public stage to recite their own compositions.

According to the state's departmental scheme rules, Akhil Bhartiya Sanskrit Kavi Sammelan aims to promote and popularise Sanskrit language and literature by encouraging poets who compose and recite poetry in Sanskrit. Around 15 poets, from Uttarakhand and from other states, are invited to present their works at national and state festivals, and each invited poet receives an honorarium of Rs 2,501.

The scheme sits in a specific tradition. Uttarakhand adopted Sanskrit as its second official language, and the state maintains a Directorate of Sanskrit Education, the Uttarakhand Sanskrit Academy at Haridwar and Uttarakhand Sanskrit University to keep the language in living use. A kavi sammelan is the most public of those instruments: it demonstrates that Sanskrit is still being composed in, not only read.

Key features

• Organised by the Uttarakhand Sanskrit Academy, Haridwar.
• Held to commemorate national and state festivals, not on a fixed calendar date.
• Around 15 poets invited per edition, from Uttarakhand and other states.
• Rs 2,501 honorarium for every invited poet, a fixed and equal amount.
• Invitation-based: there is no public application form.

Who is eligible for the Sanskrit Kavi Sammelan?

You can be invited if you are:

• A Sanskrit poet who both composes and recites poetry in Sanskrit. The scheme rules describe eligible participants precisely this way, composition in Sanskrit is the qualification, not scholarship about Sanskrit poetry.
• A poet from Uttarakhand or from any other state, since the Sammelan is an all-India event.
• A poet whose name the programme coordinator includes in the proposed list, which is drawn from renowned Sanskrit poets associated with schools, colleges and universities across the country.
• Approved by the competent authority and recommended by the Secretary of the Uttarakhand Sanskrit Academy.

You cannot apply / are not eligible if:

• You want to apply directly for the honorarium. Members of the public cannot apply; the Sammelan is not an open scheme and has no application form. Poets are identified and invited by the Academy.
• You write about Sanskrit poetry but do not compose in Sanskrit. The eligibility is tied to composing and reciting original poetry in the language.
• You compose in Hindi, Garhwali, Kumaoni or any other language. However accomplished the work, it falls outside a Sanskrit kavi sammelan.
• You are seeking a welfare payment or a grant. The Rs 2,501 is an honorarium for participating in a state event, not an income-support benefit, and there is no income, caste or age condition attached to it.
• Your name is not on the approved list for that edition. Only the roughly 15 poets in the approved and recommended list are invited.

What does an invited poet receive?

Akhil Bhartiya Sanskrit Kavi Sammelan pays a flat honorarium of Rs 2,501 to each invited poet. The amount is the same for every invitee: there is no first prize, no grading and no variation by the length or subject of the composition, because the Sammelan is a recitation gathering rather than a contest. With around 15 poets invited per edition, the published honorarium outlay for one Sammelan is about Rs 37,515.

The scheme does not publish a separate travel allowance, lodging entitlement or per diem. Whether any such support is offered is settled by the Academy for a particular edition, so an invited poet should ask what the invitation covers when it is issued rather than assume a figure.

Beyond the money, the real benefit for a Sanskrit poet is the platform: reciting at a state-organised all-India sammelan at a national or state festival is a recognised credential, and it puts new Sanskrit composition in front of an audience that includes academics, students and the Sanskrit Education establishment of the state.

What documents are required?

Because participation begins with an invitation rather than an application, the document burden is light and is communicated with the invitation itself.

How to apply for the Sanskrit Kavi Sammelan, and how poets are invited

1. The Academy decides to hold a Sammelan to commemorate a national or state festival. This is the trigger; there is no standing annual date.
2. The programme coordinator prepares a list of renowned Sanskrit poets drawn from schools, colleges and universities across the country, covering both Uttarakhand and other states.
3. The proposed list is submitted to the competent authority for approval. This is the formal sanction stage, and the list is not final until approved.
4. The Secretary of the Uttarakhand Sanskrit Academy recommends the poets to be invited from the approved list.
5. Invitations are issued to the roughly 15 recommended poets to attend and recite their compositions at the festival programme.
6. The poets recite at the Sammelan, and each invited poet receives the Rs 2,501 honorarium.

If you are a Sanskrit poet who wants to be considered, the practical route is not an application but visibility: publish and recite in Sanskrit, be known within a school, college or university Sanskrit department, and make your work and contact details known to the Uttarakhand Sanskrit Academy so that your name is available to the programme coordinator when a list is being prepared for a future edition.

Why a poet may not be invited

• Not on the coordinator's proposed list for that edition, which is where every invitation originates.
• The list was not approved in that form by the competent authority.
• Only about 15 slots exist per edition, so the constraint is arithmetic rather than a judgement on any individual poet.
• No institutional visibility — the list is drawn from poets associated with schools, colleges and universities, so a poet outside that circuit is less likely to be identified.
• Composition is not in Sanskrit, which places the poet outside the scheme entirely.

Who runs the scheme and where do I raise a query?

The Uttarakhand Sanskrit Academy, Haridwar organises the Akhil Bhartiya Sanskrit Kavi Sammelan under the Department of Sanskrit Education, Government of Uttarakhand. The Secretary of the Academy is the officer named in the scheme rules as recommending the invitees, and the Academy office at Haridwar is therefore the correct address for a query about a Sammelan, its date, its venue or its list. The Directorate of Sanskrit Education, Uttarakhand, which oversees 103 Sanskrit institutions across the state; maintains the departmental portal at sanskriteducation.uk.gov.in with a contact page for written queries.

Note on scope: Akhil Bhartiya Sanskrit Kavi Sammelan is a small, invitation-only cultural scheme with about 15 beneficiaries per edition and no citizen application process. The verified facts above. The Rs 2,501 honorarium, the roughly 15 invited poets, the all-India reach, the festival timing and the coordinator-approval-Secretary invitation chain, are what the state's own scheme rules record. Readers should not expect an application form, a status tracker or a deadline for this scheme, because none exists.