The Kalidas Samman is awarded annually by the government of which state?

Explanation

The Kalidas Samman is a prestigious national award given by the Government of Madhya Pradesh for outstanding achievement in the arts. It was instituted in 1980 and is named after Kalidasa, the greatest poet and dramatist of classical Sanskrit literature.

The Kalidas Samman is given in four fields: classical music, classical dance, theatre and the plastic arts (such as painting and sculpture). It is open to artists from all over India and is one of the most respected awards for the arts in the country. Its recipients have included many great artists, such as Pandit Birju Maharaj and the Dhananjayans in dance.

Kalidasa is believed to have lived around the 4th-5th centuries CE, and tradition places him among the nine jewels (Navaratnas) at the court of the Gupta king Chandragupta II (Vikramaditya). He is closely linked with Ujjain, in Madhya Pradesh, where the Kalidasa Samaroh, a festival of the arts, is held every year. His famous works include the plays "Abhijnanashakuntalam", "Malavikagnimitram" and "Vikramorvashiyam", the long poems "Raghuvamsha" and "Kumarasambhava", and the lyrical poem "Meghaduta" (The Cloud Messenger). "Abhijnanashakuntalam" was among the first works of Indian literature to be translated into European languages, and it was admired by writers such as Goethe.

Madhya Pradesh gives several other national awards for the arts and literature. These include the Tansen Samman (for Hindustani music, 1980), the Lata Mangeshkar Award (for light music, 1984), the Kishore Kumar Samman (for cinema), the Tulsi Samman (for tribal and folk arts) and the Maithili Sharan Gupt Samman (for poetry).

Why not the other options?

• ✗Uttar Pradesh gives awards such as the Yash Bharati.
• ✗Maharashtra gives awards such as the Maharashtra Bhushan.
• ✗Rajasthan has its own state academies and awards.
• ✗None of them gives the Kalidas Samman.