Award-winning Hindi poet Kunwar Narain died in New Delhi on Wednesday, after being in a coma since July, PTI reported. He was 90.

Narain was a Jnanpith Award winner and was also honoured with the Padma Bhushan, India’s third highest civilian honour, in 2009.

He was born on September 9, 1927 in Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh, and was known for his poetry, stories and literary criticism. His first poetry collection, Chakravyuh, published in 1956, is considered a landmark in Hindi literature.

His works include Atmajayee, Apne Samne, Koi Dusra Nahi and In Dinon. He won the Jnanpith Award in 2005.

In a statement after his death, the Sahitya Akademi called him the “most distinguished” Hindi poet and scholar. “He set a new trend for creative and decorative poetry...through a number of immortal poems,” the statement said. “These poems vividly represent creative amalgamation of the past and the present and also lofty philosophies and beautiful poetic legacies.”