Quizmaster: Which Greek god was punished by Zeus for giving fire to mankind? Team A: Prometheus! QM: Correct! 10 points to Team A. The next question is to Team B. In “Ramayana”, what is the name of Rama’s mother? (Silence) The question passes to Team C. (More silence). What about Team A? (Yet more silence)
This scene or one very similar to it inspired a young media professional named Anant Pai to conduct an impromptu Indian mythology quiz among his colleagues in the late 1960s. The results were even worse. In a mission to reeducate Indians about their rich and varied literary heritage, Anant Pai started a comic book series called Amar Chitra Katha (literally, eternal picture stories) in 1967.
Anant Pai went on to become Indian children’s favorite Uncle Pai and Amar Chitra Katha (ACK) became the flagship of his children’s publication empire. By the time of his passing away in February 2011, ACK had grown to more than 400 titles, had sales figures numbering in millions and had been translated into several regional languages and a few foreign ones. What made ACK so successful and why is it so important in the preservation of Indian cultural heritage?
Timing: India in the 1960s was already seeing the disintegration of the joint family system. Suddenly there was a dearth of grandparents and elderly relatives who entertained children with the episodes of the story of a great war or the pranks of a little blue boy every evening. Even if they were available, parents put more emphasis on learning English and Western narratives as a means to advancement in life. Into this scenario came ACK, which cunningly started off with four numbers of Western fairy tales before starting on Indian themes in earnest. Besides, ACK was introduced in English, so students could claim to be getting more exposure to the language while they were reading it! Soon enough, ACK became so popular that when Hindi and regional language translations came along in the early 1980s, parents had no problems buying them too.
Format and Authenticity: Which child does not love comics? Anant Pai must have chosen a format in which he had previous experience, but he could not have done better. His team of illustrators went along with his vision and created drawings that were authentic and truly Indian in character. Meticulous research went into drawing up costumes and accessories appropriate for each time period and region represented in ACK. Thus the dress of the sixteenth-century Rajasthani princess Roopmati differs from that of the nineteenth century warrior Rani of Jhansi. No wonder ACK has become a valuable guide for students and teachers in creating costumes for cultural competition over the years!
Subject: The task of choosing appropriate subject matter to represent the rich and varied culture of India must have been a daunting task. But the editors of ACK, led by Uncle Pai himself, chose well. They started off with the universal favorites like the stories of Lord Krishna and episodes from the two great Indian epics – the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. They went on to add several stories from the slightly more obscure Puranas, ancient plays and oral folklore from all regions of India. In doing so, ACK has certainly contributed in a great way towards the cultural integration of India. How else could a child in the Hindi heartland come to know of a lovable Malayali bandit (Kochunni) or the saint-musician Tyagaraja from Tamil Nadu? Birbal became a household name in South India as he awed and flummoxed Akbar and his courtiers over several issues of ACK.
Rediscovery: Children who grew up reading the simplified and abridged versions of ACK went on to explore the originals for themselves when they grew up. This interest sparked off the rediscovery of several great literary works and their authors and popularized them. The ancient poet Kalidasa gets probably a sentence or two in history textbooks. ACK produced a number on his life which was as or more colorful than that of several Elizabethan courtiers. The stories of his famous plays like Vikramorvashiyam (Urvashi and Pururuvas) and Malavikagnimitram (Malavika) followed. Obscure poets like Banabhatta (Kadambari) and Bhavabhuti (Malati and Madhava) also came into more popular notice than they might have enjoyed in their own times. The Mahabharata itself benefitted from more attention as ACK brought out some gems out of the largely ignored sub stories which were usually left out of translations and abridged versions of the epic. Damayanti, Yayati, Bheema and Hanuman, The Golden Mongoose and other stories, etc. are some examples.
Study aide: Over the years, ACK has become an important study aide for Indian history lessons. The usually dry subject matter suddenly became interesting when they came out in the form of dynamic drawings and pithy dialogues. The sacrifice of Indian freedom fighters somehow became more real when they came out in a children’s publication. It was easier to memorize the reforms introduced by ancient rulers when their edicts issued forth in speech bubbles. Dates of battles remained etched in memory when they were found on top of superb action illustrations in well-thumbed ACK issues. Mahatma Gandhi himself has become more accessible through a comic book rather than any number of scholarly studies published down the years.
Boon for expatriates: Indian parents who have settled abroad find it difficult to impart Indian values and culture to their offspring. On their visits to India, they buy up several issues of ACK which they consider the best purveyor of Indian culture and heritage. The Jataka Tales, the Panchatantra and the Kathasaritsagara – those anthologies of fables that were meant for the instruction of Indian children since ancient times - have found a new lease of life through ACK. Since then, these anthologies have been published in beautiful translations of the originals, but the ACK versions still remain a firm favorite with Indian children. Now ACK can be ordered from anywhere in the world at the click of a mouse-button and need not tax stringent luggage allowance limits.
Up to date: In recent years ACK has managed to add the stories of eminent modern personalities including social and spiritual leaders as well as eminent businessmen among their new titles (Jawaharlal Nehru, Mother Teresa, JRD Tata ). ACK media has branched out into cartoons and internet gaming is not far away. As of now, ACK cartoons leave much to be desired in the animation department, but they are worth watching for the classic ACK illustrations and stories.
Indian grandmothers can now relax and watch their favorite glitzy soap operas on television every evening. In the era of “quality time”, parents are poring over old or new copies of Amar Chitra Katha with their kids and both parties are enjoying every minute of it. May India’s favorite comic book series truly be “amar”.
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—About our writer:
Sreekala is an English literature post graduate with a penchant for creative writing. She has training and experience in teaching, copy editing, proof reading, lexicography and medical transcription. Scientific and medical jargon do not faze her even though flowery literary language is her first preference. While not taking care of her two rambunctious sons, she blogs, reads and tends to her garden.
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