Although the comics and the magazines found a following among Indian children, the books authored by Indians took longer to find acceptance. Most children were by then so totally hooked on the wonderfully limited world of Enid Blyton that it was impossible to wean them away. And so we continued to pay homage at the altar of the Western authors. We graduated, gradually and reluctantly, from Blyton to Agatha Christie, PG Wodehouse and Georgette Heyer. The boys disdained to read such namby-pamby books and instead became avid fans of the Western sagas of JT Edson and Luis L’amour. And in the meanwhile the world of publishing in India continued to grow. And we continued to remain oblivious of it, deliberately turning our backs on it.
And in the meanwhile another quiet revolution had been brewing, boiling up in the mind of one man, a genius far ahead of his times. This man was Anant Pai, better known today in India as ‘Uncle Pai’. Pai had worked for various publications when he was struck by the idea that what the Indian child needed was a comic book that would educate him/her about the wonderful history and impart a sense of the culture of the country. And this was how Amar Chitra Katha was launched in 1967.
Amar Chitra Katha, literally ‘Immortal Pictorial Tales’, started with the tale of Krishna, the most loved God in the pantheon of gods in India. What Pai achieved in these comics was amazing – the story was retold in a simplified form, encapsulated to interest the child reader. The colourful illustrations ensured that children would be attracted and want to read the story. Success was slow in coming, but once it did there was no stopping either the series or the man behind it. As the popularity of the comic book spread, Pai introduced various stories. He selected tales from the history of India, introducing individual books on great leaders, illustrious rulers and religious heads. He also introduced children to the many stories about the various gods of India, stressing the importance of festival and religious practices.
Today Amar Chitra Katha has over 500 titles and is a venerated institution. It came at a time when the Indian child, pressurized by the need to master English, had no time to pay attention to the vast storehouse of stories in the culture of his country. Amar Chitra Katha has introduced several generations of Indian children to the stories that make up the fabric of their lives. The success of this series prompted the intrepid Pai into launching Tinkle, a magazine for children with stories narrated through the comic book format.
The amazing story of Amar Chitra Katha started in 1967-68 when an attempt to translate the myriad tales from Indian history and culture into comics was made to cover a wide spectrum of titles . It was the creative genius and foresight of the legendary editor, Anant Pai and the entrepreneurial zeal and courage of the publisher G.L. Mirchandani, Chairman of India Book House that give birth to a brand which delighted generations of children( and their parents) since then.
It is said that one day as he was watching a quiz programme on television; Anant Pai saw that the participating children from English-medium schools were well versed with the lore of Tarzan and the exploits of Greek gods but could not answer simple questions about the Ramayana. That is when he decided to use the popular medium of comics to acquaint Indian children with their rich cultural heritage. And god bless that decision! I passed many history exams in my childhood thanks to Amar Chitra Katha. I still remember that as a student of class 3, I was the only one who could give the entire list of Mughal dynasty in a school quiz. That was easy, for I had read about all those emperors in Amar Chitra Katha and my disciplined sisters used to keep the comics on historical characters in the strict order of history.
Through the medium of comics, Amar Chitra Katha brought to life the colourful mythologies and legends of India. The Route to your Roots was the catch phrase coined to describe the efforts of Amar Chitra Katha to tell tales of heroes and heroines from Indian mythology, history and folklore.
These comics enriched my storehouse of stories manifold. I still feel that my knowledge of folk tales, tales from Buddhist Jatakas, Jainism, Panchtantra, classics of various Indian languages and Hindu myths is much more than most others. All thanks to Amar Chitra Katha which made me associate each story with beautiful illustrations and well chosen dialogues. Later in life when I read the original stories/books , the images from comics were still in my mind. Best part about these comics was their factual correctness.
According to the strict editorial policy, each detail had to be culled from a reputed reference and had to be available for any query, because Amar Chitra Katha, by the 1980s was taken as an authentic secondary source of information. I feel sad that Anant Pai’s contribution in heralding this cultural information revolution still lacks proper acknowledgement in terms of civilian honours like Padma Bhushan .
What next? I am inspired!
Anyone ready to fund my Yoga Comics idea —- riding on the global yoga wave?
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