Amar Chitra Katha

Mythology is the study of the myths or folklore of ages gone by and been a part of the human life since the most ancient of civilizations.  I have been fascinated by the subject, especially Hindu Mythology since Anant Pai started his comic series Amar Chitra Katha.  The vivid imagery and the gripping storylines about my favorite characters suddenly stopped making Religion a bore.  The innumerable Hindu Gods and Goddesses suddenly had a story behind each of them rather than my just recollecting what each stood for. I understood the trinity of Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver and Shiva the destroyer when the other Gods went to them each time when they were in trouble.  I could feel my spine tingle when I saw Maa Kali in her terrifying form with her long black hair, the garland of skulls and large eyes and blood red tongue and saw why the rakshasas had run amuck on her arrival.   My personal favorite has always been Indra and Vritra with the front cover of an image of a towering Vritra and a charging Indra with his thunderbolt embedded in my memory for good.

No TV serial made the stories of Ganesha, Lakshmi, Parvati, Indra, Dashavatar, the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, the Goddesses come more alive than when I saw the sketches in ACK.  The later series of historical figures, our independence struggle leaders, the volumes on other religions such as Jesus Christ, Zarathushtra, Guru Tegh Bahadur added to my repertoire of wonderful tales and even History ceased to be boring.   

When people talk about making education interesting and interactive, I always find myself wondering as to why they simply don't convert all the history books and Geography books to comics!  I am sure that would gainfully employ lots of talented artists as well as make life much more fun for students apart from them remembering it better thanks to the visual aspect.

Ofcourse, ACK though had steered clear of most censures, the depiction of the evil Asuras as black skinned and the devas as fair skinned has always been controversial.  The violence depicted in several of the battlefields has also been subject to criticism and much has been said about how much blood should be shown to children.  Well, I ll say, in these terrorizing times of lurking terrorists, its better that they are aware of the bloodshed that exists in the world and the grief it causes. 

I am still a big fan of ACK, but now I do wish they came out with newer titles instead of basking in the glory of the ones I read as a kid.  I would certainly love to read about modern day heroes in an easier way than read their fat expensive biographies and also read about other cultures’ mythological characters such as the Egyptian and Greek.  Do tell me what was your favorite and what would you like to read in ACK?