Discovery of India set the tone for the historiography of India. Delhi-centric rendering of Indian history and Euro-centric evaluation of Indian culture form the two axiomatic pillars of Nehruvian history. Marxist historians, who systematically captured the educational institutions, promoted this historiography with glee because it served their own vested interest.



Has there been an alternate system that has brought out our Indic pluralistic heritage for our children to read and enjoy?

Yes! One man has thought about it all decades before.

Anant Pai and his Amar Chitra Katha!



Using comics as his medium, Uncle Pai brought mythology, brave hearts, epics, folktales, literary masterpieces, biographies of visionaries from every region of India to our children.

Consider some of the themes and personalities he covered in his comics: Bhaga Jatin of Bengal who fought the British knowing very well how the battle would end, Yellapragada Subbarao, the scientist from Andhra Pradesh, who discovered wonder drugs to alleviate pain and suffering, Sri Narayana Guru of Kerala heralding a socio-spiritual revolution, the myth of Jagannath of Puri which harmonizes the tribal and non-tribal elements, the different local versions about the sons of Pandavas, the supreme sacrifices of the Sikh Gurus, heart-rendering story of Angulimala - the mass-murderer turned saint, who calmly accepted his own stoning to death!

One wonders if there has been any other comic house in the world that has achieved such variety in content and more importantly such meticulous research in the issues it brought out.



Amar Chitra Katha is essentially a unique Indian phenomenon of child literature. It is both an experiment and an achievement. It is one of the few things an Indian can be legitimately proud of in modern India.



(Nehruvian) Empire Strikes Back



So, how did the left academia react to Uncle Pai?

They were quick to hurl abuses and branded Amar Chitra Katha (ACK) as a series portraying ‘Brahminical’ values, presenting only the ‘dominant narrative’, etc. Almost all ‘academic’ analysis of ACK is in a negative lingo. Here is a typical academic ‘perspective’ from a Hyderabad University researcher: