The Atlantic Monthly, a respected journalistic institution in the United States, has just published an article on an equally well-regarded, if far more popular and beloved, media phenomenon in India, the Amar Chitra Katha comic series. An easily verifiable issue here is whether the Amar Chitra Katha series, as a whole, really did “erase non-Hindu subjects” such as Muslim, Sikh, Jain, and Buddhist heroes and legends, and elevate “masculinity” by denying female agency, identity, and accomplishment. A study of all the titles published in the Amar Chitra Katha series from 1969 to 2014 (not including compilations and special issues), reveals the facts quite plainly. There are a total of 455 titles listed (the series was a fortnightly for the first two decades, and far more intermittent since). As for religious and “ethnic diversity,” at least 17 Amar Chitra Katha titles are devoted to Muslims (including a distinct title, conceived benignly and elegantly, for Babur, Humayun, Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan, and Dara Shukoh and Aurangzeb).

Source: Huffington Post December 30, 2017 20:26 UTC