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| Amar Chitra Katha’s Westward Voyage
By Rajnish Sharma
Move
over Rambo.
Never
mind what Sly Stallone says about recreating Rambo on
the big screen. Americans seem to think he is passe.
They have instead taken a liking for the macho men of
Indian mythology Prithviraj Chauhan and Karna and are
lapping up Indian comics that narrate tales of mythological
and historical legends.
Such is the craze for these comics that Karline Marie
Mclain, an inspired teaching assistant from Texas University,
has taken up a unique project as part of her Fulbright
research project titled “Amar Chitra Katha and the Construction
of Indian Identities.” According to Mclain, imparting
knowledge of Indian mythological and historical figures
to Indian children in the United States has become simpler
since the advent of Amar Chitra Katha in the U.S. What’s
more, many mainsteam Americans are attracted to the
popular comic series that enjoys a cult readership in
India.
“Understanding Ramayan and Mahabharat has become much
easier now. Instead of going through voluminous epics,
it’s now a matter of going through just 32 pages. Of
course, you cannot understand everything through them,
but they give one a broad idea nevertheless,” Mclain
says. And not just children alone, but even at the college
level, these comics are fast grabbing attention. The
comics are distributed to students pursuing courses
related to Hinduism and Indian culture.
According to Mclain, Indian mythological characters
like Karna from Mahabharat are hugely popular in Texas
and other universities where Indian mythological stories
are part of the course. Karna scores over Arjun there
among males while women prefer stories of Indian women
like Jhansi ki Rani, she says.
Having already scanned about 100 Amar Chitra Katha series
in the United States, Mclain plans to search for more
such books in India. A tour of England for the same
purpose, will follow. Her personal favourite among the
Amar Chitra Katha stories remains Ramayan because of
the various versions she has heard of it.
Mclain concedes that the fact that these comics have
freelance artists drawing for them made her task a little
difficult. “Because I had to go to various parts of
India to check up on the artists and study their portfolios.”
She adds that what she also discovered along the way
was India’s hospitable attitude. “While in any other
country when you approach people for an interview they
meet you at a coffee shop and finish it off in a jiffy,
Indians are great at entertaining guests. All the Indian
artists I have interviewed so far have gone out of their
way to invite me to their homes and offer me lunch.”
David Mason, another Fulbright researcher, fancied Ras
Lila theatre enough to take it up as a research theme.
Putting up in Vrindavan in the State of Uttar Pradesh
for some months now, David has discovered that Lord
Krishna’s Ras Lila is not just about showbiz. “I have
observed this vernacular theatre many a time and have
come to the conclusion that Krishna is actually present
in these performances. It’s amazing but none of the
Western religious dramas can convey the same feeling
that you get while watching this particular form of
drama.”
How did David realize that Ras Lila would
turn out to be his vocation? He says that he had always
wanted to analyse epic traditions in India and this
was one kind of theatre that centred around temples.
“In fact I had first seen Ras Lila in Utah in the U.S.
and I was absolutely floored.”
Seven Lindquist who has done extensive research on the
life and times of Yajnavalkya (an almost forgotten historical
figure from Indian literature) feels: “No religious
study can be complete without coming to India. I mean
can you believe the fact that I have worked with Sanskrit
pandits for some 11 years now and I still feel that
there is a lot more that I have to learn. The city of
Benaras (now known as Varanasi) where I have stayed
for three years, has been a major learning experience
for me. As I have been working on Upanishads, I have
also picked up a lot of interesting facts about early
Vedic rituals and Puranic literature.”
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End Of Article.....
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