Here, his work involved managing Indrajal Comics (a series that brought American comics like The Phantom, Flash Gordon and Mandrake to Indian readers). However, early in his career, he gave up engineering and joined work as a journalist for The Times of India. He fell in love with literature at a young age and devoted much of his time to learning several Indian languages.Īfter completing his schooling, Pai was interested in pursuing journalism but on the insistence of his elder brother, he joined the University of Bombay for a degree in chemical engineering. 17, 1929, in Karkala in Karnataka) Anant Pai was orphaned when he was just two-years-old and grew up with relatives first in Mangalore and later in Mumbai. On his birth anniversary, we bring you the fascinating story of how this master storyteller created India’s most-loved comic series.īorn on Sept.

Such was the love that young readers had for Anant Pai that they affectionately nicknamed him “Uncle Pai”. Bridging the distance between convoluted Sanskrit texts and the Enid Blyton’s found in school libraries, this iconic book series taught several generations of Indian children about the country’s rich heritage of folk tales and mythology. Upset, he set out to change this by starting a comic-book series that would tell stories from Indian epics through beautifully illustrated, child-friendly narratives.The comic book series was Amar Chitra Katha and the young journalist was Anant Pai, the avuncular writer and illustrator who would go on to become widely recognised as the “father of Indian comics”.įor an Indian child born before the year 2000, Amar Chitra Katha and its engrossing world of stories were synonymous with growing up.

In 1967, while watching a TV quiz show on the state-run Doordarshan network, a young journalist realised that while the Indian children on the show could easily answer questions about Greek mythology, they couldn’t answer a simple question about an important character in Ramayana, one of India’s greatest epics. You can disagree with it, but be aware of it.” – Anant Pai “Unless you have continuity with the past, you can’t easily adjust with the present.

Amar chitra katha