Comments on: Immortal Lies

By: Gowri

Gowri — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 23:02:00 +0000

Arya Samaj…was a Hindu reform movement which condemned traditional “hindu” practices like child marriage, untouchability, and so forth…if there was ever any good in a religion like Hinduism, or any other, I think the purpose was to bring out that good (hence, a “reform” movement)…and not so much about Hindu superiority.

Did they achieve their purpose? I don’t know, and I think it stopped being relevant long ago.
…as for the implications of the seemingly subtle racist projections of Amar Chitra Katha — the stories never planted any seeds of discrimination or fair and lovely gibberish in my head — in fact, ACK was slightly more bearable than the barbies and the “rosy cheeks eyes are blue” tosh most of us ingested while growing up.

By: emergencyexitonly

emergencyexitonly — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 08:14:00 +0000

Our knowlegde about even if not all, many personalities or epics are limited to what we read as children in comics and school textbooks. It can be quite misleading if we do not revisit these topics again which are either too simplistic or very subtly sanitised off the real issues and prejudices.

By: Aniruddha Ghosal

Aniruddha Ghosal — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 04:22:00 +0000

I agree, ACK isn’t the sole source of intelligence. And don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that ACK is evil incarnate. All, I am saying is that the assumption that certain things are true, or even unbiased can be harmful. Not for everyone, but for some. And more importantly, the right-wing nationalism/sexism or whatever politics that ACK has – isn’t necessary a unitary project. On its own it probably can’t turn you into a gun-popping-Hindu-saffron-clad-militant.

If we take Nationalism as an example, we have ACK comic books like Dayanand; films like Border and Gadar and a host of other media.

As far as just letting somethings be, its those things that are the most suspect. Children’s literature, as lovely as they might be, are the most insidious. I guess, that does seem a bit cynical.

By: Nishant

Nishant — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 08:13:00 +0000

You cannot treat ACK as the sole source of intelligence and perception for a young child. And the overt political correctness that your article, though beautifully written on a touching subject, expounds has caused much silliness and over-reaction across the world already.

By: ramya

ramya — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 05:13:00 +0000

I completely agree with Ladyhawke.

Gender bias/communal violence/colour distinctions.. I think it’s silly to pick on amar chitra katha for these… Maybe there are other things to blame, hmm? I don’t think I even thought about these things while reading them as a kid; I was merely fascinating by the stories.

Also, I thought Lord Krishna is shown in blue to imply that he is dark-skinned.