Amar Chitra Katha - A great collection for kids

The comic series was started by Anant Pai in an attempt to teach Indian children about their cultural heritage. He was shocked that Indian students could answer questions on Greek and Roman mythology, but were ignorant of their own history, mythology and folklore. It so happened that a quiz contest aired on Doordarshan in February 1967, in which participants could easily answer questions pertaining to Greek mythology, but were unable to reply to the question "In the Ramayana, who was Rama's mother?"

It is the best-selling children's publication in most large format stores.
In 2007, the publisher created a new online store that offers all the titles with shipping worldwide. The titles are divided in following categories

• Fables & Folktales (e.g. Panchatantra)
• Mythology (e.g. The Ramayana)
• The Epics (e.g. The Mahabaratha)
• Humour & wit (e.g. Birbal)
• Biographies (e.g. Mahatma Gandhi)
• Literary Classics
• 3 in 1 Titles
• 5 in 1 Titles
• Special Issues

ACK & Indian Culture

Amar Chitra Katha was launched at a time when Indian society was slowly moving away from the traditional joint family system, because of (among other things) socio-economic constraints and urbanization. In a joint family system, grandparents would regale the children of the household with tales from folklore and the epics, and the Amar Chitra Katha series served to fill the void left by grandparents in the smaller nuclear families in urban areas. The choice of English as the primary language led it to reach the majority of children who studied in English medium schools.

Later, when the comic added historical topics, it proved very helpful to students. For most, Indian history, a jumble of names and dates, came alive as stories. The detailed research of architecture, costumes, regional flavours and facts ensured that the comics were widely accepted into the mainstream, both parents and teachers using them as educational aids. To an extent, these books, with their homogenized and unbiased character descriptions went a long way in promoting national integration and increasing inter-provincial awareness throughout the country.

It should be mentioned that the series steered clear of controversy, taming down content and violence and adhering to strict self-censorship.