book excerptise:   a book unexamined is not worth having

Chand Bibi : The valorous princess who withstood the might of the Mughals

Toni Patel and Anant Pai (ed.) and Ram Waeerker (ill)

Patel, Toni; Anant Pai (ed.); Ram Waeerker (ill);

Chand Bibi : The valorous princess who withstood the might of the Mughals

Amar Chitra Katha, No. 54

topics: |  india | history | biography | comic


One of the handful of Muslim protagonists in AKC.   [w:Chand Bibi]

Amar Chitra Katha: Anti-Muslim bias

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/110238-indias-immortal-comic-books-gods-kings-and-other-heroes-by-karline-m/
	Based on Bucknell professor Karline McLain’s 
	India’s Immortal Comic Books: Gods, Kings and Other Heroes

To illustrate the complexities of the former, McClain deftly breaks down
Pai’s thinking behind one of the most famous ACK issues, Shivaji (#23), about
the life of the Indian folk hero Shivaji Bhonsle. Like many Indian historical
figures, his life has achieved mythic status – so much so that an accurate
biography of the man seems rather impossible. One ACK producer sheepishly
even admits that the “gray areas” of Shivaji’s life were left out to create
better hero imagery. Depending on whom you read, according to McLain, Shivaji
can be interpreted as a Brahmin Marathi hero; an early Hindu nationalist; an
anti-British figure who united India; or as a non-Brahmin who sought to lift
the spirits of India’s lowest figures in society.

Pai decided to portray Shivaji as a Hindu nationalist who sought to unite
India under a common religious banner. So when the time came to show the feud
between Shivaji and the Muslim ruler Afzal Khan, it “is presented not as an
epic struggle between two men, one a hero and the other a villain, but also
as a communal one.” As Shivaji stabs Khan, the king yells, “Ya Allah (Oh
God)!” and falls to the ground. He is then decapitated by one of Shivaji’s
men. Shivaji and his army then ride to glory and are universally hailed for
bringing down the other ruler.

This Hindu-Muslim animosity is really played up by Pai and the Amar Chitra
Katha staff throughout other issues. For every victorious and just Hindu
king, there was a Muslim foil – Rana Pratap vs. Akbar; Rana Singh vs. Babar;
or Amar Singh Rathore vs. Shah Jahan. And even when the issue’s focus was a
Muslim figure – as did happen on an infinitesimal number of occasions –
McLain points out the astonishing feature that Anant Pai still pushed his
Hindu nationalist agenda by employing a “divide and conquer” strategy to
these books. If it wasn’t Hindu hero versus Muslim villain, then it would be
Muslim hero versus Muslim villain. Writes McLain,

“Although the belief that the majority of Indian Muslims were forcibly
converted to Islam by foreign Muslim rulers – known as the ‘religion by the
sword’ theory – has been debunked by many scholars over the past several
decades, the idea lives on in the popular reprints of many of these comic
book issues, as in other popular media.”

In such a methodic manner, McLain breaks down many of ACK’s most famous
issues to analyze how the event or figure is portrayed and how that might
differ from popular history. For example, it is almost perfectly accepted by
scholars and the public that Hindu nationalist Nathuram Godse did assassinate
Mohandas “Mahatma” Gandhi because of his (Gandhi’s) support of an independent
Muslim state. And yet there is no mention of Godse’s ideology in the ACK
issue on Gandhi. If anything, looking at the specific book’s individual
frames, it looks like the gun is firing itself. It is even surrounded by a
halo!


amitabha mukerjee (mukerjee [at-symbol] gmail.com) 2010 Jan 08