Name: Srinjona Koleh

Roll Number: 001800201069

5.2 Comparative Modern Indian Literatures I

Date: 28th December, 2020

Q5.2/1. Discuss how the politics of history writing performs itself in Amar Chitra Katha
comic book with specific reference to the title Prithviraj Chauhan.

Literature is interpreted as reflecting norms and values as revealing the ethos of culture, the
processes of class struggle and certain types of social facts. History shapes many forms of
literature. We tend to get ideas for literature from things that have happened in past.
Sometimes this comes in the form of non-fiction literature and sometimes it comes in the
form of allegories or allusions. Popular literature is also not devoid of history, it includes
those writings intended for the masses and those that find favour with large audiences. It can
be distinguished from artistic literature in that it is designed primarily to entertain for
example comics. We cannot fully understand a piece of literature unless we understand its
history . Thus, history can shape the way we view literature. Of course, that works both
ways. Literature can also shape the way we view history. We don't always get the whole
story of what happened in our literary histories. Often, the history of a place is written down
by the conquerors and survivors. We might not see the whole truth of what happened.
History is something which is narrated and there is a part of intervention by the person who
has written it which may bring personal scuffles interfering mode of narration so, history
cannot claim absolute authenticity.

Amar Chitra Katha comic book series was started by Anant Pai in order to teach Indian
children about their cultural roots. However, the comic book series shows politicisation of
history writing , a nationalist mode of history informed by the caste/class conditioning and
political leaning of Anant Pai. This is, in turn, executed through careful editorial control of
the stories, texts, visuals and their possible meanings authenticated as glorious tales of Indian
tradition. Its political understanding and communal agenda can be understand with the study
of one of its title ‘Prithviraj Chauhan’.

Amar Chitra Katha in its long history of producing selective stories simply translates the
communal subconscious of the nation which saw Partition, 1984 riots, Babri masjid
demolition, Gujarat riots, and so on. In post-colonial India, even when the country was
independent the mental setup of inferior coloniser continued which persisted the post colonial
hangover. This mindset led to equate the Hindu with the national and the Muslim with the
invader. Therefore, it celebrates the Rajput valour narrating Rajput’s resistance against
Muslim rulers. The masculinity of Prithviraj Chauhan is clearly depicted in the title page with
two lines at the bottom, “Much before the advent of the Mughals in India, Delhi was ruled by
a brave king, Prithviraj Chauhan”- these lines shows The Mughals as outsiders and clears the
colonial history adaption of Amar Chitra Katha which is Light-Dark-Light paradigm of
history, stating the muslim invasion as the dark age of Indian History.

Amar Chitra Katha’s posit an idea of ‘seamless Hindu tradition’ through its heroic tales of
history went on building an hegemonic idea of “Indianness” that seeks to create a nation,
where history is synonymous with Hindu myths and the Muslim invaders are shown to be
outsiders violating the purity of brahminical system of culture and governance. In ‘Prithviraj
Chauhan’ , the pictorial representation of Muhammad Ghori showcases how a Muslim look
like. Referring the image of Muhammad Ghori in page 23 of the book, it is showed that he
has long beard with a little symbol of crescent moon over his crown. His soldiers are also
shown in same way. The Crescent moon is widely associated with Muslim communities
across the world, just as the cross is seen to represent Christianity. The crescent, or ‘Hilaal’ in
Arabic, is the curved shape of the waning moon, and is used by many Muslims as a means of
cultural and political expression. The crescent and star appears on the national flags of
countries whose state religion is Islam such as Algeria, Azerbaijan, Comoros, Malaysia,
Pakistan, Tunisia, and Turkey etc. Therefore, this pictorial representation states Ghori as an
outsider in India ruled by ‘Hindu’ ruler.

Women in ‘Prithviraj Chauhan’ supposedly portrayed as hyper-sexualised. The series

reflected and reinforced the patriarchal stereotypes prevalent in mainstream Indian ethos. In
page 20 of the book, when the peace was regained, Prithviraj Chauhan was lost in his Lady
Samyogita’s love. Soon then people started commenting that “the king doesn’t come out of
his palace”, and everyone certainly become unhappy. Affection towards family and wife
showed serious grievances on the image of the ‘ideal masculine man’. Humanly emotions
such as love and spending time with wife made him effeminate and made him unworthy of
holding the safety of the country. When he loses to Shahabduddin Ghori in the battlefield, all
blame falls upon his wife Samyogita which is basic Indian patriarchal norm of blaming wife
in husband’s downfall. In page 21, Prithviraj’s Guru says, “It is a pity that a brave, fearless
noble warrior like Prithviraj should care so much for a woman and forget his duties” –
showing women as inferior beings than men and minimising the importance of duty of a
husband .

Amar Chitra Katha’s myriad prejudices is criticised for years. Yet, it remains a hallowed
institution in India for providing millions of children a path to their cultural roots when
independent India perceived cultural amnesia with the challenge and influence of alien
colonialism. Although one cannot ignore, with visuals and anchoring text, the child distanced
from the memory of Partition is conditioned with a skewed view of politicised history and a
hegemonic idea of culture under the authentic claim of pedagogy by Amar Chitra Katha. In
post-colonial societies popular literature like comic had become the vehicle of nation-
building, where the “nation” is seen as monolithic and needs to be defined in opposition to
the value system created by colonialism. However, it needs to be noted that the idea of
“tradition” upheld by nationalists in popular imagination was a politicised historical construct
as colonialism needed to create the category of “tradition” against which colonial modernity
was defined.