The Acrobat
With more than 100 million copies sold, Amar Chitra Katha is one of India’s largest selling comic book series!
They have more than 400 titles in their publishing house and they cover different types of Indian stories ranging from Indian mythology, Indian history, Indian folklore, Indian fables, Indian epics, biographies of historical Indian characters, etc
Even their company name “Amar Chitra Katha” means ‘Immortal Picture Stories’. They provide easy-to-read insights into Indian’s history. The comic books stories I’ve included below are great for your kids to read. Nice to also read these to your kids as a quality time spending session. In fact these stories are perfect for adults also. A good story is timeless no matter when or where.
It was a man named Anant Pai, or more affectionately known as Uncle Pai, who started this comic book series in 1967. He was motivated to start it as he felt that the younger generation of Indians were losing their culture. Uncle Pai had watched a quiz contest on a national Indian channel and witnessed how the participants could answer questions relating to Greek mythology but couldn’t answer questions relating to their own Indian culture, for example: “In the Ramayana, who was Rama’s mother?”
Below is one of Amar Chitra Katha’s comic series called The Acrobat. Within this comic book, there are 4 different stories:
1. The Acrobat
2. The Harvest
These comic books are easy to read, fun and very interesting!
Do tell me which out of the 5 that you like best… !
Tsem Rinpoche
The Acrobat
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The Harvest
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The Golden Maiden
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Buddha and Krisha Gautami
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The Perfectionist
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Among all, I like The Perfectionist. To me, there is no tree in the jungle is straight and there is not perfect people in the world. If a person had taken pride in what he or she is doing, he or she will able to complete the task given in a shortest time.
I liked them all, with a plus for the Acrobat and the Harvest.
Where can I buy these comic books? I’ve been looking for them for my seven year old and myself too.
Yes, you can buy them online from India I am sure. Please do a internet search. TR
I like the Acrobat the best. Ugrasena, in my opinion do not display all the negative side of the attitudes of all the morals of the other stories; attachment, desire, impermanence and clinging. He lead his life moment by moment and have the attitude of “Just Do It”. Eventually he meets the Buddha and gain some realizations.
I have heard the “Buddha and Krisha Gautami” story a few times and love it more and more every time I hear it. But I think “The Harvest” is really speaking to me!
As an adult, I still love to read comics and will be look for more of these.
Thank you for the post!
I have heard of all these stories before reading this post as I had some of the comics for it.
My favorite on is “Buddha and Krisha Gautami” as it shows how one overcame her delusions and accepted death as something that will happen and nothing can change it because it is true and everyone will die.
The story on the acrobat was to me a bit hard to understand as I do not know what triggered the sudden attainments that the acrobat suddenly achieved just by seeing Buddha.
The story on the perfectionist was very funny. It is more of a joke that has good moral values. I think that the perfectionist most likely would have died before completing the cradle for the man’s son’s son.
The story on the golden maiden was pretty sad. It tells us not to be attached to something as you most likely would be disappointed in the near future such as if the person dies before arriving.
The story of the harvest does not give me much inspiration compared to the other stories.
The Buddha’s teachings in archie-styled drawings?! This is spectacular! I like them all equally as all the stories above made me understand the importance of ridding my own’s attachments – which can actually take place in so many different situations!
Thank you Tsem Rinpoche for sharing this wonderful information.
from these five great stories, i found ‘the harvest’ best. IT shows something different from the rest aside the common moral which is not to possess desire and attachment. Till now i have been thinking to keep ones word wasn’t a desire and was a very moralistic act. But the story enlightened me for it involves desire too. Thank you so much Tsem Tulku Rinpoche for your blog is where one can spend time in a great way. I myself being a Buddhist find Rinpoche’s blog very enlightening and a perfect guide towards the right path. Thank you so much once again Rinpoche for taking the effort to write a beautiful and great blog.