The Mahābhārata is one of the two major Smriti texts and Sanskrit epics of ancient India revered in Hinduism, the other being the Rāmāyaṇa. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kurukshetra War, a war of succession between two groups of princely cousins, the Kauravas and the Pāṇḍavas.
Ghatotkacha is a prominent character in the ancient Indian epic Mahabharata. His name comes from the fact that his head was hairless (utkacha) and shaped like a ghatam, or a pot. Ghatotkacha was the son of the Pandava Bhima and the demoness Hidimbi, and thus a half-human, half-demon hybrid.
Draupadi, also referred to as Krishnā, Panchali, and Yajnaseni, is the main female protagonist of the ancient Indian epic Mahabharata, and the wife of the five Pandava brothers—Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadeva. She is noted for her beauty, courage, polyandrous marriage, and bhakti (devotion) for Krishna.
Duryodhana, also known as Suyodhana, is the primary antagonist in the Hindu epic Mahabharata. He was the eldest of the Kauravas, the hundred sons of the king Dhritarashtra and his queen Gandhari.
Anant Pai, popularly known as Uncle Pai, was an Indian educationalist and a pioneer in Indian comics. He is most famous as the creator of two comic book series viz. Amar Chitra Katha, which retold traditional Indian folk tales, mythological stories, and biographies of historical characters; and Tinkle, a children's anthology.
Sanjaya or Sanjaya Gavalgana is a figure from the ancient Indian Hindu epic Mahābhārata. Sanjaya is the advisor of the blind king Dhritarashtra, the ruler of the Kuru kingdom and the father of the Kauravas, as well as serving as his charioteer. Sanjaya is a disciple of Sage Vyasa. He is stated to have the gift of divya drishti, the ability to observe distant events within his mind, granted by Vyasa. He narrates to Dhritarashtra the events of the Kurukshetra War, including the ones described in the Bhagavad Gita.
Chitrakatha are comics or graphic novels originating from India published in a number of Indian languages.
Amar Chitra Katha is an Indian comic book publisher, based in Mumbai, India. The company was founded in 1967 by Anant Pai. Most of its comics are based on religious legends and epics, historical figures and biographies, folktales and cultural stories.
Tinkle is an Indian weekly magazine for children in English, published from Mumbai. Originally owned by the India Book House, the Tinkle brand was acquired by ACK Media in 2007. The magazine contains comics, stories, puzzles, quizzes, contests and other features targeted at school children, although its readership includes many adults as well. It is published in English and syndicated in many Indian languages like Hindi, Bengali, and Malayalam.
Mahabharat is an Indian Hindi-language epic television series based on the ancient Sanskrit epic Mahabharata. The original airing consisted of a total of 94 episodes and were broadcast from 2 October 1988 to 24 June 1990 on Doordarshan. It was produced by B. R. Chopra and directed by his son, Ravi Chopra. The music was composed by Raj Kamal. The script was written by Pandit Narendra Sharma and the Hindi/Urdu poet Rahi Masoom Raza, based on the epic by Vyasa. Costumes for the series were provided by Maganlal Dresswala. The serial claims to have used the Critical Edition of Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute as its basic source with Vishnu Sitaram Sukthankar and Shripad Krishna Belwalkar as its primary editor.
The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India, the other being the Ramayana.
Balarama is an Indian weekly comic magazine published by M. M. Publications, of Malayala Manorama Group from Kottayam, Kerala in Malayalam language. It is one of the most widely read children's magazines in India. Balarama celebrated its 50th year of publication in the year 2022.
The Vana Parva, also known as the "Book of the Forest", is the third of eighteen parvas in the Indian epic Mahabharata. Vana Parva traditionally has 21 parts and 324 chapters. The critical edition of Vana Parva is the longest of the 18 books in the epic, containing 16 parts and 299 chapters.
The Bhishma Parva, or the Book of Bhishma, is the sixth of eighteen books of the Indian epic Mahabharata. It has 4 sub-books and 124 chapters.
Ram Waeerkar was an Indian comics artist for the series Amar Chitra Katha, based on Indian mythology, history, and folklore. He illustrated the very first issue, 'Krishna' in 1969, and many others later. He was behind the art work for nearly 90 ACK titles. In the 1980s he was an illustrator for Tinkle, a magazine edited by Anant Pai. Here, he was the man behind the art of such iconic characters as Suppandi, Pyarelal, Nasruddin Hodja, Choru and Joru and many more. Suppandi's head was illustrated as flat as he was supposed to have no brains. Ram Waeerkar died in 2003, with comics on Chanakya and Vishwamitra as his last projects. His daughter Archana Amberkar has been an artist for Tinkle magazine ever since and his son Sanjiv Waeerkar too illustrated for Tinkle in the early 1990s.
Pratap Mullick was an Indian illustrator and comics artist. He was best known for illustrating Nagraj of Raj Comics which gained lot of popularity under him and was later handed to Anupam Sinha who made Nagraj an actual superhero. He worked for the Indian comic book series Amar Chitra Katha created by writer and editor Anant Pai. Mullick drew the first 50 issues of Nagraj from 1986 until 1995. He designed the comic-book character Supremo, who featured in a series published for two years in the 1980s.
Yusuf Lien also known as Yusuf Bangalorewala is an Indian book illustrator best known for his work on the Amar Chitra Katha comic book series, which deals with subjects from Indian myth, legend and history. His dream-like sensual work on the titles Tansen and Mirabai is admired by many who believe he had one of the most distinctive styles among the Amar Chitra Katha artists. According to researcher John Stratton Hawley, the Amar Chitra Katha staff took a 'nonsectarian pride' that the exquisite depictions of Krishna in Mirabai were the work of a Muslim artist, who as his editor Anant Pai described it, would be in tears as he drew his frames for the comic book. Yusuf also painted the image of the child Krishna seen on the cover of the comic book of the same name.
Mahabharat Katha is an Indian television series aired on DD National. This is a sequel which contains portions and stories left out of Mahabharat. It was produced by B. R. Chopra and directed by his son Ravi Chopra.
