Two Armies on a Colour (less) Plain: Tracing the Cultural Narratives of Amar Chitra Katha as a Colonial Embodiment

Abstract

Despite a growing body of research on the media landscape in postcolonial India, Indian children’s media culture continues to be underrepresented in the field of history and popular culture. The world of comics and graphic novels shapes not just the minds of individuals but also the collective consciousness of communities and their unsung histories. Amar Chitra Katha has been an important cultural institution that has played a significant role in defining, for several generations of Indian readers on what it means to be an Indian. The paper seeks to address the politics of representation and the symbolic significance of the visual representation of different historical figures and events throughout the history of India. In today’s Indian society, love towards fair skin is seen in every spectrum of life, from songs to movies to marriages. Through this study I will explore how all these variables are linked and connected over the period of time with the skin tone preference thereby re-writing the essence of ‘Indianness’. The historical representations of this comic book tradition render Amar Chitra Katha a crucial resource to understand paradigm shift in the ways the nation imagines itself.