Late last evening, I received a call from my son’s Hindi teacher. It was not a good sign. Mothers of 14-year-olds would understand why any call remotely connected to school and the opposite sex sends us all into a nervous tizzy. With my heart beating at a rate faster than Jupiter spins on its axis, I picked up the phone. “I am very impressed with your son’s knowledge about Indian mythology. We had run a surprise quiz in class today about the Mahabharata and he got all the answers right, even those that were not part of the chapter on Krishna.” Relief! Motherly pride! That rare moment of adoration for the brat! I was experiencing all sorts of mixed emotions, when came the clincher. “He tells us you are familiar with many lesser-known stories from the epic. Why don’t you come to class next week to share some with our students?”

I would have glowed in the unexpected glory for a few more days if I hadn’t learnt about the demise of Anant Pai in the morning papers today, the man to whom the real credit for my mythological wisdom goes. It is said that Uncle Pai, as he was fondly called, was motivated to start the Amar Chitra Katha series in 1967 when he, in a quiz competition, heard school children rattle off answers related to Greek mythology but didn’t know who Lord Rama’s mother was. I was fortunate that my parents didn’t know a word of either Greek or Latin so I was brought up on a daily dose of Amar Chitra Kathas – colourful, glossy comics – with stories that made me discover tales of love, and along with it, shades of life that only experience would have taught later on.

One such story was that of Kacha Devyani. When the Gods (devtas) and Demons (asuras) were fighting for the leadership of the three worlds, the asuras had the upper hand because their mentor-guru Shukracharya knew the secret of Sanijvani, the art of bringing back to life a dead person. The Gods send Kacha, son of Brihaspati, to learn the secret from Shukracharya who recognising Kacha’s brilliance welcomes him as a disciple. Kacha falls in love with Devyani, the beautiful daughter of Shukracharya who reciprocates his affection. All is well in their garden of love till the asuras, uncomfortable with their teacher’s growing proximity with the enemy’s son, plot to kill Kacha. They succeed several times, only to find that Shukracharya would bring him back to life everytime. Asuras then kill Kacha, mix the ashes with wine that Shukracharya drinks up. When Devyani reveals her affection for Kacha, the father moved by her plight, decides to teach Kacha the secret art so that he can come out of his body and bring him back to life as well. It’s not a happy ending though. Kacha refuses to marry Devyani because he considers himself born of Shukracharya and hence is now Devyani’s brother. Devyani is left alone in tears, angry enough to curse Kacha that he will never be able to use the secret of sanjivani!

Yet another story of a woman who loved, lost and took revenge was Amba, who as Shikhandi, a eunuch, becomes Bhishma Pitamaha’s nemesis during the epic war of Mahabharata. Amba is the eldest of the three princesses of Kashi, who wants to wed Shalwa, the King of the Saubha kingdom, publicly in a swayamvara. However, her plans get derailed as Bhishma abducts her along with her two sisters, intending them as brides for his brother Vichitraveerya. Bhishma is also a just man and on learning Amba’s love for Shalwa sends her back to her chosen groom. When Shalwa refused to marry her, since she has been won from him in a fair combat, she returns to Hastinapur only to be once again rejected by Vichitraveerya. In desperation, she turns to Bhishma to marry her, but he refuses too, citing his vow of celibacy. There is not a single Kshatriya who comes to Amba’s rescue since no one wants to take on Bhishma, a dreaded warrior. Amba performs a penance, praying this time to Lord Shiva, who grants her a boon that she would slay Bhishma herself, but only in her next birth. Amba is then reborn as Shikhandi, the eunuch who becomes Arjun’s charioteer when the latter has to fight Bhishma. Since Bhishma knows Shikhandi was a woman in her previous life, he refuses to use arms against either her or Arjun, who is safely protected behind her. Arjun slays an unarmed Bhishma and the war is considered won.

And then there was Nal-Damayanti, Shantanu-Satyawati, Bheem-Hidimba, Krishna-Rukmini. Love stories yes, but complex tales of passion and sacrifice, jealousy and revenge too.

What appealed to me as a child was the kitschy, decorative way these stories were told. Today this is a mainstream art form which is recognised as ‘pop-art’. USA based artist Chitra Ganesh and Singapore’s Ketna Patel have used pop-imagery from Amar Chitra Katha and other mythological sources to successfully woo collectors and auction houses.

So let’s give credit to Uncle Pai for starting the pop-art movement in India and make Amar Chitra Katha part of our kid’s reading habits, or else, children will keep having to log onto internet to know who Rama’s mother was.

If you want to read more stories from the Mahabharata, get hold of the Hindi version of ‘Mahabharata’ published by Geeta Press, Gorakhpur. I, in the meanwhile, am dusting a collection of Amar Chitra Kathas to impress some teenagers in my son’s class!