Children's Day 2024: 5 Indian Graphic Novels for Youngsters To Introduce Them To Poignant Tales of India
Indian Graphic Novels: Every year we celebrate Children’s Day on 14 November to honor the first prime minister of India Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, a leader who was fond of children. Youngsters are often sidelined in this celebration as they are no longer seemingly children, but they are also the pillars building this society and the country. To give them their due, discussed in this article are five Indian Graphic novels that parents should buy to introduce them to the struggles of India and its people, and learn poignant tales of resilience and strength.
Bhimayana: Incidents in the Life of Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar
With illustrations created by Indian Gond artists Durgabai Vyam, and Subhash Vyam and writing by Srividya Natarajan and S. Anand, ‘Bhimayana’ is a political graphic biography of the maker of the Indian constitution, Bhim Rao Ambedkar. The graphic novel blends the cultural art of gond artists of Madhya Pradesh to tell the life story of an “untouchable” who dedicated his life to the abolishment of the Indian caste system and untouchability.
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Kari
Written by author and painter Amruta Patil, Kari is a pathbreaking Indian graphic novel that explores queerness and mental health. She weaves the story of a young, queer woman in the urban city of Mumbai navigating her way through accepting her queer identity, dealing with the mental health complexities after the loss of a lover, and finding herself isolated in a world full of people.
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Sita’s Ramayana
Samhita Arni re-wrote the Ramayana from the perspective of the one woman central to the Indian epic of Ramayana, Sita. Through her writing, she brought to the front the perspective of Sita as she moved from Jana’s country to Ram’s palace and then exile. Her powerful storytelling with the quirky design of the comic, she pulps out the consequence of men and their warfare on the fates of women as mere pawns in the bigger scheme of things.
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Munnu: A Boy From Kashmir
Written by Srinagar-based Malik Sajad, the graphic novel is his autobiography as a young boy growing up in conflict-ridden Kashmir. Told from an allegorical perspective, with metaphors of animals, the author throws the reader into a wrenching life of political crisis juxtaposed with Kashmir’s heavenly beauty as viewed from the eyes of a child.
A Gardener in the Wasteland
A historical graphic novel to introduce young adults to the fight of Jyotiba Phule, a young reformist of Maharashtra, India working towards education of the ‘untouchables“ and fighting against caste oppression. Written by Srividya Natarajan and Aparajita Ninan
The book brings into focus one of his poignant works ‘Gulamgiri’ or slavery.
