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The Festival of Nowruz

Nowruz is the Persian or Iranian New Year, celebrated by Parsis across India. It is a holy day for Zorastrians and marks the beginning of spring in the Northern Hemisphere. That’s why it is usually celebrated on the day of the March equinox i.e. when the sun is directly over the equator. As per the Iranian calendar, this day marks the beginning of a new year. The word Nowruz literally translates to ‘new day’ in Persian.

This Nowruz, let us look to Zarathushtra’s words for guidance and happiness.

Illustration: Ram Waeerkar

Amar Chitra Katha’s ‘Zarathushtra’ is available on the Amar Chitra Katha app as well as Amazon, Flipkart, and other major e-tailers.

Ustad Vilayat Khan (1928-2004)

 A luminary in the horizon of classical music, Ustad Vilayat Khan created magic with his instruments. He was conferred with special decorations of ‘Bharat Sitar Samrat’ and ‘Aftab-e-Sitar’ (Sun of the Sitar). 

Illustration: Divyesh Sangani

In a career spanning over six decades, he released between 70 and 100 commercials, composed and conducted scores for three feature films, and was responsible for creating and developing gayaki ang sitar and surbahar. To play gayaki ang means to sing through the instruments with the versatility of human voice and Vilayat Khan was a master at this.

Ustad Vilayat Khan passed away on March 13, 2004, from lung cancer.

World Speech Day 2020

Illustration: Souren Roy

I would rather look forward to the opening of a new chapter in his history after the cataclysm is over and the atmosphere rendered clean with the spirit of service and sacrifice. Perhaps that dawn will come from this horizon, from the East where the Sun rises. A day will come when an unvanquished Man will retrace his path of conquest, despite all barriers, to win back his lost human heritage.

The above is an excerpt from Rabindranath Tagore’s last speech, which he delivered on his last birthday, in 1941, at Santiniketan, West Bengal. His speech, Crisis in Civilization, is as relevant today as it was then. 

On the occasion of World Speech Day, let’s recollect the words of the legendary man that changed the world. The theme of this year is ‘Thoughts for a better world’. Let’s use the power of thoughts and spoken words to make the world a better place to live.

National Science Day 2020

This year’s theme for National Science Day is ‘Women in Science’. Amar Chitra Katha salutes the #FirstIndian women who took up careers as scientists, doctors, and researchers against the wishes of their fellow countrymen, paving the way for millions of other Indian women.

Illustration: Ketan Pal
Illustration: Dilip Kadam
Illustration: Harsho Mohan Chattoraj
Illustration: Ketan Pal

 

Anandibai Joshi (1865-1887)

Anandi Gopal Joshi was India’s first woman doctor and she was a path-breaker in the truest sense of the word. From receiving a congratulatory message from Queen Victoria to having a crater on Venus named after her, Anandibai Joshi is celebrated by millions today. 

Illustration: Durgesh Velhal

At a young age of 17, she embarked on a journey to America to learn medicine, becoming the first and youngest Indian woman to do so in 1883. Unfortunately, she often kept unwell and her health deteriorated on her journey back to India. She died at the young age of 21 years. Although Anandibai couldn’t practice or preach medicine as she desired, she was the #WomenPathBreaker who opened up the possibility of pursuing medical sciences as a career for millions of Indian women. 

You can read Anandibai’s complete life story in Amar Chitra Katha’s ‘Women Path-breakers of India’, available on the Amar Chitra Katha app as well as Amazon, Flipkart, and other major e-tailers.

Happy Mahashivratri!

Here are some of the many names of Shiva. How many names do you know?

Shivaji and Jijabai

Illustration: Pratap Mulick

We have heard much about the bravery of the great Maratha warrior, but do you know who instilled this sense of courage and valour in him? 

Jijabai had prayed for a son to be born who could lead the Marathas one day. When her prayers were answered, she left no stone unturned to mould Shivaji into a brave warrior. Jijabai almost single-handedly brought up Shivaji, as Shivaji’s father Shahji was mostly away fighting on the battlefield. 

Jijabai taught Shivaji the importance of strategy, values, and dharma by telling him stories from the great epics and folklore. She taught him the art of politics and prepared him to be a just and honest ruler. She even supervised his weapon training sessions. 

It was thanks to all this training from his mother that he was later able to escape from the trickiest situations with ease.

Buy Amar Chitra Katha’s Shivaji here:

The Lui-Ngai-Ni Festival

Illustration: Rajib Das

It is a wonderful feeling when you rekindle age-old traditions and values with festivals and celebrations.  

One such event is the Lui-Ngai-Ni festival celebrated by the Naga tribes of Manipur on February 14th and 15th every year. This is a seed sowing festival, essentially celebrated to seek blessings of divine forces to ensure an abundant harvest. Various other tribes across India’s  North East and northwestern Myanmar also join in the celebrations. 

This national festival has a magnificent display of traditions and values, with cultural dances, folk songs, drum thumping, traditional costumes, fire acrobatics and indigenous sports like oiled bamboo pole climbing and so on. The Ministry of Tourism has recognized this event as a national tourism festival that spreads awareness of the region’s rich social legacy.

Sarojini Naidu

On February 13, 1879, in the city of Hyderabad, the principal of the city’s famous Nizam’s college, Aghorenath Chattopadhyay, became the father to a baby girl. Little did he realise then that his infant daughter would grow up to become on of the most influential literary voices in the country’s freedom struggle, her words earning her the epithet “The Nightingale of India”. Sarojini Naidu was a remarkable figure in Indian history, known for her hard-hitting poems and her fiery social activism. Here is a quick gander at some of her many achievements.

Kavi Pradeep (1915-1998)

Illustration: Rajib Das

While there are hundreds of people who ritualistically dance to the tune of “Main To Aarti Utaroon Re Santoshi Mata Ki” and proudly sing the song “Aye Mere Watan Ke Logo”, many would not remember the man who wrote these iconic songs. So, here’s a little story about him. 

 #OnThisDay in 1915, Ramchandra Narayanji Dwivedi was born in the small town of Badnagar near Ujjain. In 1939, when he moved to Mumbai, he changed his name to Pradeep, which means light in Hindi. In a career spanning over five decades, Pradeep wrote nearly 1700 songs, poems, and hymns. These also include song lyrics for about 85 films, many of them becoming box-office hits. Pradeep became widely popular for his patriotic songs, which instilled a sense of pride in Indians and provide encouragement to our soldiers even today. 

Pradeep won several laurels for his work including the Best Film Song Lyricist. He was also made Rashtrakavi (Poet Laureate), after which he was revered as Kavi Pradeep.