Akbar

by Anant Pai (Editor), Toni Patel (Script)

Akbar was the son of Humayun and Hamida Begum. His father was a Sunni, while his mother was a Shia. These were rival Muslim sects but Akbar seemed to lean towards the Shia doctrine. This made things difficult as his court had a large number of Sunnis.Akbar s problem was one that exists even today that of uniting all creeds and races. He wanted to bring into the mainstream not only the Muslim sects but also the Rajputs and other Hindus. His reforms, which were meant to help all sections, included the abolition of sati, child marriage and jizya (a tax imposed on Hindus but not on Muslims).Anyone with talent in any field (including music and painting) was welcome in Akbar s court. Tansen, Baz Bahadur and Birbal were associated with the Mughal court. Rajput princes, who felt attracted to his personality and ideals worked loyally for him as generals and ministers. Among these were Man Singh, Bhagwandas and Todar Mall.Akbar traced his lineage to the great Timur and Chingiz Khan of Turkish and Mongol descent. By his marriage to the Rajput princess of Amber (who was later to become the mother of the future emperor, Jehangir) he sealed his links with Hindustan. After Akbar s victory at the second Battle of Panipat, there was never against the need to return to Kabul and the mountain regions of his ancestors.

Genres: Comics, History, Graphic Novels Comics, Nonfiction, Mythology

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Anant Pai popularly known as Uncle Pai, was an Indian educationalist and creator of Indian comics, in particular the Amar Chitra Katha series in 1967, along with the India Book House publishers, and which retold traditional Indian folk tales, mythological stories, and biographies of historical characters. In 1980, he launched Tinkle, a children's anthology, which was started under Rang Rekha Features, India's first comic and cartoon syndicate, that lasted till 1998, with him as the Managing Director.

Today, Amar Chitra Katha sells about three million comic books a year, in English and more than 20 Indian languages, and has sold about 100 million copies since it inception in 1967 by Anant Pai, and in 2007 was taken over by ACK Media.

Reviews

[Anjali · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was interesting and a great way to learn history, but I am not sure about the historical validity. Also I am not crazy about Souren Roy as an illustrator-sometimes people look like their eyes are totally misaligned and like they have smears of dirt on their faces.

[Ram M Srinivas · Rating 3 out of 5]

As mentioned in the last review, a change of genre and for a leisure mode of reading, i have decided to read Amar Chitra Katha comics. The series I selected is "History Collections" which consists of 10 comics about 10 great rulers, each consisting of 32 pages and a price of INR90. I bought all the 10comics together for a price of INR601. Still I feel INR90 for a 32page comics is expensive. This is the book#12 in 30days reading challenge out of which completed are 7(including this book). Balance 5 are in progress.
Historic collection #2/10
The second book i selected is about the warrior who is a visionary monarch and the name of the celebrity is "Akbar" who is third mugal emperor. He was a child when his father Humayun died and at that time he don't want to rule and rather interested in riding elephants and hunting tigers. He was just 13years of age when he was crowned the emperor of Hindustan. The comic is about the complete travel and battles during the era of Akbar and is about how he became "Akbar the great".
This book is volume 603, script by Toni Patel, illustrations by P B Kavadi and edited by Anant Pai.
The illustrations were good with the usual Amar Chitra Katha style and the smell of the book is the regular style of Amar Chitra Katha.
The book is best suited for kids between the age of 5~10 and will be a good platform for them to enhance the habit of reading books. In the history we heard that Salim (Jahangir) was the third son born to Akbar and his favorite empress consort Mariam Uz Zamani. Actually Mariam is none but Jodha (Hindu Princess) which is the new information I understood from the comic and later did an online surfing to understand further.
Review rating 3/5.

[Ashish Iyer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okayish.
I am not sure about authenticity of this history.

[Ravi Kumar Dandapani]

nice

[Deepti · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first tamil read of year. This is a lovely ACK of a rather awesome monarch. Maybe he time travelled given how evolved he was

[Akhil · Rating 5 out of 5]

it is a very brave story

[Akhil · Rating 4 out of 5]

very nice