And now a comic in Konkani!
| The first comic in Konkani language hits the stands |
IT CLAIMS to be the first publication of a comic in the Konkani language!
Inspired by the popular English rendering of valuable Indian stories into a pictorial comic format, S. Chittaranjan Nayak of Kochi tried his hand at achieving a similar feat in his mother tongue with the famed story of `Satyanarayana', well known as `satyanarayan katha'.
Nayak who writes under the name of `Goshripuram Harikumar' works in a bank. He is also a poet with a published collections of verses and an illustrator who has drawn pictures for a work of translation.
The `Satyanarayan vrata katha' is an extract from the Skanda Purana. It is considered to be one of the most efficacious forms of worship in the Kaliyuga. It is also a form of worship that is not too difficult. Again, the stories related in the brief framework of the main tale are easy to grasp and widely appealing. Moreover, the style is direct and unfussy. This ritual is an established one in many homes as its popularity transcends all barriers.
This is one of the reasons why an organisation called `Gosrichaitanya' in West Kochi chose to bring out a little book based on the `Satyanarayan vrata katha' in Konkani in the form of a comic. `Gasrichaitanya', a charitable association, has as one of its aims, the promotion and popularisation of the Konkani language, as it is written in the Devanagari script. Balagopala Shenoy states that while this fact has been constitutionally recognised, the popularity of Konkani written in the Devanagari script is yet to become as popular as it should be. In Kerala, for instance, he says, a majority of the Konkanis prefer to read the Malayalam script and this is also true in states like Maharashtra or Karnataka where the preferred written language among the Konkanis is Marathi or Kannada.
So `catch them young' is the motto. If English comics are so popular, the same method can be used in familiarising the youngsters with their own language, in the Devanagari script.
The publishers of this comic,`Satyanarayan Vrata Katha', feel it to be an ideal choice as it has become very popular in Konkani speaking homes. Both, the Konkani translation and the artwork done by Gosripuram Harikumar with advice in the translation by L. Krishna Bhatt and B. Sadanand Prabhu are charting a remarkable success. The translator reveals that he had worked on the story off-and-on for many years before publication mainly for his own learning and because he was attached to the story. So, the text was already there when the idea of publishing it occurred to the `Gosrichaitanya' .
Produced in multicolour on art paper with a format replicating the old manuscripts, in the introductory pages, the book has a good presentation.
With the idea of taking their message to a national Konkani speaking audience, `Gosrichaitanya' released the book at the Twenty-fourth session of the All India Konkani Parishad held recently.
PRATIMA ASHER
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/mp/2004/03/01/stories/2004030101290200.htm
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