By: Katy Daigle, Associated Press
NEW DELHI (AP).- Anant Pai, a comic book pioneer whose colorful adaptations of Hindu mythology have been cherished by Indian children for nearly half a century, has died of a heart attack in a Mumbai hospital, his publishing house said Friday. He was 81. Affectionately known as “Uncle Pai,” he is credited with launching India’s comic book industry in the 1960s with his series “Amar Chitra Katha” — or “Immortal Picture Stories” — chronicling the Sanskrit epics Mahabharata and Ramayana as well as Hindu folk tales and legends. Pai meant for the series to be an educational tool. He was prompted by watching a quiz show on which Indian schoolchildren were unable to answer questions about Hindu mythology despite knowing Greek mythology, colleagues said. “He believed the best way to communicate an idea or value to a child is through stories,” said Reena I. Puri, his longtime editor at ACK Med