Articulating the Art: An Appraisal of the Emerging Trend of Graphic Novels in the Contemporary Indian English Writing in reference to Amruta Patil’s Works

Abstract

In olden days, the art of storytelling in the Indian sub-continent was expressed through spoken words. The significant facet of story narration involved some visual experiences that engaged the listeners both literate and illiterate enjoy and explore their own history, tradition and culture of India as they heed to Indian stories like Mahabharata, Ramayana and other texts. However, the dawn of written texts gradually made the traditional storytelling insignificant and favored only the educated. There are crowds who prefer watching adapted movies than books. Neither the adapted movies give major insights of the story of the book nor are all good books adapted. Regardless, the growth of the graphic novels began to grasp the attention of mass population including the illiterate as well as children who are reluctant to read. Graphic novels also help non readers understand the story through the captivating images of the story if words are hard. The essence of Indian Graphic novels is the visibility of Indian life, culture, tradition and customs through pictures thereby making the subject clear and percipient. In recent time, the Indian author Amruta Patil made her wide contribution to the growth of Indian Graphic Novels. She is also the first female graphic novelist. This paper aims to recognize her works towards the development of Indian Graphic Novels and also her prudent attention to the themes of her works which touches upon gender politics, social issues, ecological awareness and recreating mythology for contemporary readers. This paper explores all her works that include Kari, Adiparva: Churning of the Ocean, Sauptik: Blood and Flowers and Aranyaka: Book of the Forest. Being a professional visual artist, the subject of her works is strongly portrayed through her illustration incorporated with acrylic painting, collage, watercolor and Charcoal. Her works are indeed a major initiation to the growth of Indian graphic novels.