Wednesday, December 10, 2008

ACK-046: Gandhari

[Update- 13 January 2009, 9:30 PM IST]
Anon has scanned and provided the cover pages of this ACK. They are being uploaded here. Prabhat sent these in a mail to me. You can add them to the original comic download. Enjoy.

- TPH

(May love prevail over hatred, may ACK-47 score over AK-47)

Character info from Wikipedia:
Gāndhārī (Sanskrit: गांधारी) is a character in the Hindu epic, the Mahābhārata. In the epic, she was an incarnation of Mati, as the daughter of Subala, the king of Gandhara, a region spanning northwestern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan, from which her name is derived. Gandhari's marriage was arranged to Dhritarashtra, the eldest prince of the Kuru kingdom.



Gandhari voluntarily blindfolded herself throughout her married life. Her husband Dhritarashtra was born blind, and on meeting him and realizing this, she decided to deny herself the pleasure of sight that her husband could never relish.


Gandhari bore a hundred sons, (collectively known as the Kauravas), and one daughter Dushala who married Jayadratha. The Kaurava, principally Duryodhana and Dushasana, were the villains of the Mahābhārata, and were all killed in their war against their cousins, the Pandava, at Kurukshetra.


Although Gandhari's sons were portrayed as villains, the Mahābhārata attributes high moral standards to Gandhari. She repeatedly exhorted her sons to follow dharma and make peace with the Pandavas. Gandhari was especially close to Kunti (Mother of Pandavas) who respected her like an elder sister.


Gandhari made a single exception to her blindfolded state, when she removed her blindfold to see Duryodhana rendering his entire body except his loins invulnerable to any foe. This was however to prove fruitless as Bhima smashed Duryodhana's thighs in their decisive encounter on the eighteenth day of the Kurukshetra battle, a move both literally and figuratively below the belt.


Gandhari was also devout; in particular an ardent worshipper of Lord Shiva. Gandhari's sacrifice of her eyesight and her austere life was to grant her great spiritual power. Gandhari's anguish in the loss of her hundred sons resulted in her cursing Krishna in effect ensuring the destruction of the Yadavas. It is also said that through a small gap in the napkin in which her eyes were blindfolded, her gaze fell on Yudhisthira's toe. The toe was charred black due to her wrath and power. Gandhari ended her life with her husband and her sister-in-law Kunti in the Himalayas, where they died in a forest fire.


ACK's description of the character:


Stories of many great women, their achievements and their sufferings, are recounted in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Sita, Kunti and Draupadi are among the better known. These women went through many painful ordeals, but they had one hope to sustain them - they had noble children.The case of Gandhari, the mother of the Kauravas is different. She was a good women who gave birth to wicked sons. All around her there was treachery. Her husband was weak and ambitious, her brother Shakuni, was an arch-villain and her sons were full of violence. Among them, she alone stood for virtue and truth - a single lotus in a marshy swamp.











Author: Gayatri Madan Dutt
Illustrator: Dilip Kadam
















(33 pages, 1280 px wide, 10.7 MB)

Unfortunately, the copy of the comic I am having (and from which these scans are made) is coverless. Prabhat made several efforts to arrange the cover. Ajay has the comic in bounds. He provided the snap from his digital camera. Ajnaabi worked on the low resolution thumbnail available from official ACK site, but I finally kept the one I had created from the same source (thumbnail). It is attached with the comic download link. In case someone has the proper/better quality cover of this comic please send its scan for the benefit of the all fellow ACK lovers.

19 comments:

AJAY said...

Very nice scans . I have 2 copies of this comics but all in bound . Do not worry , will soon find its front cover.


Ajay

AJAY said...

Sorry 3 copies .

Ajay

PBC said...

Beautiful, simply great post! Thanks.

She is my favourite legendary woman character. I respect her more than any other due to her sacrifice, high standards & moral values. In fact I have never found any other who kept himself /herself at right tracks from moral, social & family points of view.

Brother, collective work always more successful. Thanks you very much for active participation in this project. Together we shall achieve to goal certainly.

N.B. If till January any friend would not have opportunities to help with this cover, ANON (another selfless contributor of this blog) would send us, he lives aboard. In January 2009 he will receive this ACK.

Anonymous said...

Fandoo hai yaar

Thanks

Unknown said...

thanks guys(prabhat and ajay)

Anonymous said...

Thanks again guys! and yes "may ACK-047 score over AK 47". Here's wishing that peace can (still) prevail in India.

Samik said...

Is it ACK-47? I thought it was ACK-209. Anyway really thanks for all the effort.. I had all ACK's and Tinkle comics but during floods in Assam, water entered the house and destroyed the bag where the books were kept along with the books.. Now after a LONG Time, am able to read these beloved books again ... Thank You Ajay & Prabhat

PBC said...

Dear Apoorva & Samik: This comics is posted by TPH, we (I, Ajay & Ajnaabi) just searched the cover for this comics. So guys you are thankful for this comics to TPH.

Dhaval said...

Thanks a lot TPH. Nice scans..

Gandhari is surely one of the best and inspirational characters from Mahabharat, I appreciate her moral strength to stand by the side of truth, even if she had to live right in the eye of evil storm created by her loved ones.

It really takes great courage to go through the inner battle of good v/s. love of her keens. She is the icon of sacrifice, of which Dhrutarashtra was unworthy.

And I join you in the wishes of peace.. may ACK-047 score over AK-47)

Jay-talking! said...

Been coming to this site ever so often on the sly. Thanks for this. U are doing just great. Way to go!!

Anonymous said...

Thanks Thanks Thanks so much to all of you for the efforts and time in keeping this website up and bringing back us the old golden memories. I almost visit this website every day, one of my daily task before going to sleep is checking this website. Also if possible please please scan some of the Tinkle Comics (not digest) released between 1975 to 1985)some of the stories are really really good
Please continue to publish "out of Print" scans

Once again Thank you so much

Anonymous said...

Can you make your mediafire folder public like before? You understandably take a long time to post comics you announce as "coming soon"... but the scans are already available on mediafire. It is much more convenient when we can access mediafire directly to download very old posts. Please make your ACK folder public again... just can't wait so long for all those nice comics. Keep up the great work.

... RS

DesiGuru said...

I am yet to go through my ACK, so will check and revert back if i hv the cover.

Anonymous said...

please post more ack in hindi thanks a lot

Karthik Narayan said...

Brilliant efforts in maintaining this blog and sharing such wonderful ACKs.

I am doing a Hindu mythology quiz - if anyone is interested, please contact me on karthik.globalsoul@gmail.com

thanks a lot and happy new year

Anonymous said...

Hi, I found a better cover at the following location.
http://www.exoticindiaart.com/book/details/IDJ934/

PBC said...

Ardhendu: Thanks friend! Our conrtibutor ANON has scanned & send first 2 pages of this ACK (old edition). But in balance pages I'll add this one too. May be TPH is busy, I'll updated post myself.

RA said...

Great Effort!
Kudos!

....I downloaded a few comics day before yesterday but not anymore.... the media fire does not shows "click to download"

Please help

vikki said...

Link deleted kindly re upload Please