The name Chandamama may ring a bell for those who grew up in the ‘60s and ‘70s; the children’s magazine opened up a vista of mythological tales, magical kingdoms and fantastical adventures peopled by characters everyone could relate to. With the entry of Amar Chitra Katha, Indrajal Comics, Tinkle and others, Chandamama lost the unique spot they occupied with young readers in India, and was eventually phased out.

While the magazine has been lost to the memories of a few, the works of its long-time artist MTV Acharaya have been brought out of oblivion, courtesy the single-handed efforts of one man — contemporary artist Shivanand Basavanthappa.

Spark of interest

Bengaluru-based Shivanand says Acharya passed away a few days after he joined the Govt Fine Arts College in Dharwad, as a student. He remembers feeling bereft that he had missed out on a chance to meet one of the most prolific artists of Karnataka; apart from his vast body of work, Acharya single-handedly illustrated the lion’s share of images in Chandamama.

Chandamama which was originally launched in Telugu in 1947, went on to be published in 13 languages, including English, till its final edition in March 2013.

Over the years, serendipity has played a huge part in ensuring Acharya’s works reached Shivanand, in a manner no less wonderful than those tales he picturised. “I would regularly visit a close associate of mine, artist MB Patil from Karnataka, in his studio where we would discuss art. During one of my visits, I asked him if he knew anything about Acharya. He answered saying the house and studio was the family home of Vijayalakshmi, Acharya’s wife.”

That was where Shivanand’s research on the artist began, and he says that, ”it seemed everything I would turn to whether books, magazines or galleries, would provide information or an insight into Acharya.”

Mother lode

One day someone requested Shivanand’s help in valuing a few paintings to ascertain if they were indeed executed by the master. “I agreed thinking there would be a one or two paintings. Only when I got there did I realise that the person was in possession of over a 100 of Acharya’s works.”

However, after the valuation, Shivanand was made to run from pillar to post for payment. Exasperated and frustrated over the delay, when he demanded recompense he was told by the owner that the paintings were to be sold in bulk, and that Shivanand would be paid after the sale.

“I wasn’t too happy that Acharya’s work would be leaving this land, but there was not much I could do.” However, that transaction too, seemed to stretch on for months, until finally Shivanand himself bought the whole lot.

When a struggling artist acquires another artist’s works in bulk. one can only imagine the struggle for space to house everything. In the commotion, Shivanand did not realise a few paintings were missing.

A few years later, Shivanand was invited to the inauguration of a frame shop where he saw two original works by Acharya on display. “They seemed to me like the ones I had valued but I didn’t give it much thought, especially since the store owner said a customer had sent them there to be framed.”

From Life and Art of MTV Acharya at the Indian Institute of World Culture
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

The years went by and Shivanand was once again approached to value a set of paintings by Acharya. When he saw those images, Shivanand was convinced they were part of the original lot that he had first valued. “Still, to be sure, I dug out my notes and images from the first job to cross check and realised they were all (including the ones at the frame shop) what I had paid for.”

On further questioning, he found out a few workmen at the first owner’s place had helped themselves to around 30 paintings in lieu of payment he had reneged on. Of these, Shivanand was able to recover around 18 works.

Untiring passion

Shivanand travelled to Chennai where the artist had worked for almost 30 years, in his quest to learn more about Acharya and his life, “so I could establish a museum to house his works.” In the next 10 years, Shivanand collected another 100 paintings by Acharya, sourced from collectors, antique stores and galleries.

From Life and Art of MTV Acharya at the Indian Institute of World Culture
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Feeling he could do a lot more, Shivanand took to collecting Chandamama magazines, in his bid to garner more information on Acharya. “Anke Gowda, a dear friend of mine from Pandavpura, near Srirangapatna in Mysore had amassed over 25 lakh books. I felt sure he’d have a few issues of Chandamama or other books illustrated by Acharya,” says Shivanand.

In possession of such an enormous number of books, Anke could not remember if he had any or where they were, but he gave Shivanand a free hand to browse through his collection. Not surprisingly, Shivanand says, “the very first box I opened contained Acharya’s works,” adding it boosted his morale to keep up his search. “I eventually found around 60 copies of Chandamama that were almost 70 years old.”

From Life and Art of MTV Acharya at the Indian Institute of World Culture
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Word soon spread among family, friends and students, and everyone who came across a work of art or illustrated book by Acharya, donated them to Shivanand.

It took Shivanand a greater part of three months to curate Life and Art of MTV Acharya, and the choice of venue, much like everything with regard to his expedition was fortuitous. “When we approached the Indian Institute of World Culture (IIWC), they were more than happy to host the exhibition. Venkatesh Prasad, secretary of IIWC, told us that in 1967, Acharya had an exhibition there that far exceeded expectations.”

Apparently, visitors would queue up way before the gallery opened and the exhibition had so many viewers, the management was forced to keep the place open two hours past closing almost everyday, to accommodate them all.

High-ceilinged palaces, curvaceous beauties with flowing tresses, beatific priests, brawny princes and villains on their majestic steeds in verdant woods, as well as scenes from pastoral India of yore and mythological stories of gods and goddesses that we know so well, skillfully executed in watercolour, are all on display at IIWC.

Shivanand says the muse and model for a lot of Acharya’s work was his wife Vijayalakshmi, without whose encouragement and support, the prolific artist may have not been so productive. Allegedly, Kannada director P Sheshadri is in talks to make a movie on Acharya.

Life and Art of MTV Acharya is on at the the Indian Institute of World Culture till April 13. Entry free.