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Chandamama is a classic Indian monthly
magazine for children, famous for its illustrations. It also
published long-running mythological/magical stories that ran
for years. Originally, "Chandamama" was started in Telugu by
B.Nagi Reddy and Chakrapani, noted Telugu Film Producer's.
It was edited by Kodavatiganti Kutumba Rao, a very close
friend of Chakrapani and a literary colossus in Telugu
Literature, who edited it for 28 years, till his death in
August 1980.
The magazine started the unique trend of telling a story,
almost always bound by a common thread of moral values, with
a grandparents' style of storytelling in the most flexible
third-person narrative mode, on print.
The stories published have been drawn from numerous
historical and modern texts in India, as well as from other
countries. Mythology, epics, fables, parables and even
useful hearsay were spun suitably to feed the impressionable
minds so that they seek the right direction in life, even
while entertaining them thoroughly. In fact Chandamama
continues to be the perfect example for the now popular term
'edutainment' !
The stories embedded in the never-ending story of King
Vikramāditya and Vetala (Vampire), an adaptation of an
ancient Sanskrit work Baital Pachisi, brought wide repute to
this magazine, and were also featured in popular TV serials.
In each issue, the Vetala, in order to prevent him fulfill a
vow, poses a typical catch-22 question to king Vikramāditya,
involving a moral dilemma. The wise king answers correctly,
and is thus defeated by the Vetala, forcing the king do it
all over again, and again.
The first edition of Chandamama was
released in July, 1947. The founder editor of the magazine
was B.Nagi Reddy who later became a leading film producer in
South India. Chakrapani, a friend of Nagi Reddy, was the
force behind magazine, and his vision, perception and
understanding of the target readership brought name and fame
to the magazine.
Chandamama was first published in Telugu and Tamil (as
Ambulimama) in July 1947. Kannada edition first appeared in
July 1949 followed by Hindi in August 1949. Marathi (as
Chandoba) and Malayalam (as Ambili Ammavan) editions
appeared in April 1952 followed by Gujarati in 1954, English
in 1955, Oriya (as Jahnamamu) and Sindhi in 1956, Bengali in
August 1972, Punjabi in 1975, Assamese in 1976, Sinhala in
1978, Sanskrit in April 1984 and Santali in 2004. The
Punjabi, Sindhi and Sinhala editions were published only for
a short period. No English editions were published from
October 1957 to June 1970. The magazine ceased publication
in 1998, owing to labour disputes. However, the magazine
relaunched a year later and continues to be published to
this day. It is available in 12 Indian languages and
English.
This collection on CD
contains 169 vintage issues of Chandamama in PDF format. Please note that this collection contains scans of old magazines, some
of which were in poor condition before being rescued and digitized for
posterity. This means that you may see some covers with creases
and tears that show up in the scans.
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