Chanda Mama is a monthly magazine which has been being published non-stop since 1947. On MS, this magazine has been categorized as a children’s magazine. However, it’s not a children’s magazine. It’s a family magazine meant for those who love India and its cultural heritage. I used to read it regularly when I was a child and I still read it when I am adult. I feel proud of Mr. Chakrapani (its founder) and Mr. B. Nagi Reddy (the famous filmmaker who nurtured it for decades). These people did a yeoman’s service to India through this magazine which is still keeping the flag of Indianness high in the world of media.
Chanda Mama literally means Moon - The Maternal Uncle because since ages, our grandmas and grannies have been telling the little ones through their tales (told at night when the sleeping time of the younger ones has arrived) that the moon is the brother of the earth and as we consider the earth as our mother, by default, the moon becomes our maternal uncle. That’s why since times immemorial, the little children have been learning to call the moon (with affection) as Chanda Mama.
Chanda Mama tells the stories from the Indian mythology and history as well as the tales of ordinary Indian males and females either in a rural setting or in the bygone era of the princes and the landlords. However the important thing is that these stories always furnish some moral for the readers. The stories are narrated in the same way our grandparents used to tell us when we were quite young. The common thread of moral values and educative things is ever present in them.
The Vikram-Vetal stories is a regular feature of this magazine in which Vetal or the vampire tells a story to King Viram and asks a ticklish question based on that. King Vikram always furnishes some sensible and convincing answer to his question which is quite enlightening for the readers. Adventurous novels are also published in Chanda Mama in the form of a serial. Ditto for epics / long mythological tales.
The pictures given with the stories always show the characters clad in the traditional Indian clothes (both males as well as females). They never show them wearing the garments which are used in the contemporary society, i.e., pant, shirt, coat, tie, jeans, tee-shirt etc. This is because of the belief in the superiority of Indianness and Indian culture that has taken strong roots in the mind of the propagators of this magazine. And the pictures inside as well as the one on the cover are extremely beautiful, boasting of the artistic proficiency of the painter (s).
The mythological stories never try to distort whatever is actually there in the mythological books and scriptures. The facts given in them are reproduced in as it is form. This fact came to my notice when I read the complete Ramayan and Mahabharat through Chanda Mama. This is the honesty of the people behind the magazine that they don’t even try to protect the image of the godly characters by presenting the mythological facts in a diplomatic way.
The stories in Chanda Mama mainly belong to Hinduism and have Hindu characters. However it is, by all means, a secular magazine because whenever some story presents a non-Hindu character, he is also shown as a flesh and blood human-being and not essentially someone alien who is to be presented in bad light.
The stories of Chanda Mama present the women as traditional Indian women restricted to domestic life and peasantry (mainly because the milieu of the stories is traditional family and social set up continuing since ages in our country). However the laudable thing is that the no stuff in this magazine supports the patriarchal mindset and women are shown as wise and sensible. Believing in the traditional husband-wife relationship of Indians, the Chanda Mama stories portray the women as true life-partners of their men, not only standing by them through thick and thin but also showing the correct path to them whenever and wherever required. Frankly, Chanda Mama believes in the traditional roles of man and woman in married life but considers both as equal and underscores this fact time and again. It hails and promotes the Indian family values but without terming any gender as superior to the other one.
Chanda Mama stories include certain humorous stories too which force you to smile at least (if you have good control over bursting out your laughs). The characters of the stories are not complicated ones, they are simple and straight (even when they are thieves or dacoits or thugs), having some principles to follow in their lives. The concept behind this fact is that every man (or woman) is inherently good and even in the baddies, the goodness remains hidden ever ready to come to fore when the time arrives for that or when it is instigated by someone to exasperate.
For the past many years, Chanda Mama has been furnishing significant facts enhancing general awareness and knowledge of the readers. Though superstitions are presented through the stories of ghosts / spirits / supernatural powers, it tries to underscore virtues and high values of life through them which is the brighter side of this apparently negative trait of this magazine.
Chanda Mama is published in total 13 languages, i.e., in addition to English, it is published in 12 Indian languages. Though I have read Hindi and English versions only, it can be read by the members of different linguistic communities of India in their own mother tongue. In the ending pages, different assertions of everyday use are given in different languages (in the concerned script as well as in the Roman script) so as to help you in learning different languages.
Chanda Mama has never supported (or even tried to portray) the western culture. It’s a unique magazine who has survived the scare of extinction due to the advent of electronic media. Neither its circulation has come down nor its popularity has got negatively affected due to the arrival of television and internet. It’s a magazine which every Indian should be proud of because it has been transferring the knowledge of Indian cultural and traditional heritage from generation to generation for decades and still continuing to hoist the flag of the Indian culture, virtues and (family and social) values. If you are a religious person, this is one of the best magazines for you. However even if you are an atheist or a non-religious person, it contains several positives and useful things for you.