First of all a big thanks to my friend Punya for introducing me to Osamu Tezuka's graphic novel Buddha. Only books I have read on Buddha are Herman Hesse's brilliant `Siddhartha` and Pankaj Mishra's, complex but compelling read `An end to suffering`. I have enjoyed reading both of them. But, for me none of them was as engrossing as Osamu Tezuka's `Buddha`.
Osamu Tezuka is Japanese manga artist. He is famously known as God/Father of manga, sometimes Godfather of manga. His popular works include Astroboy, Kimba the white lion, Pheonix and some such. Unfortunately most of his work is not yet translated from Japanese.
`Buddha` is a eight a eight volumed series namely 1.Kapilavastu, 2.The Four Encounters, 3.Devadatta, 4.The Forest of Uruvela, 5.Deer Park, 6.Ananda, 7.Prince Ajatasattu and 8.Jetavana. Publishers have done a commendable job by bringing each volume in unique appealing colour on the cover.
One day Punya just like that, he had never mentioned that he had such a series nor had we talked about it, gives me volume one of the series and asks me to read. I took time to finish the first one and some more time to finish the next volume. After that there was no stopping. Now I am done reading the 5 vols, rest 3 will be finishing very soon.
Buddha's life as such is very interesting. Osamu has added a couple of fictional characters and made it more dramatic. Illustrations are beautiful, characters are full of life and with free flowing pace this `Buddha` is a gradually endearing one. Great books are easy to read and difficult to get over the lingering feeling they leave on your minds. Great books also leave a void when you are finished reading them. This is exactly what `Buddha` is doing to me with each volume. Felt happy to see Siddhartha Basu recommending this series in one of the NDTV's Just books programme, long before I started reading them. Indeed its a priced acquisition. Mind you its highly addictive.
First installment of the 3-part animation film based on the series is released earlier this year. Take a look at the trailer here.
Osamu Tezuka is Japanese manga artist. He is famously known as God/Father of manga, sometimes Godfather of manga. His popular works include Astroboy, Kimba the white lion, Pheonix and some such. Unfortunately most of his work is not yet translated from Japanese.
`Buddha` is a eight a eight volumed series namely 1.Kapilavastu, 2.The Four Encounters, 3.Devadatta, 4.The Forest of Uruvela, 5.Deer Park, 6.Ananda, 7.Prince Ajatasattu and 8.Jetavana. Publishers have done a commendable job by bringing each volume in unique appealing colour on the cover.
One day Punya just like that, he had never mentioned that he had such a series nor had we talked about it, gives me volume one of the series and asks me to read. I took time to finish the first one and some more time to finish the next volume. After that there was no stopping. Now I am done reading the 5 vols, rest 3 will be finishing very soon.
Buddha's life as such is very interesting. Osamu has added a couple of fictional characters and made it more dramatic. Illustrations are beautiful, characters are full of life and with free flowing pace this `Buddha` is a gradually endearing one. Great books are easy to read and difficult to get over the lingering feeling they leave on your minds. Great books also leave a void when you are finished reading them. This is exactly what `Buddha` is doing to me with each volume. Felt happy to see Siddhartha Basu recommending this series in one of the NDTV's Just books programme, long before I started reading them. Indeed its a priced acquisition. Mind you its highly addictive.
First installment of the 3-part animation film based on the series is released earlier this year. Take a look at the trailer here.
