Understanding a Cartoon

Understanding a cartoon

Understanding a cartoon at times is quite like appreciating classical music; you need to have some level of understanding. For example look at this cartoon on the political situation of Haryana some days ago drawn by one of the finest cartoonist of contemporary times in India Satish Acarya.

Unless you know the Dushyanta-Shakuntala story you will not appreciate the cartoon. In case you do not know the story, read it here: https://www.indianmirror.com/history/mythological-stories/shakuntala-page2.html

Appreciate the cartoonists idea of using the story of King Dushyanta to highlight the current political situation involving Dushyanta Chautala.

In the second cartoon(published in Samaja Saptahika, an Odia weekly), Amit Shah is asking Udhav Thakre, 'Udhav, kete tu bicharu? which means how long will you contemplate O Udhav?

Here also the cartoonist (Gyan Rath) uses the name Udhav, to spin a tale. Udhav, as per the Hindu Puranic text is a friend and councellor (some also believe him to be the cousin) of Krishna. His questions and answers by Krishna form the text of Udhav Geeta, much like the Bhagabat Geeta, which is a dialogue/discourse between Krishna and Arjuna.

The point that I am trying to make is: often cartoons in order to be effective and appreciated need some amount of preparation and knowledge of the context on the part of the reader.

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