Weekend Reading: Mahabharata by R.A. Kosasih

The Mahabharata comic series by Raden Ahmad Kosasih was one of my first comic collection. I was only eight years old when my mother introduced me to the grand work of this maestro. She used to read it to me as bed time stories. My favorite hero in this epic is the immortal Bisma, and the most unforgettable illustrated scene is Bisma’s sacrifice in Kurusetra land during the war of Bharathayuda, between the Pandawas and Kurawas.

Born in West Java, on 4 April 1919, R.A. Kosasih was a writer and illustrator of traditional epic legends. He was known mostly for the following work: Sri Asih (the earliest Indonesian super hero story), Siti Gahara, Ramayana and Mahabharata.

He passed away on 24 July 2012, leaving us a legacy of his black and white ink sketches. I managed to get a hold of the second published edition of Mahabharata. It is a very rare collection and the pages are extremely fragile, so I try to keep it safe inside my cube organizer. Newly revised editions of his work are still available today in a few vintage comic stores. Of course, these are never the same as the originals.

Tripple kisses, Melissa