KC Sivasankar, artist of Vikram and Vetala series in 'Chandamama', passes away at 97

KC Sivasankar, one of the first illustrators of the Vikram Vetala cartoon series in the Chandamama magazine, passed away at the age of 97 in Chennai. He was one of the last original designers of the Chandamama magazine. Read on to know more details about the story:

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Artist KC Sivasankar passes away at 97

KC Sivasankar was devoted to the Chandamama magazine as an artist for over 5 decades. On Tuesday, September 29, 2020, in his residence at Chennai, Sivasankar passed away. He was the only surviving member of the original designing team of the Chandamama Magazine and the Vikram Vetala series. 

KC Sivasankar was born in a village in Erode in 1924. Within a few years, he developed his passion for art and moved to Chennai with his mother and siblings to follow his passion. His talent was discovered by his art teacher in Chennai. KC Sivasankara then did a 5 year-long art course in a reputed college in Chennai and in 1946 joined the Tamil magazine Kalaimagal. In 1952, the owner of Chandamama Magazine B Nagi Reddi hired KC Sivsankar in 1952. 

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KC Sivsankara served the company for 60 years. His artwork for Vikram Vetalaya earned him critical acclaim. He created the sword-wielding King Vikram carrying the corpse called Vetala on his shoulder which became highly popular amongst children in the 90s. KC Sivasankar's art was loved by the children and he often spoke about the characters Vikram and Vetala. Initially, Chandamama was a Telugu periodical. However, it later got published in 13 different languages after getting immensely popular amongst the children as an Indian comic book. 

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In 2007, Chandamama magazine was acquired by Geodesic, a Mumbai-based software services provider company after 60 years of its run. The parent company went in losses and stopped publishing the magazine. They gave it away to Geodesic for digitizing the magazines to revive and preserve the magazine for future generations. KC Sivasankar left the company and later joined Ramakrishna Vijayam magazine as an artist. 

A few years ago in an interview with The Hindu, KC Sivasankar remembered the time when the founder of Chandamama magazine B Nagi Reddi used to always say that Chithra, who was the chief artist back then, and KC Sivasankar are 'two bullocks of Chandamama.' He mentioned that the founder would say that without either of them, the 'bullock cart of Chandamama would not be able to reach the village'. 

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