Anant Pai is an Indian educationist who was popularly known as Uncle Pai. He created Indian comics namely Amar Chitra Katha series in 1967. He retold many mythological stories and folk tales of India and also the biographies of historical characters in the form of comics. He launched the children’s anthology, Tinkle in 1980 and this was started under Rang Rekha Features, the first Indian syndicate for comics and cartoons and this lasted until 1998.

He was born on 17^th September 1929 in Karkala in Karnataka. His parents are Venkataraya and Susheela Pai. He lost his parents when he was just two years old. When he was 12 he came to Mumbai and joined Orient School at Mahim. He studied chemistry, physics and chemical technology and got his dual degree at the University of Bombay, Department of Chemical Technology. He married Lalita Pai.

He launched a children’s magazine Manav in 1954 which was not successful. He then joined as the junior executive in Times of India books division. It was at that time, Indrajal Comics was lauched by the Times Group.

After the quiz contest on Doordarshan in February 1967, he got the idea of starting a comic book series for children. He quit his job and started Amar Chitra Katha. G. L. Mirchandani of India Book House helped him.

His other works are Ramu and Shamu, Rekha, Little Raji, Fact Fantasy, Funland and Funtime and these appeared in newspapers and journals. He also produced two films, Ekam Sat, and The Secret of Success. He also wrote several books for the children and teenagers aiming to develop their personality that include ‘How to Develop Self-Confidence’, ‘How to Achieve Success’, etc.

Today, about three million copies of Amar Chitra Kadha are selling in a year and it is published in English and 20 Indian languages. Since its inception it has sold about 100 million copies. In 2007 this was taken over by ACK Media. Anant Pai had received many awards and honors for his contribution. He died on 24^th February 2011.