# Dharamyug

'Times of India' group have been a renowned name among the oldest major publication houses of India.It has produced a wide variety of magazines and comics suiting to the taste of all age groups such as Indrajal comics and Parag for children,Filmfare and Madhuri for movie buffs,Sarika for younger generation,Femina for women,The Illustrated Weekly of India for English literary loving readership and Dharamyug for Hindi readership.
IWI and Dharamyug both magazines use to deal with current affairs along with fine articles on other popular topics such as sports,cinema,T.V. etc.
In this post i will be talking something about Dharamyug which came in publication in the year 1950 to target the Hindi readership as after independence reading culture and specially Hindi/Urdu reading culture was all set to become the prime time pass of Indian mass in parallel with Hindi cinema.
It was surprising to find that no formal and relevant information about Dharamyug was available anywhere over net,hence in this respect Comic World is the first site to throw at-least some light on this fabulous but extincted magazine of yesteryear. 




























Dharamyug used to be published in A3 size format with a weekly publication status which continued till late 80's before shifting to fortnightly status.
Dharamyug flourished and rose to its peak in the tenure of literary giant Dharamveer Bharati(famous creations "Gunahon Ka Devta","Suraj Ka Satwan Ghoda") who was conferred its editorship in 1960 and continued till 1987 after which he resigned from editorship due to his bad health.Ganesh Mantri,then took over the charge from him for the prestigious post of editor in chief.
It was during Dahramveer Bharati's regime when Dharamyug was counted among top Hindi magazines of India and was often referred as the Hindi 'Illustrated Weekly Of India'.Bharati Ji's strict literary baton carved a class of its own and raised the standard of Dharamyug to a height where it was considered a privilege and matter of great achievement for writers/journalists to get published in Dharamyug.There was no place for shallow or substandard articles/stories in the magazine under the hawk eyes of Bharati Ji.
Apart from literary stories/poems another highlight of Dharamyug was Abid Surti's "Dhabbo Ji' which caught the common man nerve and established his name among the top class cartoonists of India.

Another eye catching attraction of Dharamyug were the wide variety of ads,have a look on some of them.

 





















Have you noted the ad of 'Shankar's Weekly' magazine ad above!Can anyone throw some light on Shankar's Weekly as i never came across with a single copy of it.Anybody having some information about it pl.share.
 Also have a look on these following ads.from 1970's Dharamyug.

It also use to review the latest released Hindi movies,have a look at the review of 'Johny Mera Naam'(1970) by Harish Tiwari.We all know that the movie was the smash hit of its time,it will be interesting to read this review published at the time of the release of movie.

Advertisement of forthcoming movies were also use to published in Dharamyug,have a look on few of such ads.

Articles sharing memories of heroes of bygone era and news from the new hotcake entertainment media of those times,'Doordarshan',also added flavor to the colors of magazine.

In 70's,cartoons of famous cartoonists 'Pran' were also a regular feature of Dharamyug and were published as corner cartoon.

An encouraging cross word literary quiz of cash prize of Rs.1500/- was also a one of the major attraction of it.

In late 80's another comic feature was added along with Dhabbu Ji.Have a look.

  

 Few more nostalgic ads....

What about this funny ad. where a man is breaking his fountain pen because of poor flow quality of ink..isn't it quite funny!

Stories which were published in Dharamyug were also used to be of some quality,can you tell who is the illustrator of the following story page.

Have a look at this classic hand painted advertisement of Atlas cycle,just note the concept of the ad.,a woman being photographed by a man along with cycles,hinting that it was some sort of privilege being photographed along with 'Atlas' cylces.

Witness the few covers of Dharamyug right from the year 1970.

Covers from 1990's........

and in last for the readers,who have ever been a part of Aligarh University or have had some attachment with this prestigious institution,presented here is a article written on University by another literary giant who himself have been a part of it,Dr.Rahi Masoom Raza(well known as dialogue writer of famous DD serial 'Mahabharat'),in which he has shared his memories attached with University in his unique and impressive writing style during his studentship as well as his lectureship.

So friends this was a brief 'flashback' of Dharamyug,how was it!If you found it interesting then please share your views,reaction and thoughts about it.Let me know if you want to see such more posts in future about other 'lost' Indian magazines/comics.