With a Foreword by John Berger and a jacket endorsement by Joe Sacco, this book has already made news. See this report inWashington Post and this one in Open.

Says Joe Sacco, author of Palestine, ‘The artists Durgabai Vyam and Subhash Vyam have dropped most of the West’s and manga’s typical comics conventions and boldly use of their own artistic heritage, the Pardhan-Gond tradition, to craft a distinctive graphic biography of one of India’s bravest and greatest leaders, Bhimrao Ambedkar, an “untouchable” and a fierce critic of Gandhi’s. Heavy in symbolism and motifs, Bhimayana is challenging in all the right ways and still conveys with flair who Ambedkar was and why his revolutionary ideas about the caste system still matter so much to the India of today.’

John Berger in his Foreword says, ‘An extraordinary book… No more rectangular framing or unilinear time. No more profiled individuals. Instead, a conference of corporeal experience across generations, full of pain and empathy.’

The clothbound, hardback collector’s edition of Bhimayana, printed on special paper, will cost Rs 995 in the market. Set in a generous 8″ x 11″ (just about A4), half of the 108 pages are in breathtaking colour. This limited, numbered edition can be booked for a discount price of Rs 750 now (inclusive of postage) up to 30 Sept 2010. Send a DD favouring “Navayana Publishing” to 155, 2nd Floor, Shahpur Jat, New Delhi 110049. Ph 011-26494795. The copy will be sent to you by 15 Nov 2010.(This offer is open only to orders from India.)

A paperback will also be available simultaneously for Rs 340.