''Royal Existentials'' is an

Indian webcomic Webcomics have grown in popularity in India since the early 2000s. Early webcomics created by Indian people were written and illustrated by people abroad and focused primarily on the differences in culture the creators experienced. Later webcomic ...

written by Aarthi Parthasarathy and further produced by Chaitanya Krishnan. Using

Mughal miniature Mughal painting is a South Asian style of painting on paper made in to miniature (illuminated manuscript), miniatures either as book illustrations or as single works to be kept in albums (muraqqa), originating from the territory of the Mughal Emp ...

paintings with overlaid dialogue, ''Royal Existentials'' comments upon contemporary politics, social issues, and philosophy.

Content

Each strip of Aarthi Parthasarathy's ''Royal Existentials'' consists of a repeated classic

painting with dialogue overlaid, each panel having different dialogue. The webcomic updates weekly, and the dialogue presented in the webcomic comments on the social or political events of the time. Despite the repetitive panels, the webcomic maintains a clear rhythm by using well-placed pauses in its writing. Parthasarathy frequently comments upon the Jaipur, Kangra, and

Deccan painting Deccan painting or Deccani painting is the form of Indian miniature painting produced in the Deccan region of Central India, in the various Muslim capitals of the Deccan sultanates that emerged from the break-up of the Bahmani Sultanate by 1520. ...

s she uses as well, noting the representation of women and their place in court in her dialogues.

Development

Parthasarathy founded ''The Royal Existentials'' in November 2014, after being inspired by David Malki's ''

Wondermark ''Wondermark'' is a webcomic created by David Malki which was syndicated to ''Flak Magazine'' and appeared in ''The Onion'' print edition from 2006 to 2008. It features 19th-century illustrations that have been recontextualized to create humorous ...

'', which injects

Victorian art The art of the United Kingdom refers to all forms of visual art in or associated with the country since the formation of the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707 and encompasses English art, Scottish art, Welsh art and Irish art, and forms part of ...

with humorous speech balloons. She came across ''Wondermark'' in 2010, and quickly thought that someone should do an Indian version of the same concept. ''The Royal Existentials'' is a product of Falana Dimka films, a company Parthasarathy co-founded with Chaitanya Krishnan. The lay-out of the webcomic and any additional art is provided by Krishnan, who said about the use of Mughal miniatures that their "opulent setting ... lends itself to talking about issues like inequality." Parthasarathy found that the often anonymous subjects of these paintings lend themselves well for her scripts. Parthasarathy sits down to write a new strip every Thursday, so that she can publish it on the following day. ''The Royal Existentials'' doesn't explicitly cover whatever is in the news, but rather focuses on whatever is on its creator's mind, and can take on a philosophical perspective as well. Parthasarathy described her webcomic as a "diary of thoughts." In an interview with '' The Bangalore Mirror'', Parthasarathy stated that there's a "serious imbalance" in how

feminists Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

are represented in media, and that she "wanted to correct it with humour." She noted that her goal is not to "manage her frustration with

patriarchy Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of authority are primarily held by men. The term ''patriarchy'' is used both in anthropology to describe a family or clan controlled by the father or eldest male or group of males, and in fem ...

" (a notion she finds "ridiculous"), but that she deliberately wants to change the world with humour, which she described as "a very powerful tool."

Reception

Tarishi Verma of ''

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media Limited, an entity controlled by the Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia, the daughter o ...

'' stated that the webcomic uses its paintings "to brilliant effect". Parthasarathy herself stated that "the best part has been that there’s been a lot of discussion brought about the by ''Royal Existentials''. People have come up to me and just had great, long conversations."

Bengaluru Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

-based performing artist Avril Stormy Unger stated that ''The Royal Existentials'' allows people who are put off by more modern art styles the opportunity to understand feminism from a different perspective.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.royalexistentials.com/ 2014 webcomic debuts Indian webcomics 2010s webcomics Political webcomics Feminist webcomics