MAGAZINES: 130+ South Asian Covers From 1921 to the Present

The cover on the right, "India: Liberty & Death" is what ran on the cover of Time on Oct. 27, 1947.  And it's a part of a major SAJA research project that you can participate in. Starting in Oct. 2006, we have been building right here the largest database of major U.S. magazines featuring South Asia and South Asians.

Below is a collage/slideshow of the covers we found - 75+ 85+ 100+ 125+ 130+ as of now. This not a comprehensive list and we need your help to make it better. If you know of a cover image we missed, please let us know in the comments section. Better yet, include the URL or file of the image. Or e-mail us at saja[at]columbia.edu - subject line = "South Asian covers." We will keep adding to this slideshow as you help us find more covers.

A quick analysis and trivia (add your own below).

• The images on the cover seem to fall into these major categories: photos/illustration/cartoons of newsmakers; and photo illustrations/cartoons featuring some typical subcontinental elements, including elephants (lots of elephants!), turbans, snake charmers, sari borders, multi-armed gods/goddesses, etc, etc.
• Since SAJA is most interested in tracking the American press, we are only including the U.S. editions of Time, Newsweek, Businessweek, etc. The Asian editions of these mags regularly feature South Asian themes. We have also included the U.S. edition of The Economist, which is a separate edition created for American audiences.
• Time is the only publication which has full archives of its covers online and easily accessible. It's search function, too, is very good. Once you find a cover you are interested in, you can read the table of contents and read the stories themselves. You can also buy the cover images, ready for framing or already framed.
  If you have access to Newsweek and other mags' covers, please help fill in the gaps.
• Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was popular with the editors of Time. He made the cover  six times, his daughter, Indira Gandhi  and the most famous Indian of them all, Mahatma Gandhi  (no relation, of course), only three times each (see results for a search of "Gandhi").
• Gandhi's first appearance, in March 1930, is in a drawing so unusual that you may not  recognize him.
• In the run-up to Partition, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, and Sardar Patel, a major Congress leader, both made the cover once each.
• Nehru's repeated appearances show you how the world has changed. I can't easily imagine a near-term scenario when a leader from anywhere in South Asia makes multiple appearances on the covers of the U.S. editions of Time or Newsweek. I would love to be proven wrong, of course.
• While three other British Viceroys made the cover of Time (Irwin, Linlithgow, Wavell), Lord Louis Mountbatten never made the cover as Viceroy (he did make the cover, in June 1942, for his leadership during World Word II).
• The nuclear test of May 1998 by India and Pakistan did not get full cover treatment in the U.S. As you can see from this Time cover, Frank Sinatra's death moved the test to a secondary story and  a cover mention; same thing for that week's Newsweek.
• In the last couple of years, almost all the covers have to do with India's economy, rather than South Asia's politics, security, etc.
• We couldn't find Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf on a major U.S. magazine cover - though he must have made it at least one - let us know if you know if you find one.
• Naeem Mohaiemen says in the comments: "Bangladesh's independence war in 1971 was mostly covered as the 'India-Pakistan war' in US media, and most of the focus was on last 20 days when India intervened on behalf of Bangladesh."

Please take a look and post your comments, analysis, etc, below. You can control each image by clicking on the forward, pause and back buttons.

SOUTH ASIA-RELATED COVERS, 1926-2007 (in reverse order)

Post your comments below - help us make this list better! If you can't see the covers above, click here.

[This is just an example of the kinds of activities that SAJA does. You can support us by becoming a member - just $10 a year for students, $20 for journalists, $40 for everyone else. Sign up now. Or you can make a donation of any amount (click "I will attend" on that link).]

UPDATE: Thanks to Tina Biswas, we have added six New Yorker covers, from 1931 to 1997 - and several dozen more covers - bringing us to 120+.

Send us your suggestions - saja[at]columbia.edu or post in the comments below. And don't forget to click on the Time links above so you can read those cover stories, going back to the 1920s.

AN ITEM FOR COVER JUNKIES, LIKE ME:
The Economist cover you see on the right, from June 2006, is part of the annual "covers of the year" winners by the American Society of Magazine Editors (a group SAJA collaborates with regurlarly on other programming). This cover won for "Best Cover Line" and received third place for "Best Cover of the Year" (see the full list of winners and finalists in the various categories). Note the yellow pointer to a special report inside on Pakistan.

Comments

[Naeem Mohaiemen]

Great collection. Interesting to see how Bangladesh's independence war in 1971 was mostly covered as the "India-Pakistan war" in US media, and most of the focus was on last 20 days when India intervened on behalf of Bangladesh.

There were at least 2 more Time/Newsweek covers on Bangladesh during 1971. One had a Bengali guerilla fighter in lungi, another had a Bengali soldier in helmet. This was earlier in the conflict when the media angle was "brave guerillas", before the shift

[Tina Biswas]

What an excellent idea! I did a quick search on The New Yorker site because I remember there was an issue dedicated to Indian fiction in 1997 with Ganesh on the cover, and it looks like there are quite a few covers there:

http://www.cartoonbank.com/assets/2/47489_l.jpg
http://www.cartoonbank.com/assets/2/49374_l.jpg
http://www.cartoonbank.com/assets/2/50906_l.jpg
http://www.cartoonbank.com/assets/2/48860_l.jpg
http://www.cartoonbank.com/assets/2/48285_l.jpg
http://www.cartoonbank.com/assets/2/49669_l.jpg

[Manish]

Amazing covers, looks like lots of work. Nice job!

[Tina Biswas]

I believe there was an issue of "Time Out New York" magazine that had a South Asian cover when Bombay Dreams opened on Broadway. I've tried locating the image online, but can't seem to find it.

Also, Rabindranath Tagore was featured in "The Mentor" magainze in May 1921; here's the only image I found online:

http://i15.ebayimg.com/01/i/01/e4/7c/b6_1_b.JPG

[Jinal Shah]

This is brilliant. It was very much needed..I'll look out for covers.

[Komal]

What an amazing walk back through history. Brilliant! Now if only you could get the covers to parade past like the album covers on Apple's iPhone!

[Jaya Kamlani]

What a lovely show-and-tell of history!
What a cherished walk back into time!

You’ve put together an amazing treasure,
Of South Asia’s heroic and turbulent times.

Thanks for sharing this lovely time capsule with us.

Jaya Kamlani

[Jaya Kamlani]

Love the incredible display. As the historical events scroll by me, I ask myself: WHERE WAS I WHEN THE EVENT OCCURRED?

Prime Minister Jawahrlal's photo reminds me of the time I attended his funeral in Delhi, with my relatives. The events of that day are still fresh on my mind... And the November 1962 photo of the solider reminds me of the Chinese invasion in the Himalayan mountains, and my next-door neighbor's Uncle, a captain, was captured and spent six months in the Chinese prison... And the 1965 war when Pakistan marched into Kashmir, and we had an air raid in Bombay. I remember that afternoon as it it were just yesterday... And yes, Zubin Mehta was so popular (as well as Ravi Shankar) when I arrived in the U.S four decades ago. I would go to Sam Goody's in New York City and buy their music albums.

By the way, that 1946 Newsweek photo of Nehru and Gandhi is a keepsake.

Jaya Kamlani

[anantha]

The trivia junkie in me always wanted to see the Parveen Babi cover on Time from '76 (or was it '77). I once heard that the people who chose photographs put Babi in the cover after mistaking her for Zeenat Aman who was probably the bigger star at that point of time in Bollywood. Is this cover on the list? Hmmm... Will check!

[anantha]

Hmmmm.. I cant find it in Time's archives. Was she on the Asian edition? someone know?

[Raju]

I found this Cover page on Wired magazine in Feb 2004..

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.02/full.html

[hadimani]

Great collections.

[Alfred]

I got my favorite all best magazines and free gift offers at Couponalbum.com......!!

[shlok]

I hope you've just added the latest Time magazine cover with Benazir Bhutto to this list.

http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,20080114,00.html

[Sajid Husain]

I m going to write my comments about the NYT journalist Nicholas schamidle deportation from my Lovng Country PAKISTAN. as a young journalist i would must say that my head hang over the unethical immoral act of Pakistan Govt. Believe me that 99% of Pakistani out of 100% are very hospitable. lovng. Friendly. Cooprative. And well mannerd . And brodminded but the Govt . Its universal truth that a journalist wether he belong to any ethnicity. Race. Language. Religion or nation he/she is respectd honourable Person. in my point of view " journalist speach of power, his honesty of thought and truth worthy Duties always win many National and international Friends. So i personaly strictly Condemnd the force deportation of Nicholas schamidle.. From SAJID HUSAIN 31 freelance investigative journalist,of PAKISTAN.. 00923458110058.

[panditjugalkishoreshastri]

I gifted a book, 75 years of PAGE ONE of NYT to a journalist once. Such a mouth watering compendium of delicious history in action that even an aggressive and no- nonsense journalist became putty in my hand. WWII pages smacked of urgency and celebration. Gandhi's assasination in 1948 frames gandhi as the one who distinguished world's history by the his presence in the 20th century....that such a one walked this earth kinda thing . Nehru's speech at the Independence steeped in european refinement and dignity. A giant step for mankind...on the moon. What a collector's item.

Even though most of us who have contributed to this thread are men of many parts i am sure this present collection of cover issues came as a surpris because it is unexpected and, simultaneously, has the nostalgic tug and the illicit charm of novelty. I haven't seen the covers yet but someday soon I hope to look at Marilyn Monroe on the Life cover struggling to keeping her white skirt down against all odds, given that an industrial fan in the background was doing the naughty work for the photographer.

A great anthology. better than paul simon anthology of music. Good work, YO!

[Jayanthi Iyengar]

Why is it so important for a South Asian to make it to the cover of "Time" of "News Week"?

This sounds like a colonial hang-up, except that it seems to be surfacing---surprisingly (I mean, for a colonial hang-up)--in North America.

For those of us, who are in Asia, it is no secret that journalists and editors from many of these publications don't even bother to visit the countries they cover before they dash off their insights. Instead they sit in Hong Kong to write their treatise on China and and the two Koreas, and in Singapore to report on India.

As for the few editors who are here---I have personally seen them playing basket ball in office, while stringers sweat it out in the sun trying to gather information, based on their limited capabilities.

And as for the North American public, one needs to switch on to FOX or CNBC (or pick up near-national publications like the Chicago Tribune or the Boston Globe)for a few seconds to know that for the bulk of Americans, nothing exists beyond North America.

What is most important for Asian leaders is to be seen and heard in Asia, where their electorate and their geographical neighbors know what they are doing, and more importantly, why they are doing it.

Appearing on the cover "Time" could be goal, if one is angling for the Nobel Peace Prize. But even that could be elusive, given the politics! For Asians, the goalpost must, and still is in Asia.

[panditjugalkishoreshastri]

jayanthi iyengar:

your clarion call to ASIANIZE asian coverage notwithstadning, the only names you uttered were chicago tribune boston globe time fox cnbc singapore hong kong and what have you. don't you see it's good to sound fashionable. you look gorgeous in those names. I just wish you could make a dress out of boston globe and chicago tribune. Ah, it's only with boston globe and the trib you could dress to the extreme. point being, charity begins at home and ends where it begins. next time around greet me with a namaste if we meet in public and lemme know where and when. I will be in a kurta and jammies. i am being chivalrous because of a colonial hang up. so, wake up sista and bro, and smell coffee beans. America is too big a country to worry about rest of the world. imagine haiti and burkino fasso complaining about america's indifference to them. if you get to the highest buildings in these two countries you can see both these countries in front of you.

moral: Other than the rich people the only group of people who think more about money are the poor.