Ananda Vikatan

History

Ananda Vikatan was started by Pudhoor Vaidyanadha Iyer in February 1926 as a monthly publication. The issue for December 1927 was not published due to financial difficulties. In January 1928, S. S. Vasan bought the rights from Iyer and relaunched the publication in February 1928 in a new format. He paid ₹200 (equivalent to ₹45,000 or US$470 in 2023) at the rate of ₹25 per letter in the Tamil-language name (ஆனந்த விகடன்) of the publication to buy the rights. He built it into a weekly and sales soon rose. Veteran journalist and media personality and Srinivasan's son S. Balasubramanian served as editor, managing director and publisher of the magazine for nearly fifty years till 2006. He also started the "Manavar Thittam" or student journalism scheme that has been active for the last thirty years and counting. He also launched Junior Vikatan, a biweekly Tamil investigative journal in the 1980s. Balasubramanian later served as chairman emeritus of the Vikatan Group after retiring from active involvement and handing over the reins to his son B. Srinivasan.