The periodical that outsells most others with a record 7,25,000 readers every fortnight observes none of the formulae editors and publishers recommend for a mass-circulated magazine. It has no sex, no obscene pictures on the editorial or advertisement pages, no tantalizing covers, no scandal reports, no "negative journalism" and a total blackout of bad news.
"The periodical sells because it prints only good thoughts," said a reader, unraveling the mystery of "Bhavan's Journal's" enormous success. Even the covers are prosaic, the annual number released in Bombay last week bearing the portraits of Gandhi, Tagore and Swami Vivekananda. "Let alone printing all three portraits, it will be difficult to find another magazine with even one of them on the cover," the reader said.
The popularity of the magazine comes from a famine of wholesome reading material, because only "bad news is good news" for the formula-ridden magazines. The largest patronage for the "Bhavan's Journal"- "even the title is unimpressive - comes, according to a readership profile, from the "unemployed", including housewives. And 86,000 readers earn less than Rs. 200 a month.
It is read by the young and the old, the rich and the poor, men, women and children. It is bought because it speaks the spiritual language and represents the collective wisdom of centuries.