Asian Television Network International has acquired the Canadian broadcast rights to the 26-part animated series The Legend of Ponnivala from The Sophia Hilton Foundation of Canada and Soft Science Associates.

Produced in Canada, the series tells a story of the Indian cultural heroes Ponnar and Shankar, who figure largely in the Indian epic the Mahabharata. As with all such tales, it is also steeped in regionally significant themes and imagery, according an ATN press release.

“This is amongst the first of its kind Canadian animated production based on a story from the Indian subcontinent,” said Dr. Shan Chandrasekar president and CEO of ATN, in the release.

The series is directed by Dr. Brenda Beck, an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto who has studied Tamil culture and society for nearly 50 years, with technical direction from her partner Eric Harris and art direction from Indian animation director Ravichandran Arumugam.

The Legend of Ponnivala will air on three ATN channels: the flagship channel ATN HD, ATN Jaya TV and CBN in English. It will also be dubbed in Tamil for ATN’s Tamil language channel ATN Jaya TV, for broadcast at a later date.