Literature as Resistance

Manohar Malgonkar’s The Devil’s Wind as a Counter-Narrative to Colonial History

Abstract

The article explores how Malgonkar’s novel The Devil’s Wind (1972) operates as a discourse of literary resistance in opposition to colonial historiography and establishes itself as a counter narrative to colonial history. Postcolonial writings customarily stem from the colonial experience, arising from European expansion and exploitation of Third World countries. Accordingly, the 
writings from the former colonies aim at writing back in an attempt to correct, review, and reinterpret the Western notion of its former colonies. Reinterpreting the Indian Rebellion of 1857 through the lens of Nana Saheb, the novel interrogates and dismantles Nana’s colonial portrayal, assesses Eurocentric notions of history, and thereby claims back indigenous agency. This study employs a qualitative research approach within a historical framework. The study contributes to literary discourse by reasoning and attesting how literature can interrogate hegemonic discourses, and issue counter-narratives that give prominence to colonised voices.