Poornima Immanuel

History As Novel: Rewriting History Poornima Immanuel

The post colonial rewriting of history attempts to create alternative histories of the colonized as opposed to the official history of the colony. The different ways in which the decolonizing artists employ history in their novels in order to shape the historical outlook of the people is the main focus of this research study. The novels chosen for research study are Bhagwan S. Gidwani's "The Sword of Tipu Sultan" and "Return of the Aryans" and Timeri N. Murari's "The Imperial Agent" and "Last Victory". These novels which depict colonial India are opted for study as they give ample scope to explore the decolonizing artist's urge for debunking imperial myths,resurrecting national glories of the eventful past epochs and deducing valuable lessons for the post-independence India from the pre-independence era. Murari's "Taj" is also taken up for study as Murari feels that the base for the present day Hindu-Muslim conflict was laid during the Mughal era.