Nation and Its History


 
 
Concept Explanation
 

Nation and Its History

The Nation and Its History :

The history written by colonial historians tended to depict Indians as weak, divided, and dependent on the British. These histories could not satisfy the tastes of the new Indian administrators and intellectuals. Nor did the traditional Puranic stories of the past – peopled by gods and demons, filled with the fantastic and the supernatural  seem convincing to those educated and working under the English system. Such minds wanted a new view of the past that would show that Indians could be independent minded and had been so in history.

The new Indian administrators and intellectuals of  India wanted a new view of the past. In novel, the nation could be imagined in a past chat also historical characters, places, events and dates. In Bengal, many historical novels were about Marathas and Rajputs. These novels produced a sense of a pan-Indian belonging.

Such a story was Bhudeb Mukhopadhyay's (1827-94) Arguriya Binimoy, (1857) the first historical novel written in Bengal. The imagined nation of the novel was so powerful that it could inspire actual political movements. Many of these novels also reveal the problems of thinking about the nation.

Novel 'Chemmeen' and 'Chomana Dudi: The novel Chemmeen was written by Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai (1912-99) which is set in the fishing community in Kerala. It was made into a film by the same name which was directed by Ramu Kariat. Chomana Dudi was a Kannada film which was based on the novel of same title by Sivarama Karanth (1902-1997).

 
 


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