‘Swapnalabdha Bharatbarsher Itihas’: Construction of Alternate History in The Nineteenth Century Bengali Literature/ ‘স্বপ্নলব্ধ ভারতবর্ষের ইতিহাস’ : উনিশ শতকের বাংলা সাহিত্যে বিকল্প ইতিহাসের নির্মাণ

Abstract

In the second half of the Twentieth century, after the disastrous Second World War, a type of fiction became popular - Alternative history or Allohistory. It is a retrospection of history with an alternate narrative. Although the history of Alternate History fiction leads back to the Nineteenth century. Nineteenth-century Bengal was going through several massive changes- be it political, economic or social. As the century proceeded, the English-educated Bengalis emerged with a piece of new world knowledge. They got acquainted with European history, literature and culture. As they were trying to navigate their way, finding their existence in this ever-evolving new world, a world dealing with the Industrial Revolution followed by the Scientific Revolution, they realised we had a deficient historiography. The many years of memory, that we carried through stories were not documented as history. We got the idea of historical thinking and became conscious of History. The early Nineteenth-century Bengali literature reflects this historical consciousness. We see Alternative History fiction parallels Historical fiction. But allohistorical narratives are infrequent in Bengali literature. Bhudeb Mukhopadhyay wrote this rare story. If the Third Battle of Panipat were to conclude differently what would have happened? What would have happened if The Maratha Confederacy secured the triumph? How the socio-political history of India would appear? Could India also become a Household name in this fierce place called World Politics? Does it become a utopian narrative? Bhudeb Mukhopadhyay creates. With the Allohistorical narrative frame in mind, we excavate this literary piece- ‘Swapnalabdha Bharatbarsher Itihas’.