Provenance of Rani Laxmi Bai: Polemics of Representation and Subaltern History vis-a-vis Orality

Abstract

In the paper the attempt has been to formulate three major findings in order to propose
a methodology which expounds the major debates of representation vis-a-vis
subalternity. These have been: (i) representation that breaks superficial or gallant
depictions; (ii) misrepresentation and subalternity; and (iii) Orality as complementary
to subaltern history. Hence the attempt has been to recognize how fabricated
representations result in the production of bogus histories that act as official contagion
of falsehoods or misrepresentations. The end result being that the subaltern in question
remains relegated to the margins as an outsider, as well as an unsung participant to the
point of being criminalised or scandalised as witnessed in the case of Rani Laxmi Bai.
These issues have been investigated with respect to Mahasweta Devi’s novel The Queen
of Jhansi. In examining the novel, it was palpable that incorporation of oral sources
substantially resolved these polemics of representation and subaltern history. Hence,
the attempt is to highlight how history can be doctored or tampered with to produce a
false history. The target of the paper aims to address this falsification of history as
strategically executed to change the course of history that is highly in contradiction to
the reality of past.