Re(creating) Honour and History: Dalit Veeranganas in Mohandas Naimisharay’s <i>Veerangana Jhalkari Bai</i> and Mata Prasad’s <i>Veerangana Uda Devi Pasi</i>

Mohandas Naimisharay’s novel Veerangana Jhalkari Bai and Mata Prasad’s play Veerangana Uda Devi Pasi centre around the experiences of two Dalit warriors during the revolution of 1857. Both literary works produced in the Hindi language provide a window into the lives and struggles of these marginal yet exceptional women. In this study, I argue that through historical reimagining, both texts construct narratives of courage and self-esteem within the Dalit community while highlighting the caste-based discrimination prevalent against the Dalits. These narratives, primarily ‘history from below’, assert caste identity and foreground the role and sacrifice of the Kori and Pasi communities in the revolution. By resurrecting and reimagining Dalit female icons of Jhalkari Bai and Uda Devi, these texts potentially subvert the conventional patriarchal historiography and challenge the established power structures to provide a Dalit perspective on the revolution of 1857.