The Devil's Wind: Nana Saheb's Story

by Manohar Malgonkar

Manohar Malgonkar’s 'Devil wind’. Translated in Kannada by: Ravi Belagere

One of the best pieces of historical fiction. A very existential novel about the revolt of 1857 in British India.

Genres: Historical Fiction, India, Fiction

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Manohar Malgonkar was an Indian author in the English language of both fiction and nonfiction.

Malgonkar was born in a royal family, and educated at Bombay University. He was an officer in the Maratha Light Infantry, a big game hunter, a civil servant, a mine owner and a farmer, and he also stood for parliament. Most of that activity was during the build up to Indian independence and its aftermath, often the settings for his works. The socio-historical milieu of those times form the backdrop of his novels, which are usually of action and adventure. He also wrote non-fiction, including biography and history.

Malgonkar lived in a remote bungalow, at some distance from the town of Belgaum, Karnataka. His only child Sunita (educated at the famous Lawrence School Sanawar) died at a young age.

Reviews

[Nandakishore Mridula · Rating 4 out of 5]

To the British historians, Dhondu Pant, better known as Nana Sahab, is a devil in human guise: who murdered "innocent" British civilians and even roasted children alive. Of course, the same historians insist on calling the Grand Rebellion of 1857, which effectively ended the East India Company's rule in India, as "Sepoy Mutiny" - as though it was a local revolt by Hindu and Muslim sepoys of the army who did not know any better than to accept the "civilising" influence of the white-skinned looters.

Well, for Indians, this is The First War of Independence. Mangal Pandey, the Rani of Jhansi, Nana Sahab, Tantya Tope... these are our heroes, our first freedom fighters. Kudos to Malgonkar for bringing to life the story of one of them, who managed to evade the colonial powers and was never caught.

According to the author, Nana Sahab is considerably less black than he's painted. He cites a lot of historical references. Being a novice as far as history is concerned, I do not know about the veracity of his account - but as a novel, told in the first person perspective of the protagonist, it's brilliant.

Like the guy said, if this story ain't true, it oughtta be!

[Prashanth Bhat · Rating 5 out of 5]

ಸುಂಟರಗಾಳಿ - ಮನೋಹರ‌ ಮಾಳಗಾಂವಕರ್/ ಅನುವಾದ - ಗೀತಾ ಮೋಹನ ಮುರಳಿ.

ಮೊದಲ ಸ್ವಾತಂತ್ರ್ಯ ಸಮರದ ನಾನಾ ಸಾಹೇಬನ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ನಿಮಗೆಷ್ಟು ಗೊತ್ತು? ಆಗಿನ ರಾಜಕೀಯದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ?
ಇದನ್ನು ನಾನಾ ಸಾಹೇಬನೇ ಅವನ ಕತೆ ಹೇಳಿದಂತೆ ಬರೆಯಲಾಗಿದೆ.
ಮನೋಹರ ಮಾಳಗಾಂವಕರ್ ಎಂಬ ಅಪ್ರತಿಮ ಕಾದಂಬರಿಕಾರ ಬರೆದ devil's wind ಕಾದಂಬರಿಯ ಅನುವಾದ ಇದು.
ಇದು ನಾಲ್ಕನೇ ಸಲ ಓದುತ್ತಾ ಇರುವುದು. ಮೊದಲು ಓದಿದಾಗ ಕಂದಕದ ದೃಶ್ಯ ಕಟ್ಟಿಗೆ ಕಟ್ಟಿತ್ತು. ಆಮೇಲೆ ತಾಳಲಾರದೆ ಮೂಲ ಓದಿದ್ದೆ. ಅವರ ಇಂಗ್ಲಿಷ್ ನಿಜಕ್ಕೂ ಅದ್ಭುತ. ಆದರೆ ಪುಸ್ತಕ ಭಯಂಕರ ರೇಟು.
ಅದಾದ ಬಳಿಕ ಬಂತು ನೋಡಿ.ರವಿ ಬೆಳಗೆರೆ ಅವರ 'ದಂಗೆಯ ದಿನಗಳು' ಅದೂ ಇದರದೇ ಅನುವಾದ.
ರವಿ ಬೆಳಗೆರೆ ಅನುವಾದ ಮೂಲದ ಸತ್ವವ ಹಾಳು ಮಾಡಿ ಅದನ್ನು ರೋಚಕಗೊಳಿಸಿತ್ತು.
ಈಗ ಮತ್ತೆ ಓದುವಾಗ ಗೀತಾ ಮೋಹನ ಮುರಳಿ ಅವರ ಅನುವಾದ ಎಷ್ಟು ಚಂದ ಇದೆ ಅನಿಸಿತು.

ನಾನಾ ಸಾಹೇಬ ನಿರ್ಭಾವುಕನಾಗಿ ತನ್ನ ಕುಟುಂಬಕ್ಕಂಟಿದ ಶಾಪದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ,ತನ್ನ ತಪ್ಪಿಸಲಾಗದ ವಿಧಿಯ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಹೇಳುತ್ತಾ ಹೋಗುತ್ತಾನೆ. ಇತಿಹಾಸ ಮತ್ತು ಫಿಕ್ಷನ್ ಮಿಲಾಕತ್ ಮಾಡಿದ ರೀತಿ ನಿಜಕ್ಕೂ ಅದ್ಭುತ.

ಅಂದ ಹಾಗೆ
1986ರಲ್ಲಿ ಮನೋಹರ ಗ್ರಂಥಮಾಲೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಪ್ರಕಟವಾದ ಈ ಪುಸ್ತಕ ಈಗಲೂ ruthumana ವೆಬ್ಸೈಟ್ ನಲ್ಲಿ ಲಭ್ಯವಿದೆ.‌ಕೇವಲ ಎಂಬತ್ತು ರೂಪಾಯಿ ಬೆಲೆಯ ಇದು ನೀವೆಲ್ಲ ಓದಬೇಕಾದ್ದು.

[Sanjay Manjunath · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good one..

[ಸುಶಾಂತ ಕುರಂದವಾಡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

ಪೇಶ್ವೇ ಮನೆತನದ ಅದ್ಭುತ ಹೋರಾಟಗಾರ ಬಾಜೀರಾವ್ ಪೇಶ್ವೇಯ ಮಗ ನಾನಾಸಾಹೇಬ್ ತನ್ನ ಕಣ್ಣಿನಿಂದ ನೋಡಿದ ದಂಗೆಯ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಹೇಳಿದ ಕಥೆಯಿದು. ಒಮ್ಮೆ ಓದಬಹುದು ಆದರೆ ಬೆಳಗೆರೆಯವರ ಮಾಂತ್ರಿಕಶಕ್ತಿ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಮಾಯವಾದಂತಿದೆ

[Connie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a WONDERFUL historical fiction account of the Great Mutiny in India in the middle of the 19th century. Manohar Malgonkar, the author, is a wonderful Indian novelist and this book is told from the Indian point of view. When I read it, I read another book describing the same events by Henty from the English Colonial point of view. If you like this you will also like Bend in the Ganges by Malgonkar about partition.

[Anil Srivastava]

One of the best pieces of historical fiction. A very existential novel about the revolt of 1857 in British India.

[Siddesh · Rating 4 out of 5]

its worth reading

[Kartikey Singh · Rating 5 out of 5]

A captivating read, it gives a beautiful and interwoven story of the life of the last Peshwa, with facts and fiction.

The book doesn't shy away from portraying the good, bad and ugly as what it is, without any subtleties.

To me personally I loved the aftermath section of the 1857 revolution and its effect on him and how he kept living on.

A definitive read.

[Ashwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 3.5/5

Historical fiction set in India has only recently become commonplace so when I went looking for a classic in the genre, I found it. The lowered rating is only because the book was not entirely what I was looking for.

The loose and largely untrodden plot concerns Dhondu Pant Nana Saheb's life before, during, and after the 1857 First War of Independence (to the Indians, that is; The Sepoy Mutiny to the British). As the last Peshwa of the Maratha Confederacy, he was heir to a majestic empire that held off European (British, Dutch, Portuguese) advance in India for over 150 years only to be brought down in the familiar fashion by a society far more materially advanced and politically united. By the end of his life, he was a hate and reviled man by the British as they considered him the mastermind of the revolt against them.

Malgonkar does not tell this story as a historian, but from the first-person view of Nana Saheb himself. Indians did not develop a culture of personal letter writing or journaling as compared to Western culture so we are generally lacking in intimate understanding of people as compared to Washington or Napoleon.

This book attempts to fill in the gap by eschewing dry dates and military movements of most books on Indian history and fills in the reluctant heir and existential character of Nana Saheb during those important times. The book has little in the way of plot and much in the way of character development of which I had hoped there were would be better balance. Much of the novel concerns itself with the inner despondency of Nana who was by 1857, then a nominal king more concerned with fancy feasts and courtesans, thrust the reins as leader of the fight against the British.

[Ashish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent narrative, gripping plot. Examines the legend of Nanasahib and Tatya Tope from a nationalist perspective. Although this book does not give references, being historical fiction, several recent non fiction works have corroborated malgonkars premises and conclusions

[Prashanth Bhat · Rating 4 out of 5]

it is translation of manohar malagavkar book.interesting read

[Atul Sharma · Rating 4 out of 5]

💭Imagine being able to pen down a perfect blend of what goes inside your mind and as well as on the outside. How many of you can Imagine !? A bunch of people would say yes and the rest wouldn't. I've got your back the "Rest and Left people", now this Bookset comes into play.

👀 After reading a handful of various Fiction works, I can say that these ones are the right fit for you if you want to read some real classic India Fiction works, the ones that you can relate with.

📣There aren't many works present that justifies the need of portraying the Indian culture and heritage into their works apart from non fiction. Though being written decades ago these works of Manohar Malgonakar have the essence of both Indian culture and heritage, that's very rare to sight for even nowadays.

📣He has been a writer, a columnist, a army officer, a civil servant and a miner. One can precisely see that the inspiration he took from these roles into portraying the events and people around them into his works. The mentioned books, capture different stories around the same timelines, with various aspects.

📌The best thing I've liked about these works is the emotional and philosophical portrayal of the character towards the situations and events in their life. These are moderate sized books.

📌If you find yourself related to what's mentioned above and wish to read something different yet relatable to the Indian culture then this might be the right choice for you.

[Comrade · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://wanderingwords391011469.wordp...

"The Devil’s Wind is a 1972 historical novel by Indian writer Manohar Malgonkar on the life of the infamous Nana Saheb – one of the leading figures of the 1857 Indian Rebellion against the British. Malgonkar’s purpose in writing this novel was to paint a sympathetic picture of a man cast by posterity as a villain. The book is relatively obscure and I would not have discovered it were not for a post on the Indian book reviewing blog BookGeeks (https://www.bookgeeks.in/)."

Check out the full review on my blog, linked above.

[Nayaz Riyazulla · Rating 4 out of 5]

1857ರ ಸಿಪಾಯಿ ದಂಗೆಯ ಆಧಾರಿತ ಕಾದಂಬರಿ.... ದೊಂಡೂ ಪಂತ್ ರ ನಾಯಕತ್ವದಲ್ಲಿ ನಡೆದ ಭಾರತದ ಮೊದಲ ಸ್ವಾತಂತ್ರ್ಯ ದಂಗೆಯ ಅದ್ಬುತ ಚಿತ್ರಣವೇ ಈ ಕೃತಿ.... ಇಲ್ಲಿ ತಾಂತ್ಯ ಟೋಪಿ, ಅಜೀಮ್, ಝಾನ್ಸಿ ರಾಣಿ, ನಾನಾ ಸಾಹೇಬ್, ಹುಚ್ಚು ಮುಲ್ಲ, ಜೀನಾತ್ ಮಹಲ್ ಮುಂತಾದರ ಶೌರ್ಯದ ಕಥೆಗಳಿವೆ... ಬ್ರಿಟೀಷರ ಕ್ರೌರ್ಯದ ಚಿತ್ರಣವಿದೆ... ನೀಜಮ್ ಅಲಿರಂತ ದುಷ್ಟರಿದ್ದಾರೆ... ಒಟ್ಟು ದಂಗೆಯ ದಿನಗಳನ್ನು ರಕ್ತ ಕುದಿಯುವಷ್ಟು ಅದ್ಭುತವಾಗಿ ಕಟ್ಟಿ ಕೊಟ್ಟಿದ್ದಾರೆ.... ಎಲ್ಲರೂ ಒಮ್ಮೆ ಓದಲೇಬೇಕಾದ ಕೃತಿ....

[Ömür Taşar · Rating 4 out of 5]

The violence...horrible
The culture of India under British rule...degenerated
Women....admirable, yet submissive
Choosing sides...you can't win, but you might minimize loses by listening to your heart.

[Uttam · Rating 1 out of 5]

Good

[Bharathi Heathens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book

[Dattatreya Kugve · Rating 2 out of 5]

Took this book hoping to get historical details of 1857 upraising but I got disappointed with the content. Most of the book is filled with details of sexual adventures of Nana sahib and british and not at all detailed about the upraising. I don't recommend this book at all

[Chidanand Mirje]

heeee

[Prasad]

i want to read