Anger and Violence in Partition Literature
Anger and Violence in Partition Literature
By : Madhu Sharma Partition of Indian subcontinent in 1947 was the biggest and most painful event in the whole human history. Millions of refugees came from Pakistan to India and vice-versa to seek a shelter of safety and security over their heads. The inarticulatable pain, trauma, angst and violence they went through is hard to believe and even imagine. They lost their hearth and houses, became alien in their own country and were treated inhumanly as outsiders, hence exposed to every lurking danger coming their way. About sixty four years have passed by but the dark imprint of that horribly tormenting experience is still etched vividly in the minds of those who were compelled to undergo this horrific ordeal named ‘Partition’. Like any other refugee they had to face the pangs of hunger, poverty, deprivation and utter humiliation from their own country men. A new nation was already passing through the pains of birth hence it had no time and mechanism to cope with the huge exodus of the sea of humanity that appeared on the arena. Partition literature is a kind of humble tribute to those fighting millions who braving all odds managed to piece together the scattered fragments of their own lives. Partition forcibly imposed a heart rending separation on Siami twins thereby making the resultant pain and agony inevitable. Hence, to measure the intensity and magnitude of devastation wrecked by partition of India and explain the pain and trauma in words is truly a mammoth task for the writers and historians. The glaring irony that underlay the independence of the country sensitized the creative authors to respond to the tragic tale of misery and bloodshed beyond the apparent and the obvious by discerning into the gulf of not only partitioned nation but also partitioned hearts and minds. Writers like Khushwant Singh, Bhisham Sahni, R.K.Narayan, Manohar Malgoankar, Chaman Nahal, Raj Gill, H.S.Gill and Salman Rushdi have
By : Madhu Sharma Partition of Indian subcontinent in 1947 was the biggest and most painful event in the whole human history. Millions of refugees came from Pakistan to India and vice-versa to seek a shelter of safety and security over their heads. The inarticulatable pain, trauma, angst and violence they went through is hard to believe and even imagine. They lost their hearth and houses, became alien in their own country and were treated inhumanly as outsiders, hence exposed to every lurking danger coming their way. About sixty four years have passed by but the dark imprint of that horribly tormenting experience is still etched vividly in the minds of those who were compelled to undergo this horrific ordeal named ‘Partition’. Like any other refugee they had to face the pangs of hunger, poverty, deprivation and utter humiliation from their own country men. A new nation was already passing through the pains of birth hence it had no time and mechanism to cope with the huge exodus of the sea of humanity that appeared on the arena. Partition literature is a kind of humble tribute to those fighting millions who braving all odds managed to piece together the scattered fragments of their own lives. Partition forcibly imposed a heart rending separation on Siami twins thereby making the resultant pain and agony inevitable. Hence, to measure the intensity and magnitude of devastation wrecked by partition of India and explain the pain and trauma in words is truly a mammoth task for the writers and historians. The glaring irony that underlay the independence of the country sensitized the creative authors to respond to the tragic tale of misery and bloodshed beyond the apparent and the obvious by discerning into the gulf of not only partitioned nation but also partitioned hearts and minds. Writers like Khushwant Singh, Bhisham Sahni, R.K.Narayan, Manohar Malgoankar, Chaman Nahal, Raj Gill, H.S.Gill and Salman Rushdi have
References: Primary sources 1. Sahni Bhisham. Tamas. New Delhi : Raj Kamal Publications, 1989. 2. Singh, Khushwant. Train to Pakistan. Bombay : Indian Book House Pvt. Ltd., 1975. 3. Gill, H.S. Ashes and Petals. New Delhi : Vikas Publishing House, 1978. 4. Gill, Raj The Rape. New Delhi: Sterling Publishers, 1974. Secondary sources: 5. Hossain, Attia. Sunlight on a Broken Column. New Delhi: Arnold-Heinmann, 1979. 6. Malgoankar, Manohar, A Bend in the Ganges. New Delhi : Orient Paperbacks, 1964.