25 Partition and New Literatures English

Ms. Safia Begum

About chapter:

The present module is about a new area of study called partition literature. In this module you will come to know about various writers and how the great historical moment of India’s partition influenced the writers of distinct regions and languages. During this whole learning process you will observe how in different genres and manners the writers have unfolded the events and effects of partition in their writings which gave birth to a generic literary study called partition literature.

Literature and History:

Through literature the past is constituted and made accessible to readers. Past need not necessarily be accessible to us only through history, the glimpses of history can always be found in other areas of study as well. Literature is one of the means to access it. Literature is created in response to society. Thus, the past society, its traditions, values, culture may handed down to us through literature.

In other words one can say that there is a close connection between literature and history. In order to understand a literary piece one cannot ignore the time and period in which the piece was written. History is essential for understanding literature in a comprehensive manner. However, literature departs from the realm of fact into imagination, whereas history must be verifiable through documents or witnesses. History is composed of facts, while literature is a linguistic construct that focuses on defamiliarisation of the real through the resources of imagination. So, literature, through the fictionalized characters can give the readers what history cannot. In appealing to imagination literature makes us see and hear what history cannot offer us. Thus, history, society, culture are the elements that provide a base for a literary piece to begin and what remains with the readers is the imagination. The gravity and significance of incidents in human terms, and the existential import of events comes to us through literary writings, while history gives us knowledge of the past.  Historical narrative does not provide its readers with the enormity of mental agonies any historical moment has left behind on the minds of the people.

For example one of the history texts says about the partition of India as “At least 500,000 people are estimated to have been killed, and many women were abducted and raped; and it is estimated that no fewer than 11 million Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs crossed the border, which to this day remains the single largest episode of migration in history” (Bhatt et al. 27-28). Sukeshi Kamra says in “Partition and Post-Partition Acts of Fiction: Narrating Painful Histories” “Partition’s erasure in Indian historiography has in no small way contributed to the sense many survivors have of a history that does not include or represent them.”

According to Ravikant “Till recently, we as a nation, in fact, have been sleepwalking through these decades until an odd film or a novel, or the actuality of a riot awakens us to momentarily remember and refer back to the nightmare of Partition. The nation has grown up, ritually counting and celebrating birthdays—its own and of the great souls that won it the freedom— while systematically consigning the Partition to oblivion” (Ravikant Quoted in Sukeshi Kamra, 111). Hence, the human cost, the human waste, tragedy and recovery become available to us only through creative art, literature being one of them.

Partition in Indian Subcontinent:

On 14th August 1947 India was partitioned into two parts. The country that was once united is now divided into two Indian and Pakistan and later in 1971 a third country, Bangladesh, was also created out. The seeds of it began in the 1940’s. It has an important place in the history of the Indian subcontinent because this was the time when the idea of the Two Nation Theory began.

Two Nation Theory:

Two Nation Theory is a political ideology that explains the reasons for politically dividing India into two nations, India and Pakistan, on the religious grounds. The concept was first proposed by Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the 1940s at the end of colonial rule in India. The policy has its roots in the separate electorate system that was introduced in phases for the Muslims and Hindus under the constitutional reform of 1909, 1919 and 1935. In this system Muslim could elect their own candidate to represent them in the provincial legislative councils and legislative assemblies, political powers in the Muslim majority areas of India. Due to this system Muslim formed their Ministries in Bengal and in the North Western Provinces. This gave an opportunity to some of the Muslims to turn this into a separate nation there emerged the Two Nation theory emphasizing that Muslims are a separate nation historically, culturally, intellectually, and socially.

It was Sir Syed Ahmed Khan (1817-1898) who first introduced it through the movement of Self-awakening and identity. According to him Indian Muslim community themselves form a nation and should not support or join Congress Nationalist movement.  The idea was encouraged by the colonial rulers.

On the other hand “The congress non-co-operation of the Diarchy constitution at provincial level had alienated considerable Muslim political elements from the nationalist politics of the Congress and consequently, the Muslim League, which was moribund until 1929, became increasingly the vehicle of Muslim politics in Bengal and also in other Muslim majority provinces.

Later Sir Muhammad Iqbal, the renowned poet and philosopher, in his presidential address  at  the  Muslin  League’s  conference  in  December  1933  explained  the  two nation  concept theoretically. Once again he delineated on this subject, Muslim nationhood, in a response  to  a  statement  made  by  Pundit  Jawaharlal  Nehru  at  the  London  Round Table Conference. He said that ‘the attitude of the Muslim delegation was based on ‘reactionarism’. To this Iqbal replied

In conclusion I must put a straight question to Pundit Jawhar Lal, how is India’s problem to be solved if the majority community will neither concede the minimum safeguards necessary for the protection of a minority of 80 million people, nor accept the award of a third party; but continue to talk of a kind of nationalism which works out only to its own benefit? This position can admit of only two alternatives. Either the Indian majority community will have to accept for itself the permanent position of an agent of British imperialism in the East, or the country will have to be redistributed on a basis of religious, historical and cultural affinities so as to do away with the question of electorates and the communal problem in its present form.

Muhammad Ali Jinnah in his presidential address at Lahore on March 22/23, 1940 explained the Two Nation Theory. He said

It is extremely difficult to appreciate why our Hindu

friends fail to understand the real nature of Islam and

Hinduism. They are not religions in the strict sense of

the word, but are, in fact, different and distinct social

orders, and it is a dream that the Hindus and Muslims

can ever evolve a common nationality, and this

misconception of one Indian nation has troubles and

will lead India to destruction if we fail to revise our

notions in time. The Hindus and Muslims belong to

two different religious philosophies, social customs,

and litterateurs. They neither intermarry nor interdine

together and, indeed, they belong to two different

civilizations which are based mainly on conflicting

ideas and conceptions. Their aspects on life are

different. It is quite clear that Hindus and Mussalmans

derive their inspiration from different sources of

history. They have different epics, different heroes, and

different episodes. Very often the hero of one is a foe

of the other and, likewise, their victories and defeats

overlap. To yoke together two such nations under a

single state, one as a numerical minority and the other

as a majority, must lead to growing discontent and

final destruction of any fabric that may be so built for

the government of such a state.

Later in 1946 in the Muslim League Conference in Calcutta the idea of ‘sovereign and sovereign states’ was amended and it was resolved to establish a ‘sovereign state of Pakistan’ on the concept of Two Nation Theory.

Hence, soon India got divided on communal lines. In 1947 there emerged two countries born out of one, that is, India and Pakistan. Due to this reason lakhs of people of various religious beliefs crossed the borders and some lost their lives, properties, homes, relatives and families.

Though partition is now ‘history’, the people of the country never forgot the trauma; writers were also greatly influenced because it divided not only the country but also languages and literatures. Saadat Hassan Manto narrates the chaos and confusion it created in the minds of ordinary people, “When I sat down to write,’ he states, ‘I found my mind in a confused state. However much I tried, I could not separate India from Pakistan or Pakistan from India. My mind was invaded by the same puzzling questions again and again, will the literature of Pakistan be different? If so, how? Who has the claim to what was written in undivided India? Will that be divided as well?

It was not only an individual who alone was grappling with the creation of disturbed history but also lakhs of families whose opinions and loyalties also got divided. Ismat Chughtai in the short story Roots presents this dilemma: Amma’s children asked her to pack her luggage as they have to migrate to a new land but Amma is steadfast that she will not leave her home. However, she is silent but her younger son imagines and says “if my taciturn Amma had had a sharp tongue she would have retorted:

What’s this strange bird called “our land”? Own

country? Tell me where’s that land? This is the place

where one was born, one grew up in body and mind. If

this cannot be one’s own land, then how can the place

where one simply goes and settles down for a couple of

days be one’s own? And who knows whether one

won’t be driven out from there as well and be told “Go

and inhabit a new land”? I am like a lamp in its last

gasp. A mild gust of wind and all this fuss about

choosing a land will be over. After all, this game of

one’s land vanishing, and inhabiting a new land, is not

very interesting. There was a time when the Mughals

left their country to inhabit a new country. And today

you want to establish a new one. As though land is no

better than a pair of shoes- if it gets a little tight, throw

it away and get a new one.’

(Ismat Chughtai: Lifting the Veil Selected Writings, “Roots”, 207)

However, they had to go leaving everything behind but in this process they lost many dear, and near ones and women suffered a lot at every stage. It was both physical and mental loss. In other words it was difficult for the people to understand the term batwara or partition. They were unable to come to terms with the realities of division and suffered extreme mental agonies.

Writings on Partition of India:

This traumatic historical incident created a huge response from writers of various Indian languages. In fiction- short stories, novels, dramas, poetry, and nonfiction- life writings, autobiographies, etc., writers have been trying to understand the making of the traumatic events of India’s partition and the range of possible human emotions or the extreme hatred or doomed love towards the other.

There are many writers who brought to the fore different aspects of the tragic event. In Urdu literature it was Saadat Hasan Manto (1912-1955) who is known for writing extensively on the issues of partition. He also became victim of the great tragedy. His unforgettable short stories on partition are Toba Tek Singh, Khol Do, Thanda Gosht, Siya Hasiye and so on.

Siya Hasiye means black borders. “It is believed that when bad or morose news was published in the newspaper much like today, it was bordered with a black outline.” The sarcastic stories in Siya Hasiye consisted of a line or a paragraph. As an example see two stories from Siya Hasiye (i) Ungrateful Lot and (ii) Losing Proposition.

Ungrateful Lot

“What an ungrateful nation! After all the trouble I went

to, slaughtering fifty pigs in this mosque and what

happens?

Not one bloody customer! And now do you know, on

the other side there are people queuing outside every

temple to buy beef?”

Losing Proposition

The two friends finally picked out a girl from the

dozen or so they had been shown. She cost fort two

rupees and they brought her to their place.

One of them spent the night with her. “What is your

name?” he asked

When she told him, he was taken aback. “But we were

told you are the other religion.”

“They lied,” she replied “The bastards cheated us!”

he screamed, “selling us a girl who is one of us. I want my

money refunded.

His short stories present the naked realities of life and always leave his readers in shock and dismay. Rajinder Singh Bedi (1915-1984), one of the contemporaries of Manto, was also one of the prominent Urdu short story writers. His short story called Lajwanti is about a woman, Lajwanti, who was abducted during the partition time. Sundarlal is her abusive husband. One day in the partition violence his wife Lajwanti goes missing. Post- partition various campaigns begin to restore normal life. One such campaign was taking back of abducted women. Sundarlal, after taking back his wife Lajwanti, begins to treat her like a sensitive plant. Neither she was able to cry and tell him what has happened to her nor was he asking her about it. Due to this reason Lajwanti was unable to return to her normal self or life.

There are various writings on different aspects of partition of India. In presenting the traumas of partition Urdu poets are not left behind they have also changed their course and have expressed their disenchantment, grief and helplessness on the partition or creation of a new country in their poetic works. To name a few, Faiz Ahmad Faiz (1911-1984) in one of his remarkable poems Subh-e Azadi (Dawn of Independence)6 wherein he is crestfallen at the creation of a new country, Pakistan. The poem goes like this

Ye daagh ujala, ye shab gazeeda seher

Wo intezaar tha jiska ye wo seher tau nahi

Ye wo seher tau nahin, jis ki arzu le kar

Chaley thay yaar ke mil jaye gi kahin na kahin

Falak ke dasht mein taaron ki aakhri manzil

Kahin tau hoga shab-e sust mauj ka saahil

Kahin tau ja ke rukay ga safeena-e gham-e dil.

This stained light, this night-bitten dawn;

This is not that long-awaited day break;

This is not the dawn in whose longing,

We set out believing we would find, somewhere,

In heaven’s wide void,

The stars’ final resting place;

Somewhere the shore of night’s slow-washing tide;

Somewhere, an anchor for the ship of heartache.

Josh Malihabadi (1894-1982) wrote many poems one among them is Matam-e Azadi, Ali Sardar Jafri’s Dushman Kaun Hai? and Guftagu, Akhtarul Iman’s Pandrah August, Sahir Ludhianvi’s Chhabbees Janwary, Kaifi Azmi’s Farz. There are many other poets like Makhdoom Ahmad Riyaz, Ahmad Faraz, Majaz Lakhnavi, Qateel Shafai, Anand Narain Mulla so on and so forth. They all have shown their distress over the partition of India in their poetic works.

Further, there are many novelists who have also presented the trauma like Khadija Mastoor Aangan (1952) Qurratulain Hyder Aag Ka Dariya (1958), Abdullah Hussein Udaas Naslein (1963), Jogindar Paul Khwabrau (1990) and Intizar Husain Basti (1979), Kashmiri Lal Zakir, Ramanand Sagar, Hayatullah Ansari, Khawaja Ahmad Abbas, Ismat Chughtai, Ram Lal, Zafar Pyami, Abdus Samad, Adbullah Husian, Ghulam Abbas, Asfaq Husain, Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi etc.

In Hindi literature too there are numerus works on the partition like Rahi Masoom Reza’s Aadha Gaon (1966), Bhisham Sahani’s Tamas (1973), Manzoor Ehtesham’s Sookha Bargad (1983) Yash Pal’s Jhoota Sach, Ramanand Sagar’s Aur Insaan Mar Gaya, Bhairav Prasad Gupta‘s Sati Maiya ka Chaura (1959), Balvant Singh’s Kale Kos, Bhagvati Charan Varma’s Voh Phir Nahi Aayee, Badi Uzza Man’s Wapsi, Kamleshwar’s Laute Huye Musafir etc. Similarly in variou other languages the narratives of partition told and retold again and again.

Partition; Issues and Themes in English Literature:

Initially it was in Indian languages that partition experiences and narratives were noted. Later on in English too the Indian writers began to portray this bloody event of Indian history. The following are some of the English literary works based on the issues and themes of partition of India. R. K. Narayan’s Waiting for the Mahatma (1955), Khushwant Singh’s Train to Pakistan (1956) Rajan’s Dark Dancer (1958), Malgaonkar’s Distant Drum (1960), Attia Hosain’s novel Sunlight on a Broken Column (1961), Chaman Nahal’s Azadi (1975), H.S. Gill’s Ashes and Petals (1979), The Night of the Seven Dawns (1979) by Anita Kumar, Anita Desai’s novel Clear Light of Day (1980), Salman Rushdie’s metafictional novel Midnight’s Children (1981), K.A .Abbas’s The World is my Village (1984), Mahmud Sipra’s Pawn to King Three (1985) N.N. Saxena’s Ties-Thick and Thin (1987), Manoj Das’s Cyclones (1987), Bapsi Sidhwa’ novel Cracking India (1988), The Shadow lines (1988) of Amitav Ghosh, Anita Desai’s Baumgartner’s Bombay (1988), Shashi Tharoor in his novel The Great Indian Novel (1989), Guru Charan Das’s A Fine Family (1991), Mukul Kesavan’s Looking through Glass (1995), Shiv K. Kumar’ in A River with Three Banks (1998), Manju Kapoor’s Difficult Daughters (1998), Shauna Singh Baldwin’s What the Body Remembers (1999), Meena Arora Nayak’s About Daddy (2000), and Partitions (2011) by Amit Majmudar.

Selected Texts:

To explore the themes and issues of partition here we will discuss three selected writings that were written in different time periods (i) Train to Pakistan (1956) (ii) Sunlight on the Broken Column(1961) (iii) Cracking India.

Khushwant Singh’s Train to Pakistan (1956)

The novel, Train to Pakistan is set in a fictitious village called Mano Majra which is situated on the borders of yet to be born India and Pakistan. For centuries it has been a village where diverse community members coexisted peacefully. The novel is divided into four sections (i) Dacoity (ii) Kalyuga (iii) Mano Majra and (iv) Karma. Each section of the novel hints towards the impending incident of communal tension and violence in Mano Majra.

One day in the dead of the night a gangster Mali murders the money lender, Lala Ramlal. At the same time Jaggu, the local ruffian, comes to meet his Muslim  beloved Nooran, the only daughter of village’s weaver, a half blind man. Iqbal arrives in the village to gather support for the socialist party of India. Hukum Chand is a district magistrate. During his leisure hours he spends time with a Muslim prostitute, Haseena, who is very young. Jaggu and Iqbal are arrested on the charge of murdering the money lender, Lala Ramlal.

It is the time when India is divided on the lines of religion. Amidst the tension elsewhere, the village continues to be peaceful until one fateful night when a train full of  dead bodies arrives in the village. After this it becomes difficult for the villagers to interact with their fellow Muslim villagers. They decide that Muslims should leave the village. Muslims initially think that soon they will return to their village and resume their normal life.

“‘Uncle’, said lambardar in a heavy voice, ‘it is very hard for me to say, but seeing the sort of time we live in, I would advise you to go to the refugee camp while this trouble is on. You lock your houses with your belongings. We will look after your cattle till you come back.’” (Train to Pakistan, 134) Later, it is revealed to them that they are going to be deported to the new country, that is, Pakistan. “The new that the Mano Majra Muslims were going to Pakistan came as a surprise. The Lambardar had believed they would only go to the refugee camp for a few days and then return”

For their departure arrangements are made. The Train to Pakistan is going to take the Muslims of the village to that side of the border in the night. Before this peacefully takes place a group arrives into the village Gurudwara. They provoke Hindus of the village to take revenge for the brutal killing of their fellow countrymen by in their turn killing the Muslims of the village who are now leaving.

The next section of the novel ‘Kalyug’ reveals the horrific killings that were taking place in the name of religion at the time of partition. People are migrating from India to Pakistan and vice versa. Jaggu’s love, Nooran is also leaving the village by that train. Nooran is pregnant with Jaggu’s child. She requests Jaggu’s mother to accept her as her daughter-in- law as she is carrying the baby of a Sikh man and if Muslims come to know this fact they will kill her and the child. Jaggu’s mother remains unresponsive.

Jaggu comes to know about the conspiracy and sacrifices his life to save the love of his life, Nooran. The whole novel presents the horrifying details on the trauma of partition using the fictitious village life.

Attia Hossain’s novel Sunlight on a Broken Column (1961)

The novel Sunlight on the Broken Column signifies decay of the Muslim Taluqdar family and their traditions. The novel directly does not focus on the partition of India. India’s freedom struggle can be seen along with Laila fighting for her personal freedom from the dominant patriarchy.

The novel begins when Laila, the protagonist of the novel is fifteen years of age. It covers the twenty years of India’s socio-political life, parallel with Laila’s life, beginning from 1932 to 1952. It is divided into four parts. The first part of the novel reveals that Laila is an orphan and is brought up by her paternal aunts Abida who is unmarried and Majida, in her grandfather’s home. Baba Jan, patriarch of the family is ill. To take care of him Aunt Abida is shifted to her father’s apartment. Soon after Baba Jan’s death Aunt Abida is married off and Laila’s cousin Zahra, Majida’s daughter, is also married off. The two brothers Asad and Zahid, Majida’s sons, are sent to other states to pursue education. Laila moves into her uncle’s house.

As per the wishes of Laila’s deceased father she is permitted to continue western education. Laila like her aunts observes purdah. Laila stops observing purdah in uncle Hamid’s care, as he holds liberal ideas. Despite these ideas, Hamid is unable to come out of the family tradition of autocracy.

The second part begins with the new phase of Laila’s life. Laila has joined college and made friends. Laila’s friends are from different socio-political backgrounds, and this shows the nature of the pre-partition society. The third part presents a conflict in Laila’s personal life. Uncle Hamid’s two sons, Kemal, an ICS officer and Saleem, a lawyer, returned from England after completing their education. Uncle and Aunt want her to marry any one of their sons. Laila and her cousins do not accept it. Through her cousins Laila is introduced to many people and one among them is Ameer, a lecturer. Laila soon falls in love with him. She plans to pursue her education and joins post-graduation. Her affair with Ameer is disclosed. She goes against the wishes of her family and marries Ameer. In the last section of the novel, that is, in 1952 Laila visits her ancestral home. Through flashback and her memories readers come to know that Ameer is killed during the chaos of India’s partition.

“Surely he couldn’t die, this powerful man who lived the lives of so many people for them, reducing them to fearing automatons” (p.31) it describes Baba Jan’s character and the patriarchal atmosphere in the Taluqdar Muslim family that was common in all the  households of the time. After Bab Jan’s death it is Uncle Hamid who decides the fate of all the family members. The novel is said to be a personal account of Attia Hossain’s life. Attia Hussain refrains or does not directly bring in the partition chaos as it is seen in other partition fiction. She depicts the Muslim Taluqdar family’s routine life. Effect of changing political scenario are seen and heard as well as the partition but it majorly emphasises on the family system and the loss of by gone era. Laila’s character is shown in contrast to her female friends and cousins. The freedom to choose a life partner acts as a symbol of freedom that is denied to all the women of the novel. It is Laila who goes against the wishes of her family and writers her own story. Laila gains her personal freedom.

Zahra says “I was brought up to do my duty.” (p.147) for Zainab marriage is all about luxurious life “jewels and nice clothes.” (p.295) and she says “Now I serve my mother and father and brothers, then I’ll serve my husband, my father-in-law and my mother-in- law.”

Sita loves Kemal. She considers that love is a personal issue whereas marriage is a public affair. Thus she decides to marry a person of her parents’ choice. She says, “My parents are the best judges of the man with the best qualifications for being the husband.  They have a wider choice; it is only love that narrows it down to a pin point. (p.216)… What has love to do with marriage? It is like mixing oil and water? Love is anti-social, while matrimony preserves the world and its respectability.” (p.296) Laila does not submit to the patriarchal norms and fights for her rights. Marrying a man of her choice is to declare her personal freedom.

Cracking India by Bapsi Sidhwa (1988):

The novel begins with child narrator’s voice, Lenny. Lenny has polio so she does not go to school. She is under the care of her Ayah, Shanta, and Lenny spends all of her  time with her Ayah. Her Ayah, is a beautiful lady whom men of diverse communities admire. It is through her Ayah’s admirers who bring news from and of different parts of the country Lenny learns a great deal about the outside world. Lenny gradually begins to understand and is able to make distinctions between the communities and begins to sense the growing religious intolerance. It is the narrator, Lenny, who informs the readers about the painful events of partition. Lenny sees change among the servants when the talks of India’s partition begin and she realises the difference between the communities:

“Gandhi Jinnah, Nehru, Iqbal, Tara Singh, Mountbatten are names I hear. And I become aware of religious differences. It is sudden. One day everybody is themselves- and the next day they are Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian. People shrink, dwindling into symbols. Ayah is no longer my all-encompassing Ayah- she is also a token, a Hindu. Carried away by a renewed devotional fervour…………..Imam Din and Yousaf, turning into religious zealots, warn Mother they will take Friday afternoons off for the Jumha prayers.”

Once Lenny is with her Ayah and witness the death of Banya whose legs were tied to two separate jeeps and when they move his body asunder into two parts. The same incident Lenny re-enacts after returning to home with her doll. This reflects the effects of partition on the fragile minds. Nevertheless, Lenny and her family remained untouched by the atrocities of partition because the Parsees did not take any stand on this historic change. They remained neutral. Hence, Lenny’s identity as a Parsee girl and her class status contributes in understanding the religious intolerance and political arguments all around her. Another character of the novel is Ice-candy man, who is Muslim and is madly in love with Shanta. Shanta loves Masseur, a Muslim man. When partition takes place Masseur is killed and that leaves Shanta devastated. Ice-candy man was aware that Shanta loves Masseur. Ice candy man comes to Lenny’s home along with the Muslim mob to abduct Shanta, a Hindu. Lenny without knowing its repercussions tells Ice candy man the place where Shanta is hiding. Ice- candy man transforms many times in the novel and acts as a symbol of changing socio- political scenario of India.

All the writers especially of the selected texts like Khushwant Singh, Attia Hossain and Bapsi Sidhwa have shown two parallel stories running along with the partition narrative. They all have one common theme in their narratives, that is, theme of love. In the first text, Train to Pakistan, it is the love of a Sikh for a Muslim girl, in the second, Sunlight on the Broken Column love is to gain her personal freedom from the patriarchal society and the very effectively Bapsi Sidhwa presented the love triangle in Cracking India.

It is love between people of different religions, or love according to one’s own choice are themes that run parallel to the violence and trauma, signifying that love can, if given the chance, solve the man-made problems of division and hatred.

Further, the three texts present a different narrative of partition. Train to Pakistan begins in a peaceful village ambience where majorly Sikh and Muslims live together. It has shown the two sides of human nature both cruel as well as human side of individuals. Ultimately at the end it is humanity that prevails. Attia Hossain’s novel presents the erasure of a class after the partition. The family set up and women’s role in outside and inside the house is depicted here. Laila being a woman who does not have access to the outside world narrates what she sees, hears, and feels. Cracking India narrates the partition from a community that was neutral on the issues and who did not have to suffer from it. It presents the partition of India and atrocities of the time very closely. Hence, all the three works gives a different understanding of partition. Though the broader canvass for all of them was partition but from the point and privilege status they look at it gives a different dimension to the whole understanding of it. It also peeps into the different communities and classes and helps one to know how differently it has affected all the people of different classes, castes, and communities.

Partition Writings and New Literature:

As one can see the three novels Train to Pakistan, Sunlight on the Broken Column and Cracking India presents diverse narratives of the same moment of India’s history. Train to Pakistan refer to ‘real’ incident of train of dead bodies reported in newspapers – relate history to fiction – out of this single horrible fact the writer makes an entire set of intertwined lives which are threatened by the communal violence. Ultimately it shows the sympathetic side of human nature through Nooran and Jaggu. Jaggu sacrifices his life for the woman who is carrying his child in her womb though he was unaware of it.

Sunlight on the Broken Column is about a Muslim landlord family’s issues involvement in the freedom movement and personal struggles for ‘modernisation’ at the time of partition. It comes to the readers specifically through the voice of Laila, the protagonist of the novel. The novel shows the responses of young generation who want to be free from this old tradition and find their own path.

Cracking India shows the gradually enveloping tensions of the time. It is through the servants who belong to the diverse faiths that political issues become part of human lives and destinies. The child absorbs all the narratives and is the voice of the narrative. She is central to the whole narrative of partition.

In this manner all the writings present diverse points of view. In other words, political, social and historical movements give rise to a new form of writing with new protagonists who relate to the history of the times in different ways, based upon their caste, class and gender. The voices of these protagonists and their views of the world are influenced by the currents of history and the socio-political changes that occur as a result. The newness of themes as well as the newness of forms is the result of these upheavals. Here we have considered the partition of India as one such upheaval and tried to see how different writers from varied locations have contributed to the discourse of suffering and hatred ameliorated  by love and sacrifice. These nuances cannot be made available through historical narratives, but neither can they be erased from the memory and collective consciousness of our times. It is the effort of writers who contribute by giving voice to the silences of history. They show what is absent and silenced by history. These writings are significant to understand and trace the history or movements and specifically to know the diverse responses to a single incident. Thus, literature gives voice to the silence narratives and thereby time and again creates new literary writings.

Summary :

In this module you are introduced to the subject of partition literary writings. In this we have discussed the concept of partition and when India got partitioned and what were the causes that led to the partition, Two Nation theory, and literary writings on partition in general. Later we have analysed the three different writings from different authors. The texts were, Train to Pakistan, Sunlight on the Broken Column and Cracking India. At the end of the module we have discussed the concept of new literature more specifically partition writings as a new literary writing. For more on this module, please find the e-text, learn more and self-assessment tabs.

Reference

• “Black Borders Siya Hasiye”. Urduwallahs. https://urduwallahs.wordpress.com/2012/05/23/black-borders-siyah-hashiye/
• Hossain, Attia. The Sunlight on a Broken Column. New York: Penguin Books, 1961.
• “Iqbal and Politics” http://hiranaqvi.50webs.com/iqbalandpolitics.htm
• Singh, Kushwant.Train To Pakistan. New Delhi: Ravi Dayal, 2007.
• Sidhwa, Bapsi. Ice- Candy Man. New Delhi: Penguin, 1989.
• Sukeshi Kamra says in “Partition and Post-Partition Acts of Fiction: Narrating Painful Histories” in Partitioned Lives: Narratives of Home, Displacement, and Resettlement (eds.) Anjali Gera Roy and Nandi Bhatia. Noida, India: Pearson, 2007.
• “Two Nation Theory” Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh. http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Two-Nation_Theory