They could never have anticipated how this political move, which was far removed from their individual wellbeing, would turn out to be one of the worst man-made calamities of the 20th century. Houses were demolished and looted. A deluge of bloated and disfigured bodies impeded water flow in canals. Thousands of people lost their lives to ethnic violence. Even if they made it to the other side, peace was hard to come by. Makeshift refugee camps became the breeding grounds for numerous diseases. The bloodshed that followed in the aftermath of Partition irrevocably marred the history of India.
What is Partition Literature?
Partition literature is a nuanced depiction of the tragedy of Partition, a period in India’s history that is very hard to make sense of. It is an amalgamation of history, conflict studies, border studies, and politics. The multi-layered dynamics of the Partition of India, not only the political but also its metaphoric and symbolic relevance and ramifications, are remembered and revisited from multiple angles in Partition literature. Its end goal is to go beyond and debunk when necessary the standardized, unidimensional narrative of India’s Partition that has been commemorated by the state. The literary portrayal of the Partition of India brings into limelight the plurality of human experiences. It also contests the arbitrariness of a nation and explores in-depth issues of class, gender, religion, ostracization, and the meaning of existence. The fragility of our humanity and the lows we are willing to stoop to come alive in the pages of fiction, once again urging us to assess the concept of civilization itself.
Why Should You Care About It?
Our history textbooks barely capture the horrors of Partition. Personally speaking, I was exposed to its dark side for the first time only after I joined a Bachelors’s program in English Literature at a liberal university. State-sponsored history books in schools have been highly censored, so they don’t talk about trains laden with decapitated bodies and limbs, brutal murders, and rape that accompanied the mass exodus. This is why we need to read Partition literature, as the monstrosity and emotional duress inflicted upon our people need to be documented and acknowledged, if not redeemed, since it’s too late already. Why was Sir Cyril Radcliffe, a British lawyer who lacked basic background knowledge about India, entrusted with the responsibility of deciding where and how to draw borders? Partition literature interrogates when school history textbooks fail to pose the right questions. People who had never left their respective parishes were suddenly forced to pick one nation over another and migrate to lands unknown, leaving behind their kith and kin and everything they hold dear. While history textbooks often is an assortment of facts, thus mechanical in a way, Partition literature humanizes the anguish of the ones who got removed from their places of worship, who boarded trains hoping to reach “home” only to lose their lives to mass hysteria, and those who had to turn against their beloved neighbors to survive.
Partition Literature For Beginners
Here is a list of books that you might find helpful if you want to venture more into the world of Partition literature. Partition literature is a well-rounded representation of the bloody legacy of religious extremism. It also showcases how we, as ordinary humans are capable of acts of extraordinary violence. For more on this, please check out A Woman’s History Of Partition: Life, Loss, And Identity.
