Feminist Fiction and the Indian Partition of 1947: New Perspectives

By Priyanka Gupta

The Partition of the Indian Subcontinent in 1947 unleashed unprecedented violence. In Feminist Fiction and the Indian Partition of 1947, Indian scholar Priyanka Gupta explores how women were doubly suppressed and victimized before and after the partition. The violence, and the displacement of large populations, made this historical episode of separation more and more significant for women. Novels set during the Partition offer unique viewpoints and perspectives that have not previously been explored.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Academica Press
• Release date: Aug 28, 2022
• ISBN: 9781680534528

Book preview

Chapter 1

Introduction to Partition: A Feminist Perspective

Introduction

The term ‘Partition’ means the division or the splitting of one state into parts.¹ The historical event of the partition of two states, namely India and Pakistan, resulted in one of the most traumatic communal carnages and human convulsions² of history till date.³ The saga of freedom struggle which is cast in the shadows and embedded in the pages of the history needs to be re-interpreted and re-analyzed through the partition narratives which include poems, short stories, documentaries, novels, dramas and the other literary works. The partition created anarchy in the society, and the records and proceedings of which are preserved in the form of chronicles, texts, travelogues and short-stories in libraries around the world. Out of these narratives, the fictional works, chiefly novels highlighting women’s plight are studied and discussed in this research work.

Figure 1 Map showing the borders drawn after the partition of India.⁴

The division of the sub-continent resulted in the overall commotion of all communities of the society which leads to rampant violence. The violence that escorted was unparalleled, sudden and cataclysmic which gave rise to different consequences of partition, such as division of families, enduring cross-border friendships, coping up with trauma, lamenting over the loss, searching for the family members, and experiencing dislocation and displacement. The actions of hooligans provoked common people, who suffered mutual agitation resulting in colossal bloodshed and killings. The violence and indomitable chaos during partition created hue and cry, and thus destroyed the political, social, cultural, and economic set-up. Bhalla states that the unprecedented violence accompanied partition was traumatic so much so that it defied understandings. Other writers have also written on the partition violence differently-some doubted it, and rest pre-emptively and scornfully described it.⁵

The partition resulted in two-fold mayhem: one was the binary division of the state and the other was the mutilation and killings of the millions. Trumbell, a veteran correspondent of the New York Times, comments in Freedom at Midnight, that the streets were flooded with blood like rainfalls in India and remarked that he had seen lifeless people by hundreds and thousands without eyes, feet or hands. The portrayal of merciless and pathetic panorama where women, men and children were beaten up to death with stones and left to die would fill anyone with a feeling of horror and disgust.⁶ The story of partition as well as the untold stories of the traumatic experiences of the survivors is unending. There was an endless displacement of people throughout the sub-continent. The trains were fully loaded with people either inside or over the roof; the common man was the ultimate sufferer. The atmosphere was gloomy and filled with obscurity. The people were uprooted from their original homeland and were turned into refugees in their homeland. Hence, the society at that time was struggling hard to deal with the situation.

The partition literature and other visual media inform us that the attainment of independence for both the states was not a successful event, and it was followed up by mass exodus, large-scale public hostility, dispossessing and repositioning of family units and the sufferings of millions.⁷ The memoirs and the literature of that period assist us in the study to find out what had happened, and to support us with the fact to figure out the pathetic conditions at that time. Commenting upon the disastrous plight of partition survivors, Collins argues that partition was a convulsion which resulted in a sudden and shocking disintegration of society. The monstrous slaughter provoked one after other heinous crimes, and each atrocity was equivalent to some building that was destroyed by an explosion, and that happened to Punjab which crumbled into pieces after partition.⁸

Butalia mentions at this point about the division as ‘partitioning two lives is hard enough. Partitioning millions is insanity.’⁹ Moreover, communalism spread widely when the proposals for the partition of both Punjab and Bengal were still being rumoured, and long before the mass exodus of people had taken on its ultimate gigantic proportions.¹⁰ Penderel Moon states that the dawn of independence was disfigured by massive brutal killings and massacres which culminated in migrations in Punjab on a large scale that happened in world history. Within a short span of three-four months, thousands and millions of people were constrained to abandon their inherited homes and began a new journey in strange surroundings.¹¹ The freedom, accomplished by martyrdom was lessened by looking at the immense exodus of people and, the bloodshed of the freedom fighters. Jawahar Lal Nehru’s speech, at the stroke of the midnight hour…India will awake to life and freedom…¹² delivered in the Constituent Assembly manifested the foundation of division which was a total partition in 1947.¹³

Auden in Partition says that the separation was the only solution left after the cataclysmic events. He further states that the separation was worse and deadly.¹⁴ Gyanendra Pandey aptly comments upon the devastation that occurred during partition. The effects of partition were so much threatening and horrific that one can’t envisage the brutality. In Mainstream Weekly, Politicizing History: True Story of Partition, Behera critically comments that the severity of partition was so much that till today we are obsessed with the bloodshed and killings of people. The resonance of partition and its interlinking with society and people is still haunting in our minds. Also, the connecting thread of partition with past and present scenario is a continuous and unending dialogue.¹⁵ The nation till today is not able to forget the repercussions of partition even after seventy-three years of independence.

The present research studies partition literature regarding the issues, such as gendered violence, sadism, sexual harassment, physical torture, mental pressure, and changed identity. As we know that the physical torture of the people during partition was very common, but concerning women, it was at its peak. The gendered violence particularly hints at the violence faced by women so much so that the physical and mental pressure forced women to kill themselves. Death became more effortless for those women than surviving in the society haunted by fear. Focusing on the depiction of sadism in mainstream history, the present study analyzes the violence against women. The purpose of this research is to revisit the past narratives in the form of fiction, dramas, and short stories and to explore the neglected role of women and the mutilation they faced at the hands of male domination. Carr concludes that the past is seen best and can be represented through the eyes of the present.¹⁶

This research investigates the facts and records of the sufferings of women during partition. Similarly, Isabella comments about the cataclysm that turned the country into a battleground. She explains that gendered violence resulted in the complete sweep of the whole communities. Also, she specifically converses about women’s sufferings, and she notes partition as the ‘dilemma for women which tormented them physically and boundaries were used as a mode to strike the opponent. The methods of tormenting women in that period were a tremendous change which was unaltered and resistant to the basic patriarchal configuration of society.’¹⁷ The partition set new challenges to the whole world as many people were forced to change their religion. The changed identity from Hindu to Muslim and vice-versa affected their psyche and resulted in the besieged individuality of people. The critics such as Butalia, Jalal and Pandey found that women were at higher risk of experiencing violence during the time of the separation andultimately suffered silently.¹⁸

This research is based on the fact that partition not only affected women at the external level but also at the integral and psychological part of women. The voiceless voices of women raise the question of their existence as human beings before and after the partition. They were natural targets in any situation.¹⁹ The other issues were debated in different research works, but the gender perception of women both as survivors and victims are absent from the standard historical accounts.²⁰ This research is an attempt to look out for the possible reasons for the unacknowledged role of women during partition.

Bhalla anticipates that the anecdotes of riots are finished but the stories of life began-in fact these are the stories that are never going to end for both the nations.²¹ This means the partition gave both the countries different stories until today. The events of partition are studied, analyzed and premeditated concerning different aspects and depending upon their priorities what the country wants to represent.²² Paul contextualizes the history of partition with that of victimization. He states that partition brings all the horror, misfortunes and defines partition in terms of the oppression of people either on one side or another side. He avows that victimization is the other side of the past, and no reason can ever justify this mass cataclysmic division. From the experiences of the past, it refers that every individual was suffering during the partition and the sufferings were higher to every extent. But terror isolates events by making them unparalleled, exceptionally unique, and uniquely inimitable.²³

The partition resulted in the formation of different binaries, ruling one over others like the foreign policies that ruled and dominated the people. These binaries facilitate the dominance of one over the other. These binaries signify that at that time and till now these binaries are established in the society. The table refers to the mark of identification are dominating in binary one compared to binary two. Referring to the binaries the table shows binary two is at the lower and oppressed level as compared to binary two. The different binaries formed at that time are as below.

Table 1 List of different binaries prevailing in the society

The above table gives us a brief view of certain binaries that are prevailing in society and the gender also acts as binary and the female sex is an oppressed class of the society. The above-written binaries are the symbolic representation of some human attributes which suffer due to the general perception of the society. All these binaries are hinting that binary two consists of the sufferers. In terms of identification, women are placed in binary two which means they are at the periphery and are not in the mainstream part of society.

The writers such as Amitav Ghosh, Chaman Nahal, Khushwant Singh, Bhisham Sahni, Manohar Malgonkar, Salman Rushdie, Sadat Hasan Manto, Amrita Pritam, Bapsi Sidhwa, Shauna Singh Baldwin, Krishna Sobti, Qurratulain Hyder, Ismat Chugtai, Rahi Masoom Reza, Anis Kidwai, Amit Majumdar and many others bring out the concern of the freedom struggle in their respective works. The partition writers provide significant historical information and commentary on the events that occurred during that time which serves as the authentic picture of the society. For example, Faiz in his poem The Dawn of Freedom avers, through metaphors that are indistinct and seem even more complex and symbolic in the context. It begins thus, ‘this light, smeared and spotted, this night-bitten dawn. This isn’t sure the dawn we waited for so eagerly.’²⁴

Jalal mentions the catastrophic experiences of partition in The Sole Spokesman: marked by forced conversions, genocide violence, extortions, abductions and rapes in larger parts of India, as well as an unmatched dislocation of people, partition has been referred as ‘holocaust.’²⁵ He opines that this destruction is similar to the slaughter of mankind and their relations. Keeping in view with this, Pandey states that partition is inexplicable and unhistorical in comparison to the holocaust. For the reason, that mass killing in the partition is not similar to the industrialized slaughter, but the destruction in the partition is moving direct face-to-face and hand-to-hand.²⁶

Menon and Bhasin illustrate the act of self-immolation and the shame-fear dishonour syndrome that presents differently during the partition, fear of sexual maltreatment, the awful shame of rape, fear of kidnap and converting to other religion, and the double humiliation of abuse and consequent rejection among the women. Among this entire trauma, most of the women repudiated to go back to their homeland having the fear that would not be accepted by their family and the same was the case with the Muslim women. This type of fear is called ‘shame fear dishonour syndrome’ which evolved from the cultural values and also from the political background. Rape is the most dreadful thing which a man could do to women. Most of the women died after the rape and if some survived by chance, they resorted to suicide. Butalia defined rape as a ‘face-threatening act’ and as a gender-specific attack but not as an individual assault. This act is used as a means of weapon against the other community. Moreover, this act can be looked at as an assault on the face of the community rather than the victim.²⁷ The defilement of womenfolk is tantamount to an attack on the whole community and ultimately of the nation.²⁸

India and Pakistan both nations were in agreement regarding the mass scale rapes and abductions so that they would try to rescue abducted women who were lost during partition. It was then decided by Prime Ministers of both countries to recover women from both sides. Later on December 6, 1947, against the resentment of two nations an agreement was signed to bring back the abducted women through an ‘Inter Dominion Treaty.’²⁹ It was decided that women living with men of different religions in other countries would be brought back to their countries either by force or intentionally. Between December 1947 and July 1948, the approximate graph of recovered women was 9362 in India and 5510 in Pakistan. The governments of both nations claimed about ransack of 33000 Hindu and Sikh and 50000 Muslim women. According to the government survey in 1949, 12000 women were recuperating in India and 6000 in Pakistan. The statistics by 1954 in recovering the Muslim women were above 20,000 and 10,000 Hindu women from Pakistan.³⁰ These figures make one ponder over the issue that how mass-scale carnage held at that time not only affected India but Pakistan also. Many of these horrific incidents were not reported because of the fear of honour of the family and many were not even registered due to the lax attitude of the police towards crime against women.

Reasons for Partition

The British historiography divided the vast empire based on political and religious foregrounds and then the policy of divide and rule was executed. The main cause of the freedom struggle was the corrupt policies of British and communalism that executed the partition. The division of the sub-continent was based on religion, which not only segregated the boundaries but also the heart and soul of people. The partition of India, therefore, was mainly due to the discordant policy of the British Government. The political leaders such as Gandhi, Nehru, and Jinnah made this decision of the partition on 15th August 1947.³¹ It was a tragedy for them as a great nation was divided into two smaller units on religious grounds. Bhalla mentions ‘memories of the partition of 1947 have haunted him throughout his life and marked with fear many of his personal, ethical and political decision.’³² Bruschi remarks that British historiography insists on division, the political cohesion of the independence movement that resulted in the formation of religion-conscious people. The attempt to divide the nations and thereby making the strategy to gain control by counterbalancing the strength of different political institutions created a lot of chaos and was mainly due to the disruptive policy of the British Government.³³ India and Pakistan were at the moment of their birth like ‘a pair of Siamese Twins’ linked by a cancerous tumour, Punjab. They became, inevitably, the bystanders of the terrible hysteria sweeping Punjab. Collins remarks that partition was one of the deadliest separations ever happened in South Asian history. He further comments that the greatest civil war resulted in the complete distortion of society. There would be no sanctuary from its curse, no curve free from the contamination of its virus…it was not warfare, not a communal war, not a revolutionary campaign. It was a convulsion, the unexpected cataclysmic disintegration of the society.³⁴

Theory of Partition

India and Pakistan attained Independence on August 15, 1947, and August 14, 1947, respectively. There were two main political parties at the time of partition, one was Muslim League and the other was Indian National Congress. In light of these two political parties, other smaller parties participated in the freedom struggle. The division of the two nations into religion-dominated countries was the result of the ‘Two-Nation Theory.’³⁵ The Muslim League was in the favour of a separate nation as they believed that Muslims would be more secure in their own country which exclusively belongs to Muslims. The two-nation theory revolved around the notion that Hindus and Muslims would survive in their respective new nations. Jinnah said that the Hindus and Muslims belong to two different religious philosophies and social customs.³⁶ Jinnah desperately wanted a separate nation and he named it ‘Pakistan.’ Menon and Bhasin analyze the division of the sub-continent as a nightmare which resulted in manifold slaughter. As they aver, this dissection expected many queries that hitched across the continent: traditions, communalism, cultural nationalism and the rise of religious controversies. Movingly, division posed the premise of belongingness in a way that preferred predilection and adherence infuriating new and old hostility and responded to the other comprehensive inferences for females.³⁷

Women and Partition

The proposed doctoral thesis examines the partition of