That there are multiple histories rather than a history of the partition is borne out by studying the

literature produced in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Contrary to popular perception, there is no
generalized or undifferentiated response to the partition among those who have chronicled it.
Reactions vary from nostalgic lament for a lost age to attaching blame and apportioning
responsibility for the terrible misfortunes that befell those who had been affected, in some way or
the other, by the events of 1947.

Reactions vary from nostalgic lament for a lost age to attaching blame and apportioning
responsibility

While there is a general agreement that the murder and

A boy at a refugee camp
mayhem that accompanied the partition was a human tragedy
of epic proportions, there is far more ambivalence in the
ways of dealing or accepting the consequences of partition.
While the majority of writers made a conscious effort to hold
up the tattered fabric of secularism in the face of
communalism, bitter and painful memories also find
expression, especially in a range of first-person accounts,
diaries, etc. It seems difficult to discern a commonality of
concerns, or any coherence and unity of thought, save the
obvious assertion that countless innocent lives were lost due
to the political decisions of a mere handful.

Some stories depict the mass movement of peoples as hijrat, an experience akin to the
Prophet's (PBUH) migration from Mecca to Medina and therefore transcending human
sufferings

In the wake of continuing interest in the partition, both

among the students of history and literary historians, not to
mention the average reader, a spate of anthologies on the
partition have appeared. And, anthologies, as a necessity,
must have a peg, ideological or otherwise. Their editors have
tried, in different ways and through different voices, to
highlight different aspects of a single, traumatic, shared
experience. In a sense, therefore, each anthology and its
editor invariably has an 'agenda'. Often, these 'agendas'
appear to be at cross-purposes with each other.

Citizens in Amritsar checking Alok Bhalla, one of the ablest and most diligent chroniclers
migration information 1947
of the many partition narratives, points out the 'real sorrow' of the partition, namely that it
'brought to an abrupt end a long and communally shared history.' In his deeply insightful
Introduction to the four volumes of stories, he shows a clear-eyed understanding of the tensions
within the communities which occasionally burst into spurts of outrage yet did not, he believes,
impair 'the rich heterogeneity of the life of the two communities.' That is, till the partition; at the
'ordinary and local levels, even as late as 1946,' Bhalla notes, the daily life of Hindus and
Muslims remained 'so richly interwoven as to have formed a rich archive of customs and
practices, that explains why there is a single, common note which informs nearly all the stories
written about the partition and the horror it unleashed-a note of utter bewilderment.' And it is this
bewilderment that is common across barriers of ethnic, linguistic and cultural identities, not to
say religious ones, that comes out in this selection of stories translated from Urdu, Hindi,
Punjabi, Sindhi, and Bangla.

A necessary fall-out of partition was migration. The

displacement, dislocation, uprootedness and alienation that
came in the wake of the transfer of power are documented in
stories such as Intizar Husain's 'An Unwritten Epic'. As in the
depiction of partition-related violence, some writers
Saadat Hassan Manto catalogue the horrors witnessed on the way and the
difficulties in finding safe refuges on the other side of newly-
demarcated borders; others depict it as hijrat, an experience
akin to the Prophet's (PBUH) migration from Mecca to
Medina and therefore transcending human sufferings. Still
others view it as a salutary experience with the potential to
draw lessons from past mistakes. Several stories are personal
and cathartic, too. A compulsive scraping of wounds, a
cataloguing of unimaginable horrors and a depiction of a
sick, momentarily depraved society (as in several of Manto's
stories) is, often, the creative writer's only way of exorcising
the evil within. It served the needs of its times in a rough and
ready sort of way but it was patchy, uneven, often incoherent
in its pain or anger or bewilderment. Also worrying is the
Intizar Hussain lack of historical awareness among some of the writers.
References to political events, resolutions, statements, etc.
are vague; the focus is on the 'impact' of partition on the
Alok Bhalla common people rather than why the political leaders failed to
resolve their disputes over power sharing and ended up
carving the country along religious lines. By and large,
writers have been content to write about the consequences
rather than reasons, the effects rather than causes, of
partition.

Much of partition literature falls under what has been termed

waqti adab or topical literature. Given the propensity of
writers to focus on violence and communal tensions, in Urdu

Remains of a raided caravan

these stories have been called fasadat ke afsane, or "riot literature", again serving to deflect the
attention from partition per se and turning the cause-and-effect equation upside down. Historians
have argued for the need to view partition-related violence as distinct from the communal riots
that preceded and followed it, given the military precision with which they were planned.

The displacement, dislocation, uprootedness and alienation that came in the wake of the
transfer of power are documented in stories such as Intizar Husain's 'An Unwritten Epic'
Mass migration during
independence of India and
The riots, on the other hand, were largely spontaneous and sporadic, triggered often by
Pakistan
something small and inconsequential, though both had devastating effects such as the rape and
abduction of women, desecration of holy places, loss of life and property and the generation of a
mindless, primitive violence. This violence lies at the heart of much of partition literature and has
been the cause of a great deal of debate among literary historians. Its value lies beyond literary
voyeurism; it does, I believe, provide the historian with some sensitive insights into the impact of
violence on ordinary people. And a collection such as Bhalla's shows us how literature and
history are intertwined and how the study of one can enrich the other. The answer lies not in
forgetting or erasing the horrors of the past but in heeding and recalling right, for as Bhalla
writes: 'I have put together this anthology of stories about the partition not in order to exorcise
the past, but in the hope of initiating an ethical inquiry into the history of my age and place.'

Rakhshanda Jalil blogs at www.hindustaniawaaz-rakhshanda.blogspot.com

Comments (5 comments)
While looking for study material on Literature of the
Partition, I came across this article of great value. With due
permission may we use it as background approach to the
course ?
Posted: Wednesday, April 24, 2013 by shashi khurana from New Delhi

It's not the politician who plants the virus of violence among
communities. It is mostly the thekeydaars of religion who let
loose this monster and then the carrion eaters(politicians)
come in to feast. We need to keep our religion in our homes
and let our God protect himself rather than appoint
ourselves his guardian
Posted: Monday, July 09, 2012 by magus from Delhi

While it is understandable though not acceptable the

animosity between sections of Muslims and Hindus. What I
have never understood is the bad blood amongst Muslims
themselves when they are a brotherhood. How they can keep
on killing each other day in and day out.
Posted: Sunday, June 17, 2012 by Shivkumar from Mumbai

How did the chosen few not foresee the implications of a

decision to dissect souls without any aneasthesia? The pain
lingers on generations... Will any literary piece ever soothe
the angst?
Posted: Sunday, June 10, 2012 by Priya from UK

It is a sad history and bewildering one for someone growing

up after the partition. The consequences of partition will
linger on for long years. The violence was not unlike the one
that took place in Bosnia and Iraq. As Mr. Bhalla points out
the communal life was reasonably tolerant,mostly
harmonious and enriching. In Bosnia and Iraq it went a step
further where there were marriages between Serbs, Croates
and Bosnian Muslims and Shias /Sunnis in Iraq. It all fell
apart when politicians got involved and whipped up the
emotions. No one can answer the big question why people
turn on each other with history of social harmony. Germans,
considered very civilized and advanced in science and
literature turned monsters and Japanese did the same
against the Chinese in Nanking. There is something deeply
disturbing in human nature. We will never know the truth.
No one wants to acknowledge that there is a monster in all of
us. In reality the psychology of mass hysteria has not been
studied much and remains a mystery. partition violence,
holocaust, Bosnia, Cambodia will continue to occur
periodically. There will be books written but no
understanding.
Posted: Friday, April 20, 2012 by s.khan from US