UNIT 1 THE WRITER AND THE PARTITION Structure 0 Objectives 1 Introduction 2 Life and Work of Bhisham Sahni 3 How the Novel Tamas Began 4 The Partition of 1947 5 Partition Novels in Hindi 6 LetUs Sum Up 7 Questions 1.0 OBJECTIVES This unit is meant to familiarize you with essential facts about partition and about the author of Tamas and about some other partition novels in Hindi ‘After reading the unit you should be able to understand the basic facts of Partition and its consequences and the treatment of Partition by Hindi writers {TRODUCTIO! Tamas (‘Darkness’) can broadly be called a novel of partition. | say “broadly” because it doesn’t deal with partition as such but with events that occurred in 1946 and the forces underlying them that prefigured partition. Originally written in Hindi in 1974, the novel was published by Vikas Publishers in an English translation by Jai Rattan in 1981 under the title Kites Will Fly. A revised English translation was published as Tamas by Penguin in 1988 with an introduction by Govind Nihalani who had made the novel into a very popular and, as it tured out, a controversial serial. The author's own translation of the novel appeared in 200. For the purpose of discussion in this Block we have referred to the Penguin 2001 edition. The novel has been translated into several Indian languages also and is now studied in many Indian universities as part of courses of study and has become a classic. ‘The novel received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1975. “Tamas is considered an outstanding contribution of Hindi literature for its a control, a firm grasp of reality, excellence of characterization, and humanity and authenticity of experience,” says the Akademi citation. So closely did he come to be identified with Tamas that one TV announcer said on his death: “Tamas Bhisham is no more”. 1.2_ LIFE AND WORK OF BHISHAM SAHN Bhisham Sahni (1915-2003) lived in Rawalpindi and later in Lahore before partition and the novel, Tamas, he says, is partly based on his experiences there, Here are the details of his career.Tamas Bom: Rawalpindi, 8th August, 1915. Died: 11th July, 2003, Education: M.A. (Eng) at Govt. College, Lahore, 1937; Ph.D. Career: Joined his father’s business at Rawalpindi and worked there for several years; taught at a local college in an honorary capacity. Bhisham Sahni (1915-2003) After partition came to Bombay and then to Delhi and started teaching at Delhi College (later Zakir Hussain College), Delhi. First collection of short stories, Bhagya Rekha, published in 1953; second anthology, Pahla Path (1956). Worked as a translator in Moscow for about seven years from 1957, translated ‘some twenty books including Tolstoy into Hindi. Edited Nai Kahaniyan, 1965-67; third anthology of short stories, Bhatakti Raakh (1965). Tamas (1973); was awarded Sahitya Akademi Award (1975); also received the “Shiromani Lekhak Award” from the Punjab Government the same ‘year. Won the Lotus Award from the Afro-Asian Writers’ Association, 1980; won several other awards also. Nine short story collections, seven novels, six full- length plays, a book of essays, a collection of short stories for children; My Brother Balraj, a biography of his brother, Balraj Sahni and an autobiography, Aaj ke Ateet.Has been connected with IPTA and the Progressive Writers’ Association. The Writer and the Perhaps the most important thing about Bhisham Sahni is that his writing Partition springs from deep social commitment. 1.3 HOW THE NOVEL TAMAS BEGAN Tamas was written some twenty-five years after partition. In an interview with Pankaj K.Singh in 1995, Bhisham Sahni said: “It was not the Partition alone, it was the continuance of that atmosphere of separatism, charged with communal tensions which became a disturbing factor.” (Indian Literature, [167], 90) In another interview with Alok Bhalla, the writer ssas_more specific: “I wrote the novel because when I went to Bhiwandi, | suddenly remembered the Rawalpindi riots [of 1926]. 1 happened to see the riots in Bhiwandi. Some of the things | saw there were so similar to what 1 had experienced at Rawalpindi that I started writing. And then one thing suggested another...I myself figure in my novel—in scenes where I describe the activities of the Congress. I participated in prabhat pheries,’ When asked if he had actually participated in them, he said he had: *As a matter of fact, ‘when the first stone throwing took place I was there...1. mention that in m; novel....You know the Congress ameeri programme used to take us to certain localities to clean gutters... used to go along with my comrades, the Congress people. We also used to visit predominantly Muslim areas.” Later he said that ‘part of the novel is autobiographical. But the center of itis not about my own experiences. It is concerned with more general experiences’ (Pangs, Il, 90- 91). No wonder that Bhiwandi acted as a catalytic agent that made him write a novel on the theme of communalism and its disastrous consequences for a ‘multi-religious, pluralistic country like India. The novel is thus Janus-faced: it looks at the events that prefigured partition in his home town in 1946 and it is relevant for modem India where the problem of communalism threatens to disrupt the secular, democratic fabric of the country. 1.4 THE PARTITION OF 1947 A few points could be made about the partition. 1. Partition is one of the two cataclysmic events that have shaped the ‘destiny of India during the last 150 years. ‘The first was the Great Indian Uprising of 1857. India got divided into two parts. The new India became free on 15" ‘August 1947; Pakistan carved out of India came into being a day earlier. It comprised the Muslim majority provinces of erstwhile India and also the Muslim majority areas of Bengal and Punjab. ‘There were at least three major political forces at work in pre-pattition India. These were: the British rulers with their policy of and rule’, the Indian National Congress with its nationalistic secularTamas agenda and the Muslim League with its two nation theory and its mind set on the goal of a separate homeland for Muslims particularly after 1940, ‘The human cost of partition was colossal. Nearly 12 million people gave up their home and hearth and crossed the newly formed frontiers. OF these more than 10 million people crossed the Punjab border. A nillion people were slaughtered or died of malnutrition and diseases. Inevitably sexual savagery was widespread. According to Urvashi Butalia’s estimate, about 75 thousand women were probably abducted and raped by men professing religions other than their own. A large number of abducted women were recovered and sent back to their families but there were also cases where the families refused to own the ‘tainted women’. Besides, there were cases of women who refused to go back to their families. As for Indian Muslims, thousands of Indian families got divided with some members of the family crossing over to Pakistan. The refugees travelled in all sorts of ways including walking to their destination on » foot in great columns called kafilas. ‘The writer of this unit saw one “Such kafila that comprised Meos from the Mewat area of what is now Haryana. His own teacher of Mathematics probably formed part of this kafila, The tragedy was that this kafila had to return to India. ‘There were conversions galore but there were also those who chose to die rather than accept the other faith. Partition was a multi-dimensional tragedy. What compounded the tragedy was the total failure of the government to foresee the disastrous consequences of the decisions that had been unleashed on ‘unsuspecting people. There is no dearth of material on partition and huge tomes have been written discussing the factors that led to it. Inevitably the names of leaders like Nehru, Jinnah and Mountbatten have come under close scrutiny. But these political discussions miss the human dimension of the tragedy. This human dimension has been made available to us largely through literature and memoirs. We are not done with partition yet. 1 need hardly say that the cataclysmic event of partition has had a strong effect on our psyche. It may be a part of our history but it is also a part of our consciousness and it continues to exercise a powerful influence on the values that we cherish. It is a subject that is extremely sensitive and emotional, and arouses strong reactions, particularly among those who have suffered ‘or whose parents have suffered in partition. In north India it is lodged in individual and collective memories. Urvashi Butalia has produced a whole book based on individual memories of how ‘ordinary people have viewed partition, what it means to have lost one’s home and country and friends and how they have coped with the trauma of dislocation and rebuilt their lives. Partition is still with us in another, more dangerous sense. Events like the Sikh massacre of 1984, the SabarmatiExpress burning and the Godhra massacre that followed it are painful reminders of the fact that communal passions are still highly volatile and can flare up any time. In other words we still need to come to terms with it. How can we? Literature perhaps offers us a hope Clearly the interest in a novel on partition is not merely academic. It involves a large number of us emotionally. In such a situation, a writer on partition has a double responsibility. First, s/he must be true to himself/herself and to his/her subject. But he must also ensure that s/he is authentic and balanced and compassionate and in the ultimate analysis non-judgmental. S/he cannot afford to be partisan; s/he cannot afford to be seen taking sides. Above all s/he must have an abiding faith in human goodness. It has been suggested that we should erase the wounds of partition from our minds, that we should induce a state of amnesia and forget the painful memories of partition, But can we? The noted Hindi writer Krishna Sobti once said that partition was an experience that was difficult to forget but dangerous to remember. Indeed, however painful and dangerous, the reality of partition is inescapable and one cannot wish it away. Neither, for that ‘matter, would it do to romanticize the relations between the communities, as is sometimes done. This is particularly evident in a stereotypical motif that is resorted to in Indian fiction on partition: love between a HindwSikh girl and a Muslim boy or vice versa. Witness Train fo Pakistan. It is imperative for us to realize that since we cannot erase those painful memories, we need to come to terms with them, face them in all their brutal reality. Only then perhaps would wwe be able to exercise the ghost of those times. There is absolutely. no reason to whitewash these memories. We all know what Hindus and Sikhs and Muslims did to each other. In general, I think we have been less than honest and open about partition. Writers sometimes say what they think is politically corfect. Hence we take resort to comfortable stereotypes. But we don’t need to. For-if we have been barbaric, there are perhaps other memories that are ‘more human and that reinforce our faith in the essential goodness of man and that promote the ideal of communal living and the idea of a plural society. One cannot of course be prescriptive about what one should write and what ‘one should not but [ think we can certainly say with Mushirul Hasan that we need literature that does not apportion blame (‘What political debate will never fully do — and the reason we so badly need literature — is to defeat the urge to lay the blame, which keeps animosity alive.”) (Pangs Il, 184) Literature that does this is more likely to heal our wounded and fragmented society than otherwise. The question to ask about Tamas is: Does our novel do that or does it not? 15 PARTITION NOVELS IN HINDI Partition novels in Hindi could be grouped into two broad categories—those that deal with events and forces that presage partition and those that deal with partition itself and its consequences. The first category includes novels like Nishikant (1958) by Vishnu Prabhakar, Sati Maiyya ka Chaura [The Platform of Sati Mother] (1959) by Bhairav Prasad Gupt, Laute Huve Musaafir [The Migrants Who Came Back] by Kamleswar (1971), Tamas [Darkness] (1974) by Bhisham Sahni and Yashpal’s Meri Teri Uski Baat[Between you him and me] (1974). Of these writers, Bhisham Sahni and ‘The Weiter and the PartitionTamas Yashpal lived in undivided Punjab while the others present a preview of partition from this side of the border. ‘The other category includes Aur Insaan Mar Gayaa [And Man Died] (1948) by Ramanand Sagar, Dharmaputra (1954) by Acharya Chatursen Shastri, Thootha Sach [The False Truth] (Part one) (1960) by Yashpal and Aadha Gaon[Half the Village] (966) by Rahi Masoom Raza. There is a third category also consisting of those novels that deal with much later events. In this caiegory fall two novels: Tat ke Bandhan [The Bonds of the Bank} (1935) by Vishnu Prabhakar and Jhootha Sach (The False Truth] (Part two) by Yashpal. Besides, there are a large number of short stories on the theme of partition. Some of the well-known writers and their stories are: Agyeya (‘Sharandataa’ [The Refuge-giver]), Badiuzzaman (‘Antim Ichha’ [The Last Wish)), Krishna Sobti (‘Sikka Badal Gaya’) [The Coin has Changed], Bhisham Sahni(‘Amritsar Aa Gaya Hai’) [Amritsar has Arrived.) and Mohan Rakesh (CMalbe ka Maalik’) [The Owner of the Debris]. There are others too. Of the novels in the first group Nishikant (1958) by Vishnu Prabhakar covering a span of 19 years from the advent of Gandhi to the beginning of the Second World War in 1939 probes the causes of the communal divide between Hindus and Muslims. The immediate cause of itis the communal riot ‘over the issue of an illegally constructed mosque. The outbreak leads to increasing distrust, uncertainty and hatred between the communities. Religion plays a major part in causing this divide. However, there is another character Riyaz who ‘ibutes the Hindu-Muslim conflict not to religion but to ‘economic disparity. There is a third diagnosis also. Habib Sahab holds that Hindus of whatever complexion and Muslims are competing to wrest power. ‘The idealistic youth Nishikant who is the central character, however says ‘that there are several aspects of it — religious, economic and communal. But in spite of the increasing animosity, there are people like the Muslim fruit-seller who, while trying to rescue a Hindu neighbour, throws himself on his body. ‘The rescuer is described a Muslim but is actually a man. Taking a Marxist viewpoint, Bhairav Prasad Gupt in his novel Sati Maiyya ka Chaura (1959) considers economic inequality to be the chief cause of the communal conflict. So the most important remedy for it, he believes, is in ising the class consciousness of the people. Communal conflict, he says, is a gift of feudalism. At one time the fights, always aimed at wresting power, were between Hindu rulers and Muslim rulers; with the coming in of the English, they became fights between Hindu rajas and capitalists and Muslim rajas and capitalists. It was always the poor, whether Hindus or Muslims, who ‘were exploited. At one place Gupt suggests that the problem was political, not religious and that the right kind of politics would finish off the problem. Bhairav Prasad Gupt locates his novel in a village somewhere in U.P. and the ‘central character in his novel is an enlightened Muslim landlord Manne. His friendship with Munni who is a communist provides the author with an excuse to discuss communal problems and the problem of partition. Sati Maiyya’s chaura, which gives the book its name, is used as a pretext for intensifying Hindu-Muslim conflict, so much so that it becomes a symbol of it. “But ultimately the chaura or the platform is dug up because it is no longerconsidered necessary. This is a sign of the rise of a new consciousness that the author wishes to see inculcated among the people, Laute Huve Musafir [The Migrants Who Came Back] (1971) by Kamleswar is a novella tht focuses on how the communal virus brought in by League activists from Aligarh and later by Hindu fanatics in the mid 1940's vitiates the peaceful atmosphere of a small unnamed basti inhabited by people of the lower, middle and labouring classes. Starting as a spark, the communal fire becomes a conflagration that devastates the entire place. Kamleswar delineates the subtle psychological changes that take place among the people under the impact of the forces of separation. The advocates of Pakistan raise hopes of a new dawn of prosperity for Muslims but the basti Muslims either do not go to the promised land — and if they do, some of them come back disillusioned. Like other novels, this novel too upholds human values through characters like Naseeban who looks after the motherless children of a Hindu neighbour. In Yashpal’s Sahitya Akademi award winning novel Meri Teri Uski Baat [Between You Him and Me] (1974) the growing Hindu-Muslim divide in 1944 and 1945 appears as a backdrop to the relationship between Amar and Usha. The writer hints at the causes of the divide and holds the English chiefly responsible for the partition. Jinnah is shown explaining to the ‘Hindustan ‘Times’ correspondent Durgadas that he did not sign the Simla Agreement because he had been promised Pakistan, Tamas {Darkness} (1974) by Bhisham Sahni has been dealt with in detail in this Block. Now a few words about the novels that depict the partition itself and its horrors. First among these is Ramanand Sagar’s novel Aur Insaan Mar Gayaa [And Man Died] that appeared in 1948. Written in Urdu first and then translated into Hindi, it is the first novel to appear on partition and also perhaps the most heartrending. As suggested by its title it presents a picture, at once realistic and gruesome, of the horrors perpetrated on both sides of the border, which are enough to put humanity to shame. But the darkness is redeemed by examples of humanity and spirit displayed by characters such as Anand, Maulana and Nirmala. This is one of those novels that are based on first hand knowledge. Sagar was in Lahore at that time. Dharmaputra (1954) by Acharya Chatursen Shastri exposes the hollowness of religious fanaticism. “At the center is a young man who is a fanatical Hindu in the troubled times of partition but when he discovers that he is a Muslim by birth, he is deeply repentant for his past madness. In Jootha Sach [The False Truth] two parts Watan aur Desh [The Native land and the Country} in 1958 and Desh ka Bhavishya{The Future of the Country] in 1960, Yashpal comes close to writing a novel of epic proportions. In Part One he presents a most realistic, vivid and moving picture of what partition ‘meant to the people of Lahore during a crucial period in the life of the country, the months from March to August 1947. He works on a broad canvas and though the central narrative principally moves round the figures of the young journalist Jaidev Puri and his sister Tara, — there are of course numerous ‘other important characters — he succeeds in capturing the sights and sounds ‘The Writer and the Partition n2 Tamas of life in pre-partition Lahore. Since Yashpal is a Marxist, there is in the novel a communist party worker Asad to whom Tara feels drawn but nothing comes of their romance and she is forced into a disastrous marriage. Tara’s brother goes to Nainital in search of a job and there is rioting in the city. At the end of Part One we see a shattered Tara, who, separated from the family, moves in a refugee bus to Amritsar ‘leaving behind her native land and entering a country of her own.” In Part Two which is guuch less engaging, the writer touches upon several things including the plight of refugees and condition of women in refugee ‘camps but most of all on political leaders who misuse the system to their own advantage. ‘The last scene in the novel shows the self-serving Sood losing in an election, with the author saying through one of the characters that the future of the country lies not in the hands of its political leaders, but its people. Like Kamleswar, Rahi Masoom Raza in Aadha Gaon (1966) focuses on village Gangauli in Ghazipur district in U.P., half of which is inhabited by Shia Muslims. Raza demolishes the myth that all Muslims on this side of the border supported Pakistan. He shows how the simple minds of the villagers react to the idea of Pakistan. So fiercely are they attached to their land that the Propagandists for Pakistan find it hard to convince them of the need for a separate home land for Muslims. The only people who supported the Pakistan demand were the Muslim zamindars. Raza also shows how partition had disrupted the lives of Muslim families, Among other novels on partition is Badiuzzaman's Wapsi (1980), which focuses on the plight of Bihari Muslims who came back from Pakistan. This brief survey, though far from being exhaustive, does give you an idea of the lines along which Hindi novelists viewed the colossal tragedy of partition. AA few general points could be made: 1, All the Hindi writers referred to above generally write from a settled belief in secular and human values that go beyond religion, region and community. 2. The writing is imbued with a sense of great loss and despair and bewilderment at the unprecedented tragedy. The writing also gives redeeming examples of the triumph of human spirit and also human values cutting across all categories of religion and class. 3. The writing also demolishes the myth held by some people that Muslims on this side of the border were en bloc in favour of the creation of Pakistan. The plight of those Muslims who chose to go over to Pakistan or those who stayed back has also been dealt with in some novels. 4. The writers also brought into sharp focus the atrocities committed on women on both sides of the border. The issue of the recovery and rehabilitation of abducted women during partition also figures in some of the novels. The short Punjabi novel Pinjar [Skeleton] by Amrita Pritam (which was made into a film recently and is also available in an English translation by Khushwant Singh) and Urdu writer, Rajinder Singh Bedi’s story ‘Lajwanti’ deal with the human issues involved in such rehabilitation. Do find time to read them or at least see the film.A useful collection to consult would be Alok Bhalla’s three volume anthology entitled Stories about the Partition of India (1994). Finally, whatever else you read, do read Urdu writer Sa’dat Hasan Manto’s short stories like ‘Toba Tek Singh’, ‘Khol Do” [Untie It] and Siyah Hashiye [Dark Borders}. 6 LETUSSUMUP ‘The partition of the country in 1947 on the basis of the two-nation theory and the bloodbath that accompanied it has been a most traumatic event in the history of the subcontinent. Though it took place more than fifty years back, the partition is still with us in the form of lacerating memories and in the social and political domain in the form of communal flare-ups and we need to come to terms with it. Literature that is compassionate and non-judgmental and that upholds the ideal of a pluralistic society perhaps offers the only hope to bind old wounds and give a healing touch. Tamas by Bhisham Sahni based partly on his own experiences in Rawalpindi is a fine attempt in this direction, Itis on this text that the students are advised to focus. 1.7 QUESTIONS 1 ‘What are the two most important events that have convulsed India during the last 150 years? 2. Reflect on the problem of communalism, discuss it with your friends and write your own perception of it in a brief essay. 3. How do you think we as a nation can tackle this problem? Suggest concrete steps. "The Writer and the Partition 1B