The Theme of Partition(Nationalism) in Amitav Ghosh’s The

Shadow Lines.
Partition is the action of Parting: The state of being parted: Division: Something that divides. This
is a kind of split-up or perhaps breaking up. Faiz Ahmad Faiz, in The Morning of Freedom: August 1947,
utters:- “pockmarked- this morning, night bitten

Surely, this is not the morning we’d longed

For,

In the wildernessof the sky

Would emerge the ultimate destination of

Stars,

…somewhere will anchor the boat of heart’s

Grief”.

‘The partition of Palestine in 1947’, Or ‘Partition of Korea’, Yet Partition of India has been one of those
turning points in the history of the subcontinent, have not ended yet, the aftereffect of it certainly.
Either in songs, stories, in memories and in monuments; Or, in various symbols, occasions and rituals, it
still alive. Yes! It is. Kind of religious stories for the coming generations for centuries, because it has
everything in it. Partition of India or Partition in India is quite interesting, specially in the Novel of Amitav
Ghosh:- The Shadow Lines. He mostly takes up the theme of the ‘Partition’ in its differing aspects. My
goal in this paper is to highlight ‘Partition’ or ‘The theme of Partition’ through the novel The Shadow
Lines, its Characters, incidents and what exactly ‘Partition is and how Amitav Ghosh deals with it.

To achieve this goal, I have organized my paper into five main

sections. In the 1 Section, I talk about the Author(Amitav Ghosh). In the 2nd Section, I define ‘Partition’.
st

The 3rd Section, here I point out ‘Partition history’ a bit. I end my paper with a 4th Section that offers how
“The theme of Partition” is been shown by Amitav Ghosh in his Novel, through situations, incidents,
facts, characters, lines and Conclude with a 5th Section that discusses what Partition is really about: more
joys than sorrows, or more sorrows than joys! I also include the Works Cited. I would like to commence
my paper by discussing about the first(1st) Section- Author.

AUTHOR (AMITAV GHOSH)

(1956- PRESENT)
He is an Indian writer best known for his work in English Fiction. His main genre is Historical fiction. He
has received numerous awards i.e, Sahitya Akademi Award, Ananda Puraskar, Dan David Prize, Padma
Shri. His work has been translated into more than twenty languages and he has served on the Jury of the
Locarno Film Festival (Swizerland) and the Venice Film Festival (2001). His essays have been published in
The New Yorker, The New Republic, and The New York Times. Some of his great works are The Circle of
Reason, The Shadow Lines, In an Antique Land, Dancing in Cambodia, The Calcutta Chromosome, The
Glass Palace, The Hungry Tide, & the first two volumes of The Ibis Trilogy; Sea Of Poppies, & River Of
Smoke . Amitav Ghosh in most of his novels like The Circle Of Reason (1986), The Shadow Lines (1988),
And The Hungry Tide (2004) takes up the theme of the Partition in its differing aspects. He looks at it
from the middle class quarters in The Shadow Lines, The anonymous sufferers’ side in The Circle Of
Reason & The low-caste section in The Hungry Tide. The Shadow Lines (1988), is the Sahitya Akademi
Award-winning novel by Him.

PARTITION
What is Partition? – Partition is something that talks of Division, reveals Separation. In many contexts,
Partition aspect can be used: Partition is the action or state of dividing or being divided into parts.
Example:- Country’s Partition into separate states; Partition is also called a structure dividing a space
into two parts, especially a light interior wall i.e, barrier, But mainly it is an agreement which is reached
to partition the country. Partition is a division of a nation or territory into two or more nations. Notable
examples are Cyprus, Germany, India, Ireland, Korea, Palestine and Vietman. In Politics, a Partition is a
change of political borders cutting through at least one territory considered a homeland by some
community. Some more notable examples are Partition of Africa, Roman Empire, Prussia, Untited States
during the American Civil War, Poland, 1905 Parttition of Bengal and 1947 Partition of Bengal, German
Empire, Ireland, Korea in 1945, Punjab in 1966, Pakistan in 1971 etc.

PARTITION HISTORY
There are many, ample of histories available about Partition. But Partition of India is something, what I
focus on, As The Shadow Lines, is an Indian novel, written by an Indian author. The Partition of India was
the division of British India in 1947 which accompanied the creation of two independent dominions,
India and Pakistan. The Dominion of India is today the Republic of India, & the Dominion of Pakistan is
today the Islamic Republic of Pakistan & the people’s Republic of Bangladesh. The Partition involved the
division of three provinces, Assam, Bengal and the Punjab, based on district-wide Hindu or Muslim
majorities. The boundary demarcating India & Pakistan became known as the Radcliffe Line. It also
involved the division of the British Indian Army, the Royal Indian Navy, the Indian civil service, the
railways, and the central treasury, between the two new dominions. The Partition was set forth in the
Indian Independence Act 1947 and resulted in the dissolution of the British Raj, as the British
Government there was called. The two self-governing countries of Pakistan & India legally came into
existence at midnight on 14-15 August 1947. The Partition displaced over 14 million people along
religious lines, creating overwhelming refugee crises; there was large-scale violence. This violent nature
of it created an atmosphere of hostility and suspicion between India and Pakistan that plagues their
relationship to the present. In this Partition’s backdrop, Facts can be found like – Partition of Bengal
(1905):- the Bengal Presidency, into the Muslim-Majority province of East Bengal and Assam & the
Hindu- Majoriry province of Bengal (Present –day Indian states of West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand &
Odisha); World war I, Lucknow pact (1914-1918):- would prove to be a watershed in the imperial
relationship between Britain and India; Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms (1919):- a report in July 1918;
Two nation Theory:- Indian Hindus & Muslims are two distinct nations, regardless of ethnic or other
commonalities. The Two-Nation Theory was a founding principle of the Pakistan Movement & the
partition of India in 1947; World War II, Lahore Resolution (1930-1945); Independence (1946-1947).
Besides this, Geographic Partition, 1947 is also significant. Some Indian Partition writers are Pankaj
Mishra, Salman Rushdie, Kamila Shamsie, Mohsin Hamid, Kiran Desai, Siddhartha Deb, Fatima Bhutto,
Nayantara Sehgal, Amit Chaudhuri, Mirza Waheed, Tahmima Anam etc. And some Pakistan Partition
writers are Saadat hasan Manto, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Bapsi Sidhwa, Intizar Hussain, Ayesha Jalal,
Kartar Singh Duggal, Muhammad Umar Memon, Razia Butt etc.

THE THEME OF PARTITION (NATIONALISM) IN THE SHADOW LINES

My focus is on “The theme of Partition in the Novel The Shadow Lines by Amitav Ghosh. The theme of
Partition can be easily demonstrated by the Characters, Situations, Incidents, Facts etc. In this novel,
There is the constant continuation of the trauma of Partition, through three generations. Narrator’s
biggest influence, His Grandmother, Tha’mma epitomizes the ideals of the Nationalist Movement and
values of India’s national identity. Her attitude towards nationalism is worth telling. Through Tha’mma
Partition can be seen because she is a migrant from Dhaka and stays in India. The key concept of
Postcolonialism that is ‘Imagined Communities’ of nations are formed and how belonging is defined. All
these are visible because of her passionate and blind love for her nation. As her nationality, an Indian
but her place of birth in East Pakistan, it causes her to question her national identity and how it formed.
This theme of Partition and Nationalism certainly arises the theme of PostColonialism as well i.e,
concept of ‘Home’ and also ‘Imagined communities’, as has been said before. Then comes the character
Tridib, The protagonist is a middle class boy who grows up in a middle class family; he is the narrator’s
uncle. He is a very strong minded personality. He died because of an attack in Dhaka, at the time of
coming back to India with his family. That attack is the result of Partition, the still aftereffect of it. It
shows the violence through riots and attacking nature, bombing etc. Tridib has surrendered his life to
God, for the sake of his family members, ro save them. The strong, nationalist identity is apparent here.
The story itself told by a nameless narrator in recollection. It’s a non linear tale told as if putting
together the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle in the memory of the narrator. The novel itself traverses through
the almost seventy years through the memories of people, which the narrator recollects and narrates,
giving their viewpoint along with his own. This has the greatest touch of Partition theme because
Partition means Division, Separation, Things are not chronological, unorganized, messed up. Just like
that the story telling of the Author, & the incidents, time, novel itself, Everything is messed up and
Scattered up, Separated what the author has taken up together and elaborated. It’s something really
Unique and so The Shadow Lines remains one of his Best. Though the novel is based largely in Kolkata,
Dhaka & London, It seems to echo the sentiments of whole South-east Asia, with lucid overtones of
Independence & the pangs of Partition. It’s actually called the Concept of Nationalism with wound of
Partition, rather than just the theme of Partition. Infact, all the other characters like Illa, May, Nick,
Mayadebi etc, Everyone possesses the characteristics of Nationalism. Yet the last one, but not the least,
very one of a kind is the Tha’mma’s relative Jethamosai, The old man in Dhaka, he also shows the
Nationalism so fervently. How till the end he fights for his place in anyway. Isn’t it the concept of
Nationalism with wound of Partition! Yes, It is.

As the line speaks : “ Nationalism is an infantile thing. It is the measles of mankind” & also:

“I should like to be able to love my country & still love justice”. & to be concerned with Partition so as
Nationalism it says: “Memorialization is not a passive practice but an active conversation”.

CONCLUSION
Although Ghosh in this novel does not indulge deeply in the live border activities, in a pure partition
genre, but he gives us timely information regarding develpoments. He just means to recall a past under
haze of forgetfulness. Nation-theories are present here. Change of nationality is not something that can
be obtained once and for all, in some seamless form. The undercurrents keep flowing from one to the
other side. Liberation by violence/partitioning not only involves drawing of new lines on a map,
unfurling of new national flags and installation of new national government, but also comprises the
tearing apart of individuals, families, homes, villages and linguitic, cultural communities that would once
have been called nationalities. But this partition, division, separation or tearing apart was permanent. It
was impossibly, helplessly permanent like death. This divisive lines everybody hates. But to reverse it,
we need to erase the binary division between East and West, Tradition and Modernity, Us and Them,
Fracturing the rigidity and the perverted value attached to borders perhaps. The present day
geographical fluidity and impending cultural dislocation may prove positive of entertained in a positive
sense.

WORKS CITED
Faiz Ahmad Faiz, “August 1947”, Culture & Identity: Selected English Writings of Faiz, Compiled
and edited by Sheema Majeed, Karachi Oxford University press, 2005.

Ghosh, Amitav, The Shadow Lines, 1988.

 Ghosh, Amitav, The Circle Of Reason, 1986.

Ghosh, Amitav, The Hungry Tide, 2004.

Einstein, Albert, Fascism, Irresponsibility, Nationalism.

Camus, Albert, Justice, Nationalism, Patriotism.

Malhotra, Aanchal, Remnants of a Separation: A History of the partition through Material

Memory.