HISTORY

WRITINGS ON THE PARTITION OF INDIA

Sub topic: - ‘Train to Pakistan- Khushwant Singh'

SUPERIVISED BY: SUBMITED BY:

DR. RACHNA SHARMA VATSAL DHAR
ASSISTANT PROFFESOR OF LAW ROLL NO. 19140

RAJIV GANDHI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF LAW,

PATIALA
 ACKNOWLADGEMENT
It gives me incredible pleasure to present my project on the topic writings on partition of
India. I would like to enlighten my readers regarding this topic and I hope I have tried my
best to pave the way for bringing more luminosity to this topic. I am grateful to my History
Teacher Dr. Rachna sharma who has given me the idea and encouraged to venture this
project. I would like to thank librarian of RGNUL for his interest in providing me a study

material and finally I would like to thank my parents for the financial support.

-VATSAL DHAR
 CONTENT
1. Chapter.1. Introduction
2. Chapter 2
 About author
 About novel
3. Chapter 3. View of author on partition
4. Chapter 4. Effects of partition
 Infrastructural
 Economic
 Political
 Social
5. Conclusion
6. Bibliography
 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

In this project we will discuss about the partition of India and the different writings which
were published after the partition. Partition of India had very larger effect on social, political,
economic, and cultural of effects upon the society. We will mainly focus upon novel train to
Pakistan by khuswant singh published in 1956. The Partition of India was the process of
dividing the subcontinent along sectarian lines, which took place in 1947 as India gained its
independence from the British Raj. The northern, predominantly Muslim sections of India
became the nation of Pakistan, while the southern and majority Hindu section became the
Republic of India.

Partition of 1947

The division of the two countries was done according to the plan which was known as the
Mountbatten plan and the partition done in the supervision of the British and also the line
which was drawn between the two countries was name the Radcliffe line after a London
lawyer. On 18 July 1947, the British passed the Indian independence act that finalized the
partition arrangement. The government of India act 1935 was adapted to provide a legal
framework for the two new dominions. Following partition, Pakistan applied for membership
of the united nation, which was accepted by the General Assembly on 30 September 1947.
The union formed from the combination of the Hindu states assumed the name India which
automatically granted it the seat of British India (a UN member since 1945) as successor
state.

Background to Partition

Beginning in 1757, the British commercial enterprise known as the East India company ruled
parts of the subcontinent beginning with Bengal, a period known as the Company Rule or
Company Raj. In 1858, after the brutal Sepoy Rebellion the rule of India was transferred to
the English crown, with Queen Victoria proclaimed as Empress of India in 1878. By the
latter half of the 19th century, England brought the full force of the Industrial Revolution to
the region, with railroads, canals, bridges, and telegraph lines providing new communication
links and opportunities. Most of the jobs created went to the English; much of the land used
for these advances came from the farmers and were paid for by local taxes.

Medical advancements under the Company and British Raj, such as smallpox vaccination,
improved sanitation, and quarantine procedures, led to a steep rise in population. Protectionist
landlords depressed agricultural innovations in the rural areas, and as a result, famines broke
out. The worst was known as the Great Famine of 1876–1878, when between six million and
10 million people died. Universities established in India led to a new middle class, and in
turn, social reform and political action began to rise.
 CHAPTER 2

About author

The train to Pakistan novel is authored by Khushwant Singh. He was born to Khusal Singh on
15 august 1915 at Hadali district Khushab, Punjab, Pakistan. He did his schooling in New
Delhi and studied law at St. Stephen’s collage Delhi and
kings collage London. In his initial years he worked as
the lawyer at Lahore court for eight years and he did
other various jobs like journalist in AIR and also
worked in department of mass communications of
UNESCO at Paris in 1956. After working in different
fields he found his interest and love in literary field and
from 1956 he got into editorial services. He founded and
edited Yojna an Indian government journal in 19511953
he worked for the famous newspapers like Hindustan times and National herald during his
tenure later he got elected as the member of Rajya Sabha the upper house of the parliament
from 1980-1986 and in 1974 he was awarded with Padma Vibhushan the second highest
civilian award in India for service to his country and later in 1984 he returned the award in
protest against the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and siege of golden temple by Indian army. He was
always accused by people for supporting the Congress party especially during the time of
Indra Gandhi. During his time he won various awards for his contribution to the literature
field during his time he authored more than 30 books.

About novel

The novel train to Pakistan was published in 1956 it was authored by Khushwant Singh. this
novel does not talk about the political events which took place at the time of independence
instead it talks about the local events which were taking place around the country in this the
author has described condition of people through the village named Mano-Majara which is
located at border of the India and Pakistan. He has tried to convey his story by many different
characters which has helped in making this novel more interesting to read and In 1992 the
movie was also released which was based on the novel train to Pakistan it was directed by
Pamela rocks and it was nominated in the cinequest film festival in 1999. The author has
described the mass killing of the people which was taking place around the country and the
trains full of dead people coming from the Pakistan and the riots between Hindus, Sikhs and
Muslims. The novel is divided into four chapters i.e.

 Dacoity
 Kalyug
 Majra
 Karma
 CHAPTER 3

View of author on partition

According to Khuswant Singh Partition of Indian Sub-continent is one of the most terrible
events in the history of the sub-continent. The Sub-continent got freedom in 1947 along
with its vivisection on the communal basis which leaves us puzzled weather the year 1947 is
worthy to be remembered for the independence or for the massacre and atrocities during
involuntary migration of a huge mass of people for their existence. Various writers have
attempted to deal with the theme of Partition of Indian Sub-continent in their works.
However, a kind of variations in the depiction of the historical events, differences in the
approaches to the truth and differences in the focus and attitude of the authors are quite
natural. Even the treatment of the same event or incident may differ from author to author.
The present paper aims at the comparative study of Khushwant Singh’s Train to Pakistan and
Bapsi Sidhwa’s Ice Candy Man. Both the writers have witnessed the event themselves and
tried to depict the terror of the conflict and the suffering of people during those days in their
novels. Both the writers have got worldwide recognition for their treatment of the theme of
partition in their novels. The present paper discusses the similarities and dissimilarities in the
treatment of the same theme.

Khushwant singh has focused upon the social scenario rather than focusing upon the political
factors. He has portrayed the challenges which were faced by the people at the time of the
independence i.e. shelter, food and reclaim the property which has been left behind in the
Pakistan and save themselves from mass killing which were going around the country.
Khushwant singh belonged to sikh religion he had special corner for sikh community which
was visible in his writings.
 CHAPTER 4

Effects of partition

Infrastructural

Roads and Railways and other infrastructure: British India was a single political, economic
and administrative region before the partition. Thus when suddenly when the land was
divided on three parts based on religious composition, many rail and roadways got disjointed.
It too immense effort on part of both post independent governments to re-establish rail and
road connectivity in the border regions of Bengal and Punjab. The same thing happened to
many other infrastructures, such as irrigation etc.

Economic

 Disruption to Trade: Undivided India was an integrated economic region with people
from all parts of the country freely trading with other parts. Partition suddenly
created rigid lines across this economic region and divided it in several parts without
any communication with each other. This new boundary between selling and buying
regions shut down trade practices that were going on for hundreds of years. Without
significant linkages with foreign export markets economy of both the countries were
severely affected. Although this troubled Bengal and Punjab most, other historical
trade routes such as those along Brahmaputra river or Gujrat coast were also
hampered.

 Economic Crisis: More specifically than trade, industries were affected greatly. Jute
growing regions of East Pakistan was separated from Jute mills of West Bengal that
saw jute production almost stopping for years. This made international price of jute
skyrocketing for years to come. Same thing happened with cotton mills of Western
India and cotton growing regions of Pakistan. Apart from these macro considerations,
industries were shut down because of communal disharmony where owners and
workers were from different religions.

 Livelihood Crisis: Although part of a much larger humanitarian disaster, the forced
migration associated with the partition left millions of people in dire economic
conditions. People were separated from their livelihood, be it agricultural land,
 industry or trade. People who were economically solvent were forced to move out
of their land and became permanently dependent on governments to live their lives.

Political

 Border Issues: Partition gave birth to a perennial border problem between India and
Pakistan. Partition boundary was drawn according the works of Sir Radcliffe and the
line dividing India and Pakistan is thus known as the Radcliffe line. As the boundary
was artificially drawn, both countries interpret it differently at times and has thus
resulted in many border conflicts, most prominent of which had been the two wars in
Kashmir. In the eastern part, exclaves of one country inside the borders of the other
 have created massive administrative problem, popularly known as the ‘chhitmahal’
issue. Roots of all these problems lie primarily in the partition.
 The Refugee Crisis: Greatest and perhaps the most significant immediate impact of
Indian partition was the unprecedented forced migration and subsequent refugee crisis
that almost paralyzed both the newly formed crisis. Tens of millions of people
crossed border and became refugees in a foreign land completely dependent on state
help to survive. Sustaining and rehabilitating the refugees became a major strain upon
the new states, and drained their resources for decades.
 A Divided Pakistan: Unlike India, who inherited an almost contiguous land area
after independence, Pakistan’s had two separate land area thousands of kilometers
apart. With religion the sole criterion for the partition meant Pakistan was essentially
two separate countries with only religion being the common factor. This caused
massive governance problem and an eventual imposition of dominant West Pakistani
culture over the East Pakistan. This tenuous condition existed for nearly twenty
years before East Pakistan won their independence and became Bangladesh.

Social effects

 Riots: As the partition was primarily based on religion, peoples’ identities of being
Hindu, Muslim or Sikh became a major ground of opposition. Religious minorities in
several regions were hunted down and killed. Faced with the immediate prospect of
losing their homes and livelihood, and with their security at risk, people took to the
streets as wanton killings and violence escalated along communal lines. There was
senseless communal slaughter and a fratricidal war of unprecedented proportions.
Unspeakable atrocities were perpetrated on the minorities in both India and Pakistan.
In the span of a few months, nearly 500,000 people were killed and property worth
thousands of millions of rupees was looted and destroyed. Communal violence
threatened the very fabric of society
 Long term communal disharmony: In the immediate years after independence though
the communalization was contained and weakened but not eliminated, for conditions
were still favorable for its growth. Starting from partition, the country has witnessed
a number of severe riots: dramatic events occurred in Calcutta, Rourkela, and
Jamshedpur, Kashmir, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Moradabad, Nellie and Gujarat. The
controversy over the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya was gaining strength and was
becoming a national matter of concern a bone of contention between the two
communities in each and every Indian city. And recent clashes occurred in
 Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts of Uttar Pradesh, in 2013 also perceived the long
term effects to the growth of communalism in India.
 CONCLUSION

The Partition of the Indian Sub -continent was the single most traumatic event experienced in
the history. India and Pakistan both suffered. The violence partition created was barbaric and
unexpected. The people who co -existed together for generations due to partition turned
enemies. It is said to have brought an end to humanity. Partition is the saga of pain told by
the innocent people of those times who suffered for no fault on their part. Their only fault
was they belonged to various communities such as Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus. Partition
came as a shock to the common man which left them in the State of bewilderment. The
human tragedies have been the major theme with the fict ion writers. Partition had done a
great harm to the Indian Psyche and it is difficult to understand what have we achieved ? The
division was done for no reason. What purpose did it serve? They would live united in one
country as they did for years together. The partition led to wide spread massacre, rape, terror,
rioting, hostility distrust, religious enmity attacks and counter attacks. All this became the
subject matter of the literature relating to partition.

The novel which is studied i.e. Khushwant Singhs Train to Pakistan deal with atrocities done
to various characters who were massacred, became homeless, raped, women were the one
who were humiliated in such a way that never in the history of the world such thing is
mentioned nor it will be written or will take place in future. The study of these three novels
has various experiences mentioned about the friendly relations of the Hindus, Muslims and
Sikhs. Love affairs were also secular, caste was no hurdle and the characters died for one
another irrespective to their caste.

Most of the writers were unable to explain the gravity of the violence, the trauma and the pain
these communities had to face because of partition. The deepest anguish amongst the writers
we find is of these writers from Punjab and Bengal who were either witness or close relatives
of the people who suffered or were directly affected by the partition. The trauma of partition
also remained the major theme in partition fiction. It i s very true that the facts of history are
to be handled by historians carefully and honestly and it is also very true, the history has
always offered a context for novels. Another major theme of partition novels was restoration
of humanism. Many of them find no words to express their disillusionment. The writers were
very careful to avoid blaming any one community instead they blamed both the communities
equally. After independence writing about independence or partition was difficult as
everything was scattered. It was in 1956 that an English Novel on partition was written by
Khuswant Singh i.e. Train to Pakistan. After that many writers took interest in putting forth.
The most painful experience of partition in form of fiction, short stories in all languages.
Khusawant Singh, Bhisma Sahni and Chaman Nahal directly wrote these incidences of
partition. The trauma of partition has forced many writers to deal with such an historical
event like Manohar Malgaonkar, Raj Gill, Gurcharan Das and many more.

Even after so many years of partition. The people of these communities i.e. Sikhs, Muslims
and Hindus are still trying to heal the wounds. Even today they are in search of identity. The
atrocities of rape, looting, massacare etc. definitely made people suffer but after going to the
new homeland it was very difficult to settle down in land unknown to them. They had to start
a fresh life with odd situations and lot of compromises. The sufferers of partition have
witnessed many happy and unhappy natural events taking place around the m. These novels
highlight these most disturbing things which are the impact of violence on the human beings.
Bhisma Sahni explicated that to communal violence is used by a few individuals to climb the
ladders of political importance. The communal violence in Tamas is the outcome of his
political ambitions. These writers have written not to blame one particular community for
violence, rather these novels were written to awaken the people of India regarding
communalism. Religion is the most sensitive issue fo r the human beings, while analyzing
these novels on partition it is revealed that it was an unprecedented political event in the
history of India. It records human life and the tragedy of partition. Studying the history of
partition, we come to conclude that Muslim league wanted to follow two -nation theory and
so they forced and the Britishers wanted to follow them policy of divide and rule as a result
this theory and policy were responsible for partition which turn as story of pain and suffering
in and suffering. Most of the partition novelist belongs to the north and who have experienced
the pain and tragedy of that time.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. https://www.thoughtco.com/what-was-the-partition-of-
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2. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/06/29/the-
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E_PARTITION_OF_INDIA_AND_ITS_REFLECTION
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