LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 18:9 September 2018
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
         N. Nadaraja Pillai, Ph.D.
         Renuga Devi, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.
         Dr. S. Chelliah, Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Confusion and Trauma Suffered by Women during Partition:
A Study of Select Short Stories

Syed Shakir Hussain, Ph.D. Research Scholar
Bilal Ahmad Dar, Ph.D. Research Scholar
Dr. Charu Chitra


Abstract

In Partition literature, the paradigm of “woman as a victim” has been used as an important device in the depiction of violence. This paper tries to explore the plight of confusion and trauma of women during partition. This paper focuses on the feminine psyche and experiences as Women suffered the most in the tragedy of the partition. The Partition was an aftermath of colonization and women were victimized during the Partition. The women of a nation are symbols of the motherland. They also represent the primordial connection to the nation as they are agents of reproduction. During the communal riots in India, before and during the 1947 Partition, one community’s power over the other could not be shown completely unless the women of the community were overtaken and reduced to objects of abuse. A woman’s individuality was erased; their identities as mothers were prioritized, and they were treated as objects to successfully break the motherland.

Keywords: Woman, Partition, Violence, Abduction, Migration, Community, Riots.

Women suffered Most

Women suffered the most in the tragedy of the partition. Women, who were considered to be the honour of their community or nation, were the main targets of inflicting violence/humiliation on the other community. Apart from thousands of women who were killed in the holocaust, more than 75,000 women were abducted and subjected to sexual savagery. These women survived but were violated sexually by men of the other community and sometimes by men of their own community. Some of them were forcibly married and some others were stripped and paraded. Still some others were passed from hand to hand and sold openly. Some women were mutilated and disfigured. Limbs like breasts of women were branded with triumphal slogans or amputated. Wombs of some women were ripped open and fetuses killed. Women suffered inhuman cruelty for sheer survival. The Governments' Scheme of Recovery of Abducted Women proved to be their second dislocation in most cases. Somehow the abducted women had been used to their fate and lot. And their lives were again ruptured by the forcible recovery. Many of the recovered women were not accepted by their families. Such women were placed in camps and ashrams. Some of them had small children and some others were pregnant. Life was full of torture for them forever Women, who had male relatives like fathers, husbands, brothers, sons, etc., were, somehow, able to resettle their lives with the gradual passage of time. But those women who had lost their close male relatives ended up as prostitutes. The children who lost their parents/guardians in the tragedy immediately became orphans and suffered a great deal. The children who were born of abductions and rapes were a great problem. Deciding the nationality to which they would belong posed great difficulties. People wanted to adopt only male children. Girl children were adopted with the intention of getting maids for domestic work. Having lost parents/guardians and their love and affection, such children suffered greatly.

This is only the beginning part of the ARTICLE. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Syed Shakir Hussain, Ph.D. Research Scholar
Department of English
Jiwaji University
Gwalior

Bilal Ahmad Dar, Ph.D. Research Scholar
Department of English
Jiwaji University
Gwalior

Dr. Charu Chitra
Associate Professor
Department of English Government KRG College
Gwalior

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