International Journal of English Language and Linguistic Research
Vol. 1, No.1, pp 21-23, June 2013
Published by European Centre for Research, Training and Development UK (www.ea-journals.org)
THE THEME OF PARTITION IN KHUSWANT SINGH’S NOVEL TRAIN TO
PAKISTAN
Bilquees Dar
Iqbal institute of Culture and Philosophy, University of Kashmir, J&K, India
Abstract: The Partition of India was the process of dividing the sub-continent along
sectarian lines, which took place in 1947 as India gained its independence from British
Empire. The northern part predominantly Muslim, became nation of Pakistan and the
southern predominantly Hindu became the Republic of India, the partition however
devastated both India and Pakistan as the process claimed many lives in riots, rapes,
murders and looting. The two countries began their independence with ruined economies and
lands without an established, experienced system of government, not only this, but also about
15 million people were displaced from their homes. The Partition of India was an important
event not only in the history of the Indian subcontinent but in world history. Its chief reason
was the communal thinking of both Hindus and Muslins; but the circumstances under which
it occurred made it one of the saddest events of the history of India. No doubt, the Hindus and
the Muslims were living together since long but they failed to inculcate the feelings of
harmony and unity among themselves. The fanatic leaders of both communities played a
prominent role in stoking the fire of communalism. The partition was exceptionally brutal
and large in scale and unleashed misery and loss of lives and property as millions of refugees
fled either Pakistan or India.
Keywords: theme, partition, train, Pakistan
INTRODUCTION
Khushwant Sigh at a Glance
Khushwant Singh’s name is bound to go down in Indian literary history as one of the finest
historian and novelist, a forthright, political commentator and an out -standing observer and
social critic. He is known as one of India’s distinguished men of letters with an international
reputation, besides, being a significant post- colonial writer in English language. He is
known for his clear-cut secularism, wit and a deep passion for poetry. His assessment and
comparison of social and behavioral traits of people from India and West is full of
outstanding wit. In July 2000, he was conferred the “honest man of the year Award by the
Sulabh International Social Service organization for his courage and honesty in his brilliant
incisive writing at the award ceremony. The then Chief minister of Andhra Pradesh described
him a “humorous writer and incorrigible believer in human goodness with a devil may-care
attitude and a courageous mind.
The Indian External affairs minister said that the secret of Khushwant Singh’s success lay in
his learning and discipline and his belief in the veneer of the superficiality. Khush want Singh
has worldwide readership. He has written for almost all major national and international
newspaper in India and abroad. He has also had numerous radio appearances at home and
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International Journal of English Language and Linguistic Research
Vol. 1, No.1, pp 21-23, June 2013
Published by European Centre for Research, Training and Development UK (www.ea-journals.org)
internationally and had an extra ordinary career as a writer. His book, “A history of Sikhs”,
remains of the best, well researched and scholarly works of the Sikhs. He has also written
several novels, both fiction and nonfiction, which have been translated into many languages.
His novel ‘Train to Pakistan’ won him international acclaim and Grove press Award in 1954,
he is best- selling author of over 80 English publications. India today described him as ‘the
capital’s best known living monument. Khuswant Singh was awarded the Padma Bhushan in
1974. Ten years later, in an act of courage on June 8, 1984, a day after the attack on the
Golden temple, he drove to Rashtrapati Bhavan and returned the framed citation to the
president of India , Giani Zail Singh, also a Sikh in protest at the storming of the Golden
temple, however in 2007 Indian government awarded Singh an even more prestigious honor,
the Padma Vibhushan. In short Khushwant Singh is a man larger than life – a lawyer ,
diplomat, critic, Journalist, novelist, historian, naturalist and a politician ,all rolled into one.
THEME OF PARTITION IN TRAIN TO PAKISTAN
Khuswant Singh’s Novel ,,Train to Pakistan ,brings forth a picture of bestial horrors enacted
on the Indo Pakistan border during the partition days of August 1947. It tells the tragic tale of
the partition of India and Pakistan and the events that followed, which will be remembered as
one of the blackest chapters of human history. Just on the eve of independence, India was
partitioned causing a great upheaval in the whole continent. Independence brought in its wake
one of the bloodiest carnages in the history of India, the upshot of this, was that twelve
million had to flee their home nearly half a million were killed.
The harrowing and spine chilling events of 1947 had shaken the faith of the people in the
innate human beings. It had driven them into a state of wonder over what man has made of
man. To Khushwant Singh, this was a period of great disillusionment and crisis of values, a
distressing and disintegrating period of his life. The beliefs, he had cherished all his life were
shattered. Giving vent to his inner struggle and agony, he says: ‘the beliefs that I had
cherished all my life were shattered. I had believed in the innate goodness of the common
man but the division of India had been accompanied by the most savage massacres known in
the history of the country. He says, I had believed that we Indians were peace loving and
nonviolent that we were concerned with matters of the spirit while rest of the world was
involved in the pursuit of material things. After the experience of autumn 1947, I become an
angry middle aged man, who wanted to show his disenchantment with the world.. I decided to
try my hand at writing.
The sinister and venomous impact of partition and the indignation it spawned on him has
been realistically expressed in scathing attack in Train to Pakistan. Originally entitled Mano
Majra. The novel potrays with bold and unrelenting realism the brutal story of political
hatred and violence during the turbulent and fateful days that preceded and followed the
partition of British India when spirit of communal frenzy and passionate zeal for self –
expression was fanning and fumbling with the masses. Every citizen was caught up in the
holocaust. No one could remain aloof; no one could be trusted to be impartial. It is true that
partition touched the whole country and Singh attempt in the novel is to see events from the
point of view of the people of Mano Majra, a small village which is considered to be the
backdrop of this novel. As P.C.Car writes, Singh weaves a narrative around life in this
village, making the village a microcosm representing a larger world”.
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International Journal of English Language and Linguistic Research
Vol. 1, No.1, pp 21-23, June 2013
Published by European Centre for Research, Training and Development UK (www.ea-journals.org)
Khushwant Singh recreates a tiny village in the Punjabi countryside and its people in that
fateful summer, when the flood of refugees and the inter-communal bloodletting from Bengal
to the North West Frontier at last touches them. Many ordinary men and women are
bewildered, victimized and torn apart. The most heart – rending passage in the book is when
the government makes the decision to transport all the Muslim families from Mano Majra to
Pakistan. The dumbstruck villagers are overtaken by events. The Muslims leave with the
barest minimum of their meager belongings within ten minutes and the Non-Muslim
neighbors do not get a chance to say Goodbye. The entire scene is painful at many levels;
particularly the poverty in which these people lived, the uncertanity, they were thrown into
and the eclipse of people’s humanity. Train to Pakistan is Khushwant Singh’s Supreme
achievement. It is one of the finest realistic novels of Post-world war II Indo Anglian fiction.
It has a well thought out structure, a well- conceived plot, an absorbing narrative and
beautifully potrayed characters. It has many notable features – symbolic framework,
meaningful atmosphere and a powerful way of expression and style. Khushwant Singh has
accurately depicted the real picture of the adverse effects of partition and the suffering that
people were made to experience. Khushwant Singh upheld his unique mirror to reflect upon
the physical torture and psychological outburst that became the order of the day, when the
division of the sub-continent into India and Pakistan. He paints a vivid picture of the
separation between Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs in the summer of 1947. The novel in short
potrays the issues of Independence and partition using it as a means to explore other issues
which then emerge as the larger picture of the devastation and bloody birth of nations.
REFERENCES
1. The tragic story of partition.
2. Muslim Separatism and consequences, chapter 2, Sita Ram Goel.
3. Sword For Pen, TIME Magazine, April 12 1937.
4. Encyclopaedia Britannica 2008, 1937.Sikkim..
5. Bharadwaj Prashant, Khwaja Asim Ijaz Khwaja, Atif. R. Main (2008-04-22) the Big
March: Migratory Flows after the partition of India.
6. Ayesha Jalal (1985) ‘the sole spokesman; Jinnah, the Muslim league and the demand
, Pakistan. Cambridge university press.
7. Kaur, Ravinder(2007) since 1947: Partition Narratives among Punjabi Migrants of
Delhi. Oxford university press.
8. Lawrence James, Rise and fall of the British Empire.
9. Ronald Hyam, Britain’s Declining Empire: Adjusting to a post Imperial world, pp
72.
10. Richard Symonds, 1950 the making of Pakistan, London, Asin.
11. Stanley Wolpert, 2006, Shameful Flight. The last Years of the British Empire in
Indian, Oxford University press
E-Mail: [email protected]
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