LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 15:3 March 2015
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.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
         N. Nadaraja Pillai, Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Revisiting the Colossal Scene of Carnage of Partition through
Train to Pakistan

Dr. Gurpreet Kaur, Ph.D., M.Phil., M.A., B.Ed.

Train to Pakistan

Abstract

The colossal scene of carnage of Partition has become the theme of innumerable works of literary art like, Salman Rushdie�s novel Midnight's Children (1980), Bhisham Sahni�s Tamas (1974), Manohar Malgonkar�s A Bend in the Ganges (1965), and Bapsi Sidhwa�s Ice-Candy Man (1988). There are also several short stories such as Toba Tek Singh (1955) by Saadat Hassan Manto, Urdu poems such as Subh-e-Azadi (Freedom�s Dawn, 1947) by Faiz Ahmad Faiz. A non-fiction work by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre that recorded the events surrounding the first Independence Day celebrations in 1947 is Freedom at Midnight (1975). It is indispensable to bring to one�s mind the name of Khushwant Singh�s Train to Pakistan while revisiting Indian history, especially Partition history, through literature. This paper discusses nature of violence, characters involved and the ultimate message communicated in the novel Train to Pakistan by Khushwant Singh.

Key words:Partition, carnage, religious riots, violence, Khuswant Singh, massacre on the train

Introduction

The colossal scene of carnage of Partition has become the theme of innumerable works of literary art like, Salman Rushdie�s novel Midnight's Children (1980), Bhisham Sahni�s Tamas (1974), Manohar Malgonkar�s A Bend in the Ganges (1965), and Bapsi Sidhwa�s Ice-Candy Man (1988). There are also several short stories such as Toba Tek Singh (1955) by Saadat Hassan Manto, Urdu poems such as Subh-e-Azadi (Freedom�s Dawn, 1947) by Faiz Ahmad Faiz. A non-fiction work by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre that recorded the events surrounding the first Independence Day celebrations in 1947 is Freedom at Midnight (1975). It is indispensible to bring to one�s mind the name of Khushwant Singh�s Train to Pakistan while revisiting Indian history, especially Partition history, through literature.

Khushwant Singh�s Works

Khushwant Singh is one of the finest historians and novelists apart from being a candid political commentator. He had a keen eye of observation. His writings, both fictional as well as non-fictional in nature, are deeply rooted in the history of India right from Partition of India and Pakistan till present. He is an author of classics such as Train to Pakistan, I Shall not Hear the Nightingale, Delhi, Burial at Sea, The Company of Women, two volume of A History of the Sikhs, The Sunset Club, etc. Truth, Love and a Little Malice is his autobiographical work. Paradise and The Portrait of a Lady are the collections of short stories.

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


Dr. Gurpreet Kaur, Ph.D., M.Phil., M.A., B.Ed.
Assistant Professor in English
SGTB Khalsa College
Anandpur Sahib 140118
Punjab
India
Gurpreetcommskills@yahoo.com
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