Fragmented Lives: Analyzing Genocidal Trauma and the Plight of Abducted Women during the Partition in Select Indian and Pakistani Short Fiction

At the threshold of commemorating seventy-seven years of Indian independence, the shadows of cataclysmic incident of Partition and its aftermath cannot be obliterated. The political upheaval at the midnight is historicized with demographics analysing the root cause of the division and creation of two states and accounts glorifying the independence movement catering to the purpose of nationalistic fervour but the heart wrenching accounts of human suffering recorded in literary works by the writers writing from the opposite sides of the great divide narrate the unsayable experiences of the millions of people who were once living in a harmonious ambience in the undivided India. The holocaust of partition portrayed more sensitively in the literary works coming from the affected nations leaves an impact on the people . Annals of history are stained with the ghastly violence , rape, abduction and genocide arising from the split of Indian subcontinent . This man-made calamity disproportionately affected women. They were kidnapped, sexually assaulted, humiliated in public, and had their genitalia cut off. In addition, their families murdered them in the sake of honour, and many of them were compelled to kill themselves to preserve their honour. The bleak memories associated with partition reflected in diverse narratives demonstrate the horrible reality. This paper aims to investigate the catastrophic effect of partition on women through the thematic analysis of the short stories written by Indian authors Rajinder Singh Bedi and Krishna Chander and Pakistani authors Saadat Hasan Manto and Jameela Hashmi