The Portrayal of Distress, Destitution, and Loss of Identity During the Partition of India: A Study of Bhisham Sahni's Tamas and Bapsi Sidhwa’s Ice Candy Man

The trauma of partition and the agony experienced by it still continues to haunt millions of direct and indirect victims of the event in both India and Pakistan. This agony was expressed in partition literature written by writers from both countries. Muslims in India went to Pakistan, and Hindus and Sikhs in Pakistan migrated to India, leaving behind everything, including their ancestral houses, traditions, and culture, and became refugees with nothing. Women became the most vulnerable victims, being assaulted, tormented, sexually molested, and abducted by men from different communities in the guise of religion. This sorrow of partition spawned a new literary genre known as "Partition Literature" in almost all Indian subcontinent languages. The opinions and experiences of refugees, victims of community violence, and political leaders are all represented in these stories. Sadaat Hasan Manto, Khuswant Singh, Amrita Pritam, W.H. Auden, Jyotirmoyee Devi, Chaman Nahal, Bhisam Sahni, Bapsi Sidhwa, and many attempted to address a variety of socio-political, cultural, and religious issues, causes, and their legacies in their writings. These writers have documented the horror of Partition in numerous amazing ways, based on their depth of experience, observation, and understanding of the tragic event. The present research offers a critical analysis of Bhisham Sahni's Tamas and Bapsi Sidhwa's Ice Candy Man in order to investigate the socio-political ramifications, pain, and trauma endured by the people during India's partition.The paper will make an additional effort to comprehend the political, social, and cultural transformations that both the countries experienced as a result of the division.