Sikh perspectives on partition a study on select novels

Abstract

The objective of this study entitled SIKH PERSPECTIVES ON PARTITION: A STUDY ON SELECT NOVELS is to study critically the dynamics of India s partition and the fictional rendering of the historical happening. It aims at highlighting the impact of partition and partition days on Indian English fiction. An attempt has been made to study three novels - Khushwant Singh s Train to Pakistan, Raj Gill s The Rape and Kartar Singh Duggal s Twice Born Twice Dead. This thesis is a modest attempt to exa mine these three novels with a view to investigating the validity of the various constructs that possibly form the central core of their fictional narratives. A critical study of Khushwant Singh, Raj Gill and Kartar Singh Duggal reveals that these three Sikh novelists treat the theme of violence in the wake of partition and present a fictional study of partition, the various causes that led to it and the human suffering involved. The attempts made by these literary men to highlight partition holocaust through their works is of great relevance even today and more over their community was greatly affected in the holocaust. As Postmodern and Postcolonial discourse teaches us to look at things from redrawn perspectives, this thesis also seeks to pursue this line of analysis of partition and related issues as portrayed in these novels. The thesis begins with the genesis of partition history, that is, the glory and history of ancient India and its subsequent conquests. The complex history of ancient India has necessary relevance to the central theme of this research work partition of India. It deals with the history of conquests and colonial rule, newlineemergence of nationalism among the people of India, the contributions of great newlinenational and political leaders in the freedom struggle against the British and the newlinetwo nation theory which led to the breakup of the country newline newline