Tshering Lhamo Dissertation 2022

Yonphula Centenary College
A Comparative Study between Train to Pakistan and Dastaan: Interplay of Trauma and
Politics
DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO
MA in English Programme
Royal University of Bhutan
In Partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the Degree of

Masters of Arts in English
SUBMITTED BY
Tshering Lhamo
Student No. 07200021
SUPERVISOR
Dr. Sarmistha Roy
Lecturer
June 2022
Contents
Chapter No. Title/Subtitle Page No.
Declaration i
Certificate ii
Acknowledgement iii
Abstract iv
I Introduction 1
Aims 12
Objectives 12
Research Question 12
Methodology 13
Literature Review 14
II Independence at the cost of millions of lives 22

and rift in brotherhood
III Conclusion 36
References 41
*APA-6th edition publication manual is followed

i
Declaration
I, Tshering Lhamo, hereby declare that the dissertation titled ‘A Comparative Study between
Train to Pakistan and Dastaan: Interplay of Trauma and Politics’ submitted to the Masters of
Arts in English Programme, Yonphula Centenary College, is the record of work carried out by
myself during the period of August 2021 to June 2022, under the guidance of Dr. Sarmistha Roy,
Lecturer, Masters of Arts in English Programme, Yonphula Centenary College, and it has not
previously formed the basis for the award of any degree, diploma, associateship, fellowship or
other titles in any university and institution.
Yonphula Centenary College (Tshering Lhamo)
June 2022 Student Number: 07200021
MA in English
ii
Certificate
This is to certify that Tshering Lhamo, bearing student number 07200021 has submitted her
dissertation titled ‘A Comparative Study between Train to Pakistan and Dastaan: Interplay
of Trauma and Politics’ for the award of the degree of Master of Arts in English under my
guidance and supervision. To the best of my knowledge, the present work is the resut of her
original investigation and study. No part of the dissertation was submitted before any other
degree or diploma at any university or institution.
The dissertation is perfectly suitable in structure and content for the partial fulfillment of the
Master of Arts in English Programme.
Yonphula Centenary College (Dr. Sarmistha Roy)
June 2022 Supervisor

iii
Acknowledgement
I would like to sincerely thank my Research Supervisor Dr. Sarmistha Roy, Lecturer,
Yonphula Centenary College, Royal University of Bhutan, for her unwavering and tireless
guidance in each stage of the research process. Her competence has helped me not only in
broadening the horizon of the research but also in the writing of this thesis. Furthermore, I would
like to express my special appreciation for providing her insights and knowledge on the text
under study that helped me in validating the dissertation, particularly during the drafting of the
research proposal and also for her continued support even during the vacations. She helped me
steer to the right direction whenever she thought I needed it and made sure of the originality of
the thesis. I am very grateful for her continuous motivation, and encouragement that changed the
spectrum of my writing process. She sacrificed her time to go through the drafts and provided
valuable feedbacks and comments that helped me complete my thesis on time.
Next, I would like to thank Dr. S. Chitra, Assistant Professor, Program Leader and
Research Coordinator, Yonphula Centenary College, for helping me in selecting the research text
and for her timely reminders that enabled me to work vigorously and complete the thesis within
the stipulated time. I am also grateful to Ms. Singye Wangmo, Administration Assistant,
Yonphula Centenary College, who tirelessly provided the printing and binding facilities, during
the multiple drafting process of the thesis.
Lastly, I must express my very deep gratitude to my parents, my siblings and my friends
for providing their trustworthy support and unceasing encouragement throughout the process of
writing of this thesis as well as during the three semesters of my study. This scholarly
achievement would not have been possible without them.
iv
Abstract
Train to Pakistan (1956) by Khushwant Singh is one of the most celebrated historical
fiction novels by an Indian author. Similarly, Dastaan (2010) is one of the most acclaimed
historical fiction dramas by a Pakistani film and television director Haissam Hussain. Though
considered to be one of the most popular works of fiction, centering on the partition, both the
former and the latter, emphasizes on a visible preoccupation with the theme of love, sacrifice,
death, displacement and trauma. The characters in both the narration fall victim to terror and
suspicion due to the climaxed pattern of recurrent violence in the name of Hinduism and Islam.
However, in Train to Pakistan, the suspicion is broken when one of the notorious civilians,
Jaggut, belonging to a Sikh community sacrifices his life to save the love of his life. While in
Dastaan, the suspicion is broken when Bano, a lone Muslim survivor sacrifices her love and life
in creation of an independent nation, Pakistan. Basing its argument on the text and the drama,
this study has made an attempt to probe both the genres of narration from three perspectives.
With regard to the first perspective, the research has depicted the reasons that triggered terror and
suspicion within the minds of people and its consequences that led to bloodshed and
displacement to the land that they heretofore unaccustomed. In the second perspective, the
research has elucidated both the narrations by drawing on the Two-nations Theory and examined
the desire to establish a free state nurtured by the cultural, political, religious and social
differences between the two communities who had till then been living together in a fundamental
sense. In the third perspective, the research has examined both the narrations through Trauma
Theory and explored the horrifying trauma and the politics that the characters underwent during
and after the partition of British India.
Key words: partition, bloodshed, displacement, religion, colonialism

A COMPARATIVE STUDY BETWEEN TRAIN TO PAKISTAN AND DASTAAN: INTERPLAY OF
TRAUMA AND POLITICS 1
Chapter I: Introduction
Written in a simple and straightforward language, Train to Pakistan (1956) narrates the
story of imaginary Mano Majra, a small village with both Sikh and Muslim families. The village
is known for its railway station and the large single-track railway bridge spanning the nearby
river Sutlej. As the events take place in late August 1947, Mano Majra finds itself located on the
Indian side of the newly created border, with the bridge now connecting the two countries. Till
then Mano Majra has escaped the turmoil following in the wake of Partition, a situation that was
about to change. In the course of the narration, readers witness how communal violence
gradually closes in on the village. In the beginning, Singh keeps both the novel’s characters and
the readers at a distance from the physical and mental violence of Partition.
Steadily the narrator, relates a candid account of the bloody incidents accompanying the
political events. Throughout the first half of the novel, Singh talks about the communal violence
scene only through reports, rumors and assumptions, information about incidents that have
happened elsewhere, but at the same time foreshadow the events to come. After the introductory
sequence the story starts with another violent incident, the murder of the moneylender Lala Ram
Lal, the only Hindu of Mano Majra. Even though it is not a communal murder, it precludes what
is in the offing. Then the narration gradually moves from general to the particular as both the
villagers and the readers come closer to the emotional and physical violence of Partition. Quite
evidently, a first train full of corpses roll into the station of Mano Majra, hence, the realities of
Partition gradually begin to find its way into the village when the Muslims of Mano Majra are
pressed to leave their homes after a group of Sikh refugees reach the village from Pakistan and
the authorities fear that they might want to take revenge. Reluctant Muslim villagers are forced
to leave for a country that do not mean anything to them. Packed onto trucks to be deported, by
train, to Pakistan, they are turned into exiles who can take with them only what they can carry.
The Muslims who are leaving and the Sikhs who are staying find it miserable and both
groups still refuse to believe that it is a separation for good. It is only towards the end of the
narration that the physical violence or rather the outcome of violence literally appears on the
scene when the victims of massacre that had happened elsewhere can be seen floating down the
river. In the ultimate climax the protagonist Jaggut, who is viewed as the village’s infamous
civilian, sacrifices his own life in order to save his beloved Nooran, the daughter of the village
imam, indirectly, also those of the other Muslim villagers. In a daring stunt Jaggut cuts the rope
that has been put up on the bridge in order to slow down the train so that its passengers can be
murdered. The novel ends with Jaggut being crushed under the wheels of the train which makes
its way into Pakistan unscathed.
Khushwant Singh was born at Hadali in Punjab’s Khushab district (now in Pakistan) to
Sir Sobha Singh, a prominent builder, and Veeran Bai on February 2, 1915. His grandmother
gave him the name Khushal Singh but later on he chose to change it to Khushwant as to rhyme
with that of Bhagwant, his elder brother. He believed that his new name was “self-manufactured
and meaningless” (Singh K. , 2010). He received his early education at Modern School in Delhi
followed by Government College in Lahore. Later he moved to St Stephen’s College in Delhi,
and King’s College in London to achieve his merit in LL.B. He worked as a lawyer for several
years but it failed to garner him inner satisfaction, hence, he moved on to serve in the Indian
Foreign Service (IFS) as an information officer of the Indian government in Toronto, Canada.
However, in 1951 he left IFS and became a journalist at All India Radio. Gradually journalism
and writing gave him a sense of fulfillment and meaning in his life. As a writer, he was best
known for his trenchant secularism, humor, sarcasm and an abiding love of poetry. His
comparisons of social and behavioral characteristics of Westerners and Indians are fastened with
whimsical wit. Easily switching roles between author, commentator and journalist, he even
served as Member of Parliament in Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament of India from
1980-1986 (Chavan, 2020).
He is highly acclaimed writer not only in India but across the globe. His shrewdness in
exhibiting realistic life experiences and portraying satirical views on the real-world scenario
makes his work more appealing to the readers worldwide. Therefore, almost all of his books are
multi-million sellers and stand at the best seller lists. He wrote numerous fiction and non-fiction
which became the most popular and trend setter to the South Asian writers. One of his most
popular works include Train to Pakistan. Khushwant Singh has established himself as a
distinguished writer of social realism with the publication of his first novel, Train to Pakistan.
The novel talks about the partition that took place post-independence in 1947 that is
known to be the darkest chapter in Indian history. Post-partition, people of different communities
started killing each other showing the brutal side of humanity that led the nation into total chaos.
As asserted by Sharma (2019), Singh digs into a deep local focus, providing a human dimension
which brings to an event a sense of reality, horror, and believability. The harrowing and
horrifying events of partition thus influenced Khushwant Singh to write a novel which portrayed
India going through holocaust and how each community blamed the other to find the reasons to
create massacre. Rightly claimed by Sarma (2015), the event also probed each community to
prove that one community has the upper hand over the other. In an interview conducted in 1968,
Khushwant Singh, declared that he was personally affected by the events of 1947 hence he
confronts his experiences and memories through his writing;
I really don’t think Train to Pakistan is a very good novel because I think it’s a
documentary, and I have given it a sugar-coating of characters and a story. Basically, it is
a documentary of the partition of India, an extremely tragic event which hurt me very
much” (Singh 1968-69: 28).
A counterpart to the Singh’s Train to Pakistan, a Pakistani drama, Dastaan (2010) will
also be discussed to present the Pakistani side of narration, centering round the partition, so as to,
make the research more comprehensive. The narration is built on the true events of partition of
1947 and the series depicts the events of riot and chaos in 1947 from the Pakistani perspective.
The drama is based on the Urdu novel, Bano (1971) authored by Razia Butt, a Pakistani
Novelist. Dastaan begins with the wedding of Suraiya and Salim. Bano, Suraiya, Salim and
Hassan used to be childhood friends who grew up together, however, Hassan had to leave for
Islamia College in Peshawar for his further studies. Hassan later, returns for Suraiya’s wedding
and there during the wedding, Hassan and Bano meet for the first time as adults after three years.
Gradually, Hassan and Bano begin to develop feelings for each other and finally they promise to
live loyal to each other and marry after Hassan’s studies. Hassan is an active supporter of the All-
India Muslim League and he strongly believes in the establishment of separate nation for
Pakistan. After Hassan secures a job as an engineer in one of the government departments, he
devotes his life for Bano and exchanges a ring as a prove of lifelong commitment. However,
Hassan has to leave immediately, for the tensions between dual Hindus and Sikhs against
Muslims escalates dramatically, and violence breaks out all across India. Hate crimes against
Muslims become common, and fighting spreads to all states, getting threateningly closer to
everyday lives of Muslims. On a fateful night, a group of Sikhs and Hindus attack Bano’s home
killing all of the men while the women are either taken to be raped and killed or committed
suicide to save themselves from the dreadful fate. Bano however, survives and is rescued by
Salim's Hindu friends.
Notwithstanding the fact that each of her family members are killed, Bano remains the
sole survivor of that momentous homicide, who witnessed and experienced the most diabolical
treatment in her quest for a bona fide Pakistan. In her attempt, to escape to Pakistan, she
encounters numerous rapes and she ends up spending five years of her life getting beaten, raped,
emotionally tortured and forcibly marrying Basant and converting herself to Sikh faith under the
notorious Sikh man Basant Singh. Like fate would have it, one fateful day, Basant dies falling
from the terrace. Thus, Bano’s dream to migrate to Pakistan and unite with her beloved Hassan
appears positive. However, upon her reach to Pakistan, Bano is heartbroken with the situation
she witnesses. She observes, her beloved Hassan is engaged to another girl, Rabia. She even
encounters men’s assault and tyranny over women, corruption and nepotism have plagued the
society much to her surprise and dismay and she realizes that the Pakistan she is witnessing was
not the country she dreamt of. Thus, she despises her decision of having a separate nation for
Muslims and her dream of bona fide Pakistan with brotherhood gets shattered. Further her vision
of Pakistan with power and class free nation gets wrecked. The sacrifices and struggles that she
went through meant no meaning in her envisioned Pakistan.
Haissam Hussain is a Pakistani film and television director. He is best known for the
critically acclaimed Dastaan for which he won the Lux Style Award for best director in 2010.
Hussain was born to a Muslim family in Lahore, Pakistan. He is well known for his shrewdness
in exhibiting excellence in some of the prevalent alma maters, including the Army Burn Hall
College in 1992, Punjab University in 1996, West Herts College in 2002 and Middlesex
University in 2006 (Planet, 2020).
The theme of love and sacrifice is central to both Singh’s Train to Pakistan and
Hussain’s Dastaan. Singh mentions a fictitious village named Mano Majra where the masses,
before the partition live in harmony without prejudices of caste or creed. It is quite evident that
the people of all castes and creeds live in love and harmony like brothers (Singh K. , p. 5). The
situation deteriorates with the news of communal violence in Punjab and Bengal; hence, the
narration ironically portrays the evil that India’s partition created. The characters portrayed in the
novel who profusely love each other are writhing with pain at the time of forced separation,
reassuring good times for each other. As asserted by Khanam (2016), Khushwant Singh’s
revelation of a train packed with corpses, the pathetic massacre of the Hindus in Pakistan, the
vengeance of Sikhs, is directly or indirectly a message and an example to save humanity and the
nation. The main character in the narrative, Jaggut who is shunned as a criminal is finally turned
hero when he sacrifices his life to save his beloved Nooran, a Muslim girl. There is no doubt
therefore that Train to Pakistan presents a remarkable example of love, sacrifice, togetherness
and humanity. The characters of the novel portray immense faith in the goodness of humans.
Through Mano Majra, Singh gives a remarkable example of love and human feelings.
The bloodshed keeps going on in many villages at the border but people of Mano Majra live like
brothers. And at the time of partition, when Muslims were compelled to leave Mano Majra, the
people of both the communities wept bitterly expressing their close affiliations with each other.
Through this, Singh tries to reveal that sanity, love and affection amongst people transcending
caste differences could only bring respite from the crisis. Singh rightly describes the gloomy
atmosphere before the forceful departure of Muslims from the village (Singh K. , p. 89);
pathetic night before the migration of Muslims; not many people slept in Mano Majra
that night. They went from house to house- talking, crying, and swearing love and
friendship, assuring each other that this would soon be over.
Through Jaggut, Singh demonstrates the supremacy of love for the Nation and humanity above
everything. An excerpt clarifies it all;
He cuts the rope vigorously and at the same time the avengers set him on fire.
Fortunately, he cuts the rope successfully. Jaggut saves his sweetheart as well as other
Muslims but the train goes over him and crosses on to Pakistan safely (Singh K. , p. 190).
Thus, Leonard (p. 16) aptly comments that Singh has given a great example of love and
sacrifice through Jaggut Singh. Cited in Zaman (1999) Taslima Nasrin, a renowned author has
also contributed in presenting the reality of riots in her Lajja (1997) but she could not create a
humane like Jaggut Singh of Train to Pakistan who sacrifices himself for love. Similarly,
Hussain (2010) presents Bano as the power of love for her envisioned nation, shoving her way
through frequent trials and tribulations, she succeeds in migrating to Pakistan. Jaggut sacrifices
his life to save his beloved Nooran, on the other Bano sacrifices her love for Hassan and her life
itself by choosing to live in seclusion.
The theme of death, bloodshed and displacement is also indispensable, both in Singh’s
Train to Pakistan and Hussain’s Dastaan. As asserted by Chopra (2010), both the novel and the
drama attempt to grapple with this question of the tryst of others, caught between the greed of
self-seeking politicians, fanatic religious leaders and their cohorts. Further it was also because of
power-wielding corrupt bureaucrats and anti-social elements always looking for opportunities to
exploit any situation to their own advantage. An analysis done by Choudhury (2021) revealed
that disharmony generated by the partition juxtaposed into a communal disharmony across the
subcontinent of India with bloodshed, rape and atrocities. This is in fact, depicted to have erupted
on the eve of the partition and to continue even after the division of freedom to India. A large
number of people were killed, attacked and molested on both sides. A sort of anarchy and chaos
seemed to rule the roost during the phase of partition. Aptly asserted by Salem (2018) this
mutual massacre seemed to believe in the doctrine of "eye for an eye", the principle of vengeful
justice, coined by Hammurabi in 1750 BC. While the Sikhs and Hindus have killed the Muslims
in India and sent the corpses to Pakistan as their gift to Pakistan, a ghost-trains full load of Sikh
refugees from Pakistan to India. As a result, revolt against such a decision was manifested in the
communal disharmony between the Hindus and the Muslims who blamed each other for the
death roll of several thousand. This is impeccably recounted in Singh (p. 9);
Muslims said the Hindus had planned and started the killing. According to the Hindus,
the Muslims were to blame. The fact is, both sides were killed. Both shot and stabbed and
speared and clubbed. Both tortured. Both raped.
Hundreds of people were killed, raped and butchered on either sides of the border, and for those
who survived the catastrophe, the experience was so traumatic that the memories of those grief-
stricken days haunted them for years to come. For millions of people, the independence of the
country brought terrible but unavoidable suffering and humiliation, a loss of human dignity and a
frustrating sense of being uprooted from the land they lived for generations. In fact, the novel
opens with forebodings of ill omen;
The summer of 1947 was not like other Indian summers. Even the weather had a different
feel in India that year. It was hotter than usual, and drier and dustier. And the summer
was longer. No one could remember when the monsoon had been so late. For weeks, the
sparse clouds cast only shadows. There was no rain. People began to say that God was
punishing them for their sins (Singh K. , p. 1).
The theme of terror and trauma is also predominantly presented through the situations,
the action and the life styles of the each and every major character in Khushwant Singh’s Train
to Pakistan and Hussain’s Dastaan. As asserted by Mohanty (2019), written and presented in the
prospective of the historiographic metafiction, Train to Pakistan and Dastaan tries to distinguish
between the past event and present belief with the historical representation of the event, which is
loaded with many historical facts and fictions, therefore, the incidents described in both the
narrations challenge the very fact of forgotten past. The history of India and Pakistan, their
struggle, independence as well as the partition marks a deep scar on the psyche in each citizen,
turning those memories into recurrent terror and trauma. Though the personal experiences of all
the characters in the narration are different, the traces of trauma can, undeniably, be seen in each
character’s psyche. The characters act and react to the situation in their own way but the effects
of the violence during partition seems to affect them collectively. Consciously or unconsciously,
they undergo the same psychological bewilderment that seems to alter their worldview for better
or for worse. As recounted in Singh (p. 35), “if we have to go, we better pack up our bedding and
belongings. It will take us more than one night to clear out of homes it has taken our fathers and
grandfathers hundreds of years to make”. Through this dialogue, it makes quite evident that
Muslims who are leaving and Sikhs who are remaining back, are mentally tormented by the new
situation but they are left with no solution because if they continued to live a life of pre-partition,
that would be more traumatic.
As claimed by Mohanty (2019), the idea of fleeing from one’s country is never
permanent in the collective psyche of the expatriates. During partition, there are numerous
refugees who come back to their own countries to fetch back their relatives, property, or
belongings. It is thus, aptly narrated in (Singh K. , p. 185);
Prem Singh goes back to Lahore to fetch his wife’s jewelry but little does he imagine that
in the post-independent Pakistan, he is no more a human being but only a Hindu. His
religious identity makes him an offender in his own erstwhile nation and thus he is
punished to death by the Muslims.
Witnessing this kind of bloating description, makes the reader feel, the terror that engulfed the
whole nation, later turning into recurrent trauma in the psyche of each character. In the text,
another example of terror and traumatic encounter is narrated through Sundari. She is a reference
point for the woman’s body which has been subjected to torture and defacement during the
partition. Sundari is newly married and dreaming of a happy life with her husband but
unfortunately, she is gang-raped in front her husband by a mob of Muslims. Thus, Singh
describes the situation as follows, “she did not have to take off any of her bangles. They were all
smashed as she lay in the road, being taken by one man and another and another” (p.187).
It is important to understand the ultimate cause that led to this movement of forging
violence and hatred between two major communities (joint Hindu and Sikhs against Muslim),
which ultimately forced the British India to divide into two separate nations. According to Nyela
Syed, quoted in Shriya (2019), the desire of two different nations bred hatred between the two
major communities of the British India; Hindu and Muslim, and both viewed each other as a
threat for their desire of freedom. Hence, one saw the other as an enemy who threatened the
fulfillment of a desire for an independent state. Shriya further asserts that the desire for freedom
brought turmoil of partition and the idea of complete independence with two different nations
took birth in the question and fear of whether Hindus or Muslims will have power. Therefore,
Singh’s Train to Pakistan and Hussain’s Dastaan will be examined in the light of Two-nations
Theory coined by Allama Iqbal, the Pakistani Philosopher on 29th December 1930.
According to this theory, Muslims and Hindus are believed to be two separate nations,
with their own customs, religion, and traditions, therefore, from social and moral points of view,
Muslims should be able to have their own separate homeland outside of Hindu-majority India
(Raghuvanshi, 2019). Sir Allama Iqbal, a Muslim poet, philosopher, and politician, was elected
President of the Muslim League in 1930. In his inaugural speech, he outlined his vision for an
independent Muslim nation by naming the Muslim-majority provinces in the northwestern region
of the subcontinent. Then, in 1933, a Cambridge University student named Rahmat Ali
assembled a pamphlet entitled “Now or never: Are we to live or perish forever” in response to
Iqbal's call for a Muslim majority state in the northwestern region of British India. In that
pamphlet, it explicitly suggested “Pakistan” as an acronym representing the different Muslim-
majority provinces (Ali, 1933). Ali further states that Pakistan is both an Urdu and Persian word.
The Urdu influence comes from the names of the provinces, and the Persian influence can be
seen in the word “pak”, which means pure and clean. Additionally, the suffix “stan” is Persian
for “place of”, “land”, “nation”, “country” and bears relation to a similar Sanskrit suffix with a
similar meaning.
Trauma Theory will also be used in order to explore the predominant presence of Trauma
as an undercurrent theme in both Singh’s Train to Pakistan and Hussain’s Dastaan. According to
Freud cited in Caruth (1996), describes a pattern of suffering that is inexplicably persistent in the
lives of certain individuals. Perplexed by the terrifying literal nightmares of battlefield survivors
and the repetitive reenactments of people who have experienced painful events. Freud wonders at
the peculiar and sometimes uncanny way in which catastrophic events seem to repeat themselves
for those who have passed through them. In some case, Freud points out, these repetitions are
particularly striking because they seem not to be initiated by the individual’s own acts but rather
appear as the possession of some people by a sort of fact, a series of painful events to which they
are subjected and which seem to be entirely outside their wish or control. Likewise, Barker
(2004) claims that, Trauma is inherently complex and does not affect anyone in the same way.
Some people experience a terrible event but suffer no long-term adverse emotional effects, while
the same event has a devastating impact on the individual standing right next to them. Traumatic
responses are highly individualized and shaped by a wide range of factors, from genetics, to
previous life experiences and support systems available in the aftermath of the event. Further,
Trauma is defined as an injury to the body or psyche by some type of shock, violence or
unanticipated incident and Trauma usually results from adverse life experiences that devastates
an individual’s capacity to cope with a threat they may be faced with. Its impact is broad and
transcends race, class, gender, sexual orientation and religion. Exposure to Trauma increases the
risk of a range of vulnerabilities such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression,
mental health problems, excessive hostility and anxiety.
Trauma Theory examines and attempts to understand the manner in which traumatic
experience are processed. The subject of trauma in relation to mental illness emerged in the 19th
century by neurologist Jean Charcot who was French physician working with traumatized
women who suffered violence, rape and sexual abuse. Charcot has been referred to as "the father
of French neurology and one of the world's pioneers of neurology" associated with trauma
studies (Frankel, 2016). His work greatly influenced the developing fields of neurology
and psychology with regard to the modern trauma studies. Later, Sigmund Freud a neurologist
and psychanalyst who was greatly influenced by Charcot’s work of early studies of hysteria and
trauma. Trauma is a central theme to Freud’s work at both its start and end. Trauma appears as a
crucial concept in his 1900s case studies on hysteria. Later, Judith Herman, American
psychiatrist in 1992 became among the first to advocate for the term “complex PTSD” to be
included as a diagnosis which would address the multiple origins of trauma and its impact on the
person’s life as a whole (McLeod, 2018).
However, the Trauma theory explicitly emerged in the 1995 when Cathy Caruth’s
Trauma: Exploration in Memory and Unclaimed Experience: Trauma, Narrative History was
published. These books had a major impact on trauma studies. Trauma Theory as an explicit
term first appeared in Caruth’s work. Caruth interpreted trauma as a double injury because the
wound of psyche is an event that is originally experienced unexpectedly to be fully known and
unavailable to consciousness until it inflicts itself again in repetitive actions and nightmares of
the survivor. Through this work of Caruth, offers a compelling look at what literature and the
new approaches of a variety of clinical and theoretical disciplines bring to the understanding of
traumatic experiences. Further, Caruth makes explicitly clear that trauma studies, in their aim to
illuminate a range of scarring experiences of aggression such as a rape, abuse and incarceration,
have demonstrated a tendency to turn toward literary texts that represent trauma as a way to
reckon with, work through and understand traumatic history and altered architecture of memory
the traumatized experience. Literature is thus able to give voice to trauma because it licenses
resistance toward conventional narrative structures and linear temporalities through its ability to
make wounds perceivable and silences audible. Thus, Caruth’s Trauma Theory which is outlined
in Trauma: Exploration in Memory and Unclaimed Experience: Trauma, Narrative History will
be used in order to study the significant role played by the characters in Train to Pakistan and
Dastaan as a witness to the cultural and collective significance of trauma and characters
responses to the traumatic events. From numerous themes discussed in the preceding discussions,
anyone can relate Train to Pakistan and Dastaan to many general themes. This study aims to
examine the preoccupation with these themes of love, sacrifice, death, terror, trauma and
displacement in the light of post-partition using two pertinent theories called ‘Two-nations
Theory’ and ‘Trauma Theory’, so as to make the discussion more comprehensive.
Aim:
This Research aims to explore the reasons that triggered the terror and suspicion within the
minds of people and its aftermath of bloodshed and displacement in Khushwant Singh’s Train to
Pakistan with the help of its counterpart, a selected Pakistani television drama, Dastaan which
deals with the similar context. It will further explore and examine the horrifying trauma and
politics that the characters undergo during and after the partition of British India with the help of
Two-nations Theory and Trauma Theory.
Objectives:
1. To make a comparative analysis between the narrative exhibited by Indian account Train to
Pakistan and narrative recounted by Pakistani television drama Dastaan during the partition
of British India with the help of Two-nations Theory.
2. To identify the possible reasons that ignited terror and suspicion within the thoughts of
people which later on led to bloodshed and displacement.
3. To explore the trauma and polities that the characters undergo during and after the partition
of British India with the help of Trauma Theory.
Research Questions
1. How was the predominance of politics played by three parties (British Empire, India and
Pakistan) responsible for the terror, bloodshed and displacement in the novel and drama?
2. How far is the preoccupation with death, sacrifice and love in the novel connected to
devastation and harmony in two nations (India and Pakistan)?
3. How was the colonial oppression responsible for the Indian society to develop a hostile
feeling towards each other in relation to religion (Joint Hindus and Sikhs against Islam)
during and after the British regime?
Methodology
The study will employ the technique of close reading of the text and qualitative analysis of
the primary texts. Apart from this, the researcher will resort to scholarly articles that have been
carried out on the same or similar works. It will also be an attempt to study the thematic analysis
of the Pakistani perspective of partition through a selected Pakistani drama, Dastaan and Indian
perspective through Train to Pakistan. It will also be an attempt to find the causes of terror and
suspicious tendencies in people during and after the partition of British India, followed by the
study of traumatic aftereffects of the partition, for which relevant theoretical and analytical
works from the field of partition studies will be consulted.
Literature Review
Khushwant Singh’s Train to Pakistan (1956) was the novel that garnered recognition for
him as a prolific writer and secured a place for the author among some of the most read writers
in the contemporary times. The book is said to deviate from the conventional historiography that
other writers of his time took into account. In fact, Singh has perfectly blended history with real
life experiences, making his writing unique and aesthetically appealing to the readers of all ages
(Dasgupta, 2015). Train to Pakistan captures both the broader aspects of partition through
characters like Hukum Chand, the magistrate and liner aspects of partition through Muslim and
Sikh citizens in Mano Majra. The narration is, presented through the conflicts, terror, trauma that
the characters go through. Religion and its misconception, plays an integral part in the division
of India into two different states. In fact, the whole narration begins when a utopian village,
Mano Majra, stirred with terror and suspicion after a ghost train full of corpses reach the
village’s station. Death is an underlying theme in the novel; the communal frenzy among the
divergent religions give rise to the other problems in which almost all the characters are caught
up in the whirlpool of frenzy massacre. Some succumb to the evil reality of partition while others
like Jaggut Singh find it hard to derive meaning in this turbulence of violence, brawled in the
name of two-nations theory. Hence, this part of the dissertation presents a survey of research
conducted by other scholars on the text under study with the motive of investigating and
identifying the gap in the available research.
On June 3, 1947, All India Radio, the broadcasting corporation that was controlled by the
colonial government which served the entire Indian subcontinent became the chosen vehicle for
announcing the Partition of India. As recounted by Mookerjea (2015), the special program had
four speakers: Lord Mountbatten the Viceroy, Jawaharlal Nehru, the charge of Mohandas K.
Gandhi, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, leader of the Muslim League, Baldev Singh, the Sikh delegate.
These representatives spoke about the political decision to divide British India into two
sovereign states namely India and Pakistan. Accordingly, Pakistan emerged as an independent
nation on August 14, and India on August 15. A massive cross-border migration of population
had commenced in the weeks leading up to the event, as numerous Muslim families left India for
Pakistan, and Hindus and Sikhs left Pakistan for India. The dreadful scene of migration is aptly
recounted by Singh in his interview, “most people who migrated had to take refuge in makeshift
camps, which were both unsanitary and unsafe, and the refugees were often victims to sudden
attacks, either by “riot mobs” or by an isolated small group” (Singh, 2010).
In his dissertation “Unsettling partition: literature, gender, memory”, Didur (2006) makes
an attempt to show how communities belonging to different faith tried to use the English term
‘Partition’ ladened with much historical import in the Punjabi, Hindi/Urdu and Bengali
languages. Vernacular words such as batwara and deshbhag were used in newspapers and formal
places. This invoked the idea of “division” without the hint of “parting” and some other words
like muhajir (migrant, in Urdu), udbastu (uprooted, in Bengali), and sharanarthi (refugee, in
Hindi and Bengali) became more evocative and all these words, suddenly vested with new
meanings in 1947. Hence, these became important markers for the strange dispersal of the
partition trauma. Different literature has approached Train to Pakistan in different ways and the
issue related to the culture and ethnicity and differences in religion. Prof. Kunjo Singh cited in
Sharma (2019), claims that the study on conflict on cultures and ethnic violence in Khushwant
Singh’s Train to Pakistan talks about ethnic violence between Hindus and Muslims that led to
the partition of British India. It started from Calcutta and became contagious to reach Mano
Majra, a multiethnic village on the border of Pakistan. Before the riot, all the people in the
village were intact. But the riot made the people confused and confronted ethnically and
culturally. There is a clear reference to the multi ethnicity in Mano Majra who lived in harmony
and simplicity, in the following excerpt from the novel;
Mano Majra is a typical place. It has only three brick buildings, one which is the home of
the moneylender Lala Ram Lal. The other two are the Sikh temple and mosque. The three
brick buildings enclose a triangular common with a large peepul tree in the middle (Singh
K. , p. 2).
It is reflected that the communal frenzy taking place in Mano Majra after the arrival of the
ghost train as the metaphor of the whole country and the division of two major religions into two
different nations. Therefore, Didur concludes in his study by making a picture of dividing India
and its effect in grim reality. The partition of British India epitomizes the politics of identity in
its most negative form; when trust and understanding have been undermined and instead fear and
insecurity reign supreme, generating angst at various levels of state and society. Ironically the
narrative portrays the evil that India’s partition created within the people who lived like brothers
for centuries and within a fraction of second; this very brotherhood was puffed off like a
flickering fire from the gusty wind. The consequence of the partition is still felt today among
both the countries living as arch rivals with no holds barred.
On the contrary Jafor (2014) asserts that the tendency to blame Partition on the basis of
religion and ethnicity is worth questioning because it was in the self-interest of politicians that
led to two separate nations. To support his assertion, Jafor brings in the example from the novel
as follows:
Well, Babuji [Iqbal],” began the Muslim [tenant]. “tell us something. What is happening in
the world? What is all this about Pakistan and Hindustan?” “We live in this little village
and know nothing,” the Lambardar [Sikh village landlord] put in. “Babuji, tell us, why did
the English leave? (Singh K. , p. 87).
The fact that the villagers did not know why the decision of Partition was taken and why
British India was going to be divided into Pakistan and India indicate that the common citizens
find no reason for separation. Thus, ordinary villagers like Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus in Mano
Majra represent those villagers who had no clue of conflict hovering around their village.
Further it also portrays the villager’s cluelessness about the happenings of partition. Hence, it
presents them (citizens) as not involved in politics and in other words, Jafor implies and focuses
here that the politicians do not represent the public but work on their personal benefits. Jafor
further supports his stand by claiming that Singh’s novel does not show any dissatisfaction
among the different ethnic groups in India before Partition. Rather, it portrays communal
harmony with individuals enjoying the full freedom of their religious rights. Similarly, Salem
(2018) asserts by claiming that, Singh accomplishes this portrayal of guiltless citizens, largely
through focusing on a microcosm of India in the fictional small village of Mano Majra on the
India and Pakistan borders where inhabitants of different faiths live like brothers. In fact, the
citizens of the village openly resist the decision of Partition by expressing their intentions to fight
against external forces to protect their neighbors if attacked in the name of religious differences.
Thus, by presenting communal harmony and violence as coming from the top down, it is legit to
place the blames of Partition on Indian politicians.
Literature Knows No Borders, explored by Haque (2021) in the article titled “Dialogue
on Partition”, asserts that equal blame must also be levied on British imperialism for the cause of
partition that planted the seeds of rivalry among communities because Britisher’s intention of
partition was to divide and rule and extend its regime for eternal period. While discussing the
cause of partition, he asserts two important factors which suppose that the fault lies in the
agreement between the outgoing British and the nationalists. First it implies that the proposition
of two nations theory had already been accepted by the Indian nationalists. Second, the proposal
is against the will of the people of the nation. As a result, revolt against such a decision is
manifested in the communal disharmony between the Hindus and the Muslims who blame each
other for the death roll of several thousands. Haque bases his argument by bringing an excerpt
from the novel to support his assertion that it was because of the Britisher’s motto ‘divide and
rule’ forced people living in harmony for generations to split into two religious groups. The awe
reaction of common villagers over the concept of the formation of Pakistan for Muslims is very
aptly captured by Singh in the excerpt below;
What have we to do with Pakistan? We were born here. So were our ancestors. We have
lived amongst you as brothers. Imam Baksh broke down. Meet Singh clasped him in his
arms and began to sob. Several of the people started crying quietly and blowing their noses
(Singh K. , p. 133)
Chakravorty (2019) in her article, “Partition of India: Through Gendered Perspectives” was
written with the objective to analyze and explore the important work undertaken in connection
with the shift in attention to previously male dominated perspectives on partition to the other
gendered nature of the partition, violence against women. Thus, Chakravorty underscores the
pivotal role played by women during the partition and she claims that women were used as a
scapegoat to uphold the superiority of each ethnicity. To be more specific, she further declares
that reading and writing about literature representing women’s lives involves straddling both the
spheres, making visible the binary construction of the public and private implicated in nationalist
discourse, patriarchal power relations, and the way in which women’s bodies were singled out as
privileged sites of violence at the time of partition. Chakravorty, further interprets the silences
found in women’s accounts of religious violence that accompanied partition (their sexual assault,
abduction, and displacement from their families) was simply because women were always
marginalized and their side of narration was never recorded. Thus, she concludes that the role
that narratives of women’s experience play in constructing the memory of India’s partition is
very pertinent and women were the ones who suffered the worst throughout the course of
partition. Speech delivered by Mahatma Gandhi’s address to the issue of women dilemma, at a
prayer meeting on December 7, 1947 aptly supports her assertion that women became a political
prerequisite for their belonging in the new nation (Chakravorty, 2019):
It is being said that the families of the abducted women no longer want to receive them
back. It would be a barbarian husband or a barbarian parent who would say that he would
not take back his wife or daughter. I do not think the women concerned had done anything
wrong. They had been subjected to violence. To put a blot on them and to say that they are
no longer fit to be accepted in society is unjust.
In a paper titled “A Lacanian Psychoanalytic Study: Train to Pakistan by Khushwant

Singh” by Sarwar (2016) makes an attempt to throw light on the study of Train to Pakistan
through nationalist spirit. Hence, Sarwar is of the view that Singh's Train to Pakistan is not only
a historical document rather it is depictive of nationalist spirit. This spirit, according to him,
gradually came out as a result of Indian desire for complete independence which is attained
through the execution of Muslims, the ethnic cleansing of others. Further, he analyzes the text in
consideration with Druckman's idea of nationalism and group creation. He therefore asserts that
strong loading was obtained from such items as “I love my country, my creed” and was
emotionally affected by its actions. This factor was labeled ‘group creation’ by Hindus and its
associates. The second factor involved feelings of racial superiority and a need for national
power of dominance. Results from a wide variety of incidents from Singh’s narration leave little
doubt that the mere classification of people into groups evokes biases in favor of one’s own
group. Just being told that one belongs to a particular group as opposed to another, even if one
has never seen or met any other members of that group is enough to make the individual prefer
the group over others. Seemingly though, readers come to understand that Sikhs and Hindus had
their loyalty with their Sikh and Hindu community and viewed Muslims as the preconceived
group of enemies. This division bred the idea of nationalism amongst the Sikh and Hindu groups,
who in reverse avenged the killings of their community and ended up in large scale violence
during the events of partition. Therefore, it is quite apparent that Sikh and Hindu’s loyalty with
their community is identified through the ideology of nationalism, and is perpetuated through the
massacre of Muslims. Hence, in the light of Lacan's theory of psychoanalysis, killing and
violence against Muslim plays as pertinent force for the desire of independence and is thus,
reinforced by nationalism spirit.
The Indian Partition in Literature and Films explored by Burton (2015) in the article titled
“Sequels to history: Partition”, asserts that Partition will never be over. It is destined to return
again and again as a haunting memory in every citizen that went through the brutal episode of
partition. She explores how memory plays a vital role in preserving the pertinent historical event
and in reverse memory serves as a power trope in shaping Partition’s dreadful action in
recurrence occurring. She further asserts that the memory takes place in realms of imagination
and regimes of representation that often compete for truth. Thus Burton (2015), declares that
Singh’s Train to Pakistan depends upon Partition memory to anchor the reader’s sense of self, to
secure the reader’s attachment to the nation, and to sanction forms of contemporary state-
sponsored violence in the future. Burton, further brings in an example of how Khushwant
Singh’s sublime memory about pre-independence is disturbed after the independence:
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… I had believed that we Indians
were peace loving and non- violent, that we were more concerned with matters of the spirit,
while the rest of the world was involved in the pursuit of material things. After the
experience of the autumn of 1947, I could no longer subscribe to this view. I became… an
angry middle-aged man, who wanted to shout his disenchantment with the world… I
decided to try my hand at writing (Interview with Khushwant Singh, 1968).
In his dissertation “Train to Pakistan: against Mainstream Representations of the Partition

of India”, Chatterji (2014) makes an assertion that since the partition of British India, there has
been a tendency to focus on the grand narrative of national liberation and have completely turned
a blind eye on the narrative of Partition and its violence. He further claims that even those
survivors of the dreadful events of partition, whether they be victims, culprits or witnesses have
often kept an indelible memory of the horror of these events secret by just narrating and
celebrating the grand liberation. Therefore, through his dissertation he tries to explore and
oppose the mainstream portrayal of the Partition in terms of forgetting the complete truth behind
the partition. According to Chatterji, Singh’s Train to Pakistan does not openly discuss the
cruelty of communal violence, instead he condemns the novel by asserting that Singh has just
mentioned communal violence in a rather gloomy way. Chatterji thus, quotes Hassan (1998) and
claims that number of narratives both historiographical and testimonial has kept the violence of
1947 at a certain distance, not only condemned but is so often attributed as a means to disguise
the collective guilt of a community to anti-social elements, unscrupulous politicians, and
religious fanatics.
A similar yet contrasting experience and perspective of partition of British India from the
Pakistani narrative in Dastaan (2010) presents the trials and tribulations that Muslim minorities
in India had to undergo. According to a review made by Medk (2020), Dastaan is an inevitable
narration which reminds people that Pakistan as a nation is in debt of daughters like Bano who
have sacrificed everything for the formation of country called Pakistan. Another review by Sayed
(2012), claims that the most pervading emotion in the portrayal on partition is nostalgia, the
memories of Muslims having to leave their home became the most acute agony of losing it
forever, thus, contain the whole history of Pakistan’s suffering and humiliation, agonies of
insecurity and horrors of leaving the ancestral home in a capsulated form. In her review of
Dastaan, Kush (2021) asserts that the Partition of British India into Pakistan has turned out to be
a continuing process of trauma and agony. Thus, displacement and migration from ancestral
place to a new alien place, is still an inescapable part of Pakistan’s reality.
In what is a contrasting scenario, all the characters in Khushwant Singh’s novel and
Pakistani drama under study, seem to be under the influence of a pervading sense of terror,
trauma, displacement and death which eventually leads most of them to contribute in the
communal frenzy and put a blame on opposite ethics (Hindu against Muslim and vis-a-vis). This
study therefore proposes to analyze why Khushwant Singh’s characters in the novel, in spite of
belonging to a culture which is diverse and garnered a beauty through living in harmony, for
centuries are driven to death, terror, trauma and displacement. Although there has been numerous
research on the prevalence of death, trauma, terror and displacement, however, most research
have not studied it in the light of the narrative from the Pakistani side of struggle and trauma.
This research will therefore analyze possible social, cultural and religious factors for the
preponderance of communal frenzy in the novel with the help of selected Pakistani drama,
Dastaan against the narration of partition by an Indian writer.
CHAPTER II: Independence at the cost of millions of lives and rift in brotherhood
For many Indians and Pakistanis, 14th and 15th August 1947 respectively stands for the day
that people achieved freedom after a long period of colonial rule. It is an epochal event in the
history of newly formed states of India and Pakistan. For rest of the world, it may represent a
mere Partition of British India that replicate bloody and terrible period, unparalleled in the
history of modern period. The unprecedented scale of violence and the displacement of people,
their looping and insecure journeys across newly created borders and the disorganized family
and community lives made Partition easily the most tragic event in living memory. Apart from
the permanent impression that Partition left on the minds and hearts of people, it has also led to
social and political processes that continue to affect the lives of people even today. Historians in
particular have brought sophisticated tools of analysis to explore the processes that contributed to
and resulted from the Partition of 1947. But it is the creative writers who have been able to
render the trauma of individual victims and perpetrators in all its complexity. Little wonder then
that scholars across disciplines have engaged themselves with Partition discourses through
various platforms. So does Khushwant Singh and Haissam Hussain exhibit their personal
experiences of the partition through their masterpiece like Train to Pakistan and Dastaan.
It is important at this juncture to understand what desire led to this movement of one nation
forging violence against one other. Patriotism fueled by the separatists’ spirit among the Muslim
community bred hatred between the two major communities of the subcontinent when joint Sikh
and Hindus against Muslim, viewed each other as a threat for their desire of freedom. Where one
saw the other as an enemy who threatened the fulfillment of a desire for an independent state.
According to Syed (2008) the desire for freedom brought turmoil of partition and the idea of
complete independence took birth in the question of whether Sikhs or Muslims will have power.
Therefore, Khushwant Singh’s Train to Pakistan and Haissam Hussain’s Dastaan will be analyzed
in the light of Allama Iqbal’s two-nations theory to understand the desire that led for complete
independence with two separate nations, reinforced by patriotism of joint Sikh and Hindu’s
towards India exclusion of Muslims as a threat and vice versa.
In order to theorize the analysis, Allama Iqbal considered the two-nation model as a feeling
of love for one’s unique beliefs and hatred for the other beliefs and further described how groups
are formed and how people in a particular group associate their loyalties and form hatred against
the other group. This theory firmly claimed that Muslims and Hindus are two separate nations,
with their own customs, religion, and traditions, therefore, from social and moral points of view,
Muslims should be able to have their own separate homeland outside of Hindu-majority India.
Likewise, Singh critically outlines how a joint party of Sikhs and Hindu in their desire for complete
independence considered Muslims as the other who deserved to be killed or thrown out of their
country. It is explicitly exhibited, when Sikhs were killing Muslims to avenge the murders of their
community in Pakistan; “For every Hindu or Sikh they killed. Kill two Mussalmans...what had the
Sikhs and Hindus in Pakistan done that they were butchered?” (Singh K. , p. 85).
This has indeed left too much resentment and hostility and the most radical of chauvinism
that is unrivaled and it was created through the call of Allama Iqbal’s address of two-nations
theory leading into segregation of Pakistan from India. On the other hand, Mughal (2012) points
out that a substantial amount of nostalgia also gripped the two nations, frequently in the view
that this was a partition of siblings who could not live together and decided to divide their home
and property. According to Abrams (2009) it suggests two important factors which suppose that
the fault lies in the agreement between the outgoing British and the nationalists. First it implies
that the proposition of two-nations theory had already been accepted by the nationalists. Second,
the proposal was against the will of the people of the nation. As a result, revolt against such a
decision was manifested in the communal disharmony between the Hindus and the Muslims who
blamed each other for the death roll of several thousand. It is vividly portrayed in the text, when
Meet Singh asserts; “Muslims said the Hindus had planned and started the killing. According to
the Hindus, the Muslims were to blame. The fact is, both sides were killed. Both shot and
stabbed and speared and clubbed. Both tortured. Both raped.” (Singh K. , p. 9)
It is evident that Allama Iqbal’s call for separate Muslim nation shaped the attitudes of the
Muslim community and their loyalty towards their nation led them to see Sikhs and Hindus as
demons who threatened their desire for freedom. A strong sense of attachment with any ethnic,
national or religious class created a sense of hatred, and engaged people into acts of violence,
towards the perceived enemy of that particular class. While considering Allama Iqbal’s rhetoric
call for separate nation for Muslim community, a similar inhumane act in Dastaan can be
witnessed, “Do you know”, continued the magistrate, “the Sikhs retaliated by attacking a Muslim
refugee train and sending it across the border with over a thousand corpses? Muslims on the other
hand did the same and wrote on the engine 'Gift to India’ (Hussain, ep. 18). Furthermore, Syed
(2008) explains how such groups can lead to hostile reactions toward other groups and become
translated into stereotypes that are shared across individuals, it can also shape the collective
behavior of groups and can help differentiate among the multiple groups that define any political
environment. Singh describes the happenings in Mano Majra and criticizes how before the
partition riots, the people were unaware of their differences but these differences begin to grow in
the turmoil of partition. The sense of hatred for Muslims that took birth in the hearts of the Sikh
community perpetuates the idea of stereotypes shared by the individual members of a group.
Muslims were then stereotyped as enemies; “The Sikhs were hostile and angry. 'Never trust a
Mussalman', they said. The last Guru had warned them that Muslims had no loyalties” (Singh K. ,
p. 121).
Similarly, this stereotype is also exhibited in Hussain’s Dastaan, “All through the period
of Indian history, Hindus have manifested a betrayal action in the name of fight for
independence... to secure the power... and Hindus were never ones to be respected and trusted”
(Hussain, ep. 25). Further, the same hostile act of Muslims toward Hindu is replicated, when
Hassan, a student of Islamia College in Peshawar assembles a pamphlet entitled “Now or never:
Are we to live or perish forever” in response to Iqbal's call for a Muslim majority state in the
northwestern region of British India. In the pamphlet, it explicitly suggests “Pakistan” as an
acronym representing the different Muslim-majority provinces (Hussain, ep. 8). The killing and
mass displacement worsened as people sought frantically to be on the “right” side of the lines the
British were to draw across their homeland. More than a million people died in the savagery that
accompanied the freedom of India and Pakistan. Some seventeen million were displaced and
countless properties destroyed and looted (Wolpert, 2020). Thus, a collective behavior of
revenge and hatred for Muslims and vice versa led to the massive killings of Muslims and
Hindus in different parts of the subcontinent.
Henceforth, Khushwant Singh's Train to Pakistan and Haissam Hussain’s Dastaan are
not only a historical document rather it is depictive of separatist spirit drawn within each psyche
of Muslims for a separate nation stimulated from Iqbal’s model of two-nations theory. This spirit
gradually came out as a result of Muslims’ collective desire for complete independence which is
attained through the execution of those masses seen as the threat to their desire. This division
bred the idea of nationalism amongst the Muslim group, who avenged the killings of their
community and in return did large scale violence during the events of partition. Thus, it is
understood that Muslims’ loyalty with their community is identified through the ideology of two-
nations theory and is perpetuated through the demonization of rest of the community. Hence, in
the light of the two-nations theory of psychoanalysis, killing and violence against each ethnic
group played a vital role in desire of independence for two separate nations.
Decision to partition British India in the year of her independence was the outcome of a
particular kind of political mobilization from the late 1930s. As exhibited in Dastaan, the
Muslim League demand for the creation of a separate Muslim nation reached its climax by the
1940s and the British government’s backing of divisive policies over a long period of imperial
rule and its support to Jinnah’s communal politics also contributed to the creation of an
extremely explosive situation (Hussian, ep. 5). By 1930 a number of Indian Muslims had begun
to think in terms of separate statehood for their minority community, whose population
dominated the northwestern provinces of British India and the eastern half of Bengal, as well as
important pockets of the United Provinces and the great princely state of Kashmir (Tharoor,
2020). This was in fact reinforced by British Raj, for British liked drawing lines on maps of other
countries, they had done it in the Middle East after World War I and they did it again in India.
Partition was the conclusion to the collapse of British authority in India in 1947. In that last,
mad, headlong rush to freedom and partition, the British emerge with little credit. Further,
Tharoor asserts that before World War II, British had no intention of decentralizing power so
rapidly, or at all. The experience of the elected governments in the last years of the British Raj
confirmed that the British had never been serious about their proclaimed project of promoting the
responsible governance of India by Indians.
When the elected ministries of the Indian National Congress quit office in protest against
the British declaring war against Germany on India’s behalf without consulting them, the British
thought little of appointing unelected Muslim Leaguers in their place and, in many cases,
assuming direct control of functions that had supposedly been devolved to Indians. They openly
helped the Muslim League take advantage of this unexpected opportunity to exercise influence
and patronage that their electoral support had not earned them and to build up support while their
principal opponents languished in jail (Hussain, ep. 18). This was all part of the policy of divide
and rule, systematically promoting political divisions between Hindus and Muslims, defined as
the monolithic communities they had never been before the British. Ultimately, Allama Iqbal’s
two-nations theory proved to be root of triumph for separate nation for Muslim community and
British was accountable agent that made it a success. Further, Kumar (2019) points out that the
British had been horrified, during the Revolt of 1857, to see Hindus and Muslims fighting side
by side and under each other’s command against the foreign oppressor. The British thus, vowed
that this would not happen again. “Divide et impera was an old Roman maxim, and it shall be
ours”, wrote Lord Elphinstone. This side of narration is explicitly exhibited through the
background narratives, the British launched a systematic policy of provoking separate
consciousness among the two communities with overt British sponsorship (Hussain, ep. 19). The
launch of separate consciousness in by Britishers is quite smartly executed when restricted
franchise is grudgingly granted to Indians, the British creates separate communal electorates, so
that Muslim voters could vote for Muslim candidates for Muslim seats. The seeds of division
were sown, to prevent a unified nationalist movement that could overthrow the British.
Mathur (2020) rightly records that, by the winter of 1945-46, the British was crippled by
power cuts and factory closures resulting from a post-war coal shortage, the British was
exhausted and in no mood to focus on a distant Empire when their own needs at home were so
pressing. They were also more or less broke. Overseas commitments were no longer sustainable
or particularly popular. Exit was the only viable option. But the question was what they would
leave behind? One India, two or several fragments? Britain’s own tactics before and during the
war ensured that by the time departure came, the Muslim League had been strengthened enough
to sustain its demand for a separate homeland for Muslims, and the prospects of a united India
surviving a British exit had essentially faded. Two countries were what it would be. Indian
Muslim League members demonstrating for the Partition of India and the creation of the state of
Pakistan in London in August 1946. According to Sandhu (2009) the task of dividing the two
nations was assigned to Sir Cyril Radcliffe, a lawyer who had never been to India before and
knew nothing of its history, society or traditions. Radcliffe, perspiring profusely in the unfamiliar
heat, drew up his maps in less than five weeks, dividing provinces, districts, villages, homes and
hearts and promptly scuttled to Britain, never to return to India. The British Empire simply
crumbled in disorder. The British were heedless of the lives that would be lost in their headlong
rush to the exits. On August 15, 1947, India won independence, a moment of birth that was also
an abortion, since freedom came with the horrors of the partition, when East and
West Pakistan were hacked off the stooped shoulders of India by the departing British (Sandhu,
2009).
After more than seven decades, it is hard to look back without horror at the cruelty of the
country’s division, when rioting, rape and murder scarred the land and millions were uprooted
from their homes. The consequences of which still affect the people today forming a haunting
memory resulting in trauma which is an indispensable part of every individual who experienced
it (Xypolia, 2006). It is rightly pointed out by Husain (2004) that friendships were destroyed,
families ruined, geography hacked, history misread, tradition ruined, minds and hearts torn apart.
The creation and continuation of Hindu-Muslim antagonism was the most significant
accomplishment of British imperial policy, the colonial project of ‘divide and rule’ stimulated
religious antagonisms to facilitate continued imperial rule and reached its tragic height in 1947.
Thus, at this juncture, trauma plays a vital role in understanding not merely the events of August
1947 but as an ongoing process that continues to splinter political, cultural, emotional and sexual
life-worlds which is recurrent as a collective consciousness. Therefore, in the proceeding
discussions, it will seek to map analytical pathways to locate the Partition and the attendant
formations of religious rift and violence as continuing affect-mediated into Trauma through
Cathy Caruth’s Trauma Theory that is outlined in Trauma: Exploration in Memory and
Unclaimed Experience: Trauma, Narrative History in conjunction with analysis of Singh’s Train
to Pakistan and Hussain’s Dastaan.
The history of India and Pakistan, its struggle, independence as well as the partition
marks a deep scar on the psyche of both the nations. As a text and drama about partition, Singh’s
Train to Pakistan and Hussain’s Dastaan make one realize that though the event took place long
time back, the scars remain fresh in the collective consciousness of millions of people in both
nations till date. It is about the trauma with its intolerable presence in the psyche that Khushwant
Singh tries to explore. The writer relives his own sense of pain through the description of the
utopian village of Mano Majra that is situated on the border of India and Pakistan. In the text, as
Singh describes, Mano Majra is a village with a multi religious population that includes Hindus,
Sikhs and Muslims as its villagers. But the peaceful village witnesses the impact of partition
when a ghostly train from Pakistan comes to its station with its bogies loaded with dead Sikhs.
Soon the village turns into a battlefield and all signs of humanity, good will and universal
brotherhood are given a silent burial (Singh K. , p. 85).
Similarly, Hussain reveals traumatic events through the description of the utopian close-
knit Muslim Sikh family based in Ludhiana. But the harmonious family affairs are devastated
when after the declarations for independence of India and creation of Pakistan is made in June
1947, the period of brutal violence unparalleled in history begins. The background narrative
claims that Hindus and Sikhs decided to wipe out the entire Muslim community from the face of
India and the killings have reduced the number of Muslims from twenty five percent of the
population to nine percent (Hussain, ep.12). Soon enough the political discussions that had
formed dinner-time talks are replaced by news of daily killings, murders, loot and rapes. In what
could be called the most intense episode of the series, the entire family is killed, Suraiya watches
a Sikh stab Saleem in the back and jumps from the terrace. She holds his hand both breathing
their last. Their hands however are trampled by a Sikh, who cuts open Suraya’s belly killing her
unborn child. Before being killed, Faheem shouts to his mother, “Bibi, Bano ka gala ghont de
(Bibi, strangulate Bano)” (Hussain, ep. 21). While some young women jump to their deaths from
the terrace, others are taken away forcefully by the Sikhs who are ignorant to their cries for
mercy (Hussain, ep. 14). Apt to the scene described above, Caruth (1995) in her Trauma:
Explorations in Memory, asserts that the partition leaves mental wound, the wound of mind, the
breach in the mind’s experience of time, self, and the world like the wound of the body, an
unhealable event in the form of recurrent traumatic memories. Certainly though, Bano’s mental
condition become so fragile that the scenes that she witnessed and sufferings that she went
through becomes recurrent traumatic memory.
Written in the backdrop of the terrifying partition, the text represents the social as well as
the psychological depiction of contemporary society as well as of the individuals. As quoted in
Mohanty (2019) Abrams points out that as Singh goes on to describe the violent events from the
days of partition, the text ceases to merely “be the artistic resolution of a literary plot, yielding
pleasure to the reader,” and becomes “an effect that serves to cover over the unresolved conflicts
of power, class, gender, and diverse social groups that make up the real tensions that underlie the
surface meanings of a literary text. Both Singh’s Train to Pakistan and Hussain’s Dastaan
explore the heart and soul of each and every character that undergoes the trauma of partition. It
depicts the dark truth of Indian Independence, which is universally accepted as ‘Division’.
Partition left its mark on each and every witness of undivided India who is more or less affected
by its trauma and distress. Though the personal experiences of all the characters are different, the
trace of trauma can, undeniably, be traced in each character’s psyche. The characters act and
react to the situation in their own way but the effects of the violence during partition seems to
affect them collectively. Consciously or unconsciously, they undergo the same psychological
bewilderment that seems to alter their worldview for better or for worse. This indeed perfectly
aligns with Jung quoted in Abrams (2009) who claims that, in addition to our immediate
consciousness, which is of a thoroughly personal nature and which we believe to be the only
empirical psyche there exists a second psychic system of a collective, universal, and impersonal
nature which is identical in all individuals.
The engagement of the postcolonial writers like Singh and Hussain while recreating the
outrageous history of the nation is limited by trauma and the complex process of recovery from
trauma (Abrams, 2009). Though they struggle to come out of the painful memory of the past, the
impacts of their trauma keep on floating in the mind due to its resilient nature. Caruth, in her
Trauma: Explorations in Memory, observes that trauma is not experienced at the time of its
occurrence but later as a haunting presence, people are incessantly haunted by the terrifying past.
They are unable to shed the trauma off their shoulders even though more than seven decades
have gone by since the partition of undivided India (p.34). This is convincingly unveiled when
Bano becomes mentally ill due to all the traumatic experiences she goes through and sees, post-
partition, in her struggle to escape to her dream land Pakistan. The past experiences torment her
so much so that she ends up stabbing her fellow Muslim when she phantoms Basant in her fits of
delusion, a Sikh man who tortured and raped her. She bursts out to a cry of joy that Pakistan is
pure land now because she killed Basanta, who within her psyche personified Hindus (Hussain,
ep. 20). In unclaimed Experience (1996), Caruth states that such representation of traumatic
memory engages in a “double telling”, “the oscillation between a crisis of death and the
correlative crisis of life: between the story of the unbearable nature of an event and the story of
the unbearable nature of its survival” (p.7). Drawing parallel between Caruth’s assertion and
Bano’s actions, it is legit to state that Bano is caught up between this oscillation of unbearable
nature of survival and death, for Bano turns hysterical in a minute and yells in disgust over her
survival and in a minuscule switch to being quite an amiable (Hussain, ep. 19)
Both Singh and Hussain in their narratives, try to unveil the reality of partition, as the
characters undergo the traumatic event of partition, the event which can also be considered as a
cultural trauma. Caruth (1995) in her Trauma: Explorations in Memory, explained that cultural
trauma emerges when the components of a collectivity feel that people have been subjected to an
awful event leaving ineradicable marks upon their group awareness, making their memories
forever and changing their future individuality in basic and irreversible ways. Further cultural
trauma associates with what happened not only to themselves but also to the collectivities to
which they belong because of their race, creed and ethnicity (p.21). Thus, the perspective of the
characters towards life, religion, brotherhood and compassion undergoes radical change. As the
partition significantly affects the cultural psyche of both the nations, India and Pakistan, it takes
the proportion of a cultural trauma which seems to alter the cultural existence of the communities
of the twin nations. Such a trauma replaces the mutual love and sympathy once held between
communities in spite of the religious and ethnic differences. The writer showcases each and
every emotion that the characters undergo during the disconcerting event of partition. The
partition witnesses the transformation of characters that marks the volatility of human nature.
The characters in the text such as Jaggut Singh, Nooran, Iqbal, Hukum Chand, Prem Singh,
Sunder Singh, Haseena and hundreds of others have their share of pain, torment, suffering and
distress owing to partition as they make their ‘tryst with destiny’ (Singh K. , p. 105). On the
other hand, Hussain also depicts the similar scene when the physical as well as mental torment
owing to partition where on both sides of the newly formed nations, India and Pakistan, are
plundered and burnt, men and women injured and sexually tortured, and trains of migrants
crossing in opposite directions arrive full of dismembered bodies and gory sacks containing
sexual organs showcasing the characters going through excruciating pain that leaves its
permanent mark on their hearts and spirits (Hussain, ep.13).
Written from the postcolonial perspective of creating a mythical old order of the world
before partition, Singh depicts the utopian village of Mano Majra as the setting of the novel. The
villagers of Mano Majra are unaware of the echoes of partition and reside an uneventful and
content life. The secret affair between the protagonist Jaggut and the Muslim girl Nooran, the
womanizing nature of District magistrate Hukum Chand and the brotherhood between Hindu,
Sikhs and the Muslims in the village are all atypical of a village untouched by the vices of unrest.
The villagers are unaware of the fact that by the summer of 1947, when the creation of the new
state of Pakistan was formally announced, ten million people, Muslims and Hindus and Sikhs
were in the fight. By the time the monsoon broke, almost a million of them were dead, and all of
northern India was in arms, in terror, or in hiding (Singh K. , p. 2). Mano Majra is an example of
the serene village that could stay untouched by the communal conflict during the partition. Here
the village becomes the metaphor for undivided India that has no boundaries, neither physical
nor otherwise. The village has its own God, a god that does not distinguish or divide people by
the religion they follow. The humanitarian village remains a contrast to the event of partition
whose occurrence is based on the radical ethnic and religious differences only. As Singh would
describe:
“This is a three-foot slab of sandstone that stands upright under a keekar tree besides the
pond. It is the local deity, the deo to which all the villagers Hindus, Sikh, Muslim or
pseudo-Christian-repair secretly whenever they are in a special need of (Singh K. , p. 3).
But Mano Majra is transformed into a battlefield once it receives the ghost train from
Pakistan loaded with dead Sikhs. The peace-loving villagers become each other’s enemies once
they are affected by the echoes of partition. Singh describes the scene quite realistically:
“Everyone felt his neighbor’s hand against him, and thought of finding friends and allies” (Singh
K. , p. 124). Thus, triggering doubt and suspicions towards each other. During the partition,
numerous trains exchange between India and Pakistan with dead bodies, bodies that were no
more Sikh or Muslim, but just corpses. The mobs on either side of the border kill the refugees
who board trains while trying to flee to the right side of the newly formed country (Hussain,
ep.23). Violence and bloodshed in the name of religion overpowers humanity and compassion.
The ghost trains destroy all the emotions, sentiments and sympathy from the hearts of the people
of undivided India which is now cut into two pieces of land. The horrific experience of receiving
hundreds of dead bodies, to burn it with kerosene and wood and then to have “a faint acrid smell
of searing flesh” is in excess of mental anguish for the people of Mano Majra (Singh K., p.105).
In Dastaan, a similar serene scene of Ludhiana gets wiped out as it encounters the
aftereffects of communal disturbances. The recurrent news of the arrival of more ghost trains and
more massacres of Hindus and Sikhs changes the hearts of Ludhiana populace. Violence and the
outrageous thus become an everyday affair in the village that once was an abode of peace and
harmony. Hussain unveils the scene that the people of Ludhiana encounter in their vicinity, a
Muslim neighbor family being butchered by Hindu rioters. A little further, he reveals a house
that once belonged to a Muslim but now taken over illegally by Hindus, the owner having
threatened dire consequences if he attempted to return. Another Muslim friend tearfully yelling
how he has handed over poison tablets to women in his household to save them from dishonor at
the hands of rioters (Hussain, ep. 22). In this context, one can find the uncharted anxiety among
the characters which can be symbolized as the waiting for unforeseen consequences of
independence.
Independence is soon followed by despair, desolation, and devastation in the form of

partition. Under these traumatic circumstances, the protagonist Jaggut is charged with murder
and is put behind the bar. When the Muslims from Mano Majra are forced to leave the village for
the sake of their lives, Jaggut loses his love Nooran to partition. As they leave the village that
had been home since eternity, the pain of the departure echoes in the voice of one of the Muslims
who says “What have we to do with Pakistan? We were born here. So were our ancestors. We
have lived amongst you as brothers” (Singh K. , p. 133). Similar heart-wrenching scene is
exhibited, when Bano, a lone Muslim survivor leaves to the refugee camp so she can join the
other Muslims going to Pakistan and be with her ‘own’ people. She asks why she should leave
when her house, family, friends, childhood, youth, memories and everything is in Ludhiana
(Hussain, ep. 23). Thus, the trauma of losing one’s home forever is echoed in the text and
drama. The characters are profoundly affected by both the sudden loss of their homeland and the
witness of the extreme violence of partition. During this traumatic event, at least ten million
people were displaced during the Partition, and one million left homeless. Innumerable memories
drift in the psyche of incalculable refugees on both sides of the divided nation whose hearts pain
at the idea of leaving their homeland forever.
The trauma of losing something valued is reflected in the character of Jaggut who, too,
loses his love Nooran during the partition. In spite of his assumed lack of warmth, under the
turmoil of partition, it is only Jaggut who decides to save the passengers of the train that is
supposed to go to Pakistan with the Muslim refugees. That he does it with a faint hope of getting
back his lady love Nooran does not make this act of his any less heroic. In spite of being
humiliated by the other gangsters who throw bangles on him to brand him a coward, Jaggut
makes his mark with the loss of his life and reclaims peace in his village (Singh K. , p. 176). On
the other hand, Trauma of losing someone valued is portrayed in the character of Bano who, too,
loses her love Hassan during the partition. For five years she remains confined in Basant’s house,
a notorious man belonging to a Sikh community, Bano is regularly subjected to physical, mental
and sexual violence thus resulting into her hysterical behavior (Hussain, ep. 24). Keeping in view
of the statement made in Caruth (1995), Trauma: Explorations in Memory, the symptoms of
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) include signs like over breathing, flashbacks of trauma
and persistent avoidance of the things of event that reminds the victim of the person or the place
where the tragedy occurred (p.21). Thus, it is viable that the main protagonists like Jaggut in
Train to Pakistan and Bano in Dastaan and all the rest of the characters symbolizes the trauma
that penetrated every individual citizen during and after the partition. Henceforth, Singh's Train
to Pakistan and Hussain’s Dastaan are not only a heart wrenching depiction of reality behind the
partition rather it is a depictive of trauma that changed their entire existence.
Partition brought highly charged atmosphere of religious tension, vandals freely looted
the masses and killed people belonging to different religions, girls and women were raped and
killed brutally. There was chaos all over and everybody was struggling to survive. Humanity
seemed to be dead. But amidst this atmosphere of communal frenzy, there were people who
retained their human values and did not take part in killing or vandalism. They went up to the
extent of going against their own community in saving the lives of people belonging to other
religions. One such character named Jaggut in Train to Pakistan and Bano in Dastaan are the
ones who sacrifice their life in an attempt to save the lives of migrating Muslims and Hindus. It
is the feelings of love and compassion that readers find on the pages of Train to Pakistan and
episodes of Dastaan. Thus, by their great flair in narration, transforms the horrendous raw theme
into a fine fiction that is steeped in human compassion and love.
Khushwant Singh has divided the novel into four parts and it is in the fourth part named
‘Karma’, that he emphasizes the philosophy of ‘Karma’, that is, action, as described in the
Bhagavad Gita. In this section, the story reaches its catastrophic and dramatic end with Jaggut
sacrificing his life to save the lives of his girlfriend Nooran and other Muslim refugees. When
Nooran comes to know about her father’s decision to leave the country, she gets bewildered at it
as she is in love with Jaggut. She does not want to leave him but couldn’t do anything in view of
the prevailing circumstance. She goes to his mother and tells her that she is pregnant with his
child and does not want to leave him, but all in vain (Singh, p.211). Towards the end of the
novel, people make a plan to ambush the train taking the Muslims including those of Mano
Majra to Pakistan. The Sikhs of Mano Majra who, just one day before, were ready to lay down
their lives for their Muslim brothers, now at once become ready to kill them. They decide this at
the instigation of the Sikh boy who excites their religious passions to retaliate to the brutality of
the Muslims. But when Jaggut comes to know about Nooran and the people’s plan about the
train, he performs the act of supreme self-sacrifice to save the lives of people. Though there were
others also who knew about the plot and wanted to fail their plan but they were unable to prevent
the plot against the fleeing Muslims. Jaggut, on the other hand, does not care for his own safety
and foils the plot to ambush the train, letting it roll over his body to Pakistan (Singh K. , p. 190).
Singh, as hinted at the reality in the novel that there were people who could have done things to
stop the disturbance from taking the ugly form that it eventually took. But for various reasons,
such people kept themselves away from trouble. Jaggut, in spite of knowing the possible
consequences of his decision, does not change his mind. His love for Nooran appears for him to
be more valuable than anything.
His self-sacrifice is motivated by his love for Nooran. When he learns from his mother
that Nooran visited her before leaving for the refugee camp and she carries his child in her
womb, he cannot bear the separation from his beloved. When the fanatics prepare to attack the
train when it passes through Mano Majra railway bridge, Jaggut appears on the bridge and cuts
the rope stretched to sweep off the people sitting on the roof. The leader of the gang fires shots at
Jaggut and he falls down, “There was a volley of shots. The man shivered and collapsed. The
rope snapped in the center as he fell. The train goes over him and went to Pakistan” (Singh K. ,
p. 190). Thus, readers see that Jaggut does not hesitate even for a moment while sacrificing his
life for Nooran and the other Muslims. He never indulges in the dilemma of morality or
fruitfulness of his actions, and leaves it to God to discriminate between the right and the wrong
or good and bad acts and reward them accordingly. Jaggut understands the philosophy of
“Granth Sahib” in a real sense, which says, “For God is True and dispensed Truth. There the
elect his court adorn, And God Himself their actions honors” (Singh K. , p. 183). When Meet
Singh asks Jaggut the meaning of this verse, Jaggut explains, “If you are going to do something
good, the Guru will help you; if you are going to do something bad, the Guru will stand in your
way. If you persist in doing it, he will punish you till you repent, and then forgive you” (Singh K.
, p. 183). Through Jaggut’s act, it could prove that violence cannot be conquered by violence and
it is only love that can pacify the hatred in human beings. Thus, the power of love could
transform a criminal like Jaggut into a courageous human being who sacrifices his own life for
the well-being of the other people irrespective of their caste, class and religion.
In the text, thus, Jaggut symbolizes the presence of humanity in the epoch of hatred and
communalism whereas Bano in the Dastaan is the representation of many women of undivided
India who suffered during the partition in 1947. Here the woman’s plight is brought together as
the plight of the nation. As the nation has been divided into two parts, Bano is also divided into
two parts. It is her body and her heart. Her heart remains in India with her childhood memories
whereas her displaced body goes to Pakistan. As the “victims of religious ideologies”. Vasanthi
(2019) points out that women were physically, mentally and emotionally validated and
tormented during partition. It can thus be understood that Train to Pakistan and Dastaan are
about brutal violence that took place between two communities at the time of partition of India in
1947, with a hint of sympathy and love, again between the two communities. Though both the
narratives describe the communal riots and holocaust of 1947 still love and compassion are
intricately woven in it. In the midst of chaos and bloodshed, it is the innocent people who
suffered more as compared to those who have caused it. Mourya (2021) claims that Singh and
Hussain have indirectly targeted the political leaders and their inability to use their power, apart
from money making, and to take an action to stop the massacre. These narratives look more like
a personal account of an individual who has been through this environment and situation of
bloodshed and violence as they have painted the picture of horror and terror so realistically.
Therefore, indirectly it could be a hint that love and passion has the ability and power to win
even in this chaotic situation when the world is so adamant in tearing people apart.
Chapter III: Conclusion
This research has critically explored the ways in which Partition has been represented in
Indian and Pakistani fiction over roughly half a century. Beginning with the earliest short stories
of the late 1940s till today, the theme of Partition has witnessed different kinds of
representations, ideological interrogations and contestations. Essentially, a historical event in the
late 1940s, Partition is subjected to a closer scrutiny by progressive writers before being
transformed into an amiable theme. In its present reconfiguration, Partition is essentially
considered in terms of its implications for the uprooted and displaced individual (Osman, 2017).
In a sense, both the narratives take up the ‘partitioned’ individual rather than Partition itself.
Nothing in recent history parallels this sudden and manmade disaster, in which the principal
agents of violence were not some powerful, consolidated groups, but ordinary people from
virtually any section of society who were caught in a whirlpool of violence and counter-violence.
Not only did it provide an aesthetic framework to represent a different kind of reality, it
also provided a means whereby the artist made sense of a monstrous and unnatural situation.
Forced to flee their homes, towns and villages, the refugees running across newly created
national borders found themselves in completely alien places. But it is in these new places that
they had to fashion newer identities by leaving behind their past. This shift or movement from
one kind of identity to another was a complex and difficult process. Garcia (2016) asserts that the
demands of the present functioned in cycle with the pulls of the past in the refashioning of
identities. Memory, the sense of loss, and the vitality of the imagination are some of the crucial
aspects of this search for a new identity. While some of the stories end with the suggestion that
the individual now has to chart a new direction in life, others explore this process holistically by
focusing on the individual self in the aftermath of Partition (Dube, 2014). This research has
simultaneously attempted to explore the interplay of trauma and politics presented in Indian and
Pakistani fiction in the context of a societal and psychological shift brought about by Partition.
At one level, the massive dislocations of people and the extensive violence in which common
men and women were engulfed created conditions in which the individual was compelled to
rethink and question his/her own subjective identity. The silhouettes of relatively stable identities
of class, gender and religion were reshaped and redrawn because it was necessary to engage with
a new social situation of homelessness and alienation from the family (Clark, 2010).
At another level, creative writers like Khushwant Singh and artistic directors like
Haissam Hussain recognized that the new emotional and mental landscape required a different
narrative form. The content found a new and appropriate form, which can normally be
considered a marker of a new way in representing a narrative common yet in a unique approach.
Once the focus shifted to the individual, it was perhaps inevitable that the concern of the writers
shifted from the violence to its impact on the individual. While these stories did not fully plumb
the post-Partition scenario, they did suggest that it was quite clearly impossible to go back to life
as it was before the Partition. The experience had not only altered the social landscape, but it had
also altered the perspective through which reality would now be apprehended. Uprooted from all
paradigms that went into the creation of an identity, at the end of the story, the individual is left
standing at the edge of a new world, lost and faceless on the one hand and completely free to
fashion a new identity on the other. Writers like Khushwant Singh and directors like Haissam
Hussain creates a new aesthetic framework within which the post-Partition reality finds its
appropriate expression. According to Clark (2018) the emphasis on the individual’s inner self, its
traumatic awareness of the loss, the shadow of the past on the present and paradoxically the
irreversibility of the process of time, the indeterminacy and blurring of the contours of the self
were imposed. These are all sketched in a nostalgic recollection crisscrossed by the shadows of
the present and the need to fashion new identities in keeping with the demands of the present.
It can be said that Train to Pakistan by Khushwant Singh and Dastaan by Haissam
Hussain are the mirror of brutal violence that took place between two communities at the time of
partition of India in 1947, with a hint of sympathy and love, again between the two communities.
Though the novel and the drama describe the communal riots and holocaust of 1947 still love
and compassion are intricately woven in it. In the midst of chaos and bloodshed, it is the
innocent people who suffered more as compared to those who have caused it. Khushwant Singh
has indirectly targeted the political leaders and their inability to use their power, apart from
money making, and to take an action to stop the massacre (Nagane, 2015). Thus, these creation
looks more like a personal account of an individual who has been through this environment and
situation of bloodshed and violence as Singh has painted the picture of horror and terror so
realistically. Singh indirectly hints that love and passion has the ability and power to win even in
this chaotic situation when the world is so adamant in tearing people apart.
After having acquainted with the frenzy presented in both the narratives, one can himself
feel the live view of Partition and the pain of separating from their homelands. It can be said that
the Partition of India is one of the greatest traumatic experiences in recent history. Reminding
people what happened in 1947 and realizing the possibilities of its recurrence, one should resolve
that one will never let it happen again. As asserted by Jasmeet (2014), Singh describes the
unified India after Partition in two phases: Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan. Khushwant Singh
has accurately depicted the real picture of the adverse effects of Partition and showed the
sufferings and physical torture that people were made to experience and suffer. Similarly, in
Dastaan Hussain presents multiple voices of characters showing different perspectives. Like
Bano’s rigorous sacrifices in creation of new Muslim nation and Hassan’s vigorous fight for his
newly formed nation. Khushwant Singh considers Partition as a trauma. Thus, the author has
opened the true mirror of the physical torture and the division of feelings, hearts before the
reader.
Khushwant Singh through his novel vividly portrays the aftermath of Partition in the
form of brutal murders, rapes, destruction of wealth, loss of life and many more things. Love and
Affection were the true identity of the village of Mano Majra but this all changes after Partition.
Khushwant Singh tries to make a union of both Muslim and Sikh religions through the love of
Nooran and sacrifice of Juggat Singh (Singh K. , p. 243). Love has no boundaries. Love has the
power to transform a criminal like man into a courageous human being who sacrifices his own
life for the well-being of the other people irrespective of their caste, color and religion. Likewise,
Hussain through his drama vividly portrays the sacrifice of a girl like Bano from a close-knit
Muslim-Sikh family, the trials and tribulations she faced after the partition of India in 1940’s.
Both the narratives under study make pointed reference to the first Prime Minister of India,
Jawaharlal Nehru's speech at the time of independence where high sounding words such as "tryst
with destiny" have been used to describe the subsequent independence and Partition of India
(Burton, 2015). Hence, both the narratives bring out starkly the common man's 'tryst with
destiny' which brought along with it only turmoil and violence.
The closing word on this issue is uttered by Salim, “We have moved back into the dark
ages. Fighting, killing over religion. Religion of all things. Even the educated. This is madness,
not freedom. Is there no end to this needless violence and stabbing? Was this price necessary for
freedom?" (Hussain , ep. 27). Therefore, both the narratives bring out the impact which the
ghastly and pointless killing and violence had on all humanity involved. The partition brought
along with-it unprecedented violence and atrocities. It has to be remembered that freedom is not
just the absence of external pressure, it is also the presence of something else (Chavan, 2020).
The struggle for freedom is not without its darker side. If the fight for political freedom aims at
ensuring peace for a particular community, it may also arouse and mobilize diabolical forces in
man forces which one would have believed to be non-existent or at least to have died out long
ago. If social and moral freedom is unlimited, it may unleash the numerous problems of excess
and the lack of restraint. Taking all this into account, Khatri (2017) asserts that the question that
arises is whether there is such a condition as complete freedom? Is freedom for the society and
the individual linked to and compatible with each other? And is absolute freedom a possibility
for an individual, a community or for a nation? Should there be sufficient essential preparation,
orientation, and education of the individuals and of the society to enable them to digest their
freedom, realize its full potential and cope with this freedom with dignity and with rationality?
Fortunately, both the narratives raise these significant questions in all their various
dimensions and the narratives of the two obliquely explore and subtly answer these questions
with the much-needed flexibility of interpretation especially with reference to the pluralistic,
multilingual, multicultural, multireligious and multiethnic character of the vastly-spread society
of India in its widespread regions and teeming with paradoxes and contradictions at several
levels (Riso, 2018). Thus, to sum up, it can be said that the partition of the Indian subcontinent
was the single most traumatic experience in recent history. The violence unleashed by the
criminal actions of a few fanatics, the vengeance that the ordinary Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs
wrecked on each other worsened the social sense, distorted the political judgment and deranged
the understanding of moral righteousness (Chopra, 2010). The real sorrow of the partition,
however, as portrayed in the two narratives under review, is that it brought to an abrupt end a
long and communally shared history and cultural heritage. The relations between the Hindus and
the Muslims were not, of course, always free from suspicions, distrust or the angry rejection by
one group of the habits and practices of the other; but such moments of active wickedness and
communal frenzy were a rare and transient exception to the common bonds of mutual goodwill
and warm feelings of close brotherhood (Kush, 2021). Organizations which nurtured violent
hatred towards each other and incited communal passions did exist, but at the very margins of
the solidly and healthily functioning social and cultural order. It is the unthoughtful decision of
partition and hollow love of 'nationalism' that let the mischief off and out.
Both the narratives can be perceived as a platform for polyphonic assets of disseminating
and propagating each voice as sui generis novel and drama. Singh and Hussain do not empower
any voice to subordinate another, however, each voice is empowered in its entirety as an
individual voice. Moreover, like Singh’s character Jaggut, Hussain’s character Bano is a
representation of any ordinary human voice which becomes easily relatable. Both characters
unknowingly contribute in the creation of hybrid beings, which carry traits of both ethnicities,
yet remain unique as creations. The uniqueness and distinct representation of plural and diverse
groups, yearning and struggling for points of merging in the divergent setting of partition is thus
identified as a medium of coalition. In this regard, the historical discourse on coexistence of
Muslims, Sikhs, and Hindus in the subcontinent as well as post-partition identifies areas of
monologic precepts inculcated as sources of division according to classification into
homogenous identities. By understanding representations of history in these terms, it is possible
for the scholar to transform the practices of reading and writing about partition narratives from a
search for authenticity to an examination of the multiple determinations of experience. With
these limitations in mind, the researcher has read representations of trauma and politics
experienced by ordinary people at the time of partition. As intent on occupying an historical void
and simultaneously gesturing to the significant presence, sacrifices and the role played by
women during the partition yet any details on it is trivial. Thus, critical research on the
substantial role played by women during the partition would be an intriguing topic to examine
and this would help absolute recognition of the reading and writing on the partition otherwise has
remained incomplete, indirect, and politically charged.
41
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Yonphula Centenary College

In Partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the Degree of

Chapter No. Title/Subtitle Page No.

II Independence at the cost of millions of lives 22

*APA-6th edition publication manual is followed

Yonphula Centenary College (Tshering Lhamo)

June 2022 Student Number: 07200021

Yonphula Centenary College (Dr. Sarmistha Roy)

June 2022 Supervisor

Key words: partition, bloodshed, displacement, religion, colonialism

In a paper titled “A Lacanian Psychoanalytic Study: Train to Pakistan by Khushwant

In his dissertation “Train to Pakistan: against Mainstream Representations of the Partition

Independence is soon followed by despair, desolation, and devastation in the form of

Chapter III: Conclusion

Balaev, M. (2014). Literary Trauma Theory . PALGRAVE MACMILLAN, 1-18.

Burton, A. (2015). Sequels to history: Partition. Routledge Journal, 17-21.

Caruth, C. (1995). Trauma: Explorations in Memory. USA: JHUP.

Chavan, V. (2020). Introduction to Khushwant Singh an Indian Novelist. BitStream, 4.

Chopra, R. (2010). Partitioned Lives in Khushwant Singh's "Train to Pakistan" . Sahitya

Choudhury, A. R. (2021). Khushwant Singh’s Train to Pakistan : A Narrative Of The Trauma Of

Clark, A. (2010). Talking about History. UTSePress of History , 63-74.

Clark, A. (2018). Ordinary people's history . History Australia , 34-45.

Didur, J. (2006). Unsettling Partition: Literature, Gender, Memory. Canada: University Of

Dube, I. B. (2014). A History of Modern India . India : Cambridge University Press.

Frankel, J. B. (2016). Ferenczi's Trauma Theory. Institute De Desarrollo, 1-13.

Haque, S. A. (2021). Dialogue on Partition. London: Lexington Books.

Husain, Z. (2004). Nationalism in India . Institute of lifelong learning Journal , 3-30.

Hussain, H. (Director). (2010). Dastaan [Motion Picture]. Pakistan.

Hussain, H. (Director). (2010). Dastaan [Motion Picture].

Kush, A. (2021). Sad emotional and realistic story. Pakistan: IMDb.

Mathur, S. (2020). India's path to Prosperity. Britinnaca Journal.

Mohanty, D. S. (2019). Treatment of Trauma in Khushwant Singh’s Train to Pakistan. Online

Mookerjea-Leonard, R. B. (2015). The Indian Partition in Literature and Films. London:

Nagane, D. (2015). Commissives in Khushwant Singh's Train to Pakistan . An International

Osman, K. T. (2017). Narrative Indirection and Representational Crisis in Khushwant Singh’s

Raghuvanshi, V. (2019). Historical Undercurrents and Theorisation of Partition of Indian Sub-

Riso, G. D. (2018). Memory and Negotiations of Identity in Train to Pakistan. Creative

Sarwar, R. (2016). A Lacanian Psychoanalytic Study: Train to Pakistan by Khushwant Singh.

Sayed, H. (2012). The best drama of Pakistan industry. Pakistan: IMDb.

Shriya. (2019). Re-Memorizing Brutal Partition In Khushwant . Jayoti Vidyapeeth Women’s

Singh, K. (1956). Train to Pakistan. India: Penguin Books.

Vasanthi, S. (2019). Trauma of Partition Epitomized in Khushwant Singh’s. India’s Higher

Xypolia, D. L. (2006). Divide et Impera: Vertical and horizontal dimension of British

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