Partition of Indian Subcontinent and its Aftermath

Semester and Year Offered: Winter Semester/ IV th Semester Students

Course Coordinator and Team: Dr Pallavi Chakravarty

Email of course coordinator: pallavi[at]aud[dot]ac[dot]in

Pre-requisites: Students should have completed and qualified all core and elective courses as per requirement for MA History course.

Aim: This is one of the many seminar papers offered by the History faculty to the final semester students of MA History course, choosing one such paper is compulsory for the students for the completion of their MA programme.

This specific Seminar paper encourages students to look at one of the defining events in the history of the Indian subcontinent: partition of the Indian subcontinent. There has been a shift in the historiography on partition with the focus now on the legacy left behind. The ‘long Partition’, as it has been termed by VaziraZamindar, has several un or under explored themes which remains the focus of this seminar paper. Thus, students would be encouraged to explore any one theme ranging from the meaning and celebration of independence in the subcontinent to what is left of the legacy of partition today. Students will have to engage with secondary as well as primary sources to write up an 8000 (approx) word seminar paper on any themes pertaining to this paper.

Most of the sources are available in AUD and NMML libraries, but students will also need to engage with archival records as found in National Archives and/or the state archives.

Course Outcomes:

Upon successful completion of this course, it is expected that the student:

1. Would have learned the use of primary and secondary sources in historical research.
2. Would be able to explore the theme of ‘long partition’ and its present-day implications.
3. Would be able to write and present a research paper.

Brief description of modules/ Main modules:

1. [suggested themes which can be explored in this seminar paper]
2. Remembering Partition: ‘two faces of independence’—‘celebration and consternation’; ‘joy and sorrow’; memory and partition archive.
3. The State/Host and the refugees: conflict; conciliation; self-reliance
4. The Refugees and the ‘other’: community and caste perspectiveed
5. The Margins (from the perspective of historiography): gender; caste; community; region

Assessment Details with weights:

• Written submission to be assessed by Supervisor (around 8000 word essay) : 75%
• Oral Presentation to be assessed by History Faculty: 25%

Reading List:

[Suggested Readings]

Primary Sources—

• National Archives of India
• Ministry of Home Affairs
• Ministry of External Affairs
• Ministry of Relief and Rehabilitation
• Rajendra Prasad Papers
• Nehru Memorial Museum and Library
• Newspaper collection
• Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi; Jawaharlal Nehru; Sardar Patel; B R Ambedkar; Mountbatted among others.
• Manuscript Section for Institutional and Private Collection as well as Oral History records.
• CAD and LAD for relevant years
• Individual State Archives (if undertaking specific regional/city study) eg at Delhi State Archives; West Bengal State Archives
• Oral history sources available at Cambridge South Asian Studies library; Partition Archives; BBC archives.
• Memoirs (published and unpublished)
• Khosla, G.D, Stern Reckoning:A Survey of the Events Leading Up To and Following the Partition of India, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1989 (reprint of 1949 edition)
• Kidwai, Begum Anis. Azadi Ki Chaon Mein, New Delhi: National Book Trust (1990)
• Lahiri, Pravas Chandra, India Partitioned and Minorities in Pakistan, Writers’ Forum Private Limited, Calcutta, 1964
• Secondary Sources (Indicative list)
• Ansari, Sarah. Life After Partition: Migration, Community and Strife in Sindh, 1947-62, Karachi: OUP (2005)
• Bagchi, Jasodhara and Dasgupta, Subhoranjan (ed.), The Trauma and the Triumph:Gender and Partition in Eastern India, 2 Vols, Kolkata: Stree (2003 and 2007)
• BardhanKalpana, Of Women, Outcastes, Peasants and Rebels: A Selection of BengaliShort Stories. London: University of Calcutta Press (1990)
• Bhalla, Alok. Stories About the Partition of India, New Delhi: Indus, 1994.
• -- Partition Dialogues: Memories of a Lost Home. New Delhi. OxfordUniversity Press. 2006
• Bose, Pradip Kumar. Refugees in West Bengal: Institutional Processes and ContestedIdentities, Calcutta: Calcutta Research Group Oxford University Press (2000)
• Butalia Urvashi, The Other Side of Silence: Voices from the Partition of India,New Delhi: Penguin (1998)
• Chakrabarti Prafulla, The Marginal Men: The Refugees and the Left Political Syndrome in West Bengal, Kalyani, West Bengal: Lumiere Books (1990)
• Chakravartty, Gargi. Coming Out of Partition: Refugee Women of Bengal New Delhi:Bluejay Books (2005)
• ChatterjiJoya, Bengal Divided: Hindu Communalism and Partition, 1932- 1947,Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1995)
• -- The Spoils of Partition: Bengal and India, 1947-67, Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press (2007)
• Chaudhuri, Pranati. Refugees in West Bengal: A Study of Growth and Distribution ofRefugee Settlements within the CMD, Occasional Paper No. 55, Calcutta: Centre forStudies in Social Sciences, March 1983.
• Hasan Mushirul (ed.), India’s Partition: Process, Strategy and Mobilization, New Delhi:Oxford University Press (2001)
• -- India Partitioned: The Other Face of Freedom, 2 vols. New Delhi:Roli Books (1995).
• Hasan, M and Roy A. Living Together Separately: Cultural India in History and Politics, New Delhi: Oxford University Press (2005)
• KaulSuvir (ed.), The Partitions of Memory: The After life of the Division of India, Delhi: Permanent Black (2001)
• Kaur, Ravinder. Since 1947: Partition Narratives among Punjabi Migrants of Delhi, New Delhi: Oxford University Press (2007)
• Menon Ritu and Bhasin Kamala, Borders and Boundaries: Women in India’s Partition,New Delhi: Kali for Women (2000)
• Nayar, Kuldip and Noorani, Asif. Tales of Two Cities, New Delhi: Roli Books, (2008).
• Rai, Satya M. Partition of the Punjab: A study of its Effects on the Politics and Administration ofthe Punjab (I): 1947-56, New Delhi: Durga Publishers (1986)
• Roy, Haimanti. Partitioned Lives: Migrants, Refugees, Citizens in India and Pakistan, 1947-65, New Delhi: OUP (2012).
• Samaddar, Ranabir (ed) Reflections on partition in the East, New Delhi: Vikash Publications(1997)
• Settar. S and Gupta I.B. Pangs of Partition: The Human Dimension, 2 Vols, New Delhi:ICHR, Manohar (2002)
• Talbot, Ian. Divided Cities: Lahore, Amritsar and the Partition of India, Karachi: Oxford University Press (2006).
• Talbot, Ian and Tatla, Singh Darshan (eds), Epicentre of Violence: Partition Voices andMemories from Amritsar’, New Delhi: Permanent Black (2006)
• Tan Tai Yong and KudaisyaGyanesh, The Aftermath of Partition, London: Routledge(2000)
• Zamindar, VaziraFazila. The Long Partition and the Making of Modern South Asia. NewYork: Columbia University Press (2007)

ADDITIONAL REFERENCE: