The Trauma and the Triumph : Gender and Partition in Eastern India

The trauma of the partition in Eastern India is discussed explicitly in a way that has not happened before. Drawing upon interviews with women who were uprooted from old East Bengal in 1947, on diaries, memoirs and creative literature, the editors lift the ‘veil of silence’ that has surrounded partition. The lack of overt public discourse has meant that people outside Bengal have tended to believe that the impact was very much less on the people in the eastern region. In truth, the sufferings, the loss of life and livelihoods and of shelter were very real but of a different nature from the fast-moving horror of the Punjab. It was more like an oozing wound that seemed not to heal than a one-time severance of a limb.

Seminar, Feb 2002, devoted itself to an in-depth discussion of the eastern partition, inviting Bagchi and Dasgupta to edit the issue. Many contributions have been taken from this pioneering work and many more have been added to focus on what women experienced, felt, and witnessed. Weaving together the voices of many women and incisive analysis, the book provides an invaluable discussion on displacement, rape, loss and why women pay the price. It thus traces the strenuous triumph attained in the crucible of suffering.