From Nizam to Nation: the Representation of Partition in Literary Narratives About Hyderabad, Deccan
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Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository 1-14-2013 12:00 AM From Nizam to Nation: The Representation of Partition in Literary Narratives about Hyderabad, Deccan Nazia Akhtar The University of Western Ontario Supervisor Nandi Bhatia The University of Western Ontario Joint Supervisor Teresa Hubel The University of Western Ontario Graduate Program in Comparative Literature A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree in Doctor of Philosophy © Nazia Akhtar 2013 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Part of the Comparative Literature Commons, Modern Languages Commons, Other Languages, Societies, and Cultures Commons, Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies Commons, and the Women's Studies Commons Recommended Citation Akhtar, Nazia, "From Nizam to Nation: The Representation of Partition in Literary Narratives about Hyderabad, Deccan" (2013). 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FROM NIZAM TO NATION: THE REPRESENTATION OF PARTITION IN LITERARY NARRATIVES ABOUT HYDERABAD, DECCAN (Spine Title: From Nizam to Nation) (Thesis Format: Monograph) by Nazia Akhtar Graduate Program in Comparative Literature A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies The University of Western Ontario London, Ontario, Canada © Nazia Akhtar 2013 THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO SCHOOL OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES CERTIFICATE OF EXAMINATION Joint Supervisors Examiners ______________________________ ______________________________ Dr. Nandi Bhatia Dr. David Darby ______________________________ ______________________________ Dr. Teresa Hubel Dr. James Miller ______________________________ Dr. Carole Farber ______________________________ Dr. Jill Didur The thesis by Nazia Akhtar entitled: From Nizam to Nation: The Representation of Partition in Literary Narratives about Hyderabad, Deccan is accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Date__________________________ _______________________________ Chair of the Thesis Examination Board ii ABSTRACT This dissertation examines literary representations of the Partition of India in 1947 as it affected the southern princely state of Hyderabad, Deccan. Through my focus on Hyderabad, I interrogate and reject the assumption generally made in scholarly analyses of Partition that this momentous, life-changing event did not significantly affect South India. In doing so, I also question the origins of the self-professed secular, egalitarian, and democratic Indian nation by shedding light on the invasion of Hyderabad and the subsequent erasure of this event from Indian historiography and mainstream culture. Different literary texts respond differently to this fraught, suppressed history. Engaging with questions about gendered and classed violence, trauma, and silence, I study three literary texts written several decades after Partition: Anita Desai’s novel Clear Light of Day (1980, English), Samina Ali’s novel Madras on Rainy Days (2004, English), and Kishorilal Vyas “Neelkanth’s” short story “Durga” (2005, Hindi). In my analysis, I utilize the theorizations of Partition scholars such as Jill Didur and Nandi Bhatia about how literature destabilizes the hegemony of mainstream and official narratives of cataclysmic historical events such as Partition. I also draw on Didur’s argument that literature not only has the power to upturn such historical narratives, which silence alternative narratives, but that literature itself must also be scrutinized as a narrative, ideologically motivated and politically interested. Retrospectively engaging in different measures with Partition, Hyderabad, and communalism, each literary text in my corpus points to the ongoing impact of Partition on Hyderabadis and throws crucial light on the issues of citizenship, class, gender, and narrative in the context of Partition and Hyderabad. In the process, they demonstrate/expose the implicit as well as explicit assumption in Partition Studies that the South was immune to the cartographic cracking of India. iii Keywords: Hyderabad, Partition literature, Anita Desai, Samina Ali, Kishorilal Vyas “Neelkanth,” Telangana, Razakars, Nizam, Feminism, Subaltern, Trauma. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful to my supervisors, Nandi Bhatia and Teresa Hubel, for their limitless kindness, patience, and support throughout my doctoral studies. I remain indebted to them for going beyond the call of duty to advise, encourage, and guide me over the past four-and-a-half years. Over the years, they have ensured that I have work in the summers so that I can stay in London and focus on my writing or go to India and conduct research towards my dissertation. I thank them for contributing to my growth as a scholar through our many conversations and heated debates about Hindi-Urdu, Partition, migration, gender, class, and communalism – all things India and Hyderabad. During my years as a graduate student, teaching assistant, and instructor in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at Western, I have benefited from the ever gracious help and patience of our dynamic administrative trio – Dawn Gingerich, Teresa Aconito, and Sylvia Kontra. With their swift efficiency and prompt wit and humour, they have made my time here productive and enjoyable. I thank as well Laurence de Looze, David Darby, and Aara Suksi for their sustained mentorship, guidance, and affection. This dissertation would not have been possible without the stubborn faith of my parents and my brother. It was their love, support, and complete and total faith in me that made me finish this project. I thank also my aunt, uncle, and cousins in Windsor for their love, affection, and understanding, which have nourished me over the past six years in Canada. I specifically want to thank my Khala, my second mother, for everything that I cannot attempt to put into words. I thank Akbar Ehsan for his much-needed philosophy and Shahab Siddique for his much-needed cousinly banter. v I thank Agnes Herra, who has been my rock these past four years, for her time, affection, understanding, tolerance, and pep-talk. I thank family members and friends – Nahid Mami, Shagufta Sumbul, Chanchal Bhabhi, Sumbul Fatihi, Pooja Sanyal, Deepa Iyer, Rina Koradia, Marina Arkhipova, Devinder Singh Dhami, Sonia Dhami, Charusmita Gadekar, Sarah Afraz, and Samurailatpam Sujata – whom I have not seen for a long time but who never ceased to motivate me as I sometimes faltered, traumatized by the violence of Partition and communalism. I thank Drs. U.M. Nanavati, Deeptha Achar, Maqsood Ahmad, Susan Bhatt, Charanjit Singh, and Ritoo Jerath for inspiring me to be a teacher. My gratitude extends to my students Katie Starr, Darmant Bhullar, Varun Hargan, Sheetal Dua, Anuj Taxali, Asha Vyas, Anisha Chotalia, and Rajkamal Lalli for teaching me so much over the years. I also thank Amber Riaz, Alia Somani, Farzad Shahinfard, Bahareh Kasmai, Anushree Majumdar, Ani Hoque, Élika Ortega, Jen Kozak, Donna Atkinson-Wilson, Karthick Ramachandran, and Zohreh Nouri, all of whom have been my partners-in-crime over the past six years that I have spent in Canada. I am eternally grateful to Jason Staniforth, my honorary big brother, and Iulia David, Auntie Cornelia, and Grandma Elena, for including me in their families and making me one of their own. In Toronto, I thank Mr. Bashir Beg for helping me find resources about Hyderabadi communities in diaspora. In Hyderabad, I thank my friends and colleagues at / associated with Yugantar for their generosity with their time and resources: Jaideep Undurti, Jasraman Grewal, Dr. K. Lalita, Mr. M. Sashi Kumar, Shankar, and Vandana. I also thank Mr. B. Narsing Rao, the late Mr. Mughni Tabassum, the late Mr. Raj Bahadur Gour, Mrs. Oudesh Bawa, Aruna Aunty and Jayaraman Uncle, and Aarti and Rishi Dhand for their hospitality and interest in my work. And finally, I thank Arfi, sky of my thoughts, for waiting for me so patiently and cheerfully. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Certificate of Examination ii Abstract iii Acknowledgements v Table of Contents vii CHAPTER I. Introduction: Partition Studies and Its Engagements with Hyderabad in the 1940s 1 CHAPTER II. “An Enemy Within Her Belly”: Material Conditions in Hyderabad in the 1940s, and the Indo-Hyderabad Dispute 54 CHAPTER III. Reading Between the Lines: The Representation of Hyderabadis and Hyderabad in Anita Desai’s Clear Light of Day 143 CHAPTER IV. Staying Within the Lines: The Representation of Rape and Silence in Samina Ali’s Madras on Rainy Days 191 CHAPTER V. True Colours: The Representation of Durga, Sikhs, Cows, and Women in the Service of Hindutva in Neelkanth’s “Durga” 252 Epilogue 317 Works Cited 323 Curriculum Vita 355 vii 1 Introduction: Partition Studies and Its Engagements with Hyderabad in the 1940s In 1947, the transfer of power from the British Raj to Indians was accompanied by the Partition of India into India and Pakistan (West Pakistan, now known as Pakistan; and East Pakistan, now known as Bangladesh). The two provinces that were at the heart of the Partition debates between Hindus,