“Breaking Barriers: Rape and Rescue During the Partition of India”
Brooklynn Scott
Senior Division, Historical Paper
Words: 2,491
Introduction
On the strike of midnight on August 15, 1947, a nation was divided into two-- India and
Pakistan. Unfortunately, the violence building up to this moment did not look to dissipate any time soon. Fear of kidnapping, rape, and murder continued to hang over the women of South Asia during this tumultuous time. Official estimates say over 83,000 women were abducted in the violence of partition,1 but historians say there were well over 100,000.2 Such violence was so widespread, especially in the new border cities, that women became a new symbol of religious, national, and sexual tension. In response, the new countries decided to take action and formed government agencies to recover abducted women and return them to their families. However, their well-intended actions paradoxically broke more personal boundaries. While partition left a trail of broken hearts, it ultimately marks a period where women battled social barriers together.
Religious Tension
When India gained independence from Great Britain the greatest controversy was the decision to split India into two countries: Pakistan for Muslims and India for Hindus and Sikhs.
Although migration was not legally required, the surge of movement resulted in the largest human migration in history.3 Not everyone agreed that one’s religious identity should determine their national identity, however pressure built for religious segregation. Hatred simply boiled for the
1 Khan, Yasmin. The Great Partition: the Making of India and Pakistan. Yale University Press, 2017. Pg 135. 2 Ashraf, Ajaz, and Urvashi Butalia. “Men Killed Their Own Women and Children during Partition, but Freedom Overshadowed That Horror.” Quartz India, 14 Aug. 2016, qz.com/india/757914/men-killed-their-own-women-and-children-during-partition-but-freedom-overshadow ed-that-horror/. Accessed 13 Jan. 2020. 3 Bhat, Reiya. “India's 1947 Partition Through the Eyes of Women: Gender, Politics, and Nationalism.” Ohio University, 2018, etd.ohiolink.edu/!etd.send_file?accession=ouhonors1524658168133726&disposition=inline.
2 “other.” Muslims believed that their minority status in India would prevent them from ever achieving proper representation in government.4 After all, many Hindus treated Muslims as equivalent to an untouchable in the caste hierarchy. Pakistani Mariam S. explained that “the government acted as if Hindus were the supreme human being.”5
As part of the growing animosity, women were commonly attacked and kidnapped on both sides for symbolic reasons later discussed. These women were often forcibly married to their captors and, consequently, converted religions. In India, due to a Muslim’s standing as impure, converting abductees was the tipping point for outrage. In their view, crossing this boundary was even worse than regular kidnapping as seen when the government only focused on tracking down persons of the opposite religion, even when there were many reports of Hindus kidnapping Hindus as well.6 Taran, a Sikh refugee from Pakistan, observed, "a woman has no religion-- her only religion is womanhood.
She gives birth, she is a creator, she is god, she is mother."7 Kidnappers and governments alike disregarded how a woman personally identified her religion. Instead, her life depended on the religious community that claimed her.
National Tension
Women were also used to perpetuate extreme nationalistic dominance. The most prevalent medium used to stir up anger and national pride was the image of Bharat Mata or Mother India.
4 Jinnah, Muhammad Ali. “Move to Partition Punjab and Bengal.” The National Archives, United Kingdom, 4 May 1947, www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/fo371-635331.jpg. 5 Siddiqa, Mariam and Brooklynn Scott. 4 Mar. 2020. 6India, Congress. Act No. 65 of 1949. The Abducted Persons (Recovery and Restoration) Act, 1949. High Court of Bombay, https://bombayhighcourt.nic.in/libweb/actc/1949.65.pdf. Nagpal, Himanshi. “The Partition Of Punjab: A Tale Of Violation Of Women's Rights.” Feminism In India, 27 June 2017, feminisminindia.com/2017/06/27/partition-punjab-violation-women/. 7 Menon, Ritu, and Kamla Bhasin. Borders & Boundaries: Women in India's Partition. Rutgers University Press, 1998. Pg 243.
3 Drawn on maps since late colonialism in the 19th century, the figure of Bharat Mata, as seen in
Figure 1, represents the Indian nation in maps called ‘bodyscapes’ which purposefully blur borders and barriers and focuses on the humanization of the country as a person worth dying for.8 The idea of a national mother fostered simultaneous sentiments of belonging and possession which paralleled sentiments toward a mother and wife.9 When partition became inevitable, newspapers released cartoons evoking emotion against partition such as in Figure 2 which shows political leaders cutting
Bharat Mata in half similar to the splitting of their country.10 Bharat Mata’s role as a damsel in distress perpetuated the common notion that women must be protected against the ‘other’.11
Nationalistic groups broke personal boundaries by violently taking the female body to express political opinions.
Sexual Tension
Part of the reason women carried nationalistic importance was because their fertility birthed the future of the nation.12 The general population felt a loss of control for their nation, so they took what they did have control of-- sex-- and used it to hurt their enemies. Mutilation of genitalia became a gruesome symbol for stopping the growth of nations. Mobs of men would storm villages
8IndianExpressOnline. Explained: The Evolution of Bharat Mata. YouTube, 24 Apr. 2019, www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7OtYSnJQy0. Sachdev, Nitika. “Deconstructing the 1947 Partition: The Effect of the Central Recovery Operation Through a Gendered Lens in India and Pakistan.” Colgate University, Semantic Scholar, 2017, pdfs.semanticscholar.org/bcb3/b3a08faaccf792c1e212d8f3a1af42b38e9a.pdf?_ga=2.232709919.1018809825. 1577142087-854990044.1548912844. 9 IndianExpressOnline. Explained: The Evolution of Bharat Mata. 10 See Figure 2 in Appendix A 11 Ramaswamy, Sumathi. “Maps and Mother Goddesses in Modern India.” Imago Mundi, vol. 53, 2001, pp. 97–114. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1151561. 12 Dey, Arunima. “Violence Against Women During the Partition of India: Interpreting Women and their Bodies in the Context of Ethnic Genocide.”
4 and burn political symbols onto women’s breasts or rip out their vaginas.13 Removing a woman’s fertility scarred the opposing community because it was a reflection of the men’s failure to protect their women.14 Another method rioters used was to parade kidnapped women naked through the streets as a demonstration of the other nation’s weakness.15 Violence knew no barriers.
Stories of these raids spread fear across India and families began to prepare in case of an attack. Girls started carrying suicide pills because death was more honourable than rape.16 Soon, whole villages began systematically killing their women in order to protect them from possible humiliation. They used tactics such as beheading, strangling, and jumping into wells.17 One survivor recounted, “We girls would often talk about death -- some were afraid, others thought of it as a glorious death -- dying for an end, for freedom, for honour. For me everything was related to freedom, I was dying for freedom.”18 The surviving family rarely spoke about what they did. In order to cope with their haunting guilt, many men framed the mass suicides as heroic martyrdoms.19
While some scholars such as Urvasi Butalia argue the dishonor of rape afflicted Hindus to a higher extreme than Muslims, the challenges Muslims faced were not any less significant than
13 Sachdev, Nitika. “Deconstructing the 1947 Partition: The Effect of the Central Recovery Operation Through a Gendered Lens in India and Pakistan.” Universidad de Salamanca, 3 Aug. 2016 14 Sachdev, Nitika. “Deconstructing the 1947 Partition: The Effect of the Central Recovery Operation Through a Gendered Lens in India and Pakistan.” 15 Dey, Arunima. “Violence Against Women During the Partition of India: Interpreting Women and their Bodies in the Context of Ethnic Genocide.” 16 Thakur, Dipsikha. “Mourning The Forgotten Women Of India's Violent Partition.” The Establishment, 12 Oct. 2018, theestablishment.co/mourning-the-forgotten-women-of-indias-violent-partition-5eeb25d8bab2/index.html. 17 Patel, Meera. “Rape Accounts Still Surface from India's Partition 65 Years On.” Women's Media Center, 26 June 2013, www.womensmediacenter.com/women-under-siege/rape-accounts-still-surface-from-indias-partition-65-year s-on. 18 Menon, Ritu, and Kamla Bhasin. Borders & Boundaries: Women in India's Partition. Pg 243. 19 Ashraf, Ajaz, and Ishtiaq Ahmed. “What drove some who experienced Partition to brutality -- and how they live with it.” South Asia Citizens Web, 13 Aug. 2016, http://sacw.net/article12905.html.
5 Hindus. In an interview, Pakistani Mariam S. asserted, “It does not matter if you are a Hindu or a
Muslim; the horror of rape follows you.” She continued to relate the story of a friend who was engaged to a Muslim man but during their migration to Pakistan she was raped so her fiance called off the wedding.20 While communities may disagree, one thing is clear -- a woman’s body did not belong to her. She represented the honour of her community.
Abduction and Recovery Programs
In the face of so much atrocity, people felt an undeniable call to action. Every Indian knew the epic of Rama and his wife Sita: Sita is kidnapped by an evil demon and, with the help of some friends, Rama goes and rescues her.21 It was a common story turned into a rallying cry when politicians said, "As descendants of Rama we have to bring back every Sita that is alive.”22 In order to rectify the heinous acts of partition, each country agreed to delegate efforts to pursue kidnapped women and return them to their original homes as laid out in the Inter Dominion Conference in
Lahore in 1947.23 Lists of abducted women were compiled from police reports filed by relatives.
Then, local police were responsible for finding the women and sending them to refugee camps where they would be rehabilitated by social workers.24 The rehabilitation centers were often crowded and food had to be carefully doled out as shown in Figure 3.
Pakistan and India organized themselves to carry out recovery however unforeseen barriers threatened cooperation. Critical and suspicious, both sides accused the other of being “indifferent, if
20 Siddiqa, Mariam, and Brooklynn Scott. 4 Mar. 2020. 21 Pai, Anant, editor. Gods and Goddesses: from the Epics and Mythology of India. Amar Chitra Katha, 2011. 22 Menon, Ritu, and Kamla Bhasin. Borders & Boundaries: Women in India's Partition. Pg 68. 23 Virdee, Pippa. From the Ashes of 1947: Reimagining Punjab. Cambridge University Press, 2018. Pg 174. 24 See Figure 3 in Appendix A
6 not actually hostile to recovery work,” as the chief Punjabi secretary put it.25 Complaints swarmed the offices about perceived misconduct from the other country.26 In contrast to the allegations, evidence shows both countries worked fervorously to recover their missing women.
Dilemma of Choice
While the recovery programs had good intentions, few considered the desires of the women in question. Simply put, some women did not want to be rescued. Most kidnapped women had lost hope in ever seeing their homes again so they had redirected their energy toward building a new life.
Such coercive rescue methods only reminded them of their previous traumatic experiences, so naturally many women resisted.27 Some people argue the governments were more concerned with honor and separation of religions than actual humanitarian efforts which would explain why a woman’s consent was considered inconsequential.28 A complicated set of motives led the government to break families apart in an effort to bring them together.
A few reasons a woman would not want to return to her previous family ranged from fear of being ostracized to honestly preferring her new lifestyle. Many families were unwilling to accept their lost daughters with the claim she had been polluted. Captors took advantage of this by constantly bringing up the possibility of rejection and exaggerating violence in the other country to prevent escape attempts.29 The idea of returning was simply too terrifying. On the other extreme, some
25 Virdee, Pippa. From the Ashes of 1947: Reimagining Punjab. Cambridge University Press, 2018. Pg 176. 26 Raghavan, Pallavi. “The Finality of Partition: Bilateral Relations Between India and Pakistan, 1947-1957.” St Johns College University of Cambridge. Sep. 2012, https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/42337394.pdf. 27 Dey, Arunima. “Violence Against Women During the Partition of India: Interpreting Women and their Bodies in the Context of Ethnic Genocide.” 28 Menon, Ritu, and Kamla Bhasin. Borders & Boundaries: Women in India's Partition. Pg 98. 29 Nagpal, Himanshi. “The Partition Of Punjab: A Tale Of Violation Of Women's Rights.”
7 women were abducted into wealthier lifestyles and enjoyed a new social status they never had before.
Children further complicated the matter. Strict regulations dictated that if a woman bore a child with her captor, she was under no circumstances allowed to take the child with her as it belonged to the man.30 However, many women refused to be rescued because of this policy and were forcibly separated from their children. After much debate, politicians wiggled children into the definition of an abducted person.31 Unfortunately, orphanages overfilled with children who were rescued by the governments, but were rejected by the woman’s family.32 For pregnant women, social workers offered secret abortions although it was technically illegal and might give her family another reason to reject her. They used the euphemism “complete medical check-up” though everyone knew what it meant.33 The choice to abort was absolutely agonizing and shame surrounded the one decision women were allowed to make.
Social Workers: the inner conflict
The social workers involved add another complex side to history because they disagreed on the ethics behind their actions. Prominently, no one disagreed with each other more than Mridula
Sarabhai, the chief organizer of the Women’s Section in the Ministry of Relief and Rehabilitation, and her primary advisors, Rameshwari Nehru and Kamlaben Patel. Sarabhai believed no woman, under any circumstances, could be truly happy with her abductor and therefore must be rescued and
30 Menon, Ritu, and Kamla Bhasin. Borders & Boundaries: Women in India's Partition. Pg 121. 31 India, Congress. Act No. 65 of 1949. The Abducted Persons (Recovery and Restoration) Act, 1949. 32Mehra, Rachna. “The Birth Pangs of a Divided Nation: Articulating the Experiences of Women and Children in the Post-Partition Period.” Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, vol. 75, 2014, pp. 1247–1252., www.jstor.org/stable/44158516.
33 Menon, Ritu, and Kamla Bhasin. Borders & Boundaries: Women in India's Partition. Pg 177.
8 returned to her original family at all costs.34 Characterized as a passionate bully, one police officer said, “Miss Sarabhai was like a woman possessed, wouldn’t listen...She saw the suffering of women
-- they were poor helpless victims and she wanted to do something.”35 Her unyielding persistence shaped the recovery program’s many drastic policies. Rameshwari Nehru, on the other hand, held the opinion that uprooting these women only incited more misery. She repeatedly pointed out the refugee’s wishes were not being taken into consideration, but she found very little support in her views.36
Kamlaben Patel tried to justify many of the government’s actions. Inspired by Gandhi, she believed her work was entrusted to her by God and it was needful to rescue women to their birth families.37 However, there were times she could not ignore a pinch in her conscience and openly defied orders. One time, her group found an abused, captured young woman who refused to return to India because she was scared of her parents. Before she was kidnapped, her parents had been ready to kill her to protect her honor, so she feared what they would do if she returned. Patel sympathized with her and although it was not in the government’s authority at the time, she aided the young woman in finding her a “nice boy in India” to marry instead.38 It outraged Sarabhai, but
Patel was determined to address each problem in their unique circumstances.
Rehabilitation was exhausting work and terrifying on both ends. Social workers often received death threats and whole villages conspired to hide their kidnapped women, making the
34 Menon, Ritu, and Kamla Bhasin. Borders & Boundaries: Women in India's Partition. Pg 101. 35 Menon, Ritu, and Kamla Bhasin. Borders & Boundaries: Women in India's Partition. Pg 195. 36 Menon, Ritu, and Kamla Bhasin. Borders & Boundaries: Women in India's Partition. Pg 102. 37 Singh, Khushwant. “Of a Boss and Her Able Aide.” SikhNet, 22 Feb. 2018, https://www.sikhnet.com/news/mass-suicide-women-rawalpindi-1947. 38 Menon, Ritu, and Kamla Bhasin. Borders & Boundaries: Women in India's Partition. Pg 78.
9 police resort to shady undercover schemes.39 The women they rescued usually suffered major trust issues and, to make matters worse, brothels would occasionally pose as social workers and kidnap them all over again.40 But the most painful job was taking women who did not want to be saved.
One social worker, Krishna Thapar, said, “Those women cursed me all the way to Amritsar, loudly and continuously.”41 It is worth noting these women were brave to take on the daunting task of rehabilitation because most of them were not trained psychologists, but volunteers who felt their large inadequacy and still tried their best to do good. To help women, governments trespassed on personal choice. In response, social workers judged what they thought was the best humanitarian approach regardless of the barriers in front of them.
Women’s empowerment
Although attempts to amend the violence of partition often took away women’s agency, these widespread efforts also empowered women because for once, society was earnestly working to make sure outcast women could be accepted back into society. Traditionally, widows were considered a burden,42 rape survivors were impure,43 and converts were immediately disowned44. All were outcasts, but people actively worked to change these attitudes.
India focused on helping single women become economically independent by teaching them trades from embroidery to nursing.45 To suggest that an unmarried woman was advantageous
39 Menon, Ritu, and Kamla Bhasin. “An Exchange of Women.” Outlook, 28 May 1997, www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/an-exchange-of-women/203611. 40 Khan, Yasmin. The Great Partition: the Making of India and Pakistan. Pg 163. 41 Virdee, Pippa. From the Ashes of 1947: Reimagining Punjab. Cambridge University Press, 2018. Pg 198. 42 Jain, Richa. “The Dark History Behind 'Sati', A Banned Funeral Custom in India.” The Culture Trip, 12 Apr. 2018, theculturetrip.com/asia/india/articles. 43 Thakur, Dipsikha. “Mourning The Forgotten Women Of India's Violent Partition.” 44 Burki, Shahid Javed, and Lawrence Ziring. “The Muslim League and Mohammed Ali Jinnah.” 45 Menon, Ritu, and Kamla Bhasin. Borders & Boundaries: Women in India's Partition. Pg 145.
10 proved to be a huge challenge since it had been taboo for centuries. For example, all Hindu goddesses who are not married are depicted as wild, destructive, and evil creatures which explained the pertinence of marriage.46 Persevering, Rameshwari Nehru said, “it is of utmost importance to make [women] self-reliant and self-supporting, and restore their sense of dignity and worth."47
The Ministry of Relief and Rehabilitation also created pamphlets explaining how a raped woman could become pure again after she is cleansed by her menstrual cycle and gave speeches on loudspeakers in vans driving through the streets.48 They hoped it would encourage families to welcome their daughters back home without the social stigma. To address the issue of forced conversions, both governments created a policy that said all mass conversions after March 1st, 1947 held no validity.49 Whether or not communities bought into the proclamation is another matter, but their goal was to break the barriers holding women back.
Women everywhere took the initiative to help, from establishing private rehabilitation centers such as the Women Refugee Rehabilitation Association in Hyderabad50 to smaller initiatives such as weekly “work parties” where friends sewed donations for refugees as shown in Figure 4.51
All efforts were made to break traditions so a woman could hold her head high.
Conclusion
46 Religious Scholarship and Literacy. UULA Comparative Religion: Hinduism, Part 4: Sex, Sexuality, and the Divine Feminine. 15 Dec. 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oG2XpCu-Sz4. 47 Menon, Ritu, and Kamla Bhasin. Borders & Boundaries: Women in India's Partition. Pg 156. 48 Menon, Ritu, and Kamla Bhasin. Borders & Boundaries: Women in India's Partition. Pg 100. 49 Nagpal, Himanshi. “The Partition Of Punjab: A Tale Of Violation Of Women's Rights.” 50 Ali, Malika. 4 Mar. 2016. The 1947 Partition Archive, exhibits.stanford.edu/1947-partition/catalog/gp368hx8976. 51 See Figure 4 in Appendix A.
11 Years passed which made it increasingly difficult to prove partition was the catalyst for a kidnapping, so in 1960 the Abducted Persons Act was officially repealed.52 Regardless, many women in India and Pakistan are still trapped by sexual violence today. Luckily, many organizations keep up hope. Non-government organizations (NGOs), most notably the Rescue Foundation53 and the
Impulse NGO Network54, track down missing young women sold into sex traffiking every year and reunite them with their families, while also offering legal, medical, and economic support.55 Social workers who act as spies to find these girls must get their consent before they can legally rescue them, ensuring the girls have a choice in the matter.56 The All Pakistan Women’s Association stems from recovery programs of partition and strives to empower women in Pakistan. Support is also raising with awareness. In 2014, a new superhero named Priya entered the comicbook world, fighting epic battles against sex trafficking in India.57 During partition, personal religious, national, and sexual barriers were violated, but because of the honest efforts of everyday people, social restraints were broken so women could heal and fly.
52 India, Congress. Act No. 58 of 1960. Repealing and Amending Act, 1960. Indian Legislation, http://www.indianlegislation.in/BA/BaActToc.aspx?actid=1421. 53 Acharya, Triveni. Rescue Foundation, www.rescuefoundation.net/. 54 Kharbhih, Hasina. Impulse NGO Network, https://www.impulsengonetwork.org/. 55 Think Change India. “This Mumbai NGO Saved over 5,000 Girls from Human Trafficking in 26 Years.” YourStory.com, 7 Sept. 2019, yourstory.com/socialstory/2019/09/mumbai-ngo-girls-sex-trafficking-rescue. 56 Acharya, Triveni. Rescue Foundation, www.rescuefoundation.net/. 57 Devineni, Ram, and Vikas K Menon. “Priya's Shakti.” Rattapallax, 2014. https://www.dropbox.com/s/bizbxh74xcni1os/priyashakti.pdf?dl=0.
12 Appendix A
Lakshmanan, V. “Mother India.” 1958, State Archives Library. Figure 1: Bharat Mata personifies the country India inciting Nobel Prize winner Rabindranath Ragore to exclaim: “No one can give up his life for a map! When I see you before me, then only do I realize how lovely
my country is.”
13
Unknown Author. “Sawing Through a Women.” 8 Jul. 1947.
Figure 2: In this political cartoon, Gandhi and Britain stand idly by as Bharat Mata is sawn in half as part of a
dubious magic trick.
Bourke-White, Margaret. “Bengal India.” 1946-09 Figure 3: A rehabilitation center stationed in Calcutta, India; volunteers are passing out rice to women and
children.
14
Bourke-White, Margaret. “Pakistan Personalities.” Dec. 1947.
Figure 4: Ladies at their weekly “work party” in Karachi sewing clothes for refugees.
15 Annotated Bibliography
16 Primary Sources
Legal Documents
India, Congress. Act No. 65 of 1949. The Abducted Persons (Recovery and Restoration) Act, 1949. High Court of Bombay, https://bombayhighcourt.nic.in/libweb/actc/1949.65.pdf.
Access to this congressional act was vital for me to understand the exact actions the governments
of Pakistan and India took to recover kidnapped women during the violence of partition.
Although Mridula Sarabhai pushed for this legislation, it took two years after partition for it to be
enacted and time was critical because the longer they waited, the harder it was to convince
women to leave their new lives. The act underwent revisions in later years, but it was necessary
for me to understand the initial steps taken to recover abducted women and how they went about
deciding who was considered an abducted person.
India, Congress. Act No. 34 of 1955. The Abducted Persons (Recovery and Restoration) Continuance Bill, 1955. http://164.100.47.4/billstexts/lsbilltexts/asintroduced/34_1955_Eng.pdf. This was a later version of the Abducted Persons Act where they agreed to continue the
operation of searching for abducted women even though the increasing time lapse was making it
difficult to do so. No one knew how long they would take and people were growing weary, but
there were enough file reports of missing people from partition for them to continue.
India, Congress. Act No. 58 of 1960. Repealing and Amending Act, 1960. Indian Legislation, http://www.indianlegislation.in/BA/BaActToc.aspx?actid=1421.
This was the official repeal of the Recovery Act which was helpful for me to understand in what
timeline the government was given to recover kidnapped women until it became an issue they
could slide under the table. While attempts to rescue women were stopped, it is important to note
17 that women who were already rescued were still offered economic aid and education in ashrams
if they were not yet on their feet.
“Agreed Minutes of the Indo-Pakistan Conference on Recovery of Abducted Persons.” Ministry of
External Affairs, Government of India, 8 May 1954.
https://mea.gov.in/bilateral-documents.htm?dtl/7800/Agreed+Minutes+of+Conference+on+Reco
very+of+Abducted+Persons.
Reading this document was extremely helpful because it showed the ever evolving attitude of
congress towards abduction recovery. It also listed everyone present at the meeting and I noticed
only men were there to decide what would happen to these women so representation was lacking.
However, it really revealed their intentions to create “an atmosphere where the woman can shed
her fear-complex and prejudices” so while they did not give women a choice in the matter of
their recovery, they really did want to welcome them back into society.
Images
Bourke-White, Margaret. “Bengal India.” 1946-09, LIFE Photo Collection. New York City, United States.
In this photograph, women and children sit in lines, waiting for their daily handouts of rice at a
relief station run by the Muslim League in Calcutta. The photo really captures the overcrowded
refugee centers and the relentless work it took to keep them running. I included it in my paper to
help the reader visualize the government efforts to aid uprooted women.
Bourke-White, Margaret. “Pakistan Personalities.” 1947-12, LIFE Photo Collection. New York City, United States.
18 Here, a group of women work on their various sewing projects to donate to help refugees. It was
organized by Fatima Jinnah, Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s sister. I really liked this photo because it
shows a strong community of women working together to help others. The active position of the
ladies also creates an intimate, natural setting since they are not strictly posing.
Lakshmanan, V. “Mother India.” 1958, State Archives Library. Chennai, India. In this drawing, Bharat Mata stands in a casual, regal stance and holds a waving Indian flag. Her
clothes flow across the borders and blends into the landscape. It is obvious she is meant to be
attractive with her tiny, bare stomach and hourglass figure. This drawing is a great example of a
bodyscape map which is not meant to give exact locations but rather personify a country. After
reading about bodyscapes, I searched for examples which was really helpful to visualize how
Bharat Mata creates a human connection for the people to their country.
Unknown Author. “Sawing Through a Women.” 8 Jul. 1947.
This political cartoon compares partition to a rush job amputation with influential bystanders all
around. It depicts the common negative feelings towards partition which is that it will literally
result in bloodshed for India and hoping nothing will go wrong is ridiculous. The artist takes
advantage of visual rhetoric using a helpless woman to incite sympathy and heroism which
supports my assertion that women’s bodies were tools to create nationalism.
Interviews
Akhtar, Khalida Ghousia. 25 Feb. 2016. The 1947 Partition Archive, exhibits.stanford.edu/1947-partition/catalog/gp368hx8976.
The 1947 Partition Archive is a very valuable resource. It is an online museum with an archive of
over 50 personal interviews from partition survivors. I found the interview with Khalida Akhtar
19 especially helpful because her story was a poignant perspective of a Muslim family whose
daughter was kidnapped. Her story really exemplified the complexities in trying to get her to
return because by the time the government found her, she had assimilated to Hindu culture,
married, and had children with her captor. Reading individual stories really help to bring history
alive.
Ali, Malika. 4 Mar. 2016. The 1947 Partition Archive, https://exhibits.stanford.edu/1947-partition/catalog/qj120mj7364.
I used this interview with Malika Ali to better understand the role women played in supporting
other women and how partition was a marking point of great tragedy but also great
empowerment where women were actively helping women. Malika tells the story of her mother
establishing the Women Refugee Rehabilitation Association and she made the point that the
government had no role in supporting her efforts. I found it inspiring how civilians as well as the
government aided helping women. I found the interview from the 1947 Partition Archive which
has a great source because although they may interview survivors in their native tongue, they
also translate it into English which is a problem I encountered at other databases.
BBC News. India's Partition 70 Years on: 'I Killed a Man' . YouTube, 15 Aug. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FJdEXTazoQ.
This interview was fascinating to watch because BBC interviewed a man, Muhammad Akram,
who participated in the violence of partition and killed a man named Naranjan Das Bagga. BBC
tracked down Bagga’s surviving family and interviewed his nephew for their side of the story.
Despite seeing the video of this interview, Akram said, “ I am still proud of what I did,” which
20 really brought to life the depth of pain felt by both sides. I consider the interviews a primary
source because both Muhammad Akram and Bagga’s nephew, Ramesh, lived and experienced
the historical event.
Swani, Amol. 14 Mar. 2018. Partition Museum, Amritsar, India. https://www.partitionmuseum.org/oral-history/.
This interview was much more emotional since it was in video format and not just a translated
transcript, so I saw the emotions accompanying remembrance. Swani shared her experiences of
living in absolute fear like when she and two friends had to hide out in a hospital for almost two
days in order to escape twenty Muslim men who were following them. She said her father also
gave her mother petrol and matches and instructed them to burn themselves if anything should
happen against their honor. She called her mother brave for accepting it, but Swani admitted to
crying, wondering why they should have to kill themselves. Her story really exemplified the
terror of that time. I pulled the interview from a museum’s website in Amritsar, India dedicated
to partition so it is a very credible source.
Speeches
Jinnah, Muhammad Ali. “Move to Partition Punjab and Bengal.” The National Archives, United Kingdom, 4 May 1947,
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/fo371-635331.jpg.
I analyzed Jinnah’s speech on encouraging Muslims to migrate to the land designated for
Pakistan to understand the rhetoric and reasoning used for partition and the need for a separate
21 Muslim nation. It was particularly interesting because he emphasized how unexpected the
current bloody process has been to move to a separate nation and he called for a stop to the
violence. The National Archives provided an audio reading of the document which I found
helpful to really capture the effectiveness of the speech.
Comics
Devineni, Ram, and Vikas K Menon. “Priya's Shakti.” Rattapallax, 2014.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bizbxh74xcni1os/priyashakti.pdf?dl=0
The comic Priya’s Shakti tells the story of a rape survivor who transforms into a mighty
superhero who fights human sex trafficking. It was created to spread awareness about the sex
industry in India with a specific targeted audience of young teen girls. Reading the comic, I
found many similarities of Priya’s family dynamic similar to those I read about in history such as
when her family completely rejects her once she is raped. I consider the comic a primary source
because it is an example of modern day attempts to fight sexual abuse which helps me compare
our day to history.
Pai, Anant, editor. Gods and Goddesses: from the Epics and Mythology of India. Amar Chitra Katha, 2011.
This comic book provided me an English translation to the epic of Rama and Sita which was
often referenced by politicians to unite people to give support in rescuing kidnapped women. I
thought it would be helpful to understand the original story so I could better see how it was used
22 in another context. I consider it a primary source because the story is equivalent to scripture but
in a more accessible form.
Websites
Acharya, Triveni. Rescue Foundation, www.rescuefoundation.net/.
The Rescue Foundation is an NGO with bases in Mumbai, Boisar, Pune, and Delhi. They rescue
and rehabilitate girls from sex trafficking and if possible, reunite them with their families. Their
website is very inspiring and informative as it details the steps of their recovery programs as well
as provide videos on what they commonly find in raids on brothels. I count it as a primary source
because the information comes from the Rescue Foundation itself and I am using it to tie my
paper to modern day events. Acharya is the founder of the organization and she has received
multiple awards for her efforts.
Kharbhih, Hasina. Impulse NGO Network, https://www.impulsengonetwork.org/. Impulse NGO Network is another organization that rescues and rehabilitates girls from sex
trafficking in northeast India. Their rehabilitating process is especially interesting because they
offer to teach their girls a profitable artisan skill and help them sell their goods online, which is
similar to many of the government attempts in 1947 to help women economically. They also
provide legal, economic, and medical help as they try to re-integrate them back into society. I
count their website as a primary source since the information comes directly from the Impulse
NGO and the information is about their work.
All Pakistan Women’s Association Punjab, http://www.apwapunjab.com/index.html.
23 This is the official website of the All Pakistan Women’s Association Punjab or APWA Punjab.
Similar to the NGO’s goals, they strive to empower women in Pakistan with a focus on education, health, labour, and marriage rights. Their origins stem from the abduction recovery programs in Pakistan and I used their website to learn about what it looks like today. Since I am using the information to directly learn about APWA today, I consider it a primary source.
24 Secondary Sources
Books
Khan, Yasmin. The Great Partition: the Making of India and Pakistan. Yale University Press, 2017. One of the first books I read about Partition, it served as an amazing overview of partition
specifically from a political point of view. It also helped me understand the reasons for the
unprecedented violence that erupted between previously peaceful communities. A brief
paragraph about the Abduction Recovery Act also sparked my interest and led me to further
research it which helped me decide this was the topic I needed to write about. Yasmin Khan is
very well qualified to write on the subject because she is a history professor at Oxford with
specialization in British India.
Menon, Ritu, and Kamla Bhasin. Borders & Boundaries: Women in India's Partition. Rutgers University Press, 1998.
I was so lucky to get a copy of this book through an interlibrary loan because it was definitely
my most helpful source. Through extensive interviews conducted by the author, accompanied by
commentary and historical research, I was able to better understand the wide scope of pain and
upliftment caused by partition. The book delved into the lives of social workers and how the
rescuing programs were created and led into details I could not find anywhere else. Ritu Menon’s
work is cited in practically every other source I found and is considered a pillarstone of research
for my topic, especially since research regarding women’s viewpoints during partition is so
scarce.
25 Trasi, Amita. The Color of Our Sky. William Morrow Paperbacks, 2017.
This book helped me tie history to modern-day events and although it gives a fictional account of
a girl sold to a brothel in India, it gave me valuable, reliable insights. Trasi grew up in Mumbai
and said she drew many of her personal experiences and relations into the novel and conducted
in-depth research on brothels and NGOs. However, unlike academic papers, I could more easily
feel the pain of these people and imagine their life through a narrative account. Trasi also
explores the psychological pattern of abducted and sexually abused girls which helped me
understand why people in history behaved the way they did.
Virdee, Pippa. From the Ashes of 1947: Reimagining Punjab. Cambridge University Press, 2018.
In this book, Virdee collects many different accounts of violence that accompanied partition and
analyzed its consequences. I found a section dedicated to social workers very helpful especially
in analyzing their moral dilemmas. She also acknowledges the difficulty in finding sources for
this topic because so many women do not want to remember such traumatizing experiences and
say it is better to “Leave it...even my children do not know anything about it.” This added to my
understanding of a whole generation’s voluntary amnesia regarding women in partition.
Articles
Bhat, Reiya. “India's 1947 Partition Through the Eyes of Women: Gender, Politics, and Nationalism.”
Ohio University, 2018, etd.ohiolink.edu/!etd.send_file?accession=ouhonors1524658168133726&disposition=inline.
26 This scholarly article helped me understand the role of Hindu nationalism in violence against
women during partition. It also showed me just how hard it is to collect data about women of
partition because so many women do not feel like their stories are needed or wanted so they do
not share. Common through many articles I read is the complaint on how hard it is to do research
on this sensitive topic. Luckily, Bhat was able to interview a few women and their insights added
meaningful perspectives from various socio-economic backgrounds. It also led me to find more
sources for further research.
Burki, Shahid Javed, and Lawrence Ziring. “The Muslim League and Mohammed Ali Jinnah.”
Encyclopædia Britannica, 27 Dec. 2019, www.britannica.com/place/Pakistan/The-Muslim-League-and-Mohammed-Ali-Jinnah.
This article gave me an overview on the history of Pakistan, and I found it especially helpful in
learning more about Mohammed Ali Jinnah, who was the main leader of the Muslim League and
pushed for the creation of Pakistan. His two-nation theory explained why he thought it was so
important Muslims and Hindus each had their own separate nation. Religious tensions between
these two countries are a key component to the violence of partition. The Encyclopedia
Britannica is also a longstanding, trustworthy source for a general overview.
Butalia, Urvashi. “Abducted and Widowed Women: Questions of Sexuality and Citizenship During
Partition.” Northern Arizona University, 23 Feb. 2017, http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~sj6/butaliaabductedwomen.pdf.
This scholarly article was great for understanding the specific repercussions for widows during
partition and how the normal societal outcasting was eluded by classifying these women as “war
27 widows”. The article went into detail about rehabilitating women by teaching them new,
profitable skills. Butalia also gave statistics on women who were dependent on the Ministry of
Relief and Rehabilitation. Urvashi Butalia is a renowned author and feminist who has done
extensive research on women in Partition which makes her more than credible.
Chao, Steve. “Remembering Partition: 'It Was like a Slaughterhouse'.” Aljazeera, 15 Aug. 2017, www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/08/remembering-partition-slaughter-house-17081005
0649347.html.
The main focus of this article centered on an interview with Mallika Ahluwalla who is a
co-founder of the first museum to commemorate the partition of India. I list it as an article,
however, because I found the journalist’s quotes from survivors and other background
information helpful for my research as well. The article gave vivid examples of violence during
partition which helped me understand the volatile environment people lived in.
Dalrymple, William. “The Great Divide: The Violent Legacy of Indian Partition.” The New Yorker, 29 June 2015, www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/06/29/the-great-divide-books-dalrymple.
I used this article to understand how political leaders such as Jinnah and Gandhi changed their
opinion over time about partition. For example, Jinnah was very adamant in favor of Pakistan but
as he watched the bloody birth of his nation, it did not become what he dreamed it would be. The
article also provided specific examples of violence which is important for making it feel real.
Dalrymple writes extensively on India and Pakistan and is the author of 15 books, which makes
him a reliable source.
28 Dey, Arunima. “Violence Against Women During the Partition of India: Interpreting Women and their
Bodies in the Context of Ethnic Genocide.” Universidad de Salamanca, 3 Aug. 2016
I found this scholarly article very helpful as it first introduced me to the idea that the barrier for
my topic did not have to be the physical border between India and Pakistan, but a barrier
“imagined in men’s minds or drawn within women’s bodies” (110). Dey focuses on the sexual
identity of women and how their bodies were taken advantage of by the communities. The article
also led me to other very helpful sources.
Jain, Richa. “The Dark History Behind 'Sati', A Banned Funeral Custom in India.” The Culture Trip, 12 Apr. 2018, theculturetrip.com/asia/india/articles.
I read this article to better understand the history of Sati which is the practice when a widow
commits suicide by burning herself in the pyre for her deceased husband to demonstrate the
highest form of loyalty. I learned how the British thought it was barbaric and officially outlawed
it. However there are still cases today of women who, forcibly and voluntarily, practice Sati.
This tradition was one of the stumbling blocks to get people to accept widowed women after
partition. It is a reliable source because The Culture Trip has won multiple awards for sharing
insights about cultures around the world.
Lester, David. “Suicide and the Partition of India: A Need for Further Investigation.” Richard Stockton College, 22 Feb. 2010, http://www.suicidology-online.com/pdf/SOL-2010-1-2-4.pdf. I used this scholarly article to better understand the role suicide played as an alternative to rape
and kidnapping. Lester’s standing as neither Hindu or Muslim was helpful because he points out
the surprising lack of data on Muslim suicides during partition and reasons it is not necessarily
29 because they did not happen or that Muslims did not fear rape to the same extent, which so many
Hindu scholars are quick to say, but that there is just little research on it. I also learned how in
many cases women did not make the choice themselves to commit suicide and he explained how
submission to men was not the same as consent.
Mehra, Rachna. “The Birth Pangs of a Divided Nation: Articulating the Experiences of Women and
Children in the Post-Partition Period.” Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, vol. 75, 2014, pp. 1247–1252., www.jstor.org/stable/44158516.
I read this scholarly article for a deeper look into the experiences of children born from rape and
the lasting effects it had on their and their mother’s lives. Mehra spoke extensively on the
difficulties of integrating these children into society and how many were ultimately left in
orphanages. The article came from a very credible source and I was able to use the information I
learned to elaborate on the complexities children brought into the decision-making process.
Menon, Ritu, and Kamla Bhasin. “An Exchange of Women.” Outlook, 28 May 1997, www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/an-exchange-of-women/203611.
This was one of the first articles I read once I chose to specify my topic on women in partition. It
was a great source for information on the police aspect of recovery and how they would often
have to resort to intimidation in order to find hidden women. It was also one of my first
introductions to the Abduction Recovery Act. The authors are very credible and I read their book
as well as they are noted as pioneers in this topic in history.
Nagpal, Himanshi. “The Partition Of Punjab: A Tale Of Violation Of Women's Rights.” Feminism In India, 27 June 2017, feminisminindia.com/2017/06/27/partition-punjab-violation-women/.
30 This article served as a fantastic source because it gave detailed accounts of the legal documents
passed to start the recovery operation as well as the experiences of social workers. Nagpal also
explained the various reasons why women did not want to return to their families or reasons
families rejected their daughters. She also went into detail on the methods of manipulation
captors used to convince their abductees to stay which is a fascinating psychological perspective.
Patel, Meera. “Rape Accounts Still Surface from India's Partition 65 Years On.” Women's Media Center, 26 June 2013,
www.womensmediacenter.com/women-under-siege/rape-accounts-still-surface-from-indias-parti
tion-65-years-on.
I found this article very helpful because it gave me a concise view of the statistics for kidnapped
women from various credible sources. In fact, Patel cites every major researcher-- Yasmin Khan,
Ritu Menon, and Urvashi Butalia-- for her stats and information, but it was nice for me to see it
all laid out side by side, so I did not have to go back and forth flipping through my other books
for this information.
Raghavan, Pallavi. “The Finality of Partition: Bilateral Relations Between India and Pakistan,
1947-1957.” St Johns College University of Cambridge. Sep. 2012, https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/42337394.pdf.
I read this scholarly article for a better understanding of India and Pakistan’s relationship.
Raghavan provides wonderful insights on the recovery program in Pakistan which I was not able
to find elsewhere since most information from the Pakistan side is either not translated or not
available to the public. Raghavan really helped me understand the conflict between the two
31 countries even as they needed to work together. Raghavan is a credible source because she is an
assistant professor of International Relations with a focus on history between Pakistan and India.
Ramaswamy, Sumathi. “Maps and Mother Goddesses in Modern India.” Imago Mundi, vol. 53, 2001, pp. 97–114. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1151561.
I found this scholarly article very helpful in understanding the role of Bharat Mata in maps of
India. Bodyscapes were an effective tool to stir patriotism for the country, but Ramaswamy
analyzes the consequences of objectifying a woman’s body for political purposes. Her article
also provides many images of Bharat Mata I could not find elsewhere online and she explains
each artist’s purpose in drawing it. It was very fascinating to learn about how a country turned
into a goddess. Ramaswamy is a credible writer since she is a history professor at Duke
University with a specialization in Indian anthropology.
Sachdev, Nitika. “Deconstructing the 1947 Partition: The Effect of the Central Recovery Operation
Through a Gendered Lens in India and Pakistan.” Colgate University, Semantic Scholar, 2017, pdfs.semanticscholar.org/bcb3/b3a08faaccf792c1e212d8f3a1af42b38e9a.pdf?_ga=2.232709919.
1018809825.1577142087-854990044.1548912844.
I found this scholarly article very helpful in explaining the role of Bharat Mata and the
connection of violence to masculinity. Sachdev thoroughly examined different perspectives on
Bharat Mata and how violence in her name could be used as a public display of community
dominance. I was also able to find more sources through this work and verify the validity of
other sources that I used.
32 Singh, Arv. “Mass Suicide by Women of Rawalpindi in 1947.” SikhNet, 22 Feb. 2018, https://www.sikhnet.com/news/mass-suicide-women-rawalpindi-1947.
This article was a great resource because while it was filled with videos of interviews with
partition survivors, in between the paragraphs, none of the videos were in english, so I had to
rely on the accompanying article for explanations of the videos. It focused on the horror of living
in fear to the point of being willing to commit suicide. While many women were forcibly killed,
there were also many who voluntarily jumped into wells. One eyewitness said he walked closer
to a crowded well and saw “that those who were on top were trying to submerge their heads so
they don’t survive. No space remained.” The article is credible because the majority of the
information is taken from eye witness accounts.
Singh, Khushwant. “Of a Boss and Her Able Aide.” Outlook, 3 Jul. 2006, https://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/of-a-boss-and-her-able-aide/231731.
I learned a lot about the relationship between Mridula Sarabhai and Kamlaben Patel from this
article. Both were very passionate women who came from very different backgrounds and
perspectives, but they were united by a cause. The article summarized their lives and the reasons
they chose to work in rehabilitation and the large influence they had on the organization of
refugee women. The information was especially helpful because there are very few things
published about these women specifically. Outlook is a magazine based in India.
Thakur, Dipsikha. “Mourning The Forgotten Women Of India's Violent Partition.” The Establishment, 12 Oct. 2018,
33 theestablishment.co/mourning-the-forgotten-women-of-indias-violent-partition-5eeb25d8bab2/in
dex.html.
This article covered many aspects of violence against women, but I found it most helpful when
understanding domestic violence. I learned more on how it was common for family members to
kill their own wives and daughters in order to protect them from kidnappings. It also helped me
understand why the honor of martyrdom compelled so many families to kill and how they
managed to cope with their actions.
Think Change India. “This Mumbai NGO Saved over 5,000 Girls from Human Trafficking in 26 Years.”
YourStory.com, 7 Sept. 2019, yourstory.com/socialstory/2019/09/mumbai-ngo-girls-sex-trafficking-rescue.
I used this article to help tie my topic to current events. I learned how the fight for freedom from
sexual abuse is so similar to seventy years ago, but at the same time we have come so far and
made many improvements when it comes to rescuing girls, such as asking for their consent and
giving them more choices and looking after their psychological well-being. It is still very
dangerous work and I admire the people who put themselves out there to do good. The article
also led me to several modern-day organizations to look into further.
Zainab, Umara. “Anis Kidwai: Social Worker Who Chronicled the Lives of Women During Partition.”
Feminism in India, 21 Jun. 2018. https://feminisminindia.com/2018/06/21/anis-kidwai-essay/. Anis Kidwai is repeatedly mentioned as an influential social worker in books I read so this was a
nice article for me to learn more about her life and what drove her to do social work. I learned
her husband was murdered while trying to prevent a violent capture of muslim properties and
after that, she dedicated her life to helping muslims migrate safely and later became involved in
34 rehabilitating recovered women. However, she held strong feelings against the morality of the
government’s actions in uprooting these young women. Her perspective helped me see the many
layers to the problem.
Interviews
Ahmed Ishtiaq, and Ajaz Ashraf. “What drove some who experienced Partition to brutality -- and how
they live with it.” South Asia Citizens Web, 13 Aug. 2016, http://sacw.net/article12905.html.
Mr. Ashraf interviewed Mr. Ahmed, a prominent history professor and author of a book about
the Punjab. In the interview they discussed reasons for animosity, why people were violent, and
how they justified their actions even to this day. The main driving force for violence was revenge
and the chance to be considered heroes in their own community. It was really helpful for me to
understand the perspective of the perpetrators.
Butalia, Urvashi, and Ajaz Ashraf. “Men Killed Their Own Women and Children during Partition, but
Freedom Overshadowed That Horror.” Quartz India, 14 Aug. 2016, qz.com/india/757914/men-killed-their-own-women-and-children-during-partition-but-freedom-o
vershadowed-that-horror/.
Mr. Ashraf also interviewed Miss Butalia and it was extremely helpful because she wrote a book
about women during Partition which I have not been able to gain access to, however she shared a
lot of information from her book in this interview. She particularly goes in depth on why men
were willing to kill their own wives and daughters in order to protect their honor. Since very few
35 people are willing to talk about the domestic violence that happened during partition, her insights
were very valuable to my research.
Suddiqa, Mariam and Brooklynn Scott. 4 Mar. 2020.
I was extremely lucky to be able to conduct an interview with Mariam Suddiqa who is an
immigrant to America from Pakistan. Like most everyone who lives there, her family was deeply
involved in partition and she shared personal stories as well as insights to the attitudes people
held. We also discussed how rape victims were treated in Muslim society and how it has
changed. Overall, she gave me a very valuable perspective on partition from the Pakistani side.
Virdee, Pippa. “Hidden Women: Uncovering the Veil of Silence During the Partition of Punjab, India
1947.” The National Archives, United Kingdom. 29 Nov. 2010, https://media.nationalarchives.gov.uk/index.php/hidden-women-uncovering-the-veil-of-silence-d
uring-the-partition-of-punjab-india-1947-2/.
I listened to this interview as a podcast. Miss Virdee is a professor and author who specializes in
modern South Asian history. She shared many valuable insights on the nature of mass migrations
and the government’s attempts to rehabilitate people. She especially spent time pointing out how
women are often considered victims in this time period but many people do not see the ways
women predominantly aided other women. Women played a very active role in rehabilitation and
empowered each other.
Audiovisuals
36 BBC. Sufis -- Dangerous Borders: A Journey Across India and Pakistan. YouTube, 24 August 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kd7Q-MxxrlE&list=PL5A4nPQbUF8AZf64k1tI1M0PaQTf
NISk6.
In this short documentary, BBC explored how partition affected the religious minority of the
Sufis. They also focused on the city Lahore and how its diversity set it in a complicated situation
because it was such a rich resource and considered the “Paris of the East.” The video also shared
inspirational stories of kind people who aided refugees and smuggled them across the border.
This specific video is part of a whole BBC series dedicated to showing different aspects of
partition.
BBC. What happened to the women? My Family, Partition, and Me: India 1947. YouTube, 8 March 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLH6uMdKN6M.
In the same documentary series as the video above, this video really helped me understand the
widespread voluntary amnesia regarding mass women suicides. The journalist, Anita Rani,
interviews locals from the village her family was slaughtered in during partition. They described
how they had taken all the women to the well where they jumped in to commit suicide, but many
locals denied it happened despite the evidence. This video really helped me understand the
uncomfortable, sad part of history.
CuriosityStream. How This Border Transformed a Subcontinent: India and Pakistan. YouTube, 26 June 2019, www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5Ps1TZXAN8.
I used this short documentary for an introduction to the present day tensions between India and
Pakistan. Vox did a great job explaining where the animosity stems from, while also pointing out
37 the efforts made to improve foreign relationships. The video also explores how ill-drawn the
border line was created because an important holy Sikh site is located on the Pakistani side and
Sikhs were only allowed to even visit it after years of lobbying for it. The producers are very
credible as they specialize in short documentary films and they actually sent their crew to India.
Dwivedi, Chandra Prakash, director. Pinjar: Beyond Boundaries. Net Effect Media, 2003.
A renowned historical dramatization of the partition of India, this movie brought to life the
people who experienced the atrocities I researched. It was particularly valuable because they
focused on the view of women who were kidnapped. I learned more about the general
atmosphere people had towards women through songs like “Vatna Ve” which compared the
country to a mutilated women which supported what I had read in scholarly articles. The female
characters who were kidnapped also displayed attitudes of self-blame despite not being at fault
for their circumstances which also supported articles I have read. The movie is a fairly reliable
source for moods and attitudes of the time because it closely follows the book Pinjar by Amrita Pritam, who was a partition refugee and is known for writing about her experiences. Since I
cannot read punjabi, the movie was a good supplement. It was also dedicated to leaders such as
Mridula Sarabhai and Kamlaben Patel.
Chadha, Gurinder, director. Viceroy’s House. Pathé Productions Ltd, 2017.
One of the very first sources I looked into, this dramatized biography of Lord Mountbatten
introduced me to the difficult task of dividing India and the consequent effects. It helped me
understand the general stressful atmosphere and see the anguish it caused. It also helped me see
Lord Mountbatten in a more sympathetic light because in many other sources they speak of him
38 with disdain since he was very ignorant of India. It also humanized the stories I read and helped
me feel the anguish felt by separated families in partition.
IndianExpressOnline. Explained: The Evolution of Bharat Mata. YouTube, 24 Apr. 2019, www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7OtYSnJQy0.
I found this video extremely helpful in explaining the nuances of Bharat Mata and how her role
has changed throughout Indian history. They really emphasized the sentiment and emotional
feelings her image could conjure up and instill in people. Her ability to make borders
indistinguishable and even unimportant also reminded me of the theme breaking barriers and
helped me see partition in a new way.
National Archive. Punjab 1947: A Heart Divided -- Abducted Women. United Kingdom, 2010, https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/panjab1947/abducted-women.htm.
This video was helpful because it gave a general overview of the plight of women during this era
and also guided me to other resources I found extremely helpful. The video focused on the horror
people still feel over what was done and touched on the ways recovered women tried to re-enter
society. The National Archives of the United Kingdom is an extremely reliable source and have a
whole database on partition history.
Religious Scholarship and Literacy. UULA Comparative Religion: Hinduism, Part 4: Sex, Sexuality, and the Divine Feminine. 15 Dec. 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oG2XpCu-Sz4. I watched this video in order to better understand gender roles in Hinduism since religion plays
an integral part in their society. The lecturer, James Carroll, analyzes a few major Hindu
goddesses and points out how the ones who are not married are always depicted as evil or
39 destructive. I use this point to explain the context of traditional barriers the government and
women had to overcome. Mr. Carroll is very credible because he specializes in world religions.
Sharma, Amit. Google Search: Reunion. Google India, 13 Nov. 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHGDN9-oFJE. An emotionally charged video, this was Google’s new advertisement for Google Search and after
two days it went viral. The ad tells the fictional story of two friends who were separated by
partition and how their children managed to bring them back together for a sweet reunion. The
video strongly impacted India and Pakistan as a hopeful reminder of their common background
and friendship. For my research, the video demonstrated the complex relationship India and
Pakistan has with each other and how these feelings are still alive and raw as evident in the
impact the video had on its intended audience.
40