S. H. Manto’s legendary contribution to partition of India

Abstract

The brutality and anguish of the Indian partition drastically altered the social and political development of the Indian subcontinent, and its effects can still be felt today. Along with the deaths and damage, the incident also left a lasting psychological scar on the minds of millions of individuals, particularly the minds of women and children. No writer of the time and its aftermath could escape the age of foolishness, the season of darkness and the time of despair. It is difficult to sweep beneath the rug actual acts of kidnapping, uprooting, train raids, trauma, Insanity, suicide, murder, and the acts of destruction. Both Hindus and Muslims on either side of the Borders, which were once porous and shared by the community, were impacted by the violent riots and massacres that followed. Many more people were displaced, endured poverty, were raped, were subjected to brutality, suffered bodily and mental anguish, and millions of people lost their lives. The bloody mayhem that occurred both during and after the partition drowned out the victims’ cries.Several writers, authors, and poets, including Saadat Hasan Manto, let these stifled voices be heard. Manto, an Indian-born Pakistani writer who immigrated to Pakistan after the country’s independence, brought the horrific facts of Partition to light clearly and uncomfortable. Indeed, the cataclysmic event of India's partition had a profound effect on the society, culture, and literature of the nation. That was a particular trauma that destroyed the lives of regular people. Manto’s representation of the partition violence pinches the intellect rather than appeal to the emotion. It is highly realistic and achieves remarkable objectivity, for it neither shows any biasedness for contending nationalisms of the traumatic times, nor hide own socialism or specific cultural visibility, nor any geographical, political or religious markers. It does not either present detailed characterization or grant the narrator hide authorial voice.