‘In Search of the Silver Lining’: Vestiges of the Humane in Narratives of Indian Partition Violence

Abstract

Treatises on the 1947 Indian Partition have been mostly centred on the vehemence of riots and the travails of refugees, but the present article chooses to take a revisionist line and focus on the humane amidst this overwhelming violence and misery. It explores episodes of compassion when ordinary men and women admirably extended help to members of the ‘Other’ community during their moments of dire need. Though not numerous, these instances where they showed exemplary courage in rising beyond the boundaries of their religious affiliation constitute a significant feature in Partition Studies and deserve to be suitably highlighted. Such incidents also gain immense significance in the light of sectarian hostility repeatedly rearing its ugly head across the Indian subcontinent, even in the post-independence period, ma king minority groups feel vulnerable. Literary and historical accounts based on the theme of inter-religious amity amidst those vicious times of the Partition have the potential to play an ameliorative role in the current scenario by bridging the gulf between different communal factions and foregrounding essential human principles of peace and harmony.