Revisiting the partition of Bengal in 1947 : an epistolary search for the human dimension

Although much has been written about the ‘high politics’ of Partition and the conflict between the Congress Party and the Muslim League in India, little attention has been paid to the active presence of other political organizations, namely the Hindu Mahasabha and the everyday logistics of how Bengali people, mostly Hindus, experienced this event. This study attempts to address that lacuna by analyzing letters written in the immediate months before, during and after the Partition (1946-1952). It revisits the Partition of Bengal, using an epistolary approach that analyzes the voices of a diversity of dispossessed people within translated archival letters. Given the paucity of other forms of contemporary testimony in official records, insights gained from these letters—both personal and public—help build a partial archive to help understand how the twin events of Independence and Partition played out in people’s lives. I argue that, as fragmented life documents, the letters provide immense insight into the multiple dimensions of communal Partition violence. When contextualized historically through these letters, the story of Partition gets transformed from one about two nations, two communities, and two religions into a story about immediate responses and needs in the face of dispossession, dislocation, and disillusionment. By focusing on a submerged archive of voices not counted in official histories, I explore Partition both as geopolitical event and also, an emotional process. This study’s significance lies in addressing a need to bring Bengal more centrally within the purview of Partition Studies. I argue that what we understand as the Partition experience may extend significantly when Partition Studies include a more detailed Bengal story as well.