Documenting the untold stories of Partition

Divya Sharma

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, August 13

Scholars at the Centre on Studies in Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) are working on documenting experiences, mostly untold stories of survivors of the 1947 Partition, one of the biggest migrations in the world.

The centre, in collaboration with The 1947 Partition Archive, Berkley California, is making sure that incidents related to the nation’s partition are given a platform. The centre at the GNDU aims to record the historical incidents that have been told verbally so far, without having been documented. One such book is under publication and the other one is ready.

Experiences of 450 people have been jotted down by a team of two research scholars — Charanjit Singh and Sukhpal Singh — over a period of six years under the guidance of the Dr Amarjit Singh, Officiating Head, Centre of Sikh Studies. The scholars look for Punjabi community settled across the country who have witnessed the event leading to the Partition. During their research, they have focused on studying the cultural aspects, religion and community beliefs, and a general disbelief among the people about the Partition.

Charanjit Singh says, “One of the common elements with all of the survivors we met is that they didn’t believe that the country was to be divided and that they might never get a chance to visit their homeland again. Even after decades, some of them are not ready to come out and talk about their experiences. We have to persuade them to narrate their stories. We are focusing on the common man.”

The Partition related stories point out the emergence of a strong communal identity after the Partition-related disturbance started. It also describes strong cultural connections, stories of saving people from mobs on hunt for people of other communities.

“I can’t forget an incident wherein a Muslim man saved a Sikh woman,” says Sukhpal Singh, who recently went to Bhopal to document a story. “People started identifying themselves on the basis of their communities, which was not case earlier. People are still hopeful that they might go back some day. I was not expecting to come across such stories of sorrow and hope before I began with the project,” Singh added.

Dr Amarjit Singh, Officiating Head of the centre, said, “It takes months to persuade people. It is a long process. Through it, we are promoting the concept of oral history as nothing is being added from our side. The text is purely on the basis of words of survivors.”