Tamas- an unforgettable saga of partition

 

 

Tamas (Tamas = Darkness) is a novel written by Bhisham Sahni recounting the true events of the riots of partition in 1947. All the events in the book have occurred during the 1947 riots in Pakistan, to which the author was himself a witness. Sahni uses a fictional thread to develop a story so that he could relive the riots. Tamas begins with a Muslim hotshot giving Nathu (principal character) to kill a pig under the pretext of giving it to a researcher. Nathu, a poor man, accepts it and kills it. Under the morning dawn, someone takes the pig as instructed by Nathu. A little while later the pig carcass is found on a mosque’s steps. The town which is already in tension erupts at once. Enraged Muslims retaliate by killing a cow. All hell breaks loose and scores of Hindus and Sikhs are massacred by Muslims. Hindus and Sikhs in turn massacre scores of Muslims. Tamas relives the four days of violence through the eyes of different characters in the book and the horrifying experiences people.
Tamas tells the story of several families and characters. Bhisham Sahni didn’t even change the real names of many characters in the book to maintain realism. Tamas tells the story of a good Hindu, a good Muslim, a good Sikh, a bad Sikh, a bad Muslim, a bad Hindu, and worse than all British. There are some incredibly chilling sequences in the book and to imagine them happening in reality simply sent a chill down my spine. The part where a young kid kills an old man is as chilling as the sequence where many Sikh women throw themselves into a well to save themselves from Rioters. The sequences after the riots are equally chilling where many characters relate their stories to the relief camp managers. The well where the women threw themselves still remains in Pakistan.
Tamas also explores the horrible politics of those times. At one end there was a freedom struggle, yet at another was the ongoing process to get tickets to elections, get money, and literally think about killing others for the sake of advantage. Tamas harshly reminds us that politicians are the first step toward the insanity of humankind. Be it a Muslim, Hindu, or Sikh, every politician is a bastard, and without telling it, Bhisham Sahni proves it. The events after the riots show how the British achieved their divide and rule policy successfully. More than 100 villages drowned in riots for the British to feel contented. The events after that simply belie humanism – The attempts made by a bunch of well-doers and idiots to behave as if nothing ever happened stunned me. The attitude of people who couldn’t care less about the killings is beautifully put across.
The downside of this marvelous book is that since this is a true account of the incidents, most of the books lack cohesion. The incidents follow one after another thereby making the novel almost an episode-by-episode drama. Somewhere down the line, a fictional fragment too takes a back seat only to return in the end. But that doesn’t take away any intensity of the book. The events slowly build up and Bhisham Sahni uses his language well to convey the setting of the events. Rarely have I read books where I have been transported completely into an era and feel like a character himself watching the events – all kudos to Sahni for managing to do that. The book moves to a chilling final chapter, after which I was left numb. Simply put.
If there is one book one should read on the events of riots of the India-Pakistan partition, then it has to be this.
Richard shrugged his shoulders. He then lighted his pipe and, stretching his legs under the table said, ‘Where from should I begin?’
‘Begin what, Richard?’ said Liza raising her eyebrows.
‘You wanted to know about the developments that had taken place here, didn’t you?’
This time it was Liza who shrugged shoulders, as though to say -‘You may or may not, Richard. It makes little difference.’