Partition and Manto's Writings

SAADAT Hasan Manto was born and brought up in undivided India. Born in a village near Samrala in
Punjab on May 11, 1912. He lived in Amritsar, Aligarh, Bombay, Delhi and Lahore. He went to
Pakistan after partition and lived for less than eight years in Lahore. He passed away in the age of
less than forty three years. Out of forty three years Manto lived, he gave twenty one years to
writing, which did not give him much solace while he was alive, but which gave him a status of a
major writer of world literature later.

Manto wrote in many genres. He wrote stories, essays, radio plays, sketches, etc. His writings on
man-woman relations made him much controversial writer, for which he was dragged to courts
many times, both in India, as well as in Pakistan. But the writings, which made him really immortal,
and in a sense classic writer, are focused on the partition of India. These writings include both short
stories and satirical writings. In this paper we shall discuss some of his stories and satirical writings,
published under the title 'SiyahHashiye' (The Black Margins). As 'TobhaTek Singh', Manto's classic
story on partition, has been subject of discussion since last forty-five years or so, in many languages,
this story will not be discussed in this paper. In fact there are other very sensitive stories and other
writings on partition by Manto, which have been rather clouded by the overwhelming presence of
'TobhaTek Singh'. The purpose here is to bring those other important writings to focus.

"Don't say that one lakh Hindus and one lakh Muslims

have been killed .... Say that two lakh human beings

have died and this is not so big tragedy that two lakh human beings have died, the real tragedy is,
the dead have not gone into any body's account . . . after killing one lakh Hindus. Muslims would
have thought that Hindu religion is dead, but it is alive and will remain alive. . . the same way after
killing one lakh Muslims. Hindus would have boasted that Islam is finished, but the reality is before
you. Islam has not got even a little scratch . . . ."

This is the opening stanza of 'Sahai', a touching story on the situation of partition by Manto. As one
can see from this stanza, Manto was deeply humanistic in his perception of partition situation.
Manto, who penned one full book of short stories—'Maktal'—on the theme of partition, which
include thirteen stories. Apart from these stories, Manto also wrote many biting pieces on 1947
Hindu-Muslim riots, to which he gave a very apt title of 'SiyahHashiye' (The Black Margins). His
stories include 'TobhaTek Singh', 'Khol Do' and 'ThandaGoshat' etc. His satirical pieces include thirty-
two small and not so small prose pieces, which can be called in western terms as pieces of 'Black
humour'.

For Manto, partition of India was just partition. He never perceived the partition as 'Independence'
and birth of a new nation. Manto never eulogised Pakistan, though he did migrate to that country. It
was rather a painful development for him, which even contributed in cutting short his life, as he was
never emotionally comfortable in that new country, called Pakistan. All of his stories and other
writings regarding partition, are expression of his deep pain and anguish. Manto, like many other
writers, did not go into the political reasons behind partition, he confined himself to the human
suffering caused by this upheaval.
'Sahai' the story mentioned above deals with the agony of partition to human level in most intense
fashion. Mumtaz the Muslim character in the story is leaving for Karachi on ship and his three Hindu
friends have come to see him off. The quotation, quoted above, are the words of Mumtaz addressed
to his friends, who have come to see him off.

The locale of the story is Bombay. The narrator, Jugal, Brijmohan and Mumtaz are very close friends.
The partition of the country was announced and the riots had begun, Jugal received a letter from
Lahore, informing him about the killing of his uncle there. Other friend's families had suffered
financial losses. Under the shock of these events, Jugal in a routine conversation, told Mumtaz that
he could kill him (Mumtaz), if the rioting started in their locality. Mumtaz was stunned and he was
completely mum for eight days. After eight days, he announced that he was leaving for Karachi, that
very day in the evening. All the three friends had come to see him off and Jugal is feeling guilty that
his utterance has caused Mumtaz's decision to migrate to Karachi. While Mumtaz remaining quiet
for eight days, became suddenly very talkative, particularly a few hours prior to his departure, Jugal
became absolutely quiet. He started drinking and became even quieter after having three or four
pegs. His mind was engulfed with the fire of his own utterance .... "I think . . . there is every
possibility .... I could kill you . . . !"

Mumtaz after settling down with luggage in his cabin, came out with friends and looking at the point
where sea and sky looked meeting each other, took Jugal's hands into his own and said, "This is just
an optical illusion ... the meeting of sea and sky . . . but how attractive is this optical illusion, this
meeting . . . ".

Jugal, gulping his peg in one go, expressed himself rather crudely, "Please forgive me Mumtaz .... I
think that I hurt you that day ....!"

And afterwards the story becomes even more philosophic, as Mumtaz tells him that even if he had
killed him, he would have killed a human being and not a Muslim. About himself also he tells his
friends that his co-religion people would have bestowed upon him the status of a martyr, but he did
not wish that status.

Mumtaz then narrates the story of a person named Sahai, who was a pimp by profession, but whose
soul was that of a saint. Sahai, a Brahmin from Benaras, had come to Bombay, to earn money.
Circumstances made him a pimp, but he treated all the girls, as his daughters. He had opened saving
account of every girl in post office and every month he would deposit the

earnings of the girls in their accounts. He used to give these girls, weekly off and would even marry
the girl, if she could find a husband. His only wish to earn thirty thousand rupees and go back to
Benaras, to open a cloth shop there. He had already earned twenty thousand rupees, when the riots
started and Mumtaz found him in a gravely wounded condition on a roadside. When Mumtaz was
about to leave him due to scare, Sahai with difficulty stopped him and wriggling in pain, got out
some ornaments and twelve hundred rupees. He handed these over to Mumtaz, requesting him to
hand these over to Sultana. Mumtaz met Sultana and handed over the amount given by Sahai and
Sultana was in tears.

The narrator asks Jugal, "Do not you think that Mumtaz is calling Sahai's soul, to be his co-traveller . .
. ?"
And the last sentence of the story is: Jugal said only this, "Would that I was Sahai's soul . . . !"

In my view, this story represents the real human concerns of Manto in context of the partition.

Manto was one of those talented writers, who delve deep into the fathoms of human soul. Manto
was not bothered about the upper and surfacial layers of human characters. He was interested more
in deeper layers. And from deep layers of human characters, he would find extremely human
characters among those, whom the 'Suave7 and 'Cultured' society discards as 'dirty people'. In this
sense, like Gorky, Monto was the writer of 'lower depths'. One can see that Sahai, the pimp, is much
greater character than these four educated and cultured middle class friends. The same is true of
'Mozel', the story of a Jewish woman.

The locale of 'Mozel' is also Bombay, where Trilochan a Punjabi Sikh has come to work and met
Mozel, the Jewish woman, in Advani chambers, where he rented a flat. Mozel's flat was in front of
his flat. He fell knee deep in love with Mozel. She became his weakness. But Mozel was an unusual
character. She has many friends and would not allow Trilochan to take liberties with her beyond a
point. She would tease him and say that if he would shave, only then she can marry him.

Trilochan was a religious person but in one situation, he even got himself shaved. They decided to go
in for civil marriage in Poona, but Mozel did not turn up at given time. Later Kirpal Kaur from his own
village in Punjab came to Bombay with her family and Trilochan fell in love with her. He started
growing hair again and it was the time, when riots began. Kirpal Kaur and her family got trapped in
the house, where rioting was going on. It was Muslim area and Trilochan was worried to get them
out. Here the greatness of Mozel'scharacter's is revealed. She accompanies Trilochan to that area
and with a tactful behaviours help them get out of the disturbed area and in the process sacrifices
her own life. But the dying sentence by her is biting indictment of religion.

"Mozel removed Trilochan's turban from her body, Take this . . . this your religion . . ." and her arm
fell without motion over her strong breasts."

The story has depicted Mozel as an easy-going character, who neither bothers to wear underwear
nor gives two hoots about making many male friends and spending time with them. To save a
human life, she can walk even naked and while dyeing she does not want her body to be covered
with any religious symbol in this case turban, as Trilochan has insisted upon, to go to Kirpal Kaur's
house wearing turban so that his fiancee is not shocked to see him with hair cut. In fact Mozel is in
love with Trilochan, but she can not reconcile with his strong religious 'Samskars'. It is her real love
for Trilochan, as well as with humanity, that she gives up her life in as easy fashion as is her way of
life. Mozel, to whom, the cultured society would look down upon as easy going woman is a great
character for Manto and his readers.

'Sharifan' and 'Gurmukh Singh Ki Vasiyat' (The Will of Gurmukh Singh) are two stories, which can be
termed as stories of black humour. In 'Gurmukh Singh Ki Vasiyat', Gurmukh Singh has always paid
respects to a Muslim Judge, who has done justice to him. But his son came to their house, after the
death of Gurmukh Singh, when retired Judge and his family were encircled by rioters and the judge
himself is paralysed. Gurmukh Singh's son hands over the sweets to judge's daughter and informs
about his father's death. And the four persons with kerosene and firearms are ready to put on fire
the judge's house. Gurmukh Singh's son gives them nod, to complete the task.
And in 'Sharifan', Kasim goes wild after seeing his young daughter Sharifan's naked dead body and in
revenge, he goes to a Hindu's house, he rapes his young daughter and kills her. And when he is able
to see her, she is daughter of his friend, when the man enters the house, Kasim indicates to the dead
body by uttering one word: "Sharifan . . . !" And the armed man goes out crying . . ." "Bimla,
Bimla . . ."

In this short story Manto has tried to prick the conscience of wild men of 1947, not with a pin, but by
piercing a sharp knife into their buffalo-thickened conscience. The men had gone so blind in fury,
that they were raping and killing their own daughters.

'Khol Do' is again a story of pricking the conscience with a knife, when young girl has been so
repeatedly raped by her fellow religion 'volunteers', that at the sound of 'Khol do' uttered in the
context of opening a window of hospital room, she unknots her shalwar, while still being
unconscious by the trauma. The irony takes the shape of black humour, when father cries in joy that
his daughter is alive. The father's joy makes the doctor sweat from head to toe. The utter
inhumanness and the lowest depths of partition days are depicted in the short story in such
devastating fashion that even the reader is shaken to the core.

'ThandaGoshat' (The Cold Flesh) became quite controversial story because it is focused on sexual life
of its characters, which is affected by the riots and the sexually vigorous character becomes
important after becoming aware that he was trying to have sex with a dead girl. Manto has depicted
the sexual aspect of human life in many of his writings, as natural part of life, which has shocked
many orthodox readers of literature, particularly among Muslim clergy. Because of this reaction,
Manto has been persecuted many times for some of his stories 'ThandaGoshat' being one of those
stories, for which, Manto was persecuted in Pakistan.

Apart from his short story collection 'Maktal', focusing on partition, Manto also wrote biting satirical
pieces. He gave these pieces the title of 'SiyahHashiya' (The Black Margins). Manto dedicated this
book to that man, who, while talking about his bloody deeds, said, "When I killed an old woman, felt
that I have committed murder . . . ."

These are the pieces to laugh with tears in eyes. There are very small pieces like 'Daawate-Amal' ....
"When the fire broke out, the whole Mohalla was burnt, except for one shop. The shop which has
the signboard hanging upon it—'Here you get all the material for construction'."

There is another small piece (Khabardar), 'Beware' which reads like that .... The rioters/dragged out
the owner of the house with great difficulty/ he got up while dusting his clothes and told the rioters.
You kill me, but beware of touching my money . . . !"

This is the kind of black humour, which Manto has created by "the brush like touch of his pen. Even
in the worst of conditions, the inherent human nature is revealed in ironies like the one mentioned
above.

Again a short piece like the little stories of these days, "Two friends chose a girl out of ten-twenty
and purchased her for forty two rupees. After spending the night with her one of them asked her
name and he got annoyed, as she was from their own religion. The seller has told a lie in referring to
her name. So the friend ran to the other friend telling him
'The bloody has deceived us ... he gave us the girl of our

own religion .... Let us go and return her . . . !"

This is the piece which shows the level of humanity has fallen in those days. The volunteers of "Khol
Do" enjoy raping the young girl of their own religion whom they are supposed to rescue and the
characters in the 'loosing deal' are upset at being given the girl of their own religion for pleasure.
Worst still the girl is treated like a thing purchased in the market, so they decided to return to like a
thing

These things might or might not have happened in reality. Manto may have taken recourse to
fantasy in creating these

black images of humanity of partition days, but behind the urge to fantasize the black days of
partition, is the deeply felt human concern of the writer.

Then there is another piece which says "See, you have charged black market price and gave such
useless petrol that not even one shop could be burnt . . . \"

Another piece 'Need for rest'—"Not yet dead . . . look there is still life!" "Let it be yaar I have got
tired!"

The man has killed so many people that he needs rest.

After a cursory perusal of Manto's stories and satirical prose pieces on partition, one can perceive
the underlying skepticism and somewhat cynicism also in recreating the partition days. The inhuman
cruelties in the form of rioting, looting, raping women and killing innocent people on all sides, have
been delineated by Manto with exceptional kind of detachment as creative writer. But the
detachment of the writer is expressed only in the form of creation, which has become very powerful
and effective. At the level of perceiving the human situation, the writer is not detached, he is rather
completely submerged in the anguish and sufferings of his characters. Not only his characters seems
to be the victim of these cruelties, the writer himself seems to be present in these characters, be it
'Sahai', or 'Sakeena' or 'Mozel' or 'Mumtaz'.

The partition of India in 1947 has been a tragic historic event. Very few writers in any language have
been able to recreate the human sufferings of this event. Manto is one of those few writers, who has
achieved real greatness in recreating the human sufferings at such deep level.