Violence, Martyrdom and Partition : A Daughter's Testimony [ electronic resource ] /
by Nonica Datta.
- Oxford Scholarship Online, 2012
This book presents the oral testimony of Subhashini (1914–2003), the woman head of a well-known Arya Samaj institution devoted to women's education in rural north India. Subhashini's narrative unfolds a story, within a sea of stories, which has remained silent in the dominant historical discourse. Her memory evokes contrasting images of violence, martyrdom, and Partition. Not 1947 but 1942 — the year of her father's ‘martyrdom’ — is recalled as a violent rupture in her memory. Partition is a moment of celebration, revenge, divine retribution, empathy, remorse, tragedy, and fear. Translating Subhashini's oral testimony, the author recreates the memory of a colonial subject, living in postcolonial times, as a historical narrative. Moving beyond a historical event and well-established historical facts, Violence, Martyrdom and Partition is a parallel history of events and non-events, memory and history, testimony and experience. The book also includes photographs of Subhashini and a map of the Rohtak District and Dujana State.