Freedom, Trauma, Continuities

The momentous events of India achieving independence and the simultaneous partitioning of the subcontinent in 1947 have primarily been studied from the political perspective. This path-breaking volume explores neglected aspects of the tremendous upheavals that accompanied these events, concentrating on popular perceptions and psychological impacts.

The contributors consider aspects of the appalling massacres which accompanied Partition and Independence, the ensuing mass migrations; efforts to resettle the refugees in the Punjab, Bengal and Sind; and lingering memories of homes abandoned. The subsequent essay considers the integration of the Princely States into the Indian Union, a process which had few counterparts elsewhere.

The remaining essays study the Congress Government in Bihar in the forties; the roots of Pakistan's civil-military state; and the attitude of Indian big business.

Overall, this volume significantly widens the perspectives that focus on the crucial

decade of the forties in the history of the subcontinent.