Book Review on 'Pinjar' By Amrita Pritam

                                                              'Pinjar'

                            By: Amrita Pritam  translated by Kushwant Singh

Pinjar is a novel written by Amrita Pritam whose literal meaning in Punjabi language is Skeleton. The writer through this story brings light upon the problem faced by women during the time of partition of India. There were rites , rape cases, abduction of young women of opposite community.The women were used just as a symbol of sex for the pleasure of men.

Amrita Pritam  understood the sensitivity of the subject matter on which she wrote the novel and she has handled it with utmost respect. The novel has not blamed any community or any country for the pathetic condition at that time.The story dramatically captured the trouble and despair of Puro as victim of situations while the story moves on an emotional ride with twists and turns which leaves the reader wonder struck as what will happen the next.

The writer in this novel has used her versatility to depict the sorrow and sympathy for the characters in the novel. She has written with courage ,passion and full devotion.She was herself one of the eye- witness of the partition of India in August 1947 and its consequences.She portrays the pathetic and falling standard of our human spirit in her novel.

The novel has delicately brought up the complex role of Puro who is facing all the troubles in the world in the early ages of her life. She has been kidnapped by a Muslim lad ,her family has left her to die,her name has been changed,her  religion has been converted,she has been married to Rashida who abducted her .In short she has been reduced to only a skeleton with no soul inside her. Still she strive for the happiness of others.No other women facing similar pain and sorrow could have fought against it with so much confidence.

The story starts with the scene of Puro who is happy and cheerful and is busy doing her daily chores.She has been betrothed to a wealthy,handsome man,Ramchand by her father.Her ecstatic life turns upside down when she is kidnapped by a Muslim mysterious man named as Rashida. Rashida's family was once disdained by Puro's when a few generations before ,Great grand aunt of Rashida was abducted and kept for three days by Great-grand  uncle of Puro's. Now  Rashida's family took the revenge and finally won in their motto by successfully capturing Puro and keep inside his house.

The writer throughout the book shows signs which imply that Rashida liked Puro very much.It is easy to comprehend that Rashida had no intention to abduct Puro but due to his family pressure  was coerced to act in that fashion . Puro tried to escape from Rashida's house and once was successful in doing so and rushed towards her parents home.However, quite unexpectedly ,her parents turn away Puro so that their family escaped the cruelty of the Sheikhs. Puro returned back to Rashida  as a skeleton with no aim left in her life.

After some time,Puro's family decided to marry Puro's younger sister to Ramchand and Ramchand's sister was married to her brother.Eventually Rashida marries with Puro and changed her name to Hameeda which was engraved it on her arm so that no one doubted whether she was a Hindu. Later, Puro became pregnant and gave birth to a boy.Initially she did not want to give birth to her child but once the boy was born, her motherly feelings wakened and she looked after her.

The writer has emerged the character of Puro as the story progresses.While her stay with Rashida in his house, she came across many women whose condition were worse than her.She helped Kammo, Taro and the insane girl when she heard about the tragic conditions of their life.She was deeply hurt when she saw a new born child in the womb of dead insane girl.She thought how could anyone do such a pathetic situation a mad girl who neither had beauty nor mind just a piece of flesh on her body which was also eaten away by the crow like people and left the skeleton to die.She took the child in her arms and fed him with her breasts for six months before she was asked by the Hindus to give away the child as he was a son of a Hindu mother and since she was a Muslim and  was polluting their religion by taking care of the child. Thus the child was a taken away from her.This clearly showed the narrow-mindlessness of the Hindus.

The novel also brings in light the dark and horrifying side of  the partition of India ,Hindus and Muslim fought among each other as they flee to the opposite sides. The writer portrays the horrible picture of young ladies of opposite religion who were used as sexual object. Puro on the hope of seeing Ramchand for one last time went to visit the place  where the Hindus from Ramchand's village were staying.She met Ramchand there who told her about Lajjo her sister in law who was abducted by someone . 

The novel in a scene brings out the Hindu- Muslim unity instance even at that time in the face of Rashida and Puro. Rashida was in love with Puro and he could not let go this opportunity to show his love to Puro when Puro begged Rashida to help her find Lajjo. Rashida in order to wash away her sin agreed to help Puro. Through his investigations he found where Lajjo was staying. Puro went from house to house as saleswoman and reached the place where Lajjo was staying. With the help of their plan,they managed to get Lajjo back. Rashida showing his sincerity took Puro and Lajjo to a camp where Ramchand and Puro's brother had came to take Lajjo back.

The writer in an extremely emotional scene has shown Puro's brother asking his sister to also come back to their home like Lajjo. His brother tried to assure her that things has changed considerably and it was not the same as it was during her time. Her family was afraid of the society but now the entire society is facing similar situation. But in an ironic twist now Puro runs to find Rashida so that she could live her entire life with him as a Muslim wife.

The novel in some way is more biased towards the Hinduism as the name of the future wife of Puro is 'Ramchand' who  plays classical music and translates religious books like Ramayana into  other languages like Urdu and also has a good knowledge of sanskrit. The writer depicts him as a broadminded young, disciplined Hindu, in comparison to 'Rashid' , who is shown as a poor farmer, whose only profession is farming and is not shown as educated as Ramchand. He is initally shown as a negative character in the novel when he kidnaps Puro. The story is some what similar to that of Ramayana, the epic religious novel of Hindus in which Puro acts as Sita, Ramchand as Rama and  Rashida as Ravana .

There is some kind of gender inequality present in the story which depicts the gender treatment at that time,though Puro is shown heroic as she saves the life of Lajjo,Taro. No women has been shown interested in education or earning for the family. Puro and her sisters does their house hold works and play with their friends in the fields while the brothers are much more educated than them and are pursuing their higher studies. The girls have no role to play in deciding their future husband .Even the elder female members of the family like Puro's mother have no decision over  Puro's kidnapping and agrees with what Puro's father speaks.

Reading this novel is indeed pleasurable and I would suggest everyone to read this book and feel the pain which the women at those time felt. In a way the writer pleads us to make a society where women have equal rights and are not merely treated as a 'Pinjar'.

Piyush Mayank
2011mt50612