Pinjar : Book Review

Pinjar, originally written in Punjabi by Amrita Pritam in 1950 was translated to English as “The Skeleton” by Khushwant Singh.Amrita was herself a witness to the horrors of Partition of India in 1947.In an interview to “The Tribune” on 20^th February, 2005; she remarked “The most terrible happening of the times was the Partition. Nobody would ever know that the dreams of how many girls of this country were slaughtered, that a woman’s experience was universal and irreparable. It was thus that Pooro of Pinjar took shape and the novel wrote itself”.(Source-www.tribuneindia.com).Thus, Pinjar is a compelling painting of Amrita’s personal experience of the Partition.

The novel takes into consideration both the pre-Partition and the post-Partition periods. A Hindu girl, on the eve of her marriage is abducted by a Muslim boy as a tit for tat on the account of a prolonged feud between the Shaikhs and the Sahukars.The time of this incident coincided with the pre-Partition period when communal hatred was the only feeling among the Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs in Punjab.This was followed by the Partition of India into 2 distinct countries – India and Pakistan. The post-Partition period witnessed bloodshed, violence and destruction on a large scale forcing many families to leave their homes and flee. Women were abducted, raped and widowed on a massive scale and some were being converted forcibly on religious grounds in both the newly formed countries thus making women the worst yet insignificant sufferers of the time.

Pinjar in Punjabi means Skeleton in English.A skeleton refers to an outline sketch or a useless remnant and in reference to human beings it points to having only the minimum number of body parts.This image of a skeleton has a growing and a justified significance with multiple connotations in the novel.

The story begins with Pooro now Hamida,the central character and with a child in her womb remembering her days back at home and we come to know her as a very lively and jolly Hindu girl going to be married with aspirations to live a happy married life with Ramchand.As a typical girl of that time she was very ecstatic and elated about her marriage and had built the feeling of an eternal love for Ramchand inside.Following the traditional norms of society at the time,Pooro’s brother marriage was fixed with Ramchand’s sister.In order to equal levels,Pooro is abducted by a Muslim boy – Rashid as an act of vengeance in the long vendetta between them – the Shaikhs and the Sahukars – family to which Pooro belonged.Pooro’s hopes to live her life again were shattered as his father expressed his inability to take her back lest she would bring social disgrace to the family and the family would be slaughtered.Her mother added, “Daughter, it would have been better if you had died at birth.” This incident brought out two things – Firstly it was not only the sufferings of one religion – only Hindus or only Muslims – the sufferings were universal and beyond repair.Secondly from the fact that Pooro’s family was restrained to even look for her daughter or file a complaint – it is emphasized that the existence of an individual is immaterial and in order to live we need to be on good social grounds even if it means losing your humanity and disown a human carved out of your own flesh and blood. Pooro with nothing more to loose is taken back by and married to Rashid. Rashid initially argued not to abduct Pooro but with no effects and he felt in love with Pooro at first sight. This brought out the first image of a “pinjar”, a cage as Rashid was held behind the social cage and the cage of love. Pooro was renamed to Hamida. The novel very beautifully brings out the distinction between the lives of Pooro and Hamida by referring to the same physical body as Pooro in her dreams when she met her family and Hamida by the day. In reality she was neither Pooro nor Hamida, she was just a “skeleton” with no shape or name or soul. When Hamida got pregnant she called the child as a slug, a worm in her womb, an anguish of the flesh. But Rashid loved her, and after giving child birth, Hamida’s maternal instincts amplified and she started loving her son and his father.

Hamida’s maternal instincts made her and Kammo behave as mother and daughter.Hamida felt her own house as a “haven or refuge” after meeting Taro who was deserted by her husband for another woman.Taro was able to speak her mind boldly yet was unable to break out of the “perfidious institution of marriage”. Hamida brought home the child of a mad woman who was more like a skeleton than a living person, had been impregnated by “a savage beast” and died in the process of child-birth. Initially Hindus did not let her bring up a Hindu child but later as the child went into coma, he was given back to her.This incident brings to light that seeds of rivalry among the Hindus and Muslims were being sown in everyday lives too in the Pre-Partition period.  

Hamida on a visit to Rattoval sees Ramchand and clears off leaving him in doubt. This incident again emphasized the image of a skeleton as it was not Hamida who had gone, it was Pooro who wanted to meet the person whom she had loved and who did not come to her rescue. Pooro’s brother on not finding Pooro sets fire to the year’s harvest of Rashid which again made Pooro proud of her brother as he had not forgot the unjust done against her sister and Hamida grief as her then family’s year harvest had been set to fire.Rashid at the same time understands Pooro’s brother situation, and is not angry instead feels himself light.The Partition of India led to communal discord and the Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs of Punjab broke away from each other. Men were slaughtered, rows of houses were being burnt down i.e. no one’s life or property was safe. Women, in particular were abducted and forcibly held in their houses by strangers. Hamida pleaded to Rashid to help her find Lajo – one such woman and Ramchand’s sister and her brother’s wife.With Rashid’s assistance Lajo is handed over to her husband – Hamida’s brother whom Pooro meets after a prolonged time and Ramchand at Lahore to join the convoy to India. Hamida and Rashid bid farewell to Ramchand, Lajo and Pooro’s brother.

It is through these encounters that Pooro grows into Hamida. The events that make Pooro into a mere skeleton with no flesh are being abducted by a Muslim boy – Lajo was abducted by a Muslim boy, the living parents disowning her on grounds of religion – Kammo was rejected by her father, marrying Rashid against her will – Taro was not asked her choice even, giving birth to the child of Rashid whom she initially treated as a slug – the mad woman was also impregnated though she was merely a lump of flesh with no mind to go with. It is through these events that the “skeleton” rethinks what happened to her and grows i.e. it is her bildungsroman as she is better able to analyze the situation then. In her transformation, she has learnt so much that she could not have learnt in her entire life.  The final farewell has an important significance. Skeleton turned Pooro can easily return back to her home at the time when parents had been exhorted to receive back their abducted daughters in the post-Partition period but it is through Rashid’s spirit to overcome hate with compassion and love and the bildungsroman of the skeleton that Pooro finally develops into Hamida as the wife of Rashid and the mother of Javed, their son. Throughout the novel, many qualities of women are brought out like courage and motivation to rise above all the problems and still strive for happiness in other’s life are painted in the character of Pooro. It is emphasized that it is the woman who pays for any failure in upholding family honor.

The writing style of the novel has also added a new dimension to the novel. There is a pause i.e. a distinction after every few set of paragraphs. The series of events between pauses provided us new information of the story and the pause gave us time to think about it.

Khushwant Singh has very appreciably brought out the thematic concepts of the original novel in a very beautiful manner.

Partition of India seems to be the division of the country on a large scale with no effect on individual life but it actually affects an individual’s life in every sphere. Thus, Pinjar addresses the national reality with some of the more delicate and sensitive issues which arose during the Partition disturbances through the story of Pooro.