American Research Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

The violence and trauma of Indian partition changed the social and political course of the Indian subcontinents in such a way that its repercussions and ramifications are still palpable. Along with the number of death and the amount of destruction, the event left a deep psychological scar on the mind of millions of people in general and on the mind of women and children in particular. Such ‘age of foolishness, the season of darkness and the time of despair’ could leave no writers of the time and aftermath untouched. And so far the representation of Indian partition violence and trauma is concerned, whatever the cause and whoever the culprits accused or censured, most of the historians have done their best to silence violence by focusing on the great causes rather than the events themselves. The actual acts of abduction, uprooting, train raids, trauma, madness, suicide, murder and acts of destruction are vexed to keep under the carpet. Unlike this, Sadat Hasan Monto, one of the greatest Urdu writers, visualizes the unprecedented objectivity in the rendition of this heartrending milieu in his stories: “Toba Tek Singh,” “Cold Meat”, “Open It” (“Khol Do”) and “The Dog of Titwal.” Thus, methodologically, this paper makes content analysis of the purposively selected secondary resources where violence and trauma remain at the center rather than ‘the politics of blame’ on Muslims or Hindus as perpetrator of the consequence.