Jyotirmoyee Devi's The River Churning: A Partition Novel: A study of Trauma

In the year 1947 getting independence from British colonial rule India witnessed the greatest as well as toughest migration in the name of religion. The horrible consequences were faced by everyone irrespective of class, caste, and religion. The most suffered portion of this quantity was none but women whose stories were politically not given importance rather deletion from history was done silently. Jyotirmoyee Devi’s Bengali novel EparGanga Opar Ganga, translated in English as The RiverChurning should not be read-only focusing on the gendered trauma and emotional suffering faced by the female protagonist, but also criticizes the victimized situation of the lady where the caste and class-oriented social standards are filled with hypocrisy. The eye of feminism is not fully capable of analyzing the crisis of a female victim due to having experiences of a riot based on religion in the post-partition era. To not get a sentimentalized point of view the communal identity of Sutara, the protagonist, needs to be evaluated. Subjected to an uncertain present within the four walls of the household and an insecure future with the borders drawn in the name of partition as well as for political and national interest, Sutara like many women was compelled to get a bond among themselves of collective wounded memory, and trauma. This paper will be analyzed how the partition describes the violence faced by the homeless or refugees in the name of politicised and nationalised identities.

Keywords: Partition, Female subjugation, Trauma, and collective wounded memory.