UNRAVELING THE PSYCHOLOGICAL TURMOIL IN BUTALIA’S THE OTHER SIDE OF SILENCE: A POST COLONIAL STUDY

Abstract

This research involves the study of The Other Side of Silence by Urvashi Butalia through the Fanonian concepts of psychological trauma; alienation, marginalization, identity crisis, internalization of inferiority complex, and violence leading to further violence.  The partition of India 1947 is one of the most important and traumatic events for the people of India and Pakistan. Although a political movement, it caused extreme uproar and immense bloodshed of not one but all communities of India; Hindus, Muslims, Dalits and other minorities. The study explores the alienation of Dalits, Muslims and women in social, political and familial aspects as well as the double marginalization faced by the Muslims and women. Women experienced honor-killings by their families, rapes by both rival and their own communities, kidnappings, and forced conversions, only to be later rejected as immoral. The violence people had been subjected to led to retaliation causing more carnage and destruction. Millions were brutally displaced as a result, and hundreds of thousands were massacred. In the name of reprisal, entire villages were destroyed, families were split up, and women were kidnapped and attacked. People lost their homes, identities, and sense of belonging, resulting in a devastating human cost. The study’s findings specify how the event of partition impacted the lives and identities of the individuals and communities who survived and affected the people psychologically- especially the minority groups and women.