From Imposition to Subversion of Patriarchy in Amrita Pritam’s Pinjar: A Critical Study

Abstract

Pinjar is a novel written by Amrita Pritam, a Sikh woman of great experience and sentiments. It deals with the writer’s own experiences of the trauma of the partition of India which immediately followed the declaration of the independence of India in 1947. The eve of this glorious day did not imagine what would be the next morning. That the partition of India had so extensive repercussions was ingeniously deferred and it’s effects on common way of life was even unimagined. The violence and communal conflict had started even much before the declaration of Radcliff Line. The suppression of Hindus during Delhi Dynasty and Mughal period had inculcated the hatred among people against their opposed communities and continues to exist even now. Some minor disputes had become a cause for violent riots was not new during the sensitive moments after the declaration of the independence of India on 3 June 1947 and they have influenced the common setup of different communities living in North West Province and the Punjab where both the communal conflicts and communal harmony simultaneously existed.