TRAUMA, DISPLACEMENT, AND THE RECONSTRUCTION OF FEMALE IDENTITY IN AMRITA PRITAM’S PINJAR

International Journal of Computer Science (IJCS) Published by SK Research Group of Companies (SKRGC)

Abstract

The Partition of India in 1947 was not merely a political division but a traumatic historical event that resulted in violence, displacement, loss, and the disruption of individual and collective identities. Women experienced the consequences of Partition in particularly gendered ways. Abduction, sexual violence, forced marriage, religious conversion, displacement, and social rejection profoundly affected women's lives. Amrita Pritam's Pinjar is one of the significant literary representations of these experiences. Through the protagonist Puro, Pritam explores the psychological and social trauma experienced by women during Partition. The novel presents the female body as a site of communal conflict, patriarchal control, and political violence. Puro's abduction by Rashid separates her from her family and destroys her previous sense of identity and belonging. Her subsequent rejection by her family reveals how patriarchal notions of honour can intensify the suffering of women who have already experienced violence. This paper examines women's trauma, displacement, gendered violence, identity, memory, and agency in Pinjar from a feminist perspective. It argues that Pritam moves beyond representing women merely as victims of Partition and presents them as individuals capable of developing agency and compassion despite traumatic circumstances. The novel also challenges conventional historical narratives by bringing the silenced experiences of women into the cultural memory of Partition. Pinjar therefore remains an important feminist text that demonstrates how political violence becomes deeply personal through its impact on women's bodies, identities, families, and memories.

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Keywords

Amrita Pritam, Pinjar, Partition, women's trauma, displacement, gendered violence, feminism, identity, memory, women's agency