CHAPTER- II

HISTORICAL ASPECTS

!9

Northrop Frye, the eminent Canadian structuralist, makes a significant

comment on historical fiction in his magnum opus:

Historical fictions are not designed to give insight into a period of

history, but are exemplary; they illustrate action and are ideal in the

sense of manifesting the universal form of human action. (The

vagaries of language make "exemplary" the adjective for both

example and precept). Shakespeare and Johnson were keenly

interested in history, yet their plays seem timeless; Jane Austen did

not write historical fiction, yet, because she represents a later and

more externalized method of following nature, the picture she gives

of Regency Society has a specific historical value.

(Anatomy ofCriticism:Four Essays 84)

Historical approach advocates the parallel reading of literary and non­

literary texts, usually of the same period; in other words, the non -literary text

becomes a co-text of the literary text. The literary text is not privileged against the

background of historical and non-literary texts. The textuality of history and the

historicity of texts are given equal weight in historical approach. In this approach,

history, social, political, cultural as well as literary, provided the context for

understanding literary text. As V.A. Shahane says about "Historical Reality and

Art":

The problem of how historical sense and reality enter into the

sphere of art is important in any long-term and lasting assessment

of the achievement of Indo-Anglian writers. This historical reality,

in terms of time and space, forms part of a work of art and is

20

transmuted in the process of giving it a creative expression. This

process enables it to achieve under dimension of universality:

literature can no longer be considered in isolation from its social

implications, cultural and moral value and racial ethos.

(Khushwant Singh 30)

The very word history comes from the Latin word 'historia'. According to

The Oxford English Dictionary history means "That branch of knowledge which

deals with past events, as recorded in writings or otherwise ascertained; the formal

record or the past, especially of human affairs or actions; the study of the

formation and growth of communities and nations." Webster's Third New

International Dictionary defines history as: "A systematic written account

comprising a chronological record of events (as affecting a city, state, nation,

institution, science, or art) and usually including a philosophical explanation of

the cause and origin of such events". Encyclopedia Americana mentions:

The term history, in popular usage, has been applied to two

somewhat different concepts. It is often used to designate the sum

total of human activities. When used in this sense one often hears

the remark at a particularly active or critical period in human

events that "now history is being made". A mere common usage is

that which regards history as the record of the events themselves.

In this latter generally accepted connotation given to the term

history, two definitions may be offered. In an objective sense

history is, to usc the words of James Harvey Robinson, "all we

know about everything man has ever done, or thought, hoped, or

21

felt". Subjectively expressed, history may be regarded as a record

of all that has occurred within the realm of human consciousness.

(Encyclopedia Americana 205)

In the world of Indian novels in English, a great number of historical

novels have emerged in recent times. To cherish the memories of bygone days,

many Indo-English novelists have turned to the past to trace the deepening mood

of nationalism. There is a great impact of the historical milieu on a writer in which

he lives and wishes to associate himself with the historical periods by choice. A

novelist may use history as a conscious effort, or sub-consciously . The setting of

the novels like Khushwant Singh's Train to Pakistan, I Shall Not Hear the

Nightingale, Delhi, Chaman Nahal's Azadi, Bapsi Sidhwa's Ice Candy Man,

Manohar Malgoankar's A Bend in the Ganges is in the context of some historical

framework. Sometimes a novelist may place his action in an imaginary setting to

imply a special metaphysical or political point of view, e.g. William Golding's

Lord of the Flies, George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty - Four. The author also

creates the country through his powerful imagination, as for example Joseph

Conrad's Nostromo. Such a novel is regarded as the work of Utopia. R.K.

Dhawan remarks:

Modern deconstructionists would easily discuss them as exercises

in self-depiction. Utopias make fine reading; their relevance to the

immediate problem in hand is more of an escapist nature

suggesting remedies neither available nor practical. The historical

novel represents no surface wave of escapism, but a deep,

unconscious movement towJrds national homogeneity.

22

(Three Contemporary Novelists3).

The actual day-to-day problems of life can be encountered, examined,

exposed, challenged and rectified in the historical novel. Historical novel has two

vital virtues - entertainment and instruction. The factual and informational values

of history illuminate the subject and increasingly sharpen the reader's curiosity.

Indeed, a true artist or novelist can serve several purposes through the help of

history. The proper amalgamation of history and literature marks the novelist as a

creative genius. But the question arises: how far is history relevant in a work of

art, like novel In fact, in the sphere of art, historical sense and reality are

inseparable. They are the important factors in oetermining the ultimate value of a

given piece of art. In a sense, every novelist tries to preserve a period in a book; in

other words, every novelist is a historical novelist.

A writer of a historical novel, at the same time plays the role of a writer as

well as a historian. But as a historian there is some limitation. The author of the

novel or fiction is not free to alter history; factual accuracy has to be maintained

strictly. Chaman Nahal, says in "Felling ofTime Past".

Here in lies the additional burden, that a historical novelist places

on the artist. The novelist is obliged to do careful research into the

period he has chosen for presentation and every detail of that

period has to be accurate.

(Three Contemporary Novelists 8).

The detailed knowledge of a geographical region is not sufficient to an

author, but he should also have particular information about the people living in

that region, their mode of speech. their dress, their food habits, their peculiar traits

23

and countless other characteristics of that particular community. Too much history

in the plot of novel, or too many historical figures among the leading characters

makes the novel hazardous. A great majority of characters that have an

independent historical reality can hardly be made agreeable to the author's design

or the demands of the plot. So on one hand, history puts the author at a

disadvantage. The most challenging part of writing a history novel is the

interaction of historical and fictional characters and the interaction of the two

kinds amongst themselves.

The historical novel got immense popularity in the nineteenth century.

Walter Scott was one of them whose creative pen placed the historical novels at a

sublime height. The French Revolution was a great inspiration for the Victorian

novelist, Charles Dickens. He efficiently and successfully made use of history in

A Tale of Two Cities. It is an excellent work of art with a panoramic background.

In a nutshell, the novel represents the dramatic life of a few individual characters,

interwoven with the interest of a catastrophic public event.

The two world wars, the shameful act of human civilization left great

impact on the writers, who insisted on writing significant fiction - Eric Maria

Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front, Ernest Hamingway's A Farewell to

Arms, Herman Wouk's The Cain Mutiny. In fact, in the twentieth century, the

historical novels have been much appreciated by the novelists. Novelists are more

interested in revolution or foreign occupation than in the day to day life of middle­

class people, their manners and morals in a relatively stable society. As R.K.

Dhawan comments:

24

A case of point is J.G. Farrell's new novel, The Singapore Grip, a

trilogy about the decline of the British Empire. Great political

movements, conflicts or revolutions are the warp and woof of a

historical novelist and good writers are mediumistic to the deeper

stirrings of the life of their time or to an event of the past. Apart

from Gone with the Wind, the historical novels of the twentieth

century which may be termed classics are Leo Tolstoy's War and

Peace and Boris Pasternak's Dr. Zhivago. The first is related to

Napoleon's invasion of Russia; the second describes the failure of

the Revolution of 1917. Failure of modem Britain to find some

great fictional theme could be attributed to history itself than on

writers of the age.

(Three Contemporary Novelist 5).

The major part of the Indian novels have been written in response to

historical events or movements, such as the Gandhian movement, imperial rule,

partition of the country. The nation was boiling and massive freedom movement

for liberation from the British rule was raging in the country. The British

Government was exploiting India and they were not ready to withdraw their rule

from the country. The freedom struggle was long and tough.

The freedom struggle is not only great commitment to the Indian writers

but to the entire nation. Contemporary writers could not escape from the impact of

the great movement. The novels written, either in Indian language or in English

during the freedom movement, reflect the indispensable spirit of the people

devoted to the great cause of freedom. This sprit is truly reflected in the novels of

25

the period: Raja Rao's Kanthapura, Mulk Raj Anand's Coolie, K.A. Abbas'

Inquilab, D.F. Karka's We Never Die and C.N. Zutshi's Motherland.

Most of the novels written before The First World War were confined to

religious aestheticism. After the war, the focus shifted to contemporary socio­

political concerns. The novels dealing with the freedom struggle give a real

picture of exploitation and the limitless cruelty of the British rulers, as well as the

portrayal of an awakened people struggling for their birthright. The growth of the

historical novel coincided with the intensification of the struggle for India's

freedom. Indeed, the English, who had brought with them the fruits of knowledge

of the west, inspired the Indian soul to imbibe the spirit of nationalism. The

English had introduced successfully law, administration, finance and education in

India in the early decades of the century. Ironically enough, all this resulted in

generating a sense of national unity, which in later stages instigated them the

Indians to fight for freedom. Generally, there is a significant role of the

intellectuals, philosophers, historians and literary artists in all-national revolutions

of the world. R.K. Dhawan aptly remarks, "Not only do they reach the minds of

the people through their writings, they also subject every institution of the society

to a specific political philosophy and thought that propagates their point of view".

(Three Contemporary Novelists 6)

The writers always have an intrinsic quality and ability to look beyond

their time. Hither, the Indo-English novelists were most responsive to the call of

equality, freedom and human rights. It is the writers whose writings make the

common man socially. politically and culturally conscious. There were a good

number of novels written during the period that portrayed the injustice of the

26

British rule and the grim fight of the people who were determined to kick out the

foreigners. Politics became synonymous with nationalism. As evident from the

writing of Indo-English novelists, the partition of the sub-continent was no doubt

the most important historical event of our age. In 1947, the English left the

country after dividing it into two parts. Existing religious and political differences

between Hindus and Muslims climaxed with the partition and caused widespread

disturbances, causing destruction of human life on a scale unprecedented in recent

history. Communal violence broke out in West Punjab. At least one million

Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims lost their lives. There was a large-scale migration of

people from one country to the other. In the process, thousands were massacred;

women were raped; children flung on spears and property looted on a vast scale.

Like the other Indian writers, Indo-English novelists respond to these

wents with a sense of horror. A large number of novels were written on the theme

of partition, the destruction it brought and the pathetic condition of the refugees.

The novelists skillfully record the reign of violence and the complete destruction

of human values. K.K. Sharma and B.K. Johri comment:

We, however, have some brilliant novels written about it ...

several Indian-English fictionists, who have dealt with the theme of

partition as competently as their counterparts in Hindi and Urdu

and are in no way inferior to Yasphal, the writer of Jhuta Sach,

Bhisham Sahni of Tamas and Masum Raza Rahi the writer of Adha

Gaon. Novelists like Khushwant Singh, Manohar Malgonkar and

Chaman Nahal stand out prominently among those who have

treated the theme of partition in detail, while R.K. Narayan,

27

Balchandra Rajan and Attia Hosain deal with it cursorily in their

novels.

(The Partition in Indian English Novels 2)

Indeed, Khushwant Singh, Chaman Nahal; Manohar Malgonkar and

Salarnan Rushdie have made a specific use of history. The freedom movement

anc partition are the most important and greatest historical incidents of

contemporary India. But the western writers cannot fully perceive the tragic

suffering effected by partition. R.K. Dhawan rightly says:

E.M. Forster, publishing his Passage to India in 1924, is completely

silent about this movement. George Orwell has written of the

imperialism in Burma and Leonard Woolf, in his three-volume

autobiography, of imperialism in Sri Lanka. There are scattered

memoirs of the partition who lived in India but they are mostly in

the form of nostalgia that depicts the comforts they enjoyed here.

None of these writers, not even Kipling , who is said to have

identified himself so closely with India, foresaw that in a few

years' time this empire, the greatest Jewel in the British crown (to

borrow a title from Paul Scott) would come to an end.

(Three Contemporary Novelist 8).

Mahatma Gandhi gave a new dimension to the freedom movement. The

l\ational Movement (from 1920s) acquired the spectrum of a broad river which

kept on expanding until the British were thrown out of India. But the

independence came with partition. Mahatma Gandhi himself did not support the

idea of partition.

28

Thus we see how people were separated from the mam body of the

country, analysed, labelled and given a separate distinct status. As Jawahar La!

Nehru comments that any proposal to cut up India into parts was a painful one to

contemplate; it went against all those deeply felt sentiments and convictions that

move people so powerfully. But its social, historical and cultural heritage is

remained unscathed and the writers are totally coloured by the socio-historical

scene.

Khushwant Singh's Train to Pakistan may remain the most comprehensive

description of this catastrophic human situation. Khushwant Singh was greatly

moved by the harsh events during those turbulent days. He felt thoroughly

disillusioned with the contemporary situation. His faith in the fundamental virtue

of mankind was totally shaken:

The beliefs that I had cherished all my life were shattered. I had

believed in the innate goodness of the common man. But the

division of India had been accompanied by the most savage

massacres known in the history of the country .... I had believed

that we Indians were more concerned with matters of the spirit,

while the rest of the World was involved in the pursuit of material

things. After the experience of autumn of 194 7, I could no longer

subscribe to these views. I became ... an angry middle-aged man,

who wanted to shout his disenchantment with the world . . . I

decided to try my hand at writing.

Q::!ot a Nice Man to Know: The Best of Khushwant Singh 5).

29

Partition, the bloodiest upheaval in Indian history, claimed countless lives

and loss of human values. Khushwant Singh was a witness to the massacre in the

wake of partition of the country. Indeed, the deeply distressing experience made

Khushwant Singh restless and in order to give expression to his feeling, he wrote

Train to Pakistan. Singh writes, "the partition theme was born out of a sense of

guilt that I had done nothing to save the lives of innocent people". (Not a Nice

Man to Know : The Best of Khushwant Singh 5). In this context Khushwant Singh

can be compared with Joseph Conrad who as a young boy left Poland, which was

then ruled by Russia, and who later on always carried a feeling of guilt of having

betrayed his own country, by not coming forward to the rescue of his own

countrymen. Khushwant Singh has taken a cover of weather, in the opening para

of the novel Train to Pakistan. "The summer of 194 7 was not like other Indian

summers"( Train to Pakistan 1 ). This summer preceded the date of partition, the

date of India's Independence, August 15, 1947. And the effect of partition was not

simply the birth of two nations, but the growing tension in every home hearth and

exploding into bloody riots, turning one time friends into permanent foes, men

into beasts, seeking blood of their own kith and kin, on both sides of the newly­

created Indo-Pak border.

According to the Hindu perception of misery, natural calamity is a

punishment to the people for the sins of their earlier life. Believing this

perception, Khushwant Singh develops the narrative:

Even the weather had a different feel m India that year. It was

hotter than usual, and drier and dustier. And the summer was

longer. No one could remember when the monsoon had been so

30

late. For weeks, the sparse clouds cast only shadows. There was no

rain. People began to say that God was punishing them for their

SinS.

Some of them had good reason to feel that they had sinned. The

summer before, communal riots, precipitated by reports of the

proposed division of the country into a Hindu India and a Muslim

Pakistan had broken out in Calcutta, and within a few months the

death roll had mounted to several thousands. Muslims said the

Hindus had planned and started the killing. According to the

Hindus, the Muslims were to blame. The fact is both sides killed.

Both shot and stabbed and speared and clubbed. Both tortured.

Both raped.

(Train to Pakistan 9).

It was then simply a proposal of partition being hotly discussed between

the Congress and the Muslim League. Mohammed Ali Jinnah and his party went

against Mahatma Gandhi by supporting partition. While the partition issue was

being fought intellectually with arguments for and against by opposing and

supporting groups among the Hindus and the Muslims, the Calcutta riots had

spread to Noakhali (now in Bangladesh, earlier in East Bengal and later in East

Pakistan) where "Muslims massacred Hindus and Hindus massacred Muslims.

Mullahs roamed the Punjab and the Frontier Province with boxes of human skulls

said to be those of the Muslims killed in Bihar" (Train to Pakistan 9).

Mana Majra. a remote village in the Punjab serves as the fictional setting

of Train to Pakistan. lt is situated on the India-Pakistan border, half mile away

31

from the river Sutlej. Although traditionally devoid of political consciousness, the

village emerges as a microcosm of India. The Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus are

living together in harmony and amity. Partition does not yet have much

significance to them: "no one in Mano Majra even knows that the British have left

and the country is divided into Pakistan and Hindustan" (Train to Pakistan 33).

As Hindus and Sikhs fight against their Muslim brothers for a political

stronghold in the nation, so the villagers traditional ways of life progressively

disintegrate into selfishness, mistrust, and cruelty. The divided country symbolizes

a transition in civilization from spirituality to secularization, a transition that

necessarily entails great physical and spiritual agony. The fractured Independence

that India attained does not appear to have carried any appeal to the people in the

countryside. It would be interesting to look into the scene where the Lambardar

and a Muslim in the village have to comment on the issue of freedom to Iqbal

Singh, a social reformer, who poses a question to them: "why, don't you people

want to be free? Do you want to remain slaves all your lives?'' (Train to Pakistan

62). After a long silence the Larnbardar answers:

Freedom must be a good thing. But what we will get out of it?

Educated people like you, Babu Sahib, will get the jobs as the

English had. Will we get more lands or more buffaloes? 'No', the

Muslim said. Freedom is for the educated people who fought for it.

We were slaves of the English, now we will be slaves of the

educated Indians or the Pakistanis.

(Train to Pakistan 62).

32

Indeed, freedom does not signify much to the ignorant village people.

More buffaloes and more lands are the only things which make their life

comfortable. To a question from Iqbal Singh to the Lambardar as to what is going

to happen in the country, the Lambardar answers angrily:

The winds of destruction are blowing across the land. All we hear

is kill, kill. The only ones who enjoy freedom are thieves, robbers

and cutthroats. Then he added calmly. We were better off under the

British. At least there was security.

(Train to Pakistan 64).

The above speech of Lambardar confirms that the Independence through

partition meant nothing hopeful to common people, but bloodshed and robberies.

It has no value, at least they were in better situation under the British rule. The

partition took place on August 15, 1947 and there was disturbance across the

country. But the village like Mano Majra largely remained peaceful, except for

gossiping and information about brutalities and violence. But early in September,

the tempest of partition made differences to such villages as well. Here

Khushwant Singh speaks about the changing scenario of the village Mano Majra:

Early in September the time schedule in Mana Majra started going

wrong. Trains became less punctual than ever before and many

more started to run through the alarm clock had been set for the

wrong hour. On others, it was as if no one had remembered to wind

it. Imam Baksh waited for Meet Singh to make the first start. Meet

Singh waited for the mullah's call to prayer before getting up.

People stayed lfi bed without realising that times had changed and

33

the mail train might not run through at all. Children did not know

when to be hungry, and clamoured for food all the time. In the

evenings, everyone was indoors before sunset and in bed before the

express came by - if it did come by. Goods trains had stopped

running altogether, so there was no lullaby to lull them to sleep.

Instead, ghost trains went past at odd hours between midnight and

dawn, disturbing the dreams ofMano Majra.

(Train to Pakistan 92-93).

The novelist ironically brings out the fact that while trains to Pakistan were

getting safe passage from India, trains from Pakistan were adding fuel to the

raging fire. It is the arrival of a ghost train from Pakistan loaded with hideously

butchered corpses of Sikh and Hindus, which creates commotion in Mana Majra.

This instantly inflames the communal frenzy of the people in Mano Majra.

Hukum Chand, the Magistrate and Deputy Commissioner of the district, is

acutely conscious of the calamitous situation. He is highly sensual; his primary

motivation being hedonistic. He is a typical representative of contemporary

bureaucracy in India under the British Raj. He would like to escape from the

situation of communal violence. Hukum Chand wanted to know from the sub­

inspector whether there was any communal trouble in the area. The sub-inspector

comments, "We have escaped it so far, Sir. Convoys of Sikhs and Hindu refugees'

from Pakistan has come through and some Muslims have gone out, but we have

had no incidents." (Train to Pakistan 29). But Hukum Chand, the magistrate

seems to be more infonned than the sub-inspector. He tells the police officer: "Do

you know the Sikhs retailed by attacking a Muslim refugee train and sending it

34

across the border with over a thousand corpses? They wrote on the engine Gift to

Pakistan". (Train to Pakistan 29-30).

The sub-inspector thoughtfully answers:

They say this is the only way to stop killing on the other side. Man

for man, woman for woman, child for child. But we Hindus are not

like that. When it comes to an open fight, we can be a match for

any people. I believe our RSS boys beat up Muslim gangs in all the

cities. The Sikhs are not doing there share. They have lost their

manliness. They just talk big.

(Train to Pakistan 30).

The above lines suggest that Mano Majra had a peaceful life. But the sub­

inspector was more concerned about the Sikh pride than maintaining the law and

order. The sub-inspector's observation in this context is significant as he is talking

to no less a person than a magistrate. But Magistrate Hukurn Chand is equally

concerned on reports of indiscriminate brutal killings in Rawalpindi, Multan,

Gujranwala and Sheikhupura.

Hukurn Chand desperately tries to conceal the bloody evidence to avoid

inevitable retaliation upon the local Muslims. But he seems helpless to do

anything to prevent bloodshed. Sikhs in the village are rash and impulsive: "Logic

was never strong point with Sikhs; when they were roused, logic did not matter at

all''. (Train to Pakistan 142). As a precautionary step Muslims of the area are

taken to the refugee camp at Chundunnuggcr, subsequently to be transported to

l'ak is tan.

35

Hukum Chand is terror-stricken and visibly perturbed on the tum of the

events. Realizing that the situation is getting out of control, Hukum Chand orders

the release of Jugga and Iqbal who had been intentionally arrested. They, he

thinks might exert some influence on the misguided youth and save hundreds of

Muslims from being butchered. After securing his freedom, Jugga finds Mano

Majra changed. He finds that all Muslims have quit the village for the refugee

camp. Jugga's immediate concern is the fate of his beloved Nooran. When Jugga

comes to know that there is a conspiracy and learns that the train to be attacked is

carrying his sweetheart Nooran, he decides to do something to save the lives of

the Muslim passengers ultimately, he averts the attack at the cost of his own life.

The title, Train to Pakistan, is very suggestive. It symbolises partition

having taken effect, movement of the people from India to the newly created

Pakistan for a new destination, amid excitement, agony, fear, loot, rape and

turmoil.

The train to Pakistan went on to Pakistan safely, thanks to the supreme

sacrifice by a gallant Sikh, a lifetime criminal, who in his deep love for Nooran,

his beloved, who, too, was in the train along with her folk heading for Pakistan,

turns a martyr. The expression; "The train went over him and went on to

Pakistan"( Train to Pakistan 207) the concluding sentence of the novel, is very

suggestive, poignant and meaningful. Khushwant Singh's Train to Pakistan

deserves a high position in Indo-Anglian Literature. Through the transformation

of history into art form, the author shapes and orders an event, which, in its over­

powering reality, is difficult to grasp. The effects of such a complex and heartfelt

Situation thus assumes new meaning by creative and imaginative intensification.

36

I Shall Not Hear the Nightingale, the second novel of Khushwant Singh,

published in the year 1959, also has a historical back drop. The action of the novel

takes place during the war years, from April 1942 to April 1943. In terms of

Indian history, the freedom movement or Quit India movement has a great

significance. Khushwant Singh treats the plot realistically and the novel has its

roots in the freedom movement. As S.K. Dubey says:

Though it does not probe deep into any political ideology and also

does not subscribe to any political point of view, besides giving a

very inadequate details about the freedom movement, it does give

us a peep into the life and atmosphere during that period. It does

give some details about the countrymen's longing for freedom and

attempt by some enthusiastic young men preparing for terrorist

activities to free the nation from the foreign yoke.

(Khushwant Singh : A Critical Study of His Novels 67)

It was the period when the Quit India movement had been launched by

Mahatma Gandhi in 1942 with bewildering experiments in non-violence. In Train

to Pakistan, Khushwant Singh has successfully pointed out that the fabric of

Mahatma Gandhi's non-violence was instantly turned to pieces when large scale

violence with mass killings suddenly broke out in the wake of partition. In fact,

the two novels give a vivid picture of the agonising past.

I Shall Not Hear the Nightingale tells us about 'The preparations by a

group of educated young men in terrorist methods to free the nation from slavery'.

During the freedom movement, two streams of thought were at work, the terrorist

group kn0\\11 as 'Garamdal' and the non-violent group known as 'Naramdaf·. In

37

the novel, Khushwant Singh presents the colonial encounter between Indians and

the British Government against the background of Punjab. Punjab, the land of five

rivers is known for its own distinctive geographical features, its military history

and Sikh religion. Khushwant Singh tries to give a very microscopic picture of the

Punjabi life at the time of the freedom struggle. The colonial encounter between

the Indians and the British was moving towards a climax on account of the

emergence of nationalistic consciousness among the Indians. There had been a

mixed reaction among Indians towards the British Raj. Khushwant presents a

microscopic picture of the strange mixture of attitude to the alien rule through the

depiction of life in Amritsar district.

In the novel, Khushwant Singh explores the conflicts and tensions between

pro-British and anti-British ideologies that arise in the family of a Sikh

Magistrate, Buta Singh. For example, Buta Singh has great admiration for the

British rule in India:

Loyalty to the Raj had been as much an article of faith with him as

it had been with his father and grand father who had served in the

army. He, like them, had mentioned the English king or queen in

his evening prayer, '0, Guru', bless our sovereign and bless us,

their subjects so that we remain contented and happy.

(I Shall Not Hear the Nightingale 25)

Buta Singh tells his son that the Indian should help the British in their war

against the Germans and other European powers:

I do believe that in this war our interests and that of the English are

identical. If they lose, we lose. If we help them to win, they will

38

certainly give us something more than we have now. We should

know who are our friends and who are our enemies. The English

have ruled us for over a hundred years, and I don't care what you

say, I believe they have treated us better than our own kings did in

the past; or the Germans, Italians or Japanese will do if they win

and take over India. We should stand by the English in their hour

of trouble.

(I Shall Not Hear the Nightingale 24)

Buta Singh's attitude to life is opportunistic. He always wants to secure himself.

He enjoys the confidence of the Deputy Commissioner, John Taylor. John Taylor

says:

'I wish other Indians talked like you, Buta Singh! I rely on you to

guide them. I do not anticipate any trouble today but one never

knows. A small incident may lead to a major riot. There are some

politicians looking for trouble. I am told there are many meetings

this afternoon' ... The Superintendent of Police informs me that

your son has also organized meeting of students. I told him not to

bother about him. "If he is Buta Singh's son," I said "we can trust

him, even if he is a Nationalist or a Communist or anything else."

(l Shall Not Hear the Nightingale 31)

Sher Singh, the son of the District Magistrate Buta Singh, believes in a

diametrically opposite philosophy of life. He is the President of the student union

in the local college. He has patriotic zeal and nationalistic philosophy popularized

by Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru and other leaders. He is not influenced by his father's

39

loyalty to the British. Sher Singh strongly reacts to his father, "We are far too

concerned with other people. Our communist friends are only worried about what

will happen to Britain. Very few of us are bothered about our own future". (I Shall

Not Hear the Nightingale 24)

Sher Singh becomes a leader and enjoys the support of a large mass of

students. He conducts several secret meetings of students to carry out terrorist

activities in the city of Amritsar. Madan, the son of Magistrate Wazir Chand is a

great supporter of his nationalistic activities. Thus the conflict between the pro­

British and the anti-British attitude exists in the same family which may be said to

be a microscopic symbol of the macroscopic phenomenon of the Indian political

life. Buta Singh is a supporter of the British rule because he has the knowledge of

the internal contradictions and conflicts ofindian life.

Sher Singh is the freedom fighter who wants India for Indians. He

expresses his nationalistic ideology in the fiery speech he delivers at the gathering

of patriotic students:

Comrades, we meet at a critical time. The enemy is at our gates ....

Comrades we not only have the enemy at our doorstep we have

enemies within our own house .... Those who sacrifice the interests

of the mother land for foreign countries are our enemy No. 1. They

have been rightly named as the kaum nashts destroyers of the

race ..... There are people who want to cut off the limbs of Mother

India and make another state of Pakistan. They too arc our

enemies .... But we are Sikhs who do not fear any enemies. We

shall destroy all those who stand in our way.

40

(I Shall Not Hear the Nightingale 43-44)

Sher Singh is able to look at the history of his own country for heroes

'someone like Sivaji, or Rana Pratap, or our own Guru Govind Singh'. (I Shall

Not Hear the Nightingale : 86). Sher Singh's mother has developed the habit of

echoing her husband's view that the British should stay on in India: "We eat their

salt, and as long as we eat it, we will remain loyal" (I Shall Not Hear the

Nightingale 89). To this Sher Singh inunediately reacts: "Who eats whose salt?

They suck our blood. (I Shall Not Hear the Nightingale 89) His hope of freedom:

"Spring will come to our barren land once more .... Once more the nightingales

will sing." (I Shall Not Hear the Nightingale 89)

By this time, Mahatma Gandhi influences the nationalist to act rigorously.

The Gandhi-Cap attack shops and public offices and "Each time it was the same

story-demonstrations, violence, arrests everywhere - everywhere except in

Punjab" (1 Shall Not Hear the Nightingale 171). He also receives a cyclostyled

letter with a caption, 'A Manifesto of the Hindus tan Socialist Republican Anny'.

It drew attention to the arrest of the leaders and asked the youth of

India to rise and rid themselves of foreign rule. It did not mince its

words. 'Shoot English officials and the Indian toadies who serve

them. Destroy roads and bridges; cut telegraph and telephone

wires; create chaos and paralyse the administration. This is your

sacred duty. Long live the revolution.

(I Shall Not Hear the Nightingale 170)

Now Sher Singh's rebellious impulse grows more intense. Finally he

decides that he should take some terroristic action. In a secret meeting, Sher Singh

41

and his friends take the oath of liberating the country from British rule. They take

the oath in the name of the great martyr, Bhagat Singh. They define their main

target clearly. Sher Singh makes it more clear: "The call is to destroy means of

communication. A few bridges blown up, a few roads barricaded, and the British

Army will be stuck where it is." (I Shall Not Hear the Nightingale 172).

Later, Sher Singh is arrested for the murder of Jhima Singh and the police

try to find out the identity of the other conspirants. On the other hand, Buta Singh

is more worried about his position. He does not wish to associate himself with his

son in the prison. Sabhrai, decides to take up the responsibility of meeting her son.

After all, Sher Singh is discharged by the intervention of Mrs. Taylor. Thus, Sher

Singh becomes a hero in the eyes of his fellow rebels and nationalists. He is

garlanded, photographed and cheered by the enthusiastic audience. He thumps his

chest and declares:

Comrades ... 'I will cherish the honour you have done me today for

the rest of my life. I've proved that I was called upon to do a small

duty to my country and I did it' ... 'you all know how well the king

Emperor- may peace be upon him - looks after his guest' .... 'But

they could not break the spirit of the son of India and God willing

they never will'.

(I Shall Not Hear the Nightingale 251)

The novel I Shall Not Hear the Nightingale presents the paradoxical

picture of the colonial encounter, before independence between the Indians and

the British including both the positive and the negative aspect, the submission as

42

well as rebellion simultaneously involved in it. As Vasavraj Naikar says in his

essay "Imperialism and Nationalism in I Shall Not Hear the Nightingale":

The novel can be easily contrasted with Chinua Achebc' s Things

Fall Apart where the same theme is depicted in reverse fashion.

Whereas in I Shall Not Hear the Nightingale, the sons rebels

against the British rule and the father submits to it, in Things Fall

Apart the father rebels against the British rule and the son submits

to it in the form of being converted to Christianity.

(Khushwant Singh The Man and the Writer 161)

Khushwant Singh's Delhi is a queer blend of history romance and sex. The

main theme of the novel is history, history confined to portrayal of Delhi in

certain periods of history under certain rulers, history, which is not all-inclusive

but selective. The novelist is also strictly personal and whimsical in selection of

the period of history, encompassing six centuries, personages and commoners.

History is a record of various events that transpired in different times and an

account of great personalities who dominated their respective eras. It is a study

made by historians on the basis of available inscriptions, monuments and

documents. Emphasizing the chronology of happenings and rulers, history

remains one dimensional and lifeless, but Khushwant Singh makes history much

more interesting through his wonderful craftmanship in his much acclaimed novel

Delhi. Khushwant Singh says about Delhi in his Author's note:

In this novel I have tried to tell the story of Delhi from its earliest

beginnings to the present times. I constructed it from records

chronicled by eyewitness. Hence most of it is told in the first

43

person. History provides me with the skeleton. I covered it with

flesh and injected blood and a lot of seminal fluid into it.

(Delhi Author's Note)

The novelist travels through time, space and history picking up threads of

his choice to suit the canvas of his narration. In his journey, however, the author

has skipped over important events and personages of the past and contemporary

India and as such authenticity of history as detailed by him may be questioned.

But the chosen historical events and personages are only a cover for the message

the author wants to give for the future and the lesson to be learnt from the past.

The chapters of the novel contain the vivid picturisation of history commencing

from Ghiasuddin Balban and ending with the assassination of Indira Gandhi. This

book is a fascinating amalgam of the ancient and the modem; the metropolis and

the village; the Royalty and the commoners; the festivals and the flirtations; the

aromas and the stench. Bhagmati, the hijda forms the saucy undercurrent that

links all these diverse factors.

The novel begins with a very unusual analogy where Delhi is compared to

a hijda but very quickly he gives the reason: "I have two passions in my life; my

city Delhi and Bhagmati. They have two things in common: they are lots of fun.

And they are sterile" (Delhi 30). In Delhi each chapter is linked by some incidents

that pave a new direction for the ensuing historical development of Delhi.

Bhagmati, the hijda, is an interesting character that develops parallel in the mind

of the author and intensifies the sterility and hollowness of the so-called

sophistication prevailing among the higher strata of society.

44

As the author-narrator undertakes an epic journey in time, he comes across

many people, emperors and eunuchs, poets and prostitutes, saints and soldiers who

have participated or have been witness to major historical upheavals wherein

some of them take the task of throwing light on their personal lives and on the

times in which they lived. All the episodes of history are narrated in first person

by the protagonist to give the narration the intensity of authenticity. Each episode

of history is co-related with the Bhagmati episode so as to provide an easy access

to past and present. The novel begins in a typical Khushwant Singh style. The

author's association with hijda, Bhagmati, his amorous activities, his infatuation

for 'white skin' and certain adventures with lady JHT bring to light the mundane

world of Delhi. But the ruins of certain historical places unfold a new vista. Thus

starts the journey of the reader through time, space and history. In fact what

follows in the novel, in the form of history, places and anecdotes has been

described by the author himself in the paragraph below:

At the Qutub Minar I told them of the number of suicides that had

taken place and how no one could jump clear of the tower and

come down in one piece. I told them of Humayun's father, Babar,

going round his son's sickbed four times praying to Allah to

transfer his son's illness to him and how Humayun had been

restored to health and Babar died a few days later. About the Red

fort and its places, I had picked up a lot of interesting details from

the time Shah Jahan built it, the kings who had sat on the peacock

throne, and were later blinded or murdered; the British who had

taken it after the Mutiny of 1857; the trials of INA officers, dO\m

45

to 15 August 1947 when Lord Mountbatten had lowered the Union

Jack and Nehru hoisted the Indian tricolour on the ramparts.

Having once done my homework there was little more to do than

impress the tourists with my learning.

(Delhi 108)

Musaddilal's narration takes the reader way back to the 13th century, the

reign of Ghiassuddin Balban. The reader is shifted to the past as Musaddilal

narrated his time:

The very name Ghaisuddin Balban made people urinate with fear.

He had a terrible temper and was known to execute anyone who as

much as raised his eyes to look at him. He kept two huge Negroes

beside him to hack off the heads of people he sentenced to death.

(The Oxford History oflndia 55)

The great historian Vincent A Smith says the same thing about the cruelty

of Ghiassuddin Balban:

He had no regard for human life, and no scruples about shedding

blood. He was, indeed, a 'ruthless king'. Fear and awe of him took

possession of all men's hearts; and he maintained such pomp and

dignity at his court that all beholders were impressed with respect

for his person. He never laughed. His justice, executed without

respect of persons, was stem and bloody.

(The Oxford History of India 241)

Some times Khushwant Singh reconstructs history with a totally new

approach. The general beliefs about various occurrences and personalities are

46

questioned or turned upside down. Prithvi Raj is held to be a great Hindu ruler,

but Musaddi Lal has something different to say:

Their great hero was Prithvi Raj Chauhan who had defeated Ghori

once at Tarain in AD 1191. But the very next year, on the same

battlefield, he had been defeated and slain by the same Ghori. They

had an answer to that too. Prithivi Raj's only mistake was to spare

the life of the maleecha when he had first defeated him, they would

reply. Nobody really knows the truth about this Prithiv Raj. A poet

fellow named Chand Bardai had made a big song - and - dance

about him. This great hero Prithivi Raj married lots of women and

even educated the daughter of neighboring raja. But you could not

say a word against him to the Hindus. Next to Sri Ramchandraji, it

was Samrat Prithivi Raj Chauhan who they worshipped.

(Delhi 54- SS)

He further says:

Sultan Ghiasuddin Balban's eldest son, Prince Mohammed, was

killed fighting the Mongols. The mighty Sultan who had ruled

Hindustan for twenty two years with an iron hand wept like a

woman. He would not eat or sleep or attend to the affairs of the

state. He fell ill but would not allow the royal physician to feel his

pulse. In a few days he was reduced to a skeleton and died.

(Delhi 63)

Historian Vincent A. Smith also says the same story:

47

His eldest and best-loved son was killed in a fight with the

heathens in March 1285. That sorrow shook the strong constitution

of Balban, the 'wary old wolf, who had held possession of Delhi

for sixty years' he died in 1286 at an advanced age.

(The Oxford History oflndia 242)

The history gets unrolled step by step and Delhi witness a new era of

prophets like Nizamuddin Anliya: "The Khwaja Shahib's words were like nector

cooled in mountain streams of paradise (Delhi 67). When Allauddin Khilji became

the emperor, the situation went from bad to worse. Sultan Allauddin Khilji steps

up his mission of destruction, paying no heed to the Sufi saint's secular message.

Allauddin also built a new city, Siri and planned to raise another Qutub Minar

higher than the first one. As Vincent A. Smith says:

Ala-ud-din loved building and executed many magnificent works.

He built a new Delhi called Siri on the site now marked by the

village of Shahpur, .... He made extensive additions to the 'Qutub'

group of spread structures, and began a gigantic minar, which was

intended to far surpass the noble Qutub Minar .... In early life he

was illiterate, but after his accession acquired the art of reading

Persian to some extent. In spite of his personal indifference of

learning several eminent literary men attended his court, of whom

the most famous is Amir Khusru, a voluminous and much admired

author in both verse and prose.

(The Oxford History of India 24 7)

48

Musaddi La! told us that the great poet Amir Khusru (Abdul Hassan) was

born of a Hindu mother and Muslim father. The fall of Delhi under the Sultan

Qutubaddin Mubarak Shah is visualized as the end of 'degenerate transvestite',

'sodomite catamite'. A most bizarre relationship described between Qutubuddin

Mubarak Shah the Emperor of Hindustan and Khusrau Khan, who was a Hindu

Pawar boy captured during an expedition to Gujrat. He is an effeminate, though

extremely handsome and attractive lad. The Sultan promptly fell in love with him.

His infatuation was so much that he turned his back upon all the beautiful women

of his well-stocked harem. The Muslims became extremely upset with this

ongoing homosexual affair. The Sultan thinking that they objected to the fact that

his beloved was a Hindu, had him converted to Islam and re-named Khusrau

Khan. Later Khusrau Khan killed the sultan and declared himself as the new

Emperor Nasimuddin Mohammed. Vincent A. Smith tells us:

Qutb-ud-din or Mubarak Khan a son of Ala-ud-din ... The young

sovereign was wholly evil. He was infatuated with a youth named

Hasan, originally and outcaste parwari, whom he ennobled under

the style of Khusru Khan .... Ultimately the degraded creature was

killed by his minion, Khusru Khan, aided by his outcast brethren,

'and the basis of the dynasty of Ala-ud-din was utterly razed' ....

The lowborn triumph did not last long. After a few months the

usurper was defeated and beheaded by Ghazi Malik .... the fact

that the disordered state required a master, elected Ghazi Malik to

till the vacant throne. He assumed the title of Ghiyas-ud-din

Tughluq, and is often called Tughluq Shah (AD 1921 ).

49

(The Oxford History ofindia 24 7- 248 )

The African traveller, !ban Batuta and the Indian historian Zia-ud-din.

Barani detailed the second sovereign of the Tughluq dynasty, who appears in his

history as Muhammad bin Tughluq. They describe him as 'he was not wholly

evil'. He was the 'humblest of men' an egoist. Muhammad Tughluq shifted his

capital form Delhi to Daulatabad (1327) and experimented with the financial

policy by issuing the copper coins. Musaddi La!' s son Kamal informs his father:

Sultan Mohammed Tughluq has gone mad .... In fits of generosity

he gives away lakhs of tankas, in fits of madness he cuts off lakhs

of heads. He issued copper coins to represent silver rupees and gold

tankas. Cunning people forge copper coins and take their value in

silver and gold till there is nothing left in the treasury .... And now

he has issued a proclamation transferring his capital form Delhi to

Daulatabad 700 miles down towards gehennum. He has ordered

every man, woman and child to evacuate Tughlakabad and travel

southwards with him. This is indeed madness.

(Delhi 85)

The history is brought to a state of stand still, as the scene shifts from

generation to generation, emperor to emperor and from Lalkot, Mehrauli, Shahr-I­

Nam, Tughlakabad to Delhi, present to past and then to present again. The interest

is sustained and the comparison between the times past and the times present

continues. The present rolls back with Bhagmati and the writer. Khushwant's visit

to Hauz-I-Alai with Bhagmati and there being bitten by bees, 'the evil spirits of

those slaughtered by that Taimur lang', transports the mind of the reader back to

50

the pages of history. A link between the past and the present is thus created by the

narrator through his dream, "scenes from the past come vividly before my eyes. I

wonder what kind of savage was this Taimur who revelled in the massacre of

innocents! I have his Memoirs: To his own words, I add some gloss". (Delhi 94)

Taimur Lang invaded Delhi on December 1398. During Taimur Lang's

time Delhi was looted and crushed and the people massacred. The savagery and

the more humane elements are presented equally in the novel Delhi. The

narrator's empathetic gaze probes Taimur's mind for the motives that spurred him

to loot and kill, and discovers how power pursuits were shrewdly mixed with

religious crusades during his times. Taimur, who committed ghastly crime of

slaying thousands of people, narrated it as if he was compelled to do so:

It does not take long for the men of Hindustan to switch their

minds from fawning flattery to deadly hate. They began to make

excuses for their failure to pay the indemnity we had imposed on

them. Under the cover of darkness many stole out of Siri, Mehrauli,

and Jahanpanhah with their possessions. Guards we had posted at

the city gates were slain. We ordered our troops to enter these

towns and extend these towns and extend the hand of rapine, to

stay every able-bodied man and take his women and children as

slaves. For the next ten days our men drenched their sword in

blood. There was no count of the numbers killed: some said 50,000

others 5,00,000.

(Delhi 100- 101)

Regarding the same period of history Vincent A. Smith comments:

51

Timur himself crossed the Indus, with a large cavalry force, said to

number 90,000, sacked Tulamba, to the north-east of Mullan,

massacring or enslaving the inhabitants. Near Loni, where

Mohammed Tughluq essayed to oppose him, the invader won an

easy victory. After a second victory near the city Timur occupied

Delhi and was proclaimed king. Some resistance by the inhabitants

provoked a general massacre. The city was throughly plundered for

five days, all the accumulated wealth of generation beings carried

off to Samarqand, along with a multitude of women and other

captives.

(The Oxford History oflndia 261)

The guilt that Taimur could not assuage for lifetime is then brought out

when after all the blood letting, he is portrayed as seeking divine pardon by

simply lip servicing the prayer: "may Allah forgive us for any sins we may have

committed".(Delhi102). The statement is meant to be paradoxical. He is himself

not sure whether he had rightly done so. The short span ofTaimur's stay was like

a devastating storm that left a big scar on the face of Delhi.

Scenes shift once again the canvas of history with a galaxy of luminaries

like the great Mughals: Jahangir, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb. Taj Mahal is

considered to be an emblem of love and Shah Jahan a great lover. So it is

interesting to note the way Jaita Rangreta looks upon this:

The new badshah who called himself Shah Jahan or King of the

world was not as Za/im as his father had been. Although he had

killed his brother's familif'c~ wh.-n he came on the throne, he did not 'II.&DjlllA: n.ll!i' · I' ·q~~· ,•'' • •" • •. \llll!:D WiW , ,U.L ~~"' ' ---• ,

T 213.J3 .• . "~ ... '• .. .·· ,. ---.... . . .

52

hurt any one else.... Like his father, grandfather and great

grandfather and others before them, this badshah also liked women.

His favourite was a queen whom he kept pregnant from the day he

married her. In the fourteen years they were married she had

fourteen sons and daughter. She could not take any more and died

giving birth to her fourteenth child. The badshah was so sad that he

decided to make the biggest and most beautiful grave over her

body.

(Delhi 125)

The last important ruler of the Mughal dynasty, Aurangazeb Alarngir is

generally considered to be one of the most mis-understood rulers in Indian history.

The entire chapter here seems like a statement of self-defence by him to explain

the reasons for his actions or inaction. A devout Muslim, he has been called a

bigot and a fanatic by most non-Muslims. As Vincent A. Smith writes:

... he had lived, striving to attain the ideal of a strict Muslim ascetic

of the school of Hanifa. He endeavoured to follow the law and

traditions in every detail of his personal conduct and habits .... He

abstained scrupulously from the slightest indulgence in any

prohibited food, drink, or dress.... He desired all judicial

proceeding to be conducted in precise accordance with Muslim

law. He excluded Hindus from holding office so far as possible,

cast down their temples, and harassed them by insulting regulation

because he believed that he was bound to do so by the precedent of

53

the early Kha/ifs. For the same reason he enforced the levy of the

Jizya.

(The Oxford History oflndia 425)

Khushwant Singh presents Aurangazeb here as a lonely voice crying out

for recognition. His claim to fame is in his firm faith that he was only obeying the

voice of his master:

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful and in the name

of His Messenger, the Refuge of the World, I, Abdul Muzaffar

Mohiuddin Mohammed, on whom Allah in His Divine wisdom

bestowed the sovereignty of the Empire of Hindustan, pen this

brief account of the ninety years of his life and forty-eight years of

his reign. I do this so that Allah who is just will punish those who

have transgressed against truth in writing about me.

(Delhi 124)

He realizes that as he has taken birth in a dynasty of rulers, he must take

on the responsibility of serving the people of Hindustan. He remained a devout

Muslim even in the face of accusations and temptations:

Misguided historians have written many falsehoods about the way

we came to acquire sovereignty over Hindustan, while our father

emperor Shah Jahan was still alive. They have maligned our name

as a scheming self-seeker and a plotter. They forget that the holy

book says; 'God is the best of plotters'. We were but the instrument

of his design.

(Delhi 151)

54

Aurangzeb also sets out to justifY his murder of his brothers, deposing and

imprisonment of his father and harassment of Hindus:

Allah who knows the innermost secrets of our hearts knew that we

had no thought ·of royalty when we responded to Murad's request

to join him on the march to Agra. Only aim was to save the empire

from falling into the hands of an enemy of Islam like Dara Shikoh.

(Delhi 154)

Delhi is notoriously umque in conception and execution. It has

innumerable associations as each stone of old Delhi has layers of hidden, untold,

revelations. In writing about the well-known invader Nadir Shah, Khushwant

Singh gives graphic details of Shah's carnage in the city of Delhi, his proving of

his potency with the young slave girl Noor Bai, his treatment of Saadath Khan

who had insulted him in the mehji/, his cunningness in appropriating the Kohinoor

from Mohammed Shah. Nadir Shah has his own assessment of the people of

Hindustan:

They were double-faced in the way they continued to protest their

loyalty to their monarch and to us till they were sure who was

going to be victorious. We had seen how timid they were in the

field of battle and how abject in the hour of defeat. We had

suffered their florid speeches in which they concealed insinuations

under sugarcoating of flattery. We saw how violent they could be

when they came in large numbers upon a few unsuspecting

soldiers. And now that the angel of death hovered over them they

were as supine as a flock of sheep.

55

(Delhi 186)

Nadir Shah tries to conceal his avarice by calling 'Delhiites' cunning,

double faced, timid and flatterers and blames 'Delhiites' for brutal act of murders

and plunders, that he committed. As Vincent A Smith informs:

Nadir Shah took terrible vengeance. Seated in the Golden Mosque

of Roshan-ud-daula, situated in the main street of the city, he

commanded and watched for nine hours the indiscriminate

massacre of the people in uncounted thousands.

(The Oxford History oflndia 4 3 7)

However cruel Nadir Shah might have proved to be for the people of

Delhi, he had love for honesty and straight forwardness: " An Emperor may

command anything within his empire except an honest man and a woman's

heart".(Delhi 192)

The pages of the history of Delhi open a new chapter related to sheer

poetry ofMeer Taqui Meer for whom "poetry a feeling of ecstasy" (Delhi 195)

Meer' s amorous involvement with Be gam Sahib a, and his estrangement

with his own wife leaves an impression of human infidelity. Meer' s first visit to

Delhi and the 'mushaira' give an intoxicating experience to the reader. Life

unfolds the beauty of delicacy of poetry lovers on the one hand, and on the other

hand for ten years during Meer's lifetime, Delhi was looted, people massacred and

the houses ruined: "Burnt/a flames till every building was reduced to ashes I How

fair a city was the heart to love put to the fire'"· (Delhi 232). The city Delhi is the

silent victim. As Meer says: "Delhi was never the same after the Iranians had slain

56

its soul. Kings, noblemen and their hirelings come like flocks of vultures to peck

at its corpse"(Delhi 226)

The narrators of 1857 mutiny and its aftermath are Alice Aid well, a British

lady; Nihal Singh, a Sikh; and Bahadur Shah Zafar. This time Alice Aldwell, the

English lady becomes the author's mouthpiece. Hers is a harrowing fate of the

dungeons, the fifth, the insults and cruel deaths that the whites were subjected to;

the abomination of their bodies and the sacrilege of their souls. Alice Aldwell has

to transform herself into Ayesha Bano Begum to save her life and the lives of her

three children. She was raped by Mirza Abdulla and his two lusty friends. The

grace of the Nawab was at its decline and they, as the cheap 'sex sellers' passed

their time with nothing else but inhuman licentiousness.

Delhi was losing her glory along with the decline of the Mughul Saltanat.

Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last Mughul Emperor witnessed the recession and

expressed:

We were king only by title. We lived in a palace, which was once

said to be the most beautiful in the world; it was now a palace only

in name. And even that was to be denied to our sons. We had been

informed that on our demise our family would be asked to quit the

Red Fort. The firangi had given us only a drop out of ocean of

fortune that our great ancestors had bequeathed to us; we accepted

that drop and called it a tribute ... it was a pension. An emperor, a

pensioner of his subjects.

(Delhi 226)

57

The intrigues of the 'jirangi' continued and the state of affairs were forced

by hook or crook to favour their intentions of grabbing everything that belonged

to Hindustan. Time passed and Delhi was now the place where, "there was no

grain or fodder in the market: The poor were driven to desperation. Many turned

to thieving and robbery". (Delhi 272 - 273) The English took the best advantage

of the internal jealousy and conflict prevailing among the Muslims and the rulers.

During Bhadur Shah's trial and tribulations most of his begums and his sons

deserted him. Only Zeenat Mahal stood by him through thick and thin. After a

shameful imprisonment, an ignominious trial, the old man was sent to exile and

the age of the native rulers came to a very tragic end. As Smith says, "the Emperor

Bahadur Shah had been promised his wife. After a trial of doubtful legality he was

exiled to Rangoon where he died". (The Oxford History oflndia 671 - 672)

Nihal Singh, a Sikh becomes the author's mouthpiece. Nihal Singh, an

orderly of Hudson Sahib who fights bravely for the English, praises them for their

killing instinct and is not able to empathize with rebels though he is an Indian. He

typifies the average Indian hirelings of both the British and native amps during

those harrowing days.

However arrogantly the British behaved in Delhi, the author gives them

credit as "Builders" of monuments. They left behind viceregal palaces, secretarial,

Legislative Assembly, a large number of sprawling bungalows and dingy clerks'

quarters. Block of shops sprung up on the busy bazaar roads and Delhi began to

feel the pleasure of cinema houses and restaurants. The Modern Delhi was getting

a new shape, suitable to the temperament of the British rulers:

58

Before Hardinge there were viceroys who had given clear hints that

they regarded Delhi, as India's most important city. In 1877 it was

in Delhi Lord Lytton had read the proclamation recognizing Queen

Victoria an Empress of Hindustan. Likewise in 1930 it was in

Delhi that Lord Curzon had held the darbar in honour of the

coronation of king Edward VII.... Three days after inaugurating

the darbar. Their Majesties laid the foundation stone of the new

capital at Kingsway Camp.

(Delhi 321)

And then Gandhi carne. Soon the fiery spirit of swadeshi engulfed the

hearts of the docile Indians, and the author says:

My old mother who had at home one time lit incense in front of a

picture of Queen Victoria now spent her time praying and spinning

her charkha and once she gave me a bundle of yam she had spun to

be presented to Gandhi.

(Delhi 342)

The nation felt a new wake of mass movement. Delhi became the center of

all sorts of hubbubs:

One morning in April 1929, having obtained a pass, I was seated in

the visitors' gallery of the central Assembly .... I looked up and saw

the two young men who had been sitting next to me firing shots at

the members .... What those boys wanted to achieve by killing

legislators was beyond me. I knew they would hang for it. (They

died for the murder of an Anglo-Indian sergeant committed earlier.

59

Bhagat Singh, Sukh Dev and Rajguru were hanged on 23 March

1931)

(Delhi 341)

After Independence, the partition, the settlement of the migrants and the

rivalry between the Hindus and the Muslims, became a part of life of this

historical city Delhi.

The protagonist of the story "The Dispossessed" too undergoes a similar

metamorphosis at the end of the story. Having joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak

Sangh (R.S.S.) more for reasons of unemployment than any suspect grand cause,

like the protection of the Hindu dharma, or the cleansing of the unclean

Mussalmans as well as Christians from Bharat , the protagonist kills and loots,

and even learns to imitate Gandhi, the father of the nation, on whom he is asked to

keep a strict vigil by the chief, to provide entertainment to his comrade. His

transformation comes when the man whom he had always wanted dead and would

have willingly killed with his own hands, is murdered before his own eyes.

Overcome by a rage he cannot himself discern, he jumps on the murderer and

starts bashing him up. The police separate him, and he finds himself crying and

waiting on a pavement; telling the crowd that has gathered around him: "My bapu

is dead" and further that, "I killed him with my own hands".(Delhi 374)

The last chapter of the novel is a brief account of the Hindu-Sikh riots that

spread in the wake of the assassination of the then Prime Minister- Indira Gandhi

by her Sikh body guards on 31" October 1984.

There are as many as nine historical chapters in the novel and these are

monologues of ordinary men who include Musaddi La!, Jaita Rangreta, Mcer Taqi

60

Meer, Alice Aldwell, Bahadur Shah Zafar, Nihal Singh and such other people as

narrate the events of the early 201h century.

Besides, historical personages have been dealt with in three chapters and

they are Taimur, Aurangzeb ·and Nadir Shah who in their interior monologue

explain to the readers the driving force and impulses behind their actions.

It is amazing that Singh who has worked on history should in this novel

skip over a vast and important period of the history of Delhi. As O.P. Mathur

writes in his essay "Khushwant Singh's Delhi: A Gloss on History":

In fact, he has skipped over large and significant areas of the

history of Delhi before Balban, all the Hindu rulers, a number of

Muslim rulers including some of the Mughuls. The gradual rise of

the East India Company, the Quit India Movement, The Indian

Independence and Partition, and the China War and the two

Pakistani wars. Among the events of more recent history, while the

Kashmir problem and emergency have been totally ignored,

inordinately long space has been given to the Punjab problem and

the anti-Sikh riots of 1984.

(Indian Literature Today: Vol. II: Poetry and Fiction 203)

Besides, commenting on the selection of periods form history personages

and commoners, Mathur in the same article observes, "the basis on which events

and characters have been selected for delineation seems to be only the novelist's

personal predilection and the extent of the inspiration provided to him by them".

(Indian Literature Today: Vol. II: Poetry and Fiction 203)

61

The main thing is that Khushwant Singh attempts only a novel and not a

history of the city Delhi. In this novel, Singh looks at Delhi from the cultural,

moral and human aspects in addition to the political and social ones. He views

their events through a microscope giving us quaint details in miniature. At other

times, he seems to be viewing it through a telescope taking all of history in his

purview. History and fiction thus coalesce into Delhi; a novel. Its artistic

presentation of subjective history and novel narrative technique makes Delhi

comparable to much great historical novels of Tolosloy's War and Peace and Ivo

Andric's The Bridge on the Dring.

62

Works Cited

Benton, William. Webster's Third New International Dictionary. Chicago:

Chicago University, 1957.

Dhawan, R.K. Three Contemporary Novelists. New Delhi: Classical Publishing

Company, 1985.

Dhawan, R.K. Khushwant Singh the Man and the Writer. New Delhi: Prestige

Books, 2001.

Dubey, S.K. Khushwant Singh: A Critical Study of his Novels. Delhi B.R

Publishing Corporation, 1999

Fry, Northrop. Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays. Princeton: Princeton

University Press, 1957.

Mathur, O.P. "Khushwant Singh Delhi: A Gloss on History", Indian Literature

Today: Vol II : Poetry & Fiction. Ed. R.K. Dhawan. New Delhi: Prestige

Books, 1994.

Mehta, Nandini. Not a Nice Man to Know : The Best of Khushwant Singh. New

Delhi: Penguin Books India, 1953.

Sharma, K.K. and Johri, B.K., The Partition in Indian English Novels. Ghaziabad:

Virna! Prakashan, 1981.

Shahane, Vasant Anant. Khushwant Singh. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1972.

Simpson, J.A. and E.S.C. Weiner. Ed., The Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford:

Clarendon Press, 1989.

Singh, Khushwant. A Train to Pakistan. New Delhi: Ravi Dayal Publishers, 1956

I Shall Not Hear the Nightingale .New Delhi: Ravi Dayal Publishers, 1959.

Delhi. New Delhi: Penguin Books India Limited, \990.

63

Whitney, David C. Encyclopedia Americana. New York: American Corporation,

1965.