Partition

The Swadeshi Movement of Bengal (1905-1908) came up to protest against the division of the Presidency of Fort William into two separate provinces. Its leaders attempted to popularise its ideologies amongst the masses by including ethno-cultural motifs. Religious festivals like Durga Puja and Kali Puja were celebrated by the Swadeshi leaders with the motive of spreading anti-colonial sentiments amongst the people and forging a nation. Urban writers experimented with the folk forms to propagate Swadeshi ideologies. Ramendrasundar Trivedi (1864-1919) wrote Bangalakshmir Bratakatha (1905) in the bratakatha (ritual tales) form and was an allegory of the nation of the Bengalis as visualised by the Swadeshis. Trivedi's aim was to preach the ideals of the Swadeshi movement among the women, the spiritual core of the nation in the making. However, the principles proposed in the Bratakatha reflect an image of a nation which is against the idea of pan-Indian nationalism propagated by the Swadeshis. Trivedi, rather, propagates sub-nationalist ideology. Based on the above made observations, the proposed paper aims to study the use of folklore to represent the ideology of the urban/political. The paper also attempts to study the formulation of nationalism/ sub-nationalism in Trivedi's work.

The Partition of Bengal in 1905 sowed the seeds of anti-colonial nationalism in India. The ensuing anti-Partition movement went on to become the precursor of the Indian National Movement. The movement, as a result, established the codes on which the creation of the 'imagined political community' was attempted. Nevertheless, this process of 'making of the nation' by the antiPartition nationalist movement faced resistance from sections of the Bengali society. Bangla literature also responded to the conflict visible in the political world as it depicted multilayered response to the Partition, the anti-Partition movement and the model of Indian nationalism posited by the varied sections. This paper attempts to trace and thereby understand the varied responses to the anti-Partition movement through the depiction of women in the Bangla historical plays written during the Partition era(1905-1911).

Indian art consisted of many distinct artistic styles where artists blended traditional and western art traditions and created art depicting the rapid change in the society and even in the art styles. Zarina Hashmi is a semiabstract artist who stepped into the Indian art world to express the after effects of partition indicative of migration from India to Pakistan. Her relationship and engagement with paper has been very unique. The involvement of Paper in her artworks is surrounded by themes like exile, isolation and displacement evoking her inner feelings. Through paper she identifies her belongingness which she compares with skin. The study enquires about the artworks created by Zarina Hashmi and related to home revolving around paper which were exhibited in the popular exhibition 'Paper like Skin' at Hammer Museum, Los Angeles featuring approximately 60 artworks. It focuses on few of the important artworks which reflect the artist's nostalgic memories back at home in India. The concept of using Paper as the common medium in most of the artworks has been studied here. The paper also focusses on the observation that the medium Paper has been an essential element during the artist's journey. Zarina being the strong woman of her times has been able to distinguish her longing for a real home; detached from all the temporary houses she resided in. The process of her learning art depicts her attachment with Paper, whom she personifies and compares her with her own life situation. The interpretation done through the artworks indicate that the artist did not choose to return back to her real home in India as she could not erase the pain and suffering, she underwent during partition. The faded memories in her mind where she was separated from her home and her childhood memories are quite visible through her artworks.