Borders, blind spots, and broken histories

I have officially read the first nonfiction book of my life, Shattered Lands: Five Partitions and the Making of Modern Asia, by Scottish Historian Sam Dalrymple. The reading was aided by a South Asian literature and Bangladeshi History course I have taken this semester, and I found myself engrossed to have come across familiar records the writer has shared in the book that I already read in depth for this class. It was equally invigorating to witness the gaping holes present in our national history.

These omissions are brought forth in Shattered Lands; the book looks at Southasian history through telescopic vision connecting dots from the Partition of Burma to the making of Bangladesh, intertwining it with modern day politics. Dalrymple introduces the book as one of the "epics" of the 20th century, and he unfolds this tale as the beginning of the end of Indian administrative colonialism in 1928. Initially, the author stars well-known characters like Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Mohandas Gandhi, Lord Louis Mountbatten, Jawaharlal Nehru and their ilk, embellishing the novel with glimpses into their love life and internal relationships that have shaped their politics. The author briefly explores the controversial friendship between Mountbatten and Nehru—that the commander of  the Viceroy's Bodyguards called him "Pro-Hindu"—despite Nehru's love affair with Edwina, an English heiress and wife of Lord Mountbatten. The narrative further discusses the aristocrats often prioritising them as their desires and power remaps the land, using quotations from their own biographies to provide further historical information. For example, he uses an excerpt from VP Menon's biography to allude that at a party Mount Batten had a 'friendly talk' with the princely rulers who had not yet decided whether to accede to India or Pakistan.

As the book progresses, it expands to include people on the periphery, however, they are addressed as a collective. Dalrymple's practice in oral history allows him to shed light on the people who were deeply connected to such historical events—from a Sikh mining engineer in Burma to a Bihari who underwent his third nationality change—ones whose identities were abandoned in mainstream history. Although the book features accounts of people like the king of Chakma tribe, Tridiv Roy, who later chose to stay in West Pakistan due to anger over Bengali Nationalism, and the Hindu Urdu poet Fikr Taunsvi, it could have also benefited from oral records of women from marginalised backgrounds.

Notably, Burma's Partition is largely omitted from our national curriculum despite the country sharing a border with us. Dalrymple refocuses his historiographical lens on the borderlands. The author provides the history of the Arakan state that has enabled the military to otherise and justify the Rohingya genocide. Dalrymple also zooms in on the Naga independence movement and the Mizo uprising, and their connection to Bangladesh's war of liberation. The author underlines the people's suffering as he talks about how these movements were co-opted by politicians in a geographical competition between India and Pakistan. The historian writes, "it is perhaps more useful to see it as an attempt to undo the partition of India and Burma and reunite the Nagas on both sides" rather than secessionism. He doesn't just share historical information but takes historical stances by recognising East Pakistan's liberation before moving on to address the breaking of the nation as the "Partition of Pakistan".

The book also dives into the partition of the Arabian Peninsula from India where the formation of South Yemen led to an exodus of Indians and Pakistanis, in the same way Arabs were othered and exiled from Hyderabad after its annexation to India. Dalrymple tells a succinct tale of the fall of Shaykhs and the rise of the nationalist leaders, propelled by Britain hurrying to end their imperial rule. More than that, the author revives the forgotten connection by reminding readers of Haleem, a Hyderabadi Sultan of Yemen and Oman's temples.

Sam Dalrymple's Shattered Lands should be an essential read across South Asia. The book is a reminder of a recent, shared history where the blindspot on one narrative often acts as a censor and a nationalistic tool. It is a reminder of the violence and fragility of borders.  

Zarin Junainah Anam is an English literature major and bookstagrammer

(@juntasbookshelf). When she doesn't have her nose stuck in a book, she either paints or doomscrolls.