Pinjar (The Skeleton) by Amrita Pritam
Today is
Amrita Pritam’s 105th Birth Anniversary, and this is a humble
tribute by this blogger, in continuation of the recent blog: Punjab’s Song
of Sorrow and Hope… (Link: https://pkdash-author.blogspot.com/2024/08/punjabs-song-of-sorrow-and-hope-to.html)
Once again, I
read Pinjar, Amrita Pritam’s novel published on 1 January 1950, after watching
for a second time Pinjar the critically acclaimed 2003 film directed by
Chandra Prakash Dwivedi, and wondered what took more than five decades for a
film to be made on one of the most profound stories of Partition told from the
perspective of the woman victim and protagonist- Puro.
(Source: Film Poster by Impawards: https://en.wikipedia.org)
Millions of
people suffered the trauma of Partition, but the women suffered in a terrible way
that no man can ever suffer; through their body, for in situations of conflict
and war, a woman is a war trophy. A commentator has aptly observed that the
novel was far ahead of its times.
Amrita Ji
might be pleased to note that as I write this blog, 296 people are currently
reading ‘The Skeleton’, Khushwant Singh’s translation of Pinjar,
and 5087 people want to read this novel (at www.goodreads.com).
A novel published in 1950 still resonates with people. That is a loving tribute
to the author.
The novel wrote itself
Amrita
Pritam tells how this novel was born:
"The
most terrible happening of the times was the Partition. I still shiver when I
think of those blood-drenched days. I had already spoken of the fate of women
in the frenzy in my poetry. After Partition, Shahnawaz Khan and Mrinalini
Sarabhai were involved in the rehabilitation of abducted girls. I would listen
to the stranger than fiction stories that they told me. It was thus that Puro
of Pinjar took shape and the novel wrote itself.”[i]
The novel
It is a
short but deeply moving novel (Hindi-112 pages, English-80 pages). The story
begins in 1935 in village Chhattoani of Gujarat (now in Pakistan), and ends soon
after Partition at Lahore. Puro, daughter of the Shah family is engaged to be
married to Ramchand of Rattowal, a neighbouring village; but is abducted by
Rashid on the eve of the marriage. Puro escapes from her abductor and runs to
the safety of her home. Sadly, she is disowned by her parents who fear reprisal
by the dominant Muslim community in the area.
Why did the
author name Puro’s prospective husband Ramchand? Is that merely coincidental?
Ramchand’s wife-to-be abducted by the evil one; and Puro rejected and spurned by
her own parents as tainted and defiled for no fault of hers, like Sita? Puro is
the tragic heroine, a victim of her times to forces far too potent and diabolical
for her or any other individual to confront and win.
सीता को देखे सारा गांव
आग पर कैसे धरेगी पाँव,
बच जाए तो देवी मां
जल जाए तो पापन ।
Link:
Rashid, too,
is an unlikely villain, coerced by his domineering uncle, the family patriarch, to
avenge an ancient wrong inflicted on the Muslim family by the Shahs. He redeems
himself by readily adopting the dead Pagli’s new-born son, and risking his life
to steal the abducted Lajo and return her to her husband and family. An
atonement for his own sin!
The Skeleton
Who is the
Pinjar (the skeleton) in this novel? Puro, of course; but she is not the only
one. In fact, she is leading a procession of pinjars, as it were. Puro, Lajo,
Pagli, Puro’s son, Pagli’s son -each is a skeleton. Puro’s helpless parents who
disown Puro (hiving off an ‘infected’ limb to save the body) are pinjars.
Rashid, manipulated like a kathputli by his vengeful family is a pinjar.
Puro’s brother who burns Rashid’s harvest is a skeleton fired by hatred and
revenge. The Hindu elders who snatch Pagli’s orphaned son from Puro’s breast
are also skeletons.
Yet, life
can reclaim, redeem, and revive skeletons: Rashid’s unwavering love for Puro,
and his everlasting shame and regret for his sin of abduction; Puro and Rashid
adopting Pagli’s son; Puro and Rashid plotting and succeeding in stealing Lajo
and reuniting her with her welcoming family on the other side of the border;
and in the climactic scene, Puro deciding: This is my home!
"चाहे कोई लड़की हिन्दू हो या मुसलमान, जो लड़की भी
लौटकर अपने ठिकाने पहुंचती है समझो कि उसी के साथ पूरो की आत्मा भी ठिकाने पहुंच
गई।" पूरो ने अपने मन में कहा...”
Politics
sucked out the lifeblood of a whole country and created two pinjars- India and
Pakistan; but eventually love defeated hatred, and life returned to the
skeletons; the wounds healed though the scars remained forever. Pinjar was a
horrible, traumatic phase, but mercifully in the past.
Humans can
descend to the dark depths of devilry to harm, hurt, negate life, and create
pinjars; but they, too, have the capacity to infuse love and bring pinjars back
to life. Love is amrit- the distilled divinity in the heart that holds hope for
humanity.
My
salutations to Amrita Pritam Ji on her 105th birth anniversary.
Punjabi Folk-Songs
The author
has deftly woven several popular Punjabi folk-songs into the plaintive,
mournful story. The opening chapter itself has two short traditional songs
(quoted below) sung on the eve of marriage of a girl and her farewell from her
parents’ home for pardes. In Puro’s life, the pardes is not the village
of her husband, but a life from which there is no return- a permanent vanvas.
लावी ते लावीं नी कलेजे दे नाल माए
दस्सी ते दस्सीं इक बात नीं।
बातां ते लम्मीयां नी धीयां क्यों जम्मियां
नीं,
अज्ज विछोड़े वाली रात नीं।
Translation:
Hold me close to your heart, O mother,
No time now for a long conversation,
Just tell me,
Why are daughters born?
For tonight is the night of separation.
चरखा जु डाहनीयां मैं छोपे जु पानीयां मैं,
पिड़ियां ते वाले मेरे खेस नीं।
पुत्रां नू दित्ते उच्चे
महल ते माड़ियां
धीयां नू दित्ता परदेस
नीं।
Translation:
The spinning
wheel that I set,
The knots on
the spindle that I put,
In checkered
designs are my khes (thin blankets) planned;
Sons are bequeathed
tall palaces and mansions,
Daughters,
alas, are despatched to distant places.
In the film,
the plaintive song charkha chalati ma, written by Amrita Pritam herself, is
based on these traditional ditties.
https://youtu.be/1ZJL4NR1EjM?si=HOE9WMYmZw63r7c_
Amrita Pritam's iconic song Aaj Aakhan Waris Shah Nu, sung by Wadali Brothers, is used to great effect in the film.
Link: https://youtu.be/FHxMi5d5XCk?si=NQtZ8d5ycHYS0teL
The film
The film has
an impressive cast- Urmila Matondkar, Manoj Bajpayee, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Isha Koppikar, Farida Jalal, and
others. It won the award for Best film on National Integration, and Manoj
Bajpayee’s acting received critical acclaim. Excellent performance by Urmila,
too.
A film worth
watching. It is available at YouTube.[ii]
Conclusion
Have you
read the novel and watched the film? If not, I recommend both; I guess you
might like both.
Acknowledgement
The English
translations of the Punjabi folk-songs quoted above are by Mr Satinder Singh,
HoD, Punjabi Language, DPS, Amritsar with help from his friend, Mr Inderjit Singh, Lecturer in English.
[i] 'Pinjar: a novel ahead of its times' by
https://www.tribuneindia.com/2005/20050220/spectrum/book3.htm
[ii] Link for Pinjar, the film: Link for Pinjar: https://youtu.be/vtapCrARMZk?si=ircXR4zm6RRp_vb7
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