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Reading the Partition of India: A List of Essential Works
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Train carrying migrants Amrita Pritam Black and white illustrated portrait of Lalithambika Antharjanam, showing an older Indian woman with wavy gray hair, glasses, a bindi on her forehead, and wearing a traditional sari. Close-up portrait of Manik Bandyopadhyay, a renowned Indian writer and one of the most influential figures in 20th-century Bengali literature. Black and white illustrated portrait of a man with wavy hair, round glasses, and a thoughtful expression, wearing a simple shirt, representing writer and playwright Saadat Hasan Manto. Portrait of Indian writer Khushwant Singh, in his 80s, wearing a head covering, looking on while attending an event in New Delhi. Black and white illustration of Indian writer Jyotirmoyee Devi, shown with a calm expression and wearing a traditional sari draped over her head and shoulders. Bhisham Sahni, Indian writer, playwright, and actor, wearing a green kurta and smiling while speaking during an interview. Intizar Husain, a Pakistani writer, smiles as he looks into the camera during a photocall for the 2013 Man Booker International Prize. Salman Rushdie wearing a dark suit and glasses, one lens tinted, stands in front of a red and black background at the Deutsches Theater.
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Train carrying migrants
Train carrying migrants People displaced during the partition of India into Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan crowd onto trains, 1947.

Reading the Partition of India: A List of Essential Works

Written by
Urnesha Bhattacherjee
Associate Editor, Britannica India
Urnesha BhattacherjeeAll
Fact-checked by
Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
Britannica Editors
History

At midnight on August 14–15, 1947, India gained independence from the British. The event was closely followed by one of the largest human displacements in modern history as the Indian subcontinent was divided into India and Pakistan, which included West Pakistan (present-day Pakistan) in the northwest and East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh) in the east. British lawyer Cyril Radcliffe, who arrived in India for the first time in July 1947, was tasked with splitting the region into...

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