The Enduring Echoes of Division: Homen
Borgohain's Spring in Hell as a
Partition Narrative
Kapahi Das,
Faculty,
Damdama
College,
Kamrup
(Rural), Assam, India.
Abstract: This paper discusses Homen Borgohain’s Spring
in Hell not only as an expression of urban squalor but also as an exploration
of the socio-economic and psychological long run effects of the 1947 Partition
of India. Although the narrative lacks explicit violence and crossings across
borders, it is very meticulous in the way it is describing the lives of
refugees like Monimala and Rahim, who come to Assam during post-Partition
migrations. The story is set in a basti (slum) and is a type of visceral
microcosm of societal degradation, exploitation and the loss of moral
principles that became standardized in the existence of the displaced. In his
social realist style, Borgohain emphasizes the way poverty and alienation transforms
the human life. This paper argues that
Borgohain takes the Partition literature a step further into the political and
communal violence itself by presenting a deeper long-lasting trauma
characterized by alienation and loss of moral fabric. The survival of the basti
with its methods of corruption and torture portrays the concealed price of
Partition in the multigenerational level. The harbinger of hope in terms of
independence is used against the bad realities of displacement through the
ironic title, Spring in Hell. In such a way, Borgohain brings an essential,
nuanced dimension to the overall canon of Partition.
Keywords: Partition
Literature, Homen Borgohain, Spring in Hell, Social Realism, displacement.
Introduction:
Homen Borgohain (1932-2021) can be regarded as one of the
most prominent representatives of Assamese Literature. One of the most
influential and perceptive voices, Borgohain exhibited a very keen sense of the
social-political in his long career. His works as an author were bedrock in
reflecting social realities; the socio-economic situations existing in the
rural and urban Assamese and had a persistent touch in describing the life of
the poor and the downtrodden. This dedication to the depiction of the gritty
realities of the society, often to the degree of social realism, makes him as
well placed to deal with the finer implications of the massive scope of
historical events.
A tragic short story, titled Spring in Hell, found in a collection titled, The Collected Works of Homen Borgohain, first appears to be an
intimacy of two men, Himadri and the elusive Sankar, amidst the context of a
deplorable urban slum, or basti. This story explores some of the themes of
poverty, struggle to find inner strength, and the ugliness of the destitute
people that this negative environment produces, including a prostitute. Looking
beyond the surface however, one would realise that the story is nothing short
of an effective albeit oblique Partition short story.
Homen Borgohain's Spring
in Hell, while not overtly recounting the immediate events surrounding the
1947 Partition, serves as a poignant Partition narrative by intricately
depicting the long-lasting socio-economic and psychological repercussions of
displacement and forced migration, particularly the substantial movement from
East Bengal to Assam. Borgohain's established literary approach, which is
characterized by social realism and a steadfast emphasis on socio-economic
issues, positions him as a fitting author to illustrate the insidious, enduring
effects of Partition. These effects often manifest as pervasive socio-economic
inequalities and a gradual moral decline, rather than through explicit
violence. Consequently, his narrative broadens the traditional understanding of
Partition literature to include the systematic dehumanization and alienation
experienced by the displaced individuals. The title Spring in Hell encapsulates a profound irony; ‘Spring’ is
conventionally associated with renewal, hope, and new beginnings, metaphors
that could signify the advent of independence and the promise of a new nation.
However, for the displaced characters within the narrative, this ‘spring’
unfolds in a ‘hellish’ reality, characterized by the painful breathing of the
diseased and the anguished cries of the hungry child.
This stark contrast emphasizes that for countless
individuals, Partition did not herald an era of liberation or prosperity but
instead condemned them to a new form of suffering, thereby revealing the
devastating human cost that lies beneath the grand political narrative.
Literature Review:
In the article, The
North-east Indian Literature in Various Aspects by Sudipta Kaviraj, it is
stated that the literature which the actors of both the settled population and
the refugees raise continue to answer questions about citizenship and identity.
Inquiries into what has been dubbed shock mobility reveal that these issues
have remained and most of the works have tried to depict the lack of faith and
material bombardment that followed the Partition.
Assamese literature often intersects with the Partition
through themes of migration and identity. It discusses the region's literary
response to demographic changes, highlighting works that address the refugee
experience and linguistic conflicts.
Later movements that are the result of the impact of the
Partition include the Assam Movement of the 1980s and the discussion of the
National Register of Citizens (NRC), as presented in Assam, Northeast India and
the unfinished business of Partition. Such literature tends to examine the more
general consequences of the Partition in the social landscape of Assam, most
notably the linguistic and communal segregation.
Analysis:
Partition’s Shadow
on Assam:
The 1947 Partition deeply and long-term affected Assam,
but Assam was not as influenced as Punjab and Bengal. Among the significant
ones was the Sylhet referendum in July 1947, directly the result of the
Mountbatten Partition Plan. In contrast to Punjab and Bengal, where the borders
were demarcated based mostly on religious grounds, Sylhet happened to be a
place where both religions as well as language were involved.
Sylhet is a district in colonial Assam, formed by
Bengali-speaking Muslim. The referendum went by a majority vote to leave the
state of Assam and move to East Bengal (which became East Pakistan). Sylhet
Muslims were happier to have a Muslim majority region and they also did not
want to have a community which spoke Bengali.
In writings on Assam, the implications were huge. The
separation meant that the geographical location of the region was severed to
the rest of India, separated by a small strip of land 17 kilometers wide termed
the Chicken Neck. Trading and travelling was a much bigger challenge breaking
river routes, railways, and roads. The inland state of Assam also lost its
access to the sea since it was situated adjacent to East Pakistan in which the
important port of Chittagong was located. Economically, it was a huge loss
because Sylhet was one of the prosperous regions in Assam that could promote
tea, lime and cement industries.
Partition caused the emergence of a huge refugee problem
as well. The violence, discrimination against them and in search of a better
life, many Hindu Bengalis migrated to Assam. They caused tensions with the
locals who spoke Assamese, fearing that their language and culture would become
diluted among these new immigrants, that they would start to compete with them
on the job market and over lands.
To this effect, the Assam government tried to manage the
situation to the point of enacting the Assam Expulsion Act of 1950, which was
aimed at the removal of the so-called outsiders. Mobility at the new border
occurred under different motivations whereby some migrants were escaping vices
but some were seeking economic sources to their services and this also
determined how much the government offered them.
The tribal communities were equally disturbed by the
Partition and lost past social and economic relations with individuals in a new
border.
The Basti as a Site
of Post-Partition Reality:
In Spring in Hell,
the background is a filthy basti, a filthy shanty town where houses are crammed
in a small area. Borgohain presents the sensorium of this pioneer in a vivid
presentation of the "painful breathing of the sick person" and the
"anguished cries of the ravenous child" (Borgohain 2) and the odors
of the frustrated drunk whose innards are vomiting blood. This is a gritty
detail that right at the beginning creates a stark contrast of deprivation and
discomfort that life in the slum is. Basti is not just a physical setting; it
has been used symbolically to mean the psychological and social hell that is
the result of displacement and abject poverty. It is put as some sort of a
mysterious world that lies under the gloss and glitter of culture and
civilisation of towns and cities bleeding vividly as a contrast to the
fantasies of progress and modernity.
Even the title by itself, Spring in Hell, sets a strong irony. The contrast between the grand
scheme of renewal and the beauty in nature (spring) with the squalor and
degradation that was the slum (hell) marks a tremendous contrast. To the
residents of this basti, the future promised with the advent of a new country
that was going to be independent like India or with the breaking of Partition,
never came true in terms of prosperity or harmony. Rather their sense of spring
is that of having to adapt, and struggle constantly in a human-made hell, and
the theme of even nature cannot completely dislodge the historical inherent
trauma.
Characters as
Embodiments of Partition's Legacy:
Characters such as Monimala and Rahim are key aspects of
comprehending the story of Spring in Hell
as a Partition story. Their migration to Assam is directly connected to the
waves of immigration of the former East Bengal to Assam that took place between
the independence of India in 1947 and the birth of Bangladesh in 1971. Monimala
and her father and younger brother came as immigrants to the Indian state of
Assam and became susceptible to exploitation. She is a victim of deceptive
charity of Niranjan who takes her to Moriyani in the name of offering
assistance with some other intentions. Noticing this, Sankar can see past the
exploitation by saying that Niranjan had made the life of Monimala a hell as he
is a so-called benevolent friend. The final humiliation is manifested when
Monimala coldly admits to Sankar that,
“It’s much better to live through the labour of your body
than either committing suicide or living like a dog on rotten food... I’ve
stood naked before many men just in order to clothe myself. I’ve spent a lot of
sweat and blood just for the sake of a meagre meal.”(Borgohain 11)
This is a very strong line that can really bring to the
fore the dehumanized nature of her life where her ability to survive forces her
into the prostitution profession directly showing a correlation with the
social-economic issues of her immigrant status and being in the slums.
Rahim, a native of Mymensingh in East Pakistan (old East
Bengal) also migrated to Assam. He is a ploughman by origin and later, having
run away with Julekha, starts working as a rickshaw puller in the slum. Even
though he is happy in his marriage, it is the tough socio-economic realities
and the surrounding atmosphere of the heavy influence of the slum that slowly
kill his moral compass. He states to his wife Julekha that, “You earn your
own” The statement sums up the moral
decadence and desperation and implicitly hiring her in prostitution and it is a
culture that is present in the slum where the men do not bother with their
women making an extra income to line their stomachs. Their case studies provide
us with a coherent picture of how a high level of pressure can destroy the
traditional principles of marital relationships and even a sense of dignity in
a person so that the only one requirement is to survive.
The major source of information about the life of the
basti residents is a young man Himadri, who subsists by gluing cinema posters
and selling handbills. The apprehension that Sankar had towards him slowly
evolves into sympathy as he paints a fresh picture of the various and yet
similar faces of the people of the slum, Pachu (a daily-wage worker), Julie (a
prostitute), Dal Bahadur (a chowkidar where his wife sells illegal liquor),
Rahim, Manohar (rickshaw pullers), and Joy (hoodlum).
Sankar, the principal male character, serves as a
catalyst for the thematic exploration prevalent throughout the narrative. His
persistent inquiries regarding the residents of the basti compel Himadri to
disclose the concealed realities of their existence. This narrative structure,
wherein Sankar elicits comprehensive descriptions from Himadri, parallels a
journalistic or ethnographic methodology aimed at uncovering societal truths,
reflecting Borgohain's extensive experience as a journalist and editor. Sankar's
internal reflections and emotional outbursts expose a profound anger directed
towards societal hypocrisy and a critical examination of religious piety amidst
considerable suffering. This suggests that Borgohain, through the lens of
Sankar, critiques the foundational ideologies of Partition, implying that the
‘hell’ of the basti is a direct consequence of the moral bankruptcy inherent in
political and religious divisions, thereby rendering the narrative a poignant
commentary on this broader historical event.
Joy, the other character, portrays the individuals who
misuse their leadership to oppress the poor. Joy proudly claims,
“A lot of people in this world lead comfortable lives
without doing anything themselves. What’s wrong if I too live like that?” (Borgohain
6)
Sankar criticizes this attitude and asserts,
"There are so many different manifestations of the
mysteriousness of human life, which are reflected through different people.
This strong, well-built man has found the ultimate satisfaction of life in his
brigand self — that too in this dark, filthy basti. People fear him. Neither
love, nor respect—it's fear. They give him food at the hotel for free, the
vendor gives him cigarettes, and the harlot opens her door for him—all out of
fear. But the crown of life’s beauty, man’s beautiful heart—he does not possess
the key to its closed door. A group of frauds have withheld and hidden that key
from people like Joy.”(Borgohain 6)
The description of Boltu, who is a fourteen-year-old boy
is given as follows,
"He did not have the innocent curiosity for every
new thing that was naturally discernible in young minds. The vile experiences
of life had already aged him in his young years.”(Borgohain 4)
Sankar notes,
"This fourteen-year-old boy, what a striking way of
life he had chosen for himself! He isn’t interested in anything but business.”
(Borgohain 5)
Another character, Julie is particularly told of as a
harlot or woman of the streets, whose living is a stark externalisation of the
forced prostitution that most displaced and poor women fall victim to. Her use
of Pachu's older son to be her pimp only highlights how exploitation is
systematic in the slum. Her predicament, coupled with that of Monimala, is an
illustration of how women get turned into selling items when the main factor in
such an atmosphere is the means to survive.
There are also other women such as Lal Bahadur and Simuni
who are also lured into turn themselves into flesh traders just to have a meal.
As a result of all these observations Sankar arrives at a distressful
conclusion that,
“Poverty is the greatest sin. All poor people are
fallen.” (Borgohain 11)
By emphasizing the underground and cruel implications of
city living, the story, Spring in Hell,
highlights the cost to society of change and being moved to such a new scale in
the wake of Partition. Sankar, an upper class stranger with a gentlemanly
attitude, observes the slum through detached interest. He is possibly the
representation of the higher classes that were looking and seeing the carnage
but were still standing on the outside. His appearance introduces the fact that
there is an increasingly-larger gap between the wealthy and the poor and that
this gap was growing larger in the years after Partition.
In short, post-Partition years were years of tremendous
change and challenge to Assam. Books produced on the territory were heavily
affected by the influx of migrants, arguments about who is a citizen of this
region and who is not, so-called cultural tension, and poverty. This
complicated and hurtful reality has been caught with utter poignancy in the
story, Spring in Hell by Homen
Borgohain.
Conclusion:
Spring in Hell, Homen Borgohain adds his voice to the discourse about
such impact of the Partition of India on Assamese literature and society. The
issues of societal change or transformation, identification or grouping,
displacement, which are also the themes of the short story, can be indirectly
connected to the long term consequences of the Partition. The work by Borgohain
accentuates the everlastingly attribute of historical happenings on the lives
of individuals and communities and the way in which literature green-lights the
encoding and memorizing of collective memory. Although additional studies are
required to study direct connections with the Partition, Spring in Hell can be regarded as one of the monuments to the
strength of Assamese society and its reactivity to the event of historical
trauma; providing a great insight into the literary reaction of the region to
this influential movement within its borders.
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2017, pp. 355-83.
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Voice of the People. The Partition of Bengal and Assam 1932-1947,
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