Tamas is a captivating book by Bhisham Sahni that depicts the severe communal violence that took place in 1947, when India was in the process of gaining her independence.
Summary Of The Book
The story in Tamas is about the deception of Nathu, who is a sweeper residing in a frontier province in the year 1947. Nathu is oblivious of the fiendish plans of a Muslim politician, who pays him to cut a pig. Nathu has no clue as to the turmoil that this act will cause in his province. After the pig has been murdered, it is found just outside a mosque in the city, and this causes severe unrest.
What follows is the ruthless massacre of hundreds of Hindus and Sikhs by the infuriated Muslims of the province. In return, the Hindus start killing all of the Muslims in the area. The situation becomes so severe that the government has to call in the army in order to calm the surging rage of the people.
Tamas is able to provide the readers with an accurate description of the situation that was prevalent in the country in that period of time as the author himself was an eyewitness to many such cases of communal violence.
The shocking cases that have been described by the author are heartbreaking, and help the people of today to get a better understanding of the situation back then.
About Bhisham Sahni
The author of this book, Bhisham Sahni, was also a well-known playwright and actor, who was born in Rawalpindi, British India.
Apart from this book, Sahni has published a number of other books as well. Some of the author's literary works include Memories of Madness : Stories Of 1947 01 Edition, Translating Partition: Stories, Essays, Criticism, and We Have Arrived in Amritsar & Other Stories.
Sahni's literary works mostly revolved around the lives of individuals who led a subdued life under the pressure of Socio-Political-Economic bitterness.
The author was born on the 8th of August, 1915, in Rawalpindi. Sahni obtained a master's degree in English from Government College. He played an active role in the Quit India Movement for the independence of the nation, being jailed for this reason as well. For his immense contribution towards the field of literature, Sahni was awarded the Padma Bhushan for Literature (1998) and the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship (2002).
