Epicentre of Violence: Partition Voices and Memories from Amritsar

Through twenty-five first-hand accounts of those caught in the turmoil of Partition, this book provides us with a means to understanding the human dimension of the division of India in 1947. The interviews in this book were conducted in what was, in 1947, the epicenter of violence: the city of Amritsar, on the volatile border between India and Pakistan. The links of those interviewed with a single city provide unique insights into processes of migration and refugee resettlement, and lend a unity to the recollections that is rare in Partition literature. Even as each account possesses unique characteristics, various themes unite the oral testimonies: the suddenness of the uprooting, the belief that migration was only to be temporary, the sense that the violence was politically rather than culturally and religiously rooted.