Contesting Concepts of Nation and Nationalism in Bhisham Sahni’s Tamas (2001)

Abstract

The Partition of 1947 can be regarded as the culmination of a long-drawn-out battle of competing ideologies which grappled with each other amidst the hegemonic presence of a colonial power. Through an analysis of Bhisham Sahni’s literary narrative Tamas, this paper seeks to analyze the representation of contesting concepts of nationalism and nationhood which rose against the backdrop of chaos, suspicion and violence. It also attempts to underscore how Sahni’s novel, through the use of irony and humour, resists the glorification of such nationalisms—whether secular or religious—which are otherwise painted with hues of grandeur in dominant discourses. In doing so, it can be said that Tamas emerges as a counter narrative radically critiquing the ways in which notions of nation and nationalism came to be constructed/imagined in dominant narratives. It questions the monolithic as well homogenizing tendencies involved in the creation of nation-states and, as a consequence, emerges as a text offering a significant discourse on power, equality, nation, and nationalism.