‘Shattered Lands’: A reparative reading of the many partitions of the Indian subcontinent

In Amitav Ghosh’s Shadow Lines, the protagonist’s grandmother observes: “I could come home to Dhaka whenever I wanted.” She is referring to the time she had spent in Moulmein and Mandalay in Burma, where her husband worked as an engineer. However, in her journey from Burma to Dhaka to Calcutta, only Dhaka and Calcutta remain in memory.

In 1937, Burma was split from British India. Ten years later, India and Pakistan – with two wings, west and east – became separate countries. But now, the first partition all but been forgotten.

Shifting borders

In Shattered Lands: Five Partitions and the Making of Modern Asia, Sam Dalrymple sheds light on this the historical amnesia imposed upon Burma and Aden, both of which were part of the British Indian Empire, before their partitions in 1937. Until the time when Gandhi led his Salt March against the British, many Burmese identified themselves as Indian, and participated in movements against the partition of India and Burma.

“Of all the things to protest about British rule, the Salt Act was an unexpected one, raising eyebrows even among Gandhi’s most devoted followers,” Dalrymple writes. “But it proved to be an act of political genius and one of the last major political movements to unite Burmese and Indian...

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