© 2018 JETIR April 2018, Volume 5, Issue 4 www.jetir.

org (ISSN-2349-5162)

AMRITA PRITAM’SPINJAR (THE SKELETON):

Introduction:-

Amrita Pritam has been a household name across Punjab province, partitioned between India and Pakistan, for

decades. She will always be celebrated for her ability to portray the essence of the robust people of Punjab,

their turbulent lives and, above all, their deeply entrenched pathos. In simple but delicate and creative prose and

verse, she expressed the poignancy of India's division by the colonial administration in 1947, when millions

were uprooted, with bloodshed and tragedy on either side of the new border. Her works remain immortalised in

the hearts of millions of Punjabis.

Amrita Pritam(1919-2005) was the first important woman writer in Punjabi literature. She wrotenovels, essays

and poems. She put Punjabi literature on the world map. No other writer is as synonymous with Punjabi

literature as Amrita Pritam. She was the first woman to receive the Sahitya Academy Award in1956. Her

important work as a novelist was Pinjar (The Skelton). Later she received BharatiyaGynanpith, one of India‟s

highest literary award. The Padmashree was awarded to her in 1969 and finally Padma Vibhushan, India‟s

highest civilian award in 2004. She was honored with India‟s highest literary award Sahitya Academy of

Letters, the Sahitya Academy Fellowship given to her for her life time achievements in 2004. Amrita is the first

recipient of the Punjabi Ratna Award conferred upon her by Punjab Chief minister Cap. Amarinder Singh. She

has received DLitt honorary degrees from many universities including Delhi University-1973, Jabalpur

University-1973 and Vishwa Bharti-1983. In her career of over six decades, she has penned 28 novels, 18

anthologies of poetry, 5 short stories and 16 miscellaneous prose volumes.

JETIR1804066 Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (JETIR) www.jetir.org 350
© 2018 JETIR April 2018, Volume 5, Issue 4 www.jetir.org (ISSN-2349-5162)
Amrita Pritam was an iconic Indian writer, whose works as well as life were a bold statement that redefined not

just the Punjabi literary canon but also found new words and images for how Indian women perceived

themselves.She defied social norms and conventions. There was no split between life and literature for Amrita

because literature was her life. Her writings concentrated on the problems of women.She emphasized women‟s

experience under patriarchy and brought the focus on to the marginalized. Her intense and prolific works deal

with the palpable problems of life, wants and denials of men and women. She is described as "one who loved

dearly and suffered terribly".

Pinjar (The Skeleton) :-

In the novel Pinjar(1950,The novel was translated into English byKhushwant Singh as The Skeleton), Pritam

depicts the political and human tragedy that engulfed Punjab in the months of intolerant rioting that preceded

the sub-continent's partition into a Muslim Pakistan and a broadly secular, but predominantly Hindu India.

Amrita Pritam focused on the lives of young Muslim, Sikh and Hindu women who became the victims of

abduction, rape and other untold miseries during the fury of the chaos and mindless killings.

The novelist in Amrita Pritam was at her best in Pinjar (The Skeleton). The younger generation was introduced

to Amrita‟s work through this novel which was made into a successful film in 2002. It is the story of a Hindu

girl, Paro, abducted by a Muslim boy Rashid. Her parents refuse to recover a „defiled‟ woman. Unable to resist

the circumstances she was thrown into, Paro settles down as a bride and bears Rashid a son. In 1947, nostalgia

for the life missed by Paro makes the couple save Hindu and Sikh women from their Muslim abductors and

send them to the security of evacuee camps meant to take them to their kith and kin.

Pinjarhighlights the women‟s sufferings, exploitation and sacrifices because of their dislocation andabduction

during partition. The novelist critically explores the ways in which the destiny of its protagonistPuro eventually

becomes the fate of thousands of women at the time of partition.

Pinjaris a story of abduction of a young girl Puro by a man (Rashid) of rival religion in order to avengethe

family enmity. It is a saga of Puro‟s journey of transformation from Puro to Hamida, her loss ofidentity and her

JETIR1804066 Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (JETIR) www.jetir.org 351
© 2018 JETIR April 2018, Volume 5, Issue 4 www.jetir.org (ISSN-2349-5162)
agony. The novel is a critique of the society at large which considers the woman as aproperty to be usurped and

used according to its wish,

In the major part of the first half of the novel we find that Paro‟s family is a happy family of two sistersand a

brother. Paro is an obedient and ideal daughter, the darling of her parents. She unquestioninglyaccepts what her

parents decide for her marriage and dreams about the future she is going to spend withRamchand, her

prospective suitor.

The turning point in the story arrives when Puro is abducted by Rashid, a Muslim boy who is forced to do it, to

avenge for a similar act committed by Puro‟s uncle. Thus portraying how conflictsbetween families,

communities and nation are so often brutally and mindlessly played out on the identities of women. Rashid does

not rape Puro. She after struggling a lot manages to escape and goeshome, but she is told by her father that

there is no place for her in the family as she had been abductedwhich now puts her chastity and fidelity to

question.

Her father refuses to accept her saying that he cannot keep her as nobody will marry her because she haslost her

status and identity. Rejection from her own family to accept her is another form of violence shegoes through.

Rejection was a bigger blow of pain than her abduction.She has been doubly violated: firstly by the abductor

(Rashid), who violates her physically and secondly she‟sviolated emotionally by her own family.Puro is

devastated and returns to Rashid to lead a life which is akin to that of a skeleton (Pinjar).

Puro‟s identity undergoes a drastic change. Rashid forces marriage on her and changes her to Hamida from

Puro. She now has a new identity which she resists as she longs for her family and marriage to Ramchand. On

the other hand Rashid is repentant for the crime of Puro‟s abduction and seeks redemption. He tries to provide

love and care to Puro, but Puro is unrelenting as the wounds inflicted by Rashid are unforgivable

Some months following Puro's kidnapping, Puro's family forces themselves to move on and now marries their

son Trilok to Puro's ex-fiance's sister, Lajjo. Lajjo wishes very much for Trilok to give her the attention she so

JETIR1804066 Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (JETIR) www.jetir.org 352
© 2018 JETIR April 2018, Volume 5, Issue 4 www.jetir.org (ISSN-2349-5162)
animately bestows upon him. However, Trilok,having turned cold ever since his sister's capture, cannot find

himself get attached to Lajjo.

Parallel to the celebrations of the new marriage, is a celebration of Rashid: Puro is pregnant. While Rashid and

his aunts rejoice, Puro finds herself horribly depressed, and purposely strains herself in household work in order

to miscarry. After the miscarriage, however, Puro learns somewhat of Rashid's love for her. One day Puro

walks dangerously close to the fields (that belong to Ramchand, her supposed-to-be husband) where she herself

was kidnapped, and gets to see him just last time. But Ramchand is so much surprised to see her semi-covered

face that by the time he starts realising it is Puro, she clears off leaving him in doubt. It may be perceived that

she does so after getting disappointed to find Ramchand not quite recognising her.

Chaos ensues again for Puro's family as warfare occurs between the Hindus and Muslims, as the Republic of

India finds itself liberated from Britain. As Muslims and Hindus flee from opposing sides for safety, Lajjo gets

separated from the rest of the family to get kidnapped some time later by one Muslim boy.

She meets Ramchand who woefully tells her of Lajjo's situation. Puro begs Rashid to help her find Lajjo and

rescue her, as Puro reminds Rashid that if he indeed has a heart, he will realize that it is not too late for Lajjo to

be saved. As Puro underwent a ceremony to be branded - literally - as a Muslim, and be renamed Hamida, Lajjo

had not as yet.

Racing from home to home under the alias of a saleswoman, Puro finally finds Lajjo, and with Rashid's

assistance meets Rajjo and brother Ramchand at a Refugee camp, where Hindus and Muslims who found

themselves in situations similar to Puro's and Lajjo's were finally allowed freedom and guarantees of safety.

Lajjo is welcomed lovingly by Ramchand, Trilok is also there in the camp who meets his sister Puro and

explains her that she can finally return &Ramchand is ready to accept her even now.HoweverPuro surprises

Trilok and the audience by explaining that she is where she belongs - with Rashid. His dedication to helping her

save Lajjo proved how much he indeed did love Puro, and for that Puro finds she can finally return his love.

JETIR1804066 Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (JETIR) www.jetir.org 353
© 2018 JETIR April 2018, Volume 5, Issue 4 www.jetir.org (ISSN-2349-5162)
And so in an ironic twist of fate, Puro seeks Rashid out in the camp and the two bid Ramchad, Trilok, and Lajjo

farewell, forever.

Conclusion :-

Through the characters; Puro, Lajo,Taro,Kammo Amrita tries to unveil the facets of violence againstwomen

and her trauma. Here Amrita highlights the fact that women had to constantly prove theirinnocence and assert

their right to dignity in our patriarchal society. Another form of violence against women portrayed in the novel

is the parading a women naked throughthe village and towns. One such incident is mentioned in the novel,

where a young girl was paraded naked. There is another women character, who was sexually assaulted and

becomes pregnant. The woman wasmad and was not even aware of the violence inflicted on her body and a

child growing in her. There weremany women who were mutilated and impregnated during the tremulous time

of partition.

The novel depicts different dimensions of violence against women; on religious, social and mostprominently

physical and mental levels. Amrita Pritam through her violated women characters in thenovel brings forth the

fact that women have been the prime victims in every communal strife, riots andwars. Whether it was Puro or

Hamida, Lajo, Taro, Kammo or the mad woman or the naked woman, woman becomes that section of the

society that suffered not only during partition but continues to do so even today. They are that other section of

the society whose lives do not matter, whosevoices are silenced, whose identities are subjugated and who

remain at the periphery of the powerstruggle and power equation and continue to be marginalized and

displaced.Pinjar, thus gives a voice to this other section of the society and their concerns of displacement,

marginalization, dual identity andpowerlessness.

Amrita Pritamrose to be the voice of the entire Indian womanhood and sowed the seeds of rebellion in the

minds of her readers against values that were wrong and unjust, according to her.Not just a writer, she was

indeed revolution personified.Amrita incarnates herself, through Puro, to express her hatred for social

conventions and male lust. Resigning themselves to their fate is what lies in store for the entire womanhood of

JETIR1804066 Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (JETIR) www.jetir.org 354
© 2018 JETIR April 2018, Volume 5, Issue 4 www.jetir.org (ISSN-2349-5162)
India, according to Amrita. Throughout her life, Amrita has been a symbol of liberation for contemporary

women writers. She has succeeded in presenting such themes with all the sophistication of a protagonist

seeking to change social values. She has been in the forefront when it came to defying all that was outworn and

obsolete in society.Amrita Pritam did not confine herself to the limits and boundaries of Punjab. She was the

voice of women all over the world and hence the voice of humanity.

References

Butalia, Urvashi. (1998), The Other Side of Silence: Voices from the Partition of India. New Delhi:Viking.

Chauhan, Mansi.(2015), “Trauma Re-lived: Reading Amrita Pritam‟sPinjar/The Skeleton.” LiteraryQuest 1.9:
34-42.

Daiya, Kavita. 2008, Violent Belongings: Violence, Gender and National Culture in Post-colonial
India.Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

Hiremath, Rudramma, S. (Dec., 2015), “Exposal of false religious dogmatic in Pinjar: A Critique”.Literary
Cognizance, I-3: 45-48. Web

Menon, Ritu and Kamala Bhasin. (1998),Borders and Boundaries: Women in India‟s Partition. NewDelhi:
Kali for Women.

Pritam, Amrita.(2004),The Revenue Stamp. Trans. Krishna Gorowara. New Delhi: Vikas Publishinghouse Pvt.
Ltd.

Pritam, Amrita.(2009),Pinjar: The Skeleton and Other Stories. Paperback.

Pritam, Amrita. (2003),The Skeleton and Other Writings.Trans. Khushwant Singh. Mumbai: Jaico.

Kumar, Vijay. “Amrita Pritam: The Black Rose.” Language in India. 5. 2005. 54-61.

Ranvir, Ranga. Woman Writer.“Literacy Interviews.” New Delhi, B. R. 1998. Print.

JETIR1804066 Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (JETIR) www.jetir.org 355