Women at the backdrop of “Toba Tek Singh”

The Mental Asylum where the story is set is in total domination of men, this setting is reflective of the patriarchal society where spaces are in absolute monopoly of men, which is in absolute opposition to the experiences of those of women, which are less or not at all given importance to or spoken about. This absence speaks volumes about the invisibility of women in the larger historical and political framework of Partition, emphasizing how their suffering was often sidelined in favour of male-centric narratives, presenting an assortment of women amid the devastation and brutality, each of whom serves as a tribute to the feminine spirit's tenacity and fragility in the face of extreme adversity.

“Toba Tek Singh” portrays numerous instances of women as being quiet victims of their circumstances. They are caught in the centre of a conflict where they did not have a part to play in, their grief is expressed through their behaviours and emotions, and their stories are frequently hinted at rather than spoken explicitly. Women who are compelled to leave their homes, leaving behind their possessions and loved ones, depicted as symbols of loss and displacement. Their silence is a potent testimony to the trauma they have experienced.

Most of the story's female characters strike out as resilient despite the immense hardships. They are the ones that adjust to the hard realities of their new existence by seeking strength in their weakness. The woman who attends to the mentally unwell patients in the middle of the asylum's pandemonium is a perfect illustration. The affection, passion, and determination with which she takes care of the patients in the hospital is reflective of how a woman, despite all odds, showcases her perseverance in the face of adversity.

More often than not Manto’s extensive accounts of partition tend to shade the female characters, who are characterised as mentally unwell, sex workers, orphans and subsequently vanishing into the thin air. Manto emphasises the suffering of people who often get overlooked and brushed aside by concentrating on these characters. Living on the periphery of society, these women experience twice as much marginalisation because of their social position and gender.

The exclusion of women from the asylum also represents a larger disregard for their psychological and emotional suffering during Partition. Despite being terrible and ridiculous, the male detainees' absurdity is at least recognised and given room in the story. In contrast, women were frequently forced to endure their suffering in silence since, in the male-dominated language of the era, their suffering was seen as less important. Intentional or not, this erasure emphasises the necessity of questioning how history is chronicled and whose narratives are considered important enough to be preserved.

Toba Tek Singh is a microcosm of society, mirroring the more general problems of marginalisation, violence, and displacement. Because they are both stigmatised for their gender and mental illness, the women who are housed there are especially at risk. They frequently experience exploitation, abuse, and neglect, underscoring the intersectionality of oppression.

Although, Saadat Hassan Manto in, “Toba Tek Singh” does not explicitly criticise patriarchy, his ideas on gender are revealed within his larger body of work. Particularly during Partition, he was a harsh opponent of the patriarchal systems that dehumanised women. Women are frequently represented in his stories as the most defenceless victims of abuse, yet they are also shown to be resilient and capable of taking action.

The absence of women may reflect Manto’s acknowledgment of their erasure from historical narratives. By focusing on the madness of men, he indirectly critiques the patriarchal systems that failed to protect women and instead reduced them to symbols of honour or revenge. The mere absence of the mention of the agonies of women during the course of partition in the literary accounts of that time implies the need of addressing the issue and providing a platform, where the miseries of women get voiced out, given the fact that the patients in the asylum are by enlarge men and hence the very issues of identity and displacement, are just those of men, and women hence get no inclusion in the same, therefore, reflecting the wider exclusion of women's voices in historical and literary accounts, is a testament to it being a conscious decision rather than an inherent flaw.

To sum it up, Toba Tek Singh compels people to think about the secret tales of women who suffered during the atrocities of Partition by depicting lunacy and sorrow. Manto encourages us to address the gaps in our knowledge of history and to look for the voices that have been silenced by drawing attention to their absence. By doing this, he guarantees that the narrative of Partition will not be complete until we recognise and respect the experiences of everyone involved, particularly the women who bore the brunt of it.

Hurmat Farooq is a student pursuing Sociology at Jamia Millia Islamia

Edited by- Nausheen Ali Nizami