Source: Finding Your Roots: "Martha Stewart, Margaret Cho, and Sanjay Gupta"
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The history of India’s 1947 division is very complex, with centuries-old roots steeped in religious, cultural, and territorial issues. On August 14 of that year, Pakistan won its independence from India, and on August 15, India won its independence from Britain after 350 years of British colonial rule. The British foothold in India began in the 17th century when the British East India Company was founded. However, the Indian Rebellion of 1857 is what ultimately resulted in total British rule in India. As a result of the rebellion, the British Parliament took away the British East India Company’s power and the British crown took charge.
Around the turn of the 20th century, an Indian nationalist movement began developing, when many Indians wanted sovereign control of their nation. During this period, a nonviolent movement also emerged against British colonial rule, founded by Mohandas Gandhi. Ultimately, two factions developed with two different goals: the Indian National Congress, led by Jawaharlal Nehru, (which was not religiously-affiliated but was comprised of mostly Hindus) sought sovereignty for India, while the Muslim League, headed by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, wanted a sovereign Muslim nation. In the end, the partition divided colonial India into India and East and West Pakistan (now Bangladesh and Pakistan). Pakistan became a Muslim state, with Jinnah as its leader, and India, led by Prime Minister Nehru, became a Hindu state.
The partition came during a time of much uncertainty and unrest following the conclusion of World War II. India had previously been economically beneficial for Britain, but in the late 1940s, the country was becoming a fiscal liability. In addition, new leadership in Britain contributed to the decision to release India from British control.
Sir Cyril Radcliffe was the man responsible for the commissions created to develop new country boundaries for India and Pakistan. Ironically, Radcliffe had never been to India until his arrival on July 8, 1947, just over a month before the country was to be officially partitioned. Others involved in creating the new boundaries had little knowledge with which to do so. Many people on both sides of the conflict believed biases were involved in the partition of India.
Historically, the partition represents the largest modern migration of people – estimates range from 10 million to approximately 14.5 million within four years following partition. The partition was also extremely violent. The death toll is estimated to be around one million as a result of riots and other violence perpetrated during the partition.
Tensions between India and Pakistan still exist today. One point of conflict that endures is the region of Kashmir, which borders northern Pakistan and northern India. In 1947, the leader of Kashmir, Hari Singh, was to choose between joining Pakistan or India in the partition, but was unsuccessful. The debate continues today as to the territoriality of Kashmir.
NARRATOR: For Martha Stewart, Margaret Cho, and Sanjay Gupta – the courageous, pioneering spirit that compelled their families to risk everything and move to America was shaped by strikingly similar themes of exodus and upheaval. Their family histories are each colored by a deep sense of loss.
And no wonder. Each was directly affected by political turmoil that tore apart families – and entire nations--in the process.
In fact, Sanjay Gupta’s mother, Damyanti, lived through one of the worst social upheavals in contemporary history – the partition of India.
SANJAY GUPTA: She was very young when this terrible Partition happened. I’ve tried to find out just how violent, uh, was it, for real. Um, what she saw. But she doesn’t, she doesn’t talk about it that much.
NARRATOR: In 1947, partition divided India into two nations, creating the new Muslim state of Pakistan. In the chaos, more than a million people lost their lives. 14 million Muslims and Hindus were displaced – among them, 5 year-old Damyan and her Hindu family. They were forced to flee their ancestral home in Sindh, Pakistan. Damyanti spoke with us about her memories of that night.
DAMYANTI HINGORANI: I remember that we had to leave very, very early in the middle of the night, so nobody can recognize us. My dad’s mother, she didn’t want to even leave. She said, “I came as a bride, and I’m not leaving this place.” She loved her place so much. And actually, I remember, she used to carry a big key chain. It was round, and she had several keys, and she knew exactly which key fitted which lock. She had locked everything, and she used to tell me one day she is going to go back and open all that.
NARRATOR: Sanjay’s great grandmother reluctantly left with the rest of the family. they made the perilous journey over land from their home in Sindh to Karachi, then by boat to Bombay. With every mile they traveled, they were unwittingly – and permanently - leaving so much of their past – and of their family's history - further and further behind. They would never return to their ancestral home again.
HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR.: I find the story of the key so deeply moving.
SANJAY GUPTA: I, I can’t believe that they hung on to this key. That’s, that’s proof of what, where they expected their lives to go. They wanted to go back. They wanted to, to go back to where they, where their homes were.
HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR.: Or proof that even if she knew she couldn’t go back where her heart was.
SANJAY GUPTA: Yeah. Right, right.
HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR.: Forced to leave almost all of their worldly possessions behind, Sanjay’s family’s ancestral paper trail on his mother’s side runs out. The story of Sanjay’s mother being forced to flee her home with virtually nothing still resonates deeply with him. It’s the defining, climactic event that separates him from the ability to gain a deeper understanding of his family’s roots.
SANJAY GUPTA: There is a cultural thing that I see among Indians, and maybe it’s among Indians who immigrated away from India. There is a desire to protect their kids from some of the tougher parts of their lives.
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