Rewriting Purushartha: Masculinity, Gendered Violence, and Patriarchal Control in Yashpal’s Jhutha Sach

Abstract

This article investigates the implicit subtext of masculinity that undergirds Yashpal’s two-volume novel Jhutha Sach (The False Truth, 1958–1960), one of the most frequently sidestepped classics of Partition literature. It seeks to address the persistent scholarly amnesia that largely exists within the ever-expanding corpus of Partition Studies and which, more often than not, reveals an overwhelming preoccupation with questions relating to violence, memory, trauma, and testimony. While the usual suspects of Partition literature have been analysed and re-analysed over and over again, the most voluminous fictional account of the devastating tragedy has received scant critical attention. Yashpal’s novel both foregrounds a narrative of hurt, violence, and suffering as well as espouses discursive notions of survival, fortitude, and recuperation. The male characters are not only symbolically emasculated on various occasions but also strategically pitted against the more defiant, heroic, and resourceful female protagonists, enabling the novel to underscore a radical feminist aesthetics that seeks to move beyond the classical themes of Partition literature, such as bewilderment, disorientation, and vulnerability.