British India is divided into India and Pakistan at independence; the Punjab and Bengal are split, millions are displaced, and between several hundred thousand and a million people are killed in the violence, leaving the two nations' memories of each other marked to this day.
Tagged: Hindu Hindu Reform Movements
The Event
- Date
- 1947 (exact)
- Era
- Colonial; Standard periodization of Hindu history
- Location
- Delhi, Lahore, Calcutta; today India and Pakistan
- Traditions
- Hinduism
- Streams
- Hindu Reform Movements
- Key figures
- Mohandas Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Muhammad Ali Jinnah
How the Tradition Tells It
Partition is remembered in opposed ways across the subcontinent: as independence won, as a homeland secured, and as a catastrophe of displacement and killing; the death toll itself remains disputed, with estimates running from several hundred thousand to two million.
Primary Sources
- Indian Independence Act 1947
- The Radcliffe Award
Secondary Sources
- Guha, India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy (HarperCollins, 2007)
- Doniger, The Hindus: An Alternative History (Penguin, 2009)
Provenance: HIST-0336; confidence 0.95; accessed 2026-10-27.
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