Which of the following does Urvashi Butalia’s The Other Side of Silence primarily seek to do?

A. To understand the Partition as something more than a political divide
B. To foreground a personal history of the Partition
C. To foreground the Partition as an event more tragic than the Holocaust
D. To find and unite families separated at the Partition

Choose the correct answer from the options given below:

Correct option is A

Explanation:
Urvashi Butalia’s The Other Side of Silence: Voices from the Partition of India (1998) examines the Partition of 1947 beyond its political dimensions, delving into its human and emotional impacts.
A. To understand the Partition as something more than a political divide: Butalia shifts the focus from political leaders and territorial divisions to the lived experiences of ordinary people affected by the Partition, including women, children, and marginalized groups.
B. To foreground a personal history of the Partition: The book highlights personal narratives, oral histories, and testimonies of survivors to uncover the silenced stories of trauma, loss, and resilience.
Incorrect Options:
C. To foreground the Partition as an event more tragic than the Holocaust: While Butalia acknowledges the immense human suffering during the Partition, she does not compare it to the Holocaust.
D. To find and unite families separated at the Partition: Butalia’s work focuses on documenting experiences rather than actively reuniting families.

Information Booster:
The book explores themes like violence, displacement, gendered trauma, and the silencing of marginalized voices.
Butalia’s use of oral history as a method reveals the personal impact of Partition, emphasizing the importance of memory in historical documentation.
The book examines how women experienced the Partition differently, highlighting abductions, rapes, and the societal stigma they faced.
Butalia portrays the Partition as a deeply personal and communal tragedy, moving beyond state-centric narratives.

Additional Knowledge:
A feminist and historian, Butalia co-founded Kali for Women, India’s first feminist publishing house.
The book pioneered the use of survivor testimonies in studying the Partition, influencing subsequent scholarship.
Approximately 15 million people were displaced, and an estimated 1–2 million people lost their lives in the Partition of 1947.
Butalia’s work complements other Partition studies by authors like Bapsi Sidhwa (Ice-Candy-Man) and Khushwant Singh (Train to Pakistan).