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‘Tamas, in either Rockwell’s translation or the original Hindi, remains an essential text for the times’
Nilanjana Roy, Business Standard
‘Tamas is a prophetic warning against the use of religion as a weapon to gain and perpetuate political power’ GOVIND NIHALANI
In a city in undivided Punjab, Nathu, a tanner, is bribed to kill a pig. When the animal’s carcass is discovered on the steps of the local mosque the next morning, simmering tensions explode into an orgy of bloodlust. But in the midst of the ensuing carnage, despite the darkness of the times, rare moments of unexpected friendship and love also surface.
Winner of the Sahitya Aakdemi Award, Sahni’s iconic novel about the Partition of India tells the tale of an unfolding riot from different vantage points. In Daisy Rockwell’s definitive translation, this magnificent work comes vividly to life.
‘Tamas drove the point home that ordinary people want to live in peace’ Guardian
Imprint: India Penguin Modern Classics
Published: Sep/2018
ISBN: 9780143441243
Length : 360 Pages
MRP : ₹399.00
Imprint: Penguin Audio
Published:
ISBN:
Imprint: India Penguin Modern Classics
Published: Sep/2018
ISBN: 9788184757316
Length : 360 Pages
MRP : ₹399.00
‘Tamas, in either Rockwell’s translation or the original Hindi, remains an essential text for the times’
Nilanjana Roy, Business Standard
‘Tamas is a prophetic warning against the use of religion as a weapon to gain and perpetuate political power’ GOVIND NIHALANI
In a city in undivided Punjab, Nathu, a tanner, is bribed to kill a pig. When the animal’s carcass is discovered on the steps of the local mosque the next morning, simmering tensions explode into an orgy of bloodlust. But in the midst of the ensuing carnage, despite the darkness of the times, rare moments of unexpected friendship and love also surface.
Winner of the Sahitya Aakdemi Award, Sahni’s iconic novel about the Partition of India tells the tale of an unfolding riot from different vantage points. In Daisy Rockwell’s definitive translation, this magnificent work comes vividly to life.
‘Tamas drove the point home that ordinary people want to live in peace’ Guardian
Bhisham Sahni (1915-2003) was an iconic writer who transformed the landscape of Hindi literature. His oeuvre encompassed novels, plays, short stories and essays. Tamas, his best known novel, won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1975 and was subsequently adapted into a National Award-winning film by Govind Nihalani. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1998, and the Shlaka Award, the Delhi government's highest literary prize, in 1999.
Daisy Rockwell is an artist, writer, and Hindi-Urdu translator. Her highly acclaimed translations include Bhisham Sahni’s Tamas and Khadija Mastur's The Women's Courtyard. Her translation of Geetanjali Shree’s Tomb of Sand was the winner of the 2022 International Booker Prize and the 2022 Warwick Prize for Women in Translation. As well as essays on literature and art, she has written Upendranath Ashk: A Critical Biography, The Little Book of Terror and the novel Taste.
Read by millions of people down in India and across the world, here are nine classics that you should include in your ‘must-read’ list, if you haven’t already.