Personal Memory, Partition, and the Decline of Feudal Culture in Attia Hosain's Sunlight on a Broken Column

Abstract

Attia Hosain's Sunlight on a Broken Column (1961) is one of the most significant literary representations of late colonial India, the nationalist movement, and the trauma of Partition. This paper examines the novel through the interconnected frameworks of memory studies, feminist historiography, and postcolonial identity. It argues that Hosain transforms personal memory into an alternative mode of historical narration that challenges official political histories. Through the experiences of the narrator-protagonist Laila, the novel records the decline of the Muslim taluqdar class, the fragmentation of composite culture, and the emotional consequences of Partition. Employing the concepts of collective memory and cultural memory, the paper demonstrates how Hosain reconstructs history through individual experience, domestic spaces, and familial relationships. The study further argues that Ashiana, the ancestral house, functions as a symbolic archive of a disappearing social order. Ultimately, the novel emerges as a powerful critique of communal politics and a defence of pluralistic cultural identities in South Asia.