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carries forward Butalia’s objective, voicing the stories of four women, Saadia,  
Zahida, Harnam, and Vimla. They narrate and recount their own experiences of 
misogyny and gendered violence as influenced by the Partition of 1947,  
predominantly drawing on the impacts of high religious tensions, primarily  
between Hindus and Muslims, during this period. Geographer O.H.K. Spate  
suggests that “the separatist demand for Pakistan” was due to “a new economic 
nationalism” that “weapon[ised]… immemorial religious and social  
differentiation” (1948:5). Spate implies that the Empire’s “conquer and rule”  
strategy gave “Non-Muslims, predominantly Hindus, …a long start in the ways of 
the West” and that this “uneven economic development” created “fears of ‘Hindu 
imperialism’” (1948:7). Whilst Spate begins to suggest the British Empire’s  
aggravating of previously-existing religious tensions, there is an omission of the  
extent of the Empire’s direct involvement in this hostility. Referring to these  
tensions as “a new economic nationalism” and ‘“fears of ‘Hindu imperialism’”, as 
though these are not also responses to or consequences of the colonially imposed 
disturbance or erasure of preexisting cultural structures, further iterates the  
colonial narrative of cultural superiority which fueled “religious and social  
differentiation”. The notion of cultural superiority is evidenced in British public  
addresses, such as a speech by Major-General Briggs at the annual meeting of 
Glasgow Society in 1839, who claims the British Empire is “bettering the  
conditions of the natives of India” and “helping” to “render that country great 
among the civilised kingdoms of the world” (Briggs and Thompson 1839:14). Aur 
Kitne Tukde stages the impacts of these colonial narratives infiltrating the former 
Indian Empire through its female protagonists, depicting the injustices faced by 
both Muslim and Hindu women during the Partition. 
Analysis 
Aur Kitne Tukde, set in the Punjab, or West Punjab (Pakistan) and East Punjab  
(India) post-Partition, opens with a traditional Punjabi dhol beat that underscores 
a movement sequence introducing the play’s first protagonist, Saadia. Her young, 
carefree spirit is clearly performed through Harvinder Kaur’s physicality, as she 
dances openly and with confidence, continuing to spin and laugh despite the rest 
of the ensemble having left the stage. This is furthered by her playful narration of 
her story, and hiding behind her woven bed frame when describing games of hide 
and seek with her brother. 
Saadia’s character expresses a romanticised view of marriage, despite her  
parents’ ongoing concerns surrounding the Partition, singing Sada Chirian Da 
Chamba, a popular Punjabi folk song sung during the departure of the bridge in 
wedding ceremonies. The song draws on the metaphor of a bird flying the nest, 
and Kaur mimes setting a bird free whilst standing on the bed, creating an image of 
freedom. Ironically, this hope for freedom is almost instantly lost when a stranger, 
Raghuvir, begins to tease and harass Saadia as she sings. He forces her to hold the 
other end of his rope, spinning her across the stage and gradually pulling her closer 

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