The present article examines Attia Hosain's Sunlight on a Broken Column as a Partition narrative. It is observed that the novel is an outstanding presentation of the crisis of partition. It is unique among Indian English novels on partition as it is not only the first woman writer's response but also the first Muslim writer's response towards the holocaust. Being much closer to another bildungsroman- Ice-Candy-Man by Bapsi Sidwa, a Pakistani writer, Attia's novel offers the Muslim point of view of the Partition, whereas the former is an account of an outsider's view-Parsi perception of the tragedy. The novel captures the poignant political event very artistically with elegant style.

Attia Hosain, one of the pioneering Indian women fictionists in English, has not been as prolific a writer as Anita Desai, Kamala Markandaya or Shashi Deshpande. But her Sunlight on a Broken Column (1961) and Phoenix Fled and Other Stories (1953) have established her status as an outstanding writer in English of the Post-Independence era. "In her novel Sunlight on a Broken Column, however," writes Mulk Raj Anand in the `Profile' to the novel, "she has revealed herself as one of the most talented pioneers of the novel in Indian-English literature"(1979:xv-xvi). It is a rare tribute from a male writer to a female practitioner of the craft.

Sunlight on a Broken Column is a bildungsroman. Like Bapsi Sidhwa's Ice-Candy-Man (1988) this novel too traces the growth of its protagonist, Laila-modelled on Attia herself in fictional form. Everything is seen through her eyes. It is also the story of a decaying Muslim feudal family of Lucknow. The socio-political condition from the 1930s to the post-partition days provides a background to the story of Laila and her family. The partition also figures at the end as a backdrop and crisis. The novel presents the Muslim perspective or response to the ordeal. But the partition is not the central theme here. In contrast with Khushwant Singh's Train to Pakistan (1956) and Chaman Nahal's Azadi (1975), the theme of partition in the novel is peripheral. It belongs to the genre of the partition novels like B Rajan's The Dark Dancer (1959) and Manohar Malgonkar's A Bend in the Ganges (1964), which cover the political turmoil of the epic movement for freedom and the attainment of it, where the partition plays no lesser a role. In the company of these classics of partition, Attia's novel is ignored by the critical body of writing on partition fiction though it deserves its rightful place. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the novel as a partition narrative and examine how it is unique in its response to the holocaust-Muslim perspective of the tragedy.

Attia Hosains Sunlight on a Broken Column: A Muslim Point of View of the Partition, Muslim, partition, Column, bildungsroman, Sunlight, outstanding, perspective, crisis, tragedy, IceCandyMan, elegant, established, examines, feudal, fictionists, holocaust, holocaustMuslim, Hosain's, Lailamodelled, Khushwant, captures, ordeal, Partition, perception, artistically, pioneering, postpartition, presentation