Human psyche has been decoded and unfolded time to time and it has been recorded in different genres of literature. Communal violence has unfolded a different human psyche. The novel Tamas written by Bhisham Sahni explores various aspects of human nature. In the novel Sahni beautifully works on man to man relation, community to community relation, neighbour to neighbour relation and comes to a conclusion that however strong one’s relation is with the neighbour, it totally fails when the society erupts in the flame of communal violence. But the novelist has also painted some good characters in the novel as well. The novel presents women as the worst sufferers during the communal violence because men suffer in terms of death, material destruction and displacement whereas women besides these things lose their dignity and self –respect. The financial destruction that men lose, can be regained but the physical purity that women lose, cannot be regained, on the contrary, its memory haunts throughout their life.
Assistant Teacher of English Anugrah Kanya Senior Secondary School, Gaya
