$27.55
- Paperback
240 pages
- Release Date
5 August 2025
Summary
Bhisham Sahni’s 1973 novel is a chronicle of the sectarian violence that ultimately led to the devastation of the Partition. It drew immediate and universal critical acclaim for its poignant and striking depiction of the anatomy of a bloody conflagration that comes to engulf an entire region.
In a northwestern city in pre-Independence India, Nathu, a tanner, is hired to kill a pig by a shadowy figure who haunts the novel. When the animal’s carcass is discovered on the steps of the loc…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780143138051 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 0143138057 |
| Author: | Bhisham Sahni, Daisy Rockwell, Siddhartha Deb |
| Publisher: | Penguin Books Ltd |
| Imprint: | Penguin Classics |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Number of Pages: | 240 |
| Release Date: | 5 August 2025 |
| Weight: | 210g |
| Dimensions: | 15mm x 129mm x 195mm |
You Can Find This Book In
Critics Review
It is Tamas, in either Rockwell’s translation or the original Hindi, that remains an essential text for the times – Nilanjana Roy * Business Standard *
Bhisham Sahni
Bhisham Sahni
Bhisham Sahni (born 1915) is regarded as one of India’s foremost writers and a significant voice in Hindi literature, having authored over one hundred short stories and several plays. He profoundly influenced the Hindi literary scene. Born in Rawalpindi (present-day Pakistan), Sahni was an active participant in the Quit India Movement and relocated to India following the Partition. His most celebrated novel, Tamas, received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1975 and was later adapted into a film by Govind Nihalani, which garnered a National Film Award. Sahni was honored with the Padma Bhushan in 1998 and the Shalaka Award, the Delhi government’s highest literary honor, in 1999.
Daisy Rockwell (Translator)
Daisy Rockwell is an artist, writer, and translator of Hindi and Urdu literature. She has translated numerous classic works from Hindi and Urdu into English, including Bhisham Sahni’s Tamas and Khadija Mastur’s The Women’s Courtyard. Her translation of Geetanjali Shree’s Tomb of Sand won the 2022 International Booker Prize and the 2022 Warwick Prize for Women in Translation. In 2020, she received the MLA’s Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for Translation of a Literary Work for Krishna Sobti’s A Gujarat Here, a Gujarat There. In 2023, she was awarded the Vani Foundation Distinguished Translator Award. In 2024, she served as a translator in residence at Princeton University and held a translation fellowship with the NEA.
Siddhartha Deb (Foreword)
Siddhartha Deb, born in northeastern India, resides in New York. His fiction and nonfiction have received accolades such as longlisting for the International Dublin Literary Award, shortlisting for The Orwell Prize, and winning the PEN Open Book Award and the 2024 Anthony Veasna So Fiction Prize. His journalism and essays have been featured in publications including The New York Times, The Guardian, The New Republic, Dissent, The Baffler, N+1, and Caravan. His most recent novel is The Light at the End of the World (2023). His nonfiction collection, Twilight Prisoners: The Rise of the Hindu Right and the Fall of India, was published in 2024.
Returns
This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.