The 1947 partition of British India into two independent nations (India and Pakistan) was accompanied by acts of violence unspeakable in their brutality and horror, leading Mushirul Hasan to label it as “bloody vivisection” (xii). Among the numerous atrocities committed at the time of partition were those committed specifically against women. Several women were raped, killed, kidnapped and forced to marry. They became the targets of horrific violence and their bodies became the sites over which victory was sought. Gender violence has mostly been read as a metonym for the violation of land. Women's bodies have immense significance in an exclusively male-dominated society, where the responsibility of protecting their chastity and honor falls on the shoulders of men. Their sexuality becomes highly problematic especially in times of disorder and war because their role as biological reproducers and transmitters of culture makes them highly vulnerable to acts of sexual exploitation by men from the "other" community. In the context of the partition of India, the unprecedented levels of sexual exploitation against women on both sides of the border testify to their role as “objects in men's construction of their honor” (Das 43). As Ruth Seifert says, the female body is “a symbolic representation of the body politic” (62) and the rape of women is “the symbolic rape of the body of the [community]” (64). Robbing them of their honor becomes the means by which male power is destabilized, the identity of the community is threatened, and the pride of the nation is defeated. Susan Brownmiller states: “In an act of aggression, the collective spirit of women and the nation is broken, leaving a memory long after the troops have departed. And if she sur...... middle of paper...... Women, 1998.--."Recovery, rupture, resistance: the Indian state and the abduction of women during Partition." Hasan, Mushirul. Inventing Borders: Gender, Politics and the Partition of India. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2000. 208-235. Prakash, Bodh. "Women Protagonists in Partition Literature". Ravikant, Tarun K. Saint. Partition translation. New Delhi: Katha, 2001. 194-209. Rajinder Singh Bedi, Allok Bhalla. "Lajwanti". Manoa, vol. 19, No.1, Crossing Over: Partition Literature from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh (Summer 2007), pp.21-32. March 18, 2011Seifert, Ruth. “War and Rape: A Preliminary Analysis.” Stinglmayer, Alexandria. Mass Rape: The War on Women in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1994. 62-64.