Five Partitions: The Making of Modern Asia

by Sam Dalrymple

India was the heart of Britain’s imperial project. During the 1930s, ‘India’ stretched from the Red Sea off the coast of Africa to the borders of Thailand, unifying a quarter of the world’s population into a single colony governed from the Viceroy’s house in New Delhi. The history of how this vast territory fought for independence has been dominated by the partition of 1947, when millions of refugees were forced across hastily erected borders between Hindu-majority India and the newly created Muslim-majority Pakistan. In just six months, eleven million people had been driven from their homes and two million killed. Some eighty-three thousand women were abducted and raped. But, as this new book argues for the first time, this was just one of five partitions.

As British rule disintegrated, ‘the Raj’ was partitioned five times between 1937 and 1971. These breakups and the manner in which they occurred are crucial to understanding the modern world. Each left violent legacies, many of which plague Asia today – including civil wars in Burma and Sri Lanka, the ongoing insurgencies in Kashmir, Baluchistan and North East India, the Iranian Revolution, the rise of the Taliban and the Rohingya genocide.

Weaving original testimonies from survivors with dazzling narrative skills, Dalrymple brings together into a single history the Partition of Burma, the Great Partition, the Partition of Princely India, the Partition of Arabia and the Partition of Pakistan. It promises an important corrective to the history of Asia and the root causes of the tensions the region faces today.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, India, Asia, Politics, Audiobook, World History

Unknown Binding

First published February 3, 2026

Reviews

[Alastair Trueger · Rating 5 out of 5]

A genuinely remarkable read. I learned things about India and the Middle East I'd never known (Yemen was considered part of Bombay), and it changed how I see global politics. It's also one of those books that lets you see patterns in history, and much of what this book covers is still relevant today.

[Girish · Rating 2 out of 5]

I started this book with great expectations but this has turned out to be a mere average.

The only positive thing about this book is that it is able to bring all partitions in one place. Otherwise there are way better books available on each subject which covers the issue intricately in an unbiased way. For ex. The Blood Telegram by Gary J bass, Bose by Chandrachur Ghosh, Savarkar series by Vikram Sampath, Revolutionaries by Sanjeev Sanyal, etc.

Additionally, the author has cherry picked the data at many instances to paint a biased narrative in terms of what drove the partition between India and Pakistan. He has moderately tried to paint Muslim league in positive colors and thereby driving the assertion that somehow their actions were a mere 'reaction' to the actions taken by Hindus (whereas the truth is starkly opposite).

Summarising, this book can be taken as an additional source, not the only source to know the history.
In my view, it should only be referred to for the Burma and Dubai separation from the Indian Empire.

[Ingrid · Rating 5 out of 5]

A masterful dive into the transformation of South Asia from British India encompassing a swathe from Myanmar to Yemen from an agglomeration of princely kingdoms and territories under direct British control to the nation states of today. A transition that’s vastly simplified in the histories we are typically taught.
This complex tapestry of stories involving individuals, families, tribes, religious and linguistic groups, consequential and those simply at the receiving end successfully conquers the challenge of being detailed and intimate enough to be highly engaging while holding the big themes coherently.

A compelling, meticulously researched narrative that shows just how the fates of peoples and nations can be determined by prejudice, hubris, negligence, serendipity, personal histories and relationships, mistrust, misunderstandings, miscommunication, and force of personalities as much as by history, geography, culture, language, geopolitics, or legality.

[Ojas Chahal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sam Dalrymple's debut book this is and it is a fascinating historical journey that takes us to the British Raj state and how that state through various political partitions or separation resulted into formation of over 12 modern day States that we see today in our world. Back in the day. Mahatma Gandhi could go to Aden in Yemen to Rangoon in Burma without any update on your passport and rupee used to be a common currency. This book traces and helps us to understand how Indians were spread out across the region and the hard boundaries of nation States that exist today did not existed at that time. The first partition was the one of Burma which separated Burma from India at that time which was British Raj state. How the concept of Burma and who Burmese is led to racial tensions and violence against Indian people living there , working there... How when the Japanese invaded in 1942, it lead to the mass migration of Indians from Burma to India. It was known as the Long March... Before partition of India, this was easily the biggest refugee movement in our region. This separation itself became the basis on which the famous partition of India itself happened between India and the new state of Pakistan. That idea itself was because first this partition of Burma had happened. It was also important to understand how at that time they were voices for example in Burma which talked about how they should be part of India only and they are part of India only ... U Ottama talks about that. It also talks about how integrated the Arabian States were to British Raj India and not only that but for example the interconnected relationship between the state of Hyderabad and Qu'aiti sultanate is fascinating to understand and how close the relationship was. This sultanate eventually becomes part of Southern Yemen republic. Outside of politics, the people and how people identity change is very important to understand many peoples nationality changed from a British Indian to East Pakistani to Bangladeshi. In a lifetime many people had many nationalities. This just shows how new the concept of nation state was. How people have gotten divided because of these modern lines that have been drawn upon in the last century or so which became our borders... And inside of those borders because of politics & how the State wanted and the majority of people wanted to define that State as resulted in various people groups becoming a target. In Burma rohingya people became a target... In Bangladesh Urdu speaking Bihari people became a target... In India, Bengali speaking people or the Muslim people itself become the fifth column in the eyes of some powerful entities(political figures)let's Just say that similarly the violence Hindus and Sikhs in Pakistan... Even today the idea of CAA & NRC threatens people all because we have tried to cement the idea that some people belong to this region only we have trying to impose and idea of ethno national state which is not very healthy in a diverse historically fluid society that ours is. This book will tell you the struggle of such various communities the, the hardships they faced and the violence (deaths and sexual violence)they faced. The story of princely States is also very interesting... And how they played such a crucial role in defining the border of modern state of India and Pakistan. How different those borders could have been and how such princely states were incorporated. And this did not ended in 47... The question of Hyderabad was taken in 1948... The Gwadar Port city was still a part of Oman till 1958. Interestingly, other than Jinnah...the only time Pakistan has expanded is under another civilian leader who was Feroz Khan Noon who got Gwadar from Oman. In the end, it is so important to understand how fluid and different our history is then we will like to understand. One more fascinating thing...For example, this book also highlights that how some of the ex INA aka Subhash Chandra Bose Indian national Army ec soldiers who became Pakistanis..Actually had a prominent role in leading the tribal Militia enter Kashmir.... Khurshid Anwar the officer's name was... Just shows the complicated history which is not told usually. Similarly in 1971 war the Pakistani is were using Chittagong Buddhist soldiers in East Pakistan and the Indian state against them had used strikingly enough Tibetan Buddhist refugee battalion which was formed for China actually... So two different Buddhist communities for fighting for Pakistan and India in a region of Bengal... Such are the complex human stories that we have. I have tried telling you some aspects of this book... But this book is very vast and it is a definite read to understand our region and people's history better.

[Nirbhay Kanoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sam Dalrymple's non-fiction, Shattered Lands, is one of the best debut works I have ever read. I would be remiss if I didn't say it is probably one of the best non-fiction books I've read in recent times.

It covers the five partitions that changed South Asia during the British Raj - beginning with Aden and Burma being separated from the Indian Empire and culminating in West and East (now Bangladesh) Pakistan's division.

There was much to learn while reading this book. I had absolutely no idea that Dubai, Aden, etc. were once part of the Indian Empire and there was a possibility that they, and Burma, could have been India's Western and Eastern most states (goes to show how poor the history we were taught in school is).

The whole Junagadh/Kashmir/Hyderabad sagas are now oft told - yet they never stop being incredulous. Reading of the Nizam of Hyderabad's desire, and subsequent actions, to make Hyderabad the seat of the global Islamic Caliphate was fascinating, and then to realise it was considered of equal importance as Jerusalem and Mecca - my mind was blown.

I enjoyed how Dalrymple built up the complex tapestry that is South Asia and delved into the myriad connections, many of which were strange and unexpected - such as that between social reformist Sultan and Osama bin Laden, or of how Jinnah's grandson was instrumental in the rise of the BJP, or then how the fall of Aden lead to the rise of Dhurubhai Ambani.

South Asian history has been kind to Mountbatten, but this book really drives home how badly he and the Empire handled the 'Great Partition'. While not getting into whether or not it could have been avoided, it certainly could have been done better with less bloodshed, more intelligence, and a great deal more empathy.

I could write paragraphs more on the book, but naturally, there is only so much space, so just do yourself a favour and go read it.

[Leonor Borges · Rating 5 out of 5]

um livro realmente interessante e bem escrito sobre as partições do império britânico entre Adem e a Birmânia e o conturbado nascimento de novas nações, algumas cujas fronteiras foram criadas a régua e esquadro por desconhecedores do terreno e história.
entre nacionalidades, fés, grupos étnicos e linguísticos, que definiram um desenvolvimento conturbado.
inevitável não pensar em como a história se repete!

[Ritika Chawla · Rating 5 out of 5]

By making history not just readable, but immensely enjoyable and rewarding to read, Sam has achieved a rare feat. The book reveals so much about histories of current geopolitical and sociopolitical issues facing our part of the world. I feel more enriched by reading Shattered Lands. Would definitely recommend to Indian readers with a keen interest in their past and present social political realities.

[Dr.Javed Rasheed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Five Partitions and the Making of Modern Asia is a widely-acclaimed history book by Scottish-Indian historian and filmmaker Sam Dalrymple. It tells the big, sweeping story of how the British Indian Empire—the Raj—broke apart in the 20th century and gave rise to the modern nations of South and parts of West Asia. As recently as the late 1920s, a vast region stretching from the Red Sea to Southeast Asia—comprising India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Burma (Myanmar), Nepal, Bhutan, Gulf states like Yemen, Oman, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait—was part of a single dominion known as the Indian Empire under British rule. Over the next five decades, this empire fragmented through a series of political ruptures and partitions, reshaping the map of Asia. The book traces these major break-ups, including:
Burma’s separation in the 1930s
The Arabian Gulf states becoming independent
The infamous 1947 Partition of India and Pakistan
The integration and dissolution of hundreds of princely states
The 1971 birth of Bangladesh from Pakistan.
Dalrymple shows how these changes were driven by decisions made in distant boardrooms and mess halls (in London, Delhi, palaces and battlefields alike), not just by grand nationalist myths. Borders were negotiated with ink and enforced with conflict. The book explains how the legacy of these divisions continues to shape the region today—with conflicts in Kashmir, Baluchistan, Northeast India, Rohingya persecution in Myanmar, and civil wars in Burma and Sri Lanka. Dalrymple’s narrative combines deep archival research, previously untranslated memoirs, and hundreds of interviews in languages including English, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Punjabi, Konyak, Arabic and Burmese. This gives the history both a macro geopolitical sweep and vivid human detail.
In short, Shattered Lands doesn’t just recount dates and treaties—it tells how the world’s most populous region was remade through upheaval, negotiation, violence, and migration, and how that legacy still resonates today. A well researched and written book for those like me and maybe a few others that highlights forgotten stories and the fragility of national borders that many people assume have always existed !! It’s 4 stars from my side !
Dr. Javed Rasheed

[Iona Rowan · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredible exploration of a critical, yet hugely overlooked and relevant piece of global history. Masterfully written - immensely informative yet engaging throughout. Bravo to this new historian, can’t wait to see what comes next !!

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a remarkable book. I am a newbie to the history of Partition, with my only real prior knowledge from the short story Toba Tek Singh, the film Earth, the boardgame Gandhi, an A-level history project on Bangladeshi independence and conversations of better-informed friends. In any case, this book was a tour-de-force introduction and in the span of just 50 years and 450 pages, Dalrymple guides you along every cut of the dismemberment of the Raj. His thesis of five partitions is compelling and the connections between Sultan Ghalib al-Qu'aiti and Mir Osman Ali Khan especially struck me - having met the former living and the latter in his grave.

The book begins with the partition of Burma, where nationalism first rears its bloodthirsty, barbaric head, and proceeds through the partitioning off of the Arabian Raj before dealing with 'Partition' as we know it and ending in the aftermath of 1971. This is a painful book. Dalrymple's artful writing bears one through it, and his talented interweaving of interviews, diaries and other first-hand accounts deeply illuminates and personalises his narrative, but none of this dulls the agony. As the violence of Partition and its irrevocable consequences continue to compound, I found myself having to stop sometimes simply to try and process the sickening numbers of dead and crimes committed that follow in rapid succession.

What seemed most apparent was how absolutely unnecessary, and in many cases avoidable, so much of the disaster was, and three figures in particular stood out: Jinnah, Mountbatten and Patel. Jinnah cuts a tragic figure, both in his personal and political life, and Dalrymple depicts a man beset by a mistrust which repeatedly leads him in error, even as he achieves his mission. Mountbatten, meanwhile, is revolting in his overconfidence and cavalier attitude, all the while self-pitying and self-congratulating. His utterly shortsighted and simpleminded approach further dashes any chance of a successful withdrawal, while Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel - whose cruelly ironic "Statue of Unity" now towers 600 feet over the Narmada River - appears an entirely hateful and odious creature, whose malice gladly plays off the initial Muslim League and Pakistani disadvantage and incompetence, while playing Nehru for a fool.

That was only my impression from a first reading however and I felt Dalrymple gave an on the whole sincere, balanced and deeply sympathetic account of the whole story, keen as always to flesh out and personalise his subjects. I really enjoyed this book and would heartily recommend it. I am so glad to have picked it up at Bradford Literature Festival and greatly look forward to reading more from Dalrymple father and son.

[Raghu Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book begins with a shock to most Indians and students of Indian history. I have always thought the British Indian Empire spanned what are India, Pakistan and Bangladesh today. The partition of India meant the act of carving Pakistan out of India. Historian Sam Dalrymple's well-researched book reveals the vast expanse of the British Indian Empire, stretching from Aden to Myanmar. Covering present-day territories, it included Aden, Yemen, Oman, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, and Myanmar. Besides its expanse, the other surprise the author springs on us is that the Indian Empire was partitioned five times, not just once in 1947. Burma separated first in 1937, and then came the partition of the Arabian Peninsula, which included Aden and the Persian Gulf states in 1937 and 1947. The third was the Great Partition, creating Pakistan in 1947. Next was the partition of the Indian princely states between India and Pakistan starting in 1947. The fifth was to create Bangladesh in 1971. British India split across twelve states between 1937 and 1971, thirteen if we include Britain! This is the story of how the British Indian Empire unraveled. We learn how politicians in London, revolutionaries in Delhi, kings in remote palaces, and soldiers in trenches redrew its map in boardrooms and on battlefields. When I got to the end, I felt like I had woken up to the truth about India’s 20th-century history. It left me wondering whether the Indian school and university system had lied to me about what British India was and how it broke up. However, after the initial confusion passed, I had some questions about Dalrymple’s portrayal and realized that I could not agree with all the book’s conclusions without further discussion. 

Dalrymple’s research is extensive, and it allows him to present a sweeping and ambitious view of historical events. A concise book review cannot perhaps do it full justice. Readers must explore this volume to unearth the complex details recounting the empire’s collapse. I will therefore focus only on a few key topics I found interesting. The initial problem I had with Dalrymple was classifying everything as partitions, implying they were alike. If we use the term ‘Partition’ to refer to the Great Partition of 1947, our perspective on others needs to shift. The Great Partition of India formed a key event in history, involving substantial violence, trauma, and tragedy affecting millions. Other partitions felt unlike the powerful emotions connected to India’s Great Partition. Not even the breakup of Pakistan comes close. To illustrate, separating the Arabian Peninsula amounted to an administrative reorganization in comparison. The partition of Burma witnessed racial riots and the forced ‘long march’ of 600,000 Indians to the mainland under horrendous conditions. But the Congress Party was quite happy to let Burma go. Even Mahatma Gandhi said in 1927 that Burma cannot form part of India on independence and that the Burmese must decide on their future by themselves. Indian elites were concerned with freedom only for the region called ‘Bharat’, which comprised today’s India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Burma’s emergence as a sovereign state was a voluntary, though not altogether peaceful, separation from the British Indian Empire. The resolution regarding the princely states does not seem like a “fourth partition”. Out of the almost six hundred princely states, only Hyderabad and Kashmir suffered military violence in their integration with India or Pakistan. The remaining states unified with either India or Pakistan because of circumstance, or pressure or plebiscites, without bloodshed.

The most recent partition that created Bangladesh did not happen through an agreement involving Punjabis and Bengalis. If there was ever a partition of Bengal, it occurred in 1905, engineered by Viceroy Lord Curzon. It is surprising that Dalrymple has not referred to it. Curzon divided the vast province of Bengal, creating East Bengal for Muslims and West Bengal for Hindus. He marketed it as an “administrative convenience,” but Indian nationalists were furious, protesting that it was “divide and rule”. The protests were fierce and persistent, forcing the colonial rulers to revoke the decision in 1911. What happened sixty years later in 1971 was the breakup of Pakistan into Pakistan and Bangladesh through the Bengali revolt and military intervention by India. Therefore, I believe there was just one partition - India’s Great Partition.

Blaming Gandhi and the Congress for the Great Partition is my next concern. During the partition fiasco, Churchill and Lord Attlee showed greater sympathy toward Muslim Pakistan than Hindu India. The ready explanation is that the British love the underdogs, and Indian Muslims were the underdogs in India. Dalrymple too reflects it as he blames the Congress party and Gandhi for partition. One reason he gives is that the Congress party adopted Vande Mataram as India’s national song in 1937. It alienated Jinnah because this act viewed the nation as the Hindu goddess Durga, making him see Congress as a vehicle for Hindu majoritarianism. This laid the ideological groundwork to create Pakistan. Dalrymple also blames Gandhi for bringing religion into the politics of India’s freedom struggle, alienating the secular Jinnah. These are valid arguments, but I have come across more convincing alternative explanations for Jinnah’s focus on partition. Jinnah was a member of the Indian Muslim elite. Indian Muslim journalist M.J. Akbar identifies a ‘theory of distance’ amongst the Muslim elite in India from the 18th century onwards. This theory contends that Hindus and Muslims are different people. It posits that Indian Muslims can protect their interests and way of living only through independent nationhood. It was the Muslim educated-elites’ view and not that of the Deoband Dar-ul-Uloom, the primary Islamic clergy of South Asia. The Muslim League leadership included large landowners. They wanted the partition of India so they could seize more land by driving out big Hindu and Sikh landowners from Punjab and Bengal. The Muslim educated elite and middle-class also had a vested interest in partition. They hoped to advance more easily in the Pakistani bureaucracy without the more numerous Hindu elite competing with them. So, there were more objective pressures on Jinnah than just Gandhi’s religious asceticism or India being worshipped as Goddess Durga.

The book explores alternate histories, considering several “what if” scenarios. Some are in the realms of fantasy, some hypothetical, while others are genuine possibilities. We start with the Arabian Peninsula. Dalrymple hypothesizes that had the colonial authorities not divided the Arabian Peninsula into princely monarchies, most of them, excluding Saudi Arabia, might have integrated into India or Pakistan. This would have brought with it the immense wealth of their hydrocarbons. It is a tantalizing thought for today’s Hindu nationalists and the Pakistani military, who may salivate at the thought of all this forsaken oil wealth. It lives within the realm of fantasy. Even if the Arabian Peninsula had affiliated itself with India, its quest for independence would soon have followed it. The Great Partition showed us we could not co-exist even with fellow Indian Muslims, whose culture, language, food, and many other traditions were the same. What chance did India have of coexisting with Arabs under their rule?

Kashmir posed another ‘if only’ experiment. Before Raja Hari Singh signed his accession, militant lashkar raiders from Pakistan advanced on Kashmir in October 1947 to Baramullah, just an hour from Srinagar’s airport. But they camped there, looting, killing and raping for three days, which gave India enough time to move troops to defend Kashmir. Dalrymple states that, given an advance upon Srinagar that same night, the lashkar would have conquered it. Kashmir would now be under Pakistan. This was a realistic ‘what if’ scenario. Another plausible scenario for Kashmir occurred when Mountbatten offered Jinnah a tempting proposition in November 1947. If Jinnah convinced the lashkar to withdraw, Britain would then organize a joint plebiscite in Kashmir and other similar states. This would resemble Junagadh’s plebiscite, involving the UN with joint Indian-Pakistani supervision. Had Jinnah accepted it, the Kashmir problem could have ended there with Pakistan winning the plebiscite. India’s Sardar Patel admitted later that India would have agreed to Kashmir if Pakistan had agreed to Hyderabad right there. Instead, Jinnah rejected it over a technicality, leaving Mountbatten incredulous! What if Jinnah had agreed? 

One more alternative scenario presents a possibility that is quite astonishing. In 1946, to solve the deadlock between the Congress and the Muslim League, Viceroy Wavell’s cabinet mission proposed an ingenious solution. This vision would grant Pakistan to the Muslim League, not as a separate nation, but as part of a loose Indian federation. It was like Scotland and Wales being bound to the UK. Astonishingly, Jinnah accepted it. But the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) was Congress-dominated. So, Nehru and Gandhi wanted it excluded from Pakistan. It was a trivial amendment, but it made Jinnah furious, and he rescinded his acceptance. He saw it as Congress’ betrayal. The mission collapsed. What if Congress had condemned the Pashtuns to Pakistan against their wishes? What if Jinnah had allowed the NWFP to be part of India? Yet another minor counterfactual was that Jinnah died just thirteen months after Indian independence. He had suffered for years from tuberculosis and lung cancer. Mountbatten remarked after Jinnah’s death that had he known about his serious condition, he would have delayed Indian independence, which may have prevented the Great Partition. It was more fantasy, less possibility. The momentum towards Pakistan as a Muslim homeland had progressed too far by 1948 for Jinnah’s death to have any reversing impact. 

While looking at the British Indian Empire disintegrating, the author’s sympathies and concern are with the small states, underdogs and ethnic minorities, as befitting a young liberal westerner. On the flip side, this leads to a detached, colder view of the majority population and their concerns. Dalrymple writes with empathy, discussing the distress of small ethnic minorities like the Nagas, Mizos, and the Rohingya. However, he does not mention Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan in this context. Khan opposed partition until the end, desiring an undivided India where the Pashtuns would have autonomy or merge with Afghanistan. Dalrymple’s take on the princely states reflects a strong nostalgia for a bygone era of pomp, glamour and splendour of the Maharajahs. He longs for the patronage of the age-old traditions of music, dance, art and crafts and how the Nawab protected the wildlife in Junagadh. The princes employed thousands of bards, artists, courtesans, camel trainers and courtly cooks. They became unemployed because of these states’ integration with India or Pakistan. This holds true, but only in part. The princes also indulged in elaborate, ritualistic hunts, resulting in the deaths of thousands of tigers, birds, and other animals. These hunts showcased political power, masculinity, and social standing, often used to forge alliances with British officials. For example, the Maharaja of Gwalior killed 39 tigers in just 10 days during King George V’s 1911 visit. While Dalrymple holds onto nostalgia, most Indians and Pakistanis remember the princes for the poverty and illiteracy their subjects endured. Despite all this, the princes got an honorable exit to a comfortable existence. Even an impressed Soviet premier Khrushchev asked, “How did India manage to ‘liquidate the princely states’ without liquidating the princes?”. 

This review may look as if I have only negative comments about the book, but in reality, I enjoyed reading the book immensely. It was a gripping narrative with a lot of snippets about leaders like Gandhi, Jinnah, Nehru, Edwina Mountbatten, Sarojini Naidu and others. I liked Dalrymple’s creative look at how the Empire disintegrated through his prism of five partitions. Readers interested in the history of the British Indian Empire in the twentieth century will find this book ‘unputdownable’. In today’s Hindu nationalist India, there is a frenzy of rewriting Indian history by spewing lies based on hatred and prejudice. This book comes as an antidote to this approach with its scientific thinking and deep research. It is a well-written contribution to twentieth-century Indian history.  

[Christine Maughan · Rating 5 out of 5]

No matter how much a reader might think they know about the breakup of the British Empire in the East, they are certain to have learnt a great deal more after reading Sam Dalrymple’s Shattered Lands. Growing up in India in the fifties and sixties, I knew the basic facts of Indian independence, but nothing of the many parallel movements outside the Indian subcontinent—from the separation of Burma from India to the formation of the Gulf states. The connection between Hyderabad and the Qu’aiti sultanate is a fascinating example of this.
Dalrymple’s thorough archival research and numerous interviews with survivors,or their families,of the upheavals and mass killings give the events of the past poignancy and immediacy. The devastating events following the formation of Pakistan and later Bangladesh, the religious massacres, and the shattering of long-established communities are not played down, but there are also heartwarming stories of courage and friendship. Ishar Das Arora, with his mixed Sikh and Hindu family, was saved by his Muslim neighbours. This,and many other personal experiences give a human perspective on the effect of arbitrary decisions, often contentiously arrived at, and provide a better understanding of the problems that continue to arise. This gripping book provides an explanatory background to conflicts of modern times, for example, the situation of the Rohingya people in Myanmar.
Ultimately, Dalrymple succeeds in weaving these disparate strands of history into a cohesive and powerful narrative. By illuminating the human cost behind the drawing of maps, Shattered Lands forces the reader to confront the lasting legacy of the British Empire's retreat. It is a work of great scholarship and deep humanity that not only educates but urges us to look with fresh eyes at the borders—and the broken lives—that define the region today.

[ناسازگار · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was so gratifying when I finally got my hands on a hard copy the very day this released in India; even Sam Dalrymple’s captions on Instagram to photos of places he visits were learning experiences to me that I’d rate higher than some full-length books I’ve read. My expectations were therefore really high, and this book managed to exceed them.

I have always been critical of nationalizing lore in post-colonial South Asia that tried to create distinctions where there weren’t any, reshaping religion, language, and belonging in addition to geography. However, I realized after reading this how there is much, much more nuance beyond what I thought of as my fairly detailed understanding of this. Burma’s separation, its involvement in the Indian nationalist movement, or the demographic and economic impact of its departure (from mass-displacement that was unprecedented, but quickly overshadowed by 1947, to the emergence of rava idlis in Bangalore(!)) has just never been part of my imagination of ‘India’s’ history. Yet, as you begin to realize as you go along, there’s nothing inherently more self-evident about Burma’s identity as a separate nation, than about Mizoram or Nagaland’s modern status as Indian states.

The links between ‘Arab India (!)’ and the mainland, the fact that Hyderabad had a vassal state in the Arabian peninsula, or that in the wake of the Indian annexation of Hyderabad, thousands of Arabs would be forced to migrate from Hyderabad to Yemen or elsewhere; ending an era where ‘Arab’ could be an ‘Indian ethnicity’ just like Punjabi or Bengali.

The orientalist, patronizing rhetoric of the newly independent Indian state, insisting that Mizo performers in the Republic Day parade dress in more exotic clothes than their actual traditional garb to conform to mainland imaginations of the ‘wild northeast’. The layers behind mass support for Pakistan, where it was not just disillusioned Muslims, but often also Dalits who are typically counted as Hindus, who were vary of Brahminical domination in an India they get to rule and define.

Revelation after revelation, brilliantly cited (I kept flipping back and forth between the text and the citations, eventually getting myself an ebook in addition to my hard copy so the shunting back and forth becomes easier) and strung together.

This is a sobering, impactful, devastating work, more important now than ever as ideas of ‘India’ and ‘Indianness’ are made narrower by the day. I’m holding my breath for whatever Sam Dalrymple writes next, even if it’s more photo captions for the time being.

[Natasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

We tend to think of "Indian Empire" as the Indian subcontinent, roughly coinciding with present day India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, but the author looks at it as all the areas which used Indian postal stamps and where people were issued Indian passports. Even a century ago, this geopolitical entity was huge stretching from Aden to Burma, and the book traces the political movements and the sovereign actions which resulted in the area being carved up into what are now a bunch of autonomous states which do not even recognise a shared history.
The premise is, of course, interesting and, to me, novel. I knew virtually nothing about the history of Burma despite having read a few historical novels set in the country. And I knew even less about the history of the Middle Eastern countries of South Yemen and UAE. So I loved reading about the 'partitions' that led to the formation of each of those countries, and of the tension arising out of botched divisions.
I also enjoyed reading the history of the formation of Bangladesh, something I know a bit about, but not in depth. Which the players involved in the formation of India and Pakistan are well known, this account stripped them of the layers of idolatry and presented them as differently flawed human beings.
However, despite the subject being as engaging as it was, there was something lacking. Perhaps it was the fact that the book read as a dry piece of historical writing with no flashes of humour or insight liven it. One certainly does not read history to be entertained, but the book came across as a paper turned in by an earnest and diligent student. Definitely a book I would recommend to someone who wants to learn about this chapter of world history.

[Baburaj · Rating 4 out of 5]

While Sam Dalrymple’s Shattered Lands offers a compelling narrative that humanizes the many partitions of South Asia and critiques nationalist mythmaking, a crucial dimension risks being underplayed in the book: the foundational role of British colonial divide-and-rule policies.

These imperial strategies deliberately sowed communal divisions and fostered distrust among South Asia’s diverse communities, creating the fertile ground upon which nationalism and, ultimately, partition violence took root. Ignoring or minimizing this colonial legacy risks framing nationalism—and by extension, the communities caught in the violence—as the primary architects of their own suffering.

Such an omission can inadvertently veer towards a form of victim blaming, where systemic and structural forces are overshadowed by narratives of indigenous responsibility. To fully grasp the tragedy of partition, it is essential to center colonial policies as the key driver that shaped the fractured political and social landscape, rather than treating nationalism’s emergence as an isolated or inevitable phenomenon. Victims of Shattered Lands needs to be seen in the proper historical context—as people caught in a web woven by imperial design as much as by nationalist ambitions.

[Krishna Adhaduk · Rating 5 out of 5]

I grew up reading about the British occupation of India and the struggle for independence, and as an adult I made a more deliberate effort to read about the 1947 Partition. Even so, I would not have called myself especially well versed in three of the five partitions discussed here – the partition of Burma, the Middle East, and the princely states across India and Pakistan. This book brings all five together, the fifth being the independence of Bangladesh, into a coherent and remarkably well-constructed narrative that is often difficult to put down.

Sam Dalrymple takes the five partitions that shaped modern Asia and narrates them with a distinctly cinematic flair, moving through the chronology with sweep and clarity while never quite losing sight of the people trapped inside it. What makes the book especially compelling is that it does not remain at the level of borders, treaties, and abstractions. It constantly humanizes the story through vivid, often surprising anecdotes about the figures orbiting these events.

Some of my favourite moments were precisely these detours. Jinnah’s Parsi wife, Nehru’s affection for Lady Mountbatten, Osman Ali Khan’s absurdly elaborate titles, Maharaja Hari Singh’s reputation as a duck-shooting champion. None of these details are the central argument of the book, but they give the larger history texture, intimacy, and almost imbue life in it. A strictly academic reader may find such side excursions indulgent, but for anyone who enjoys serious research presented as rich, readable popular history, this book is an absolute feast.

Few readers may find Sam’s biases creeping in. Growing up, I was taught a historiography in which Indian scholars generally cast the Muslim League as the principal driver of Partition, whereas this book treats the split as largely inevitable. Some might even say that it handles the Muslim League with a gentleness that occasionally borders on sympathy. At the other end, it is far more willing to confront Hindu supremacist ideology and to raise questions that Indian school textbooks have often been reluctant to entertain. To me, though, this feels less like distortion than like an opposing perspective, and for that very reason I would encourage readers to engage with both sides.

Finally, the book shows how borders are not merely drawn on maps but cut through lives, vanities, romances, ambitions, and absurdities. The book does not just explain the making of modern Asia, it makes you feel the fracture of it. That is precisely why the book lingers, and why I would readily recommend it. If this is nepotism, then I must reluctantly concede that it has produced results.

[Ameya Joshi · Rating 5 out of 5]

The apple does not fall far from the tree! With that cliche out of the way - I loved this debut work from Sam Dalrymple - channeling the best of his father's easygoing 'cinematic' writing style, with the ability to make history real and approachable - but

As someone who has lived, and studied in India there was so much here that I did not know. The Middle-East's ties to India are acknowledged as part of a legacy of Empire but it was revealing how deep those bonds were to states like Hyderabad. Burma has always been an enigma - so near, yet so far - today it's hardly a blot on the national consciousness but that isn't how it was even a couple of generations ago. Likewise the partition of Bangladesh, now told dispassionately 50 years on is a tale we have never studied in India. It makes one wonder how many of these omissions are conscious ones by choice (e.g., what the Indian state did in Hyderabad), and how many are collateral damage which don't fit within a textbook (the connection to Burma)...

Interspersed with anecdotes from the aam aadmis from across the region, well referenced and cited enough to get these complex leaders and their thoughts in - Shattered Lands is a well balanced and exceptional history lesson which I shall be gifting to anyone who has an appetite (as long as both sides are accusing you of bias, you've done a good job!).

[Ubah Khasimuddin]

Such a thoroughly researched book, I really enjoyed it but not sure it is for everyone. This would make a great book for any class on South Asia, the Indian region. It reads easily but has the academic weight to back up its bonafidas.
This book is about the break up of the Indian subcontinent, so much I did not know about it - how Burma was carved out (and that there was a large Indian diaspora there prior to 1947). How the Gulf Arab states were also a part of the British Raj and that they were considered the poor people (this was before oil was discovered), I didn't know there were a ton of Arabs living in Hyderabad who had to move back to the Gulf states and how so many Indians were business owners in the Gulf states. So much human movement in these five partitions.
Dalrymple, son of the famous Indian scholar William Dalrymple, does a good job of painting a picture of the situation and the wins and loses of the British as they broke up their old territory. He tells personal stories amid the political machinations. I learned a lot more about all the players in these partitions, so many characters I didn't even know about
Highly recommend for those interested in this time (of which I am) in history, especially Indian history and students of this subject.

[Anshul · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the great ironies is that in the twenty-first century it is easier for Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis to meet in England, their former colonial power, than to meet in the subcontinent itself.

A meticulous, well researched and easy to follow account of events materialized into Sam's debut book. An undeniable part of history not just for South Asia but for the whole world, a chain of events that set in motion in the heyday of the British Empire and the subsequent decline of the same colonial power that led to Five Partitions of Indian Empire out of which 12 nations were born.


A division of land that divided almost a quarter of world population creating a wave of separatist nationalism that is born to resent and undermine the other that still persists to this day after more than 75 years.
Unimaginable to think that virtually this quarter of world population was once all 'Indian' no earlier than a century ago.


It is with a heavy heart that I manage to read through this shattered lands as someone who fails to see a cultural difference in India and Pakistan and continues to advocate peace and prosperity among the nations of the former empire.

[Zarish Fatima · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shattered Lands Sam Dalrymple 

This book was unexpectedly good. I would be first to admit that even though I have read a lot about independence and partition, I did not know the Middle East was also part of the Indian empire (I knew they were under Colonialism just not that they were administratively so attached to us). I knew Burma was part of it as quite a bit of my family was settled there until WW2. My paternal great-grandfather died there in 1938. We had heard that there was an injury he had during Japanese attacks and as he had diabetes he died because of his wounds festering. However, Japan did not attack Burma until 1941-1942. So, he probably got injured during racially charged skirmishes that were taking place against Indians/muslims in Burma. However, no one in my family seems to know anything about that even though most lived there (or it's selective amnesia) and only left when Japan actually invaded in 1942. 

This book sheds a lot of light on what went on in Burma which was part of the Indian Empire and was annexed in 1938 after a lot of ground struggle and rise of anti-indian sentiment because of a large amalgamation of reasons. It was the first of five partitions discussed in this book. I would admit that I was hooked completely by this chapter because of my own family's intertwined history with the region and the stories I have heard. I was reading about it for the first time in detail in a book discussing South Asia and it felt that finally there was representation of those silent stories, lost homes, and families. Whenever I said that my family was settled in Burma before the 1940s and my great-grandmother is actually from there I would be asked why there were a bunch of Potaharis in Burma! Now there is an official explanation.  


This book specifically discusses partitions and annexation of South Asia so the next one was of India and Pakistan along with independence. Which hits different in 2025 as we went to war again. How bloody this partition was is a well-documented fact but the writer really sheds light on the demographic change that took place because of it. The demographic change of Jammu that happened as a result of it was shocking. I feel that there is this tendency among Muslims of Pakistan to at least downplay the things we did and the things that were done to us during that period. Giving it a dimensional perspective really minimises the suffering. Sikh, Hindu bad, Muslim victim, is not a damaging point of view. It takes away nuance from the events of the time and also it means we never really solved the core issue of why people of this region resorted to such extreme violence. To this day the single brain cell mob mentality exists on both sides of the border for which there are 100 excuses but never really a question of why it exists?


The third partition or annexation was of princely states which was enlightening. The map given of the area covered by princely states also gives context for why the national building project in this part of the world is so hard. It's hard to merge dozens of regions and 100s of cultures and present them as one. Always thought annexation of Hyderabad was a quiet affair, but it turns out it was a very bloody one that resulted in so much brutality done by the Indian army and forces that the Sunderlal commission report of it was not made public until 2011. Who knew India had its own personal Hamoodur Rehman report alternative?


The next most important partition was that of Aden(now Yemen) and other regions of the Arab world from the Indian empire and British Colonialism. I would admit I didn't deeply care for it because I honestly know nothing about the history of modern Middle Eastern and North African countries. I have not been interested in it, so for me, this part of the book was a bit difficult as I had no context for these regions and people. I have decided to read about it though. 


The last partition was between Bangladesh and Pakistan.  It is something I have read about not extensively but I have. One thing is for sure that the more I read about that chapter of history, the angrier I get as a Pakistani. Pakistan owes an apology for the atrocities of 1971. There can be no justice but at least there can be some shame on our end. What makes the barbarism of that period different from partition violence is that it was institutionalised. The Army is an institution, hence it deserves the criticism it receives for its actions against the Bengalis. The chapter does a good job of portraying the characters of the three main politicians and army men (Pakistan side) as their personalities played a huge role in how the conflict began and ended. It's such a tragedy that the fates of millions can be subject to a few petty men's ambitions. Bangladesh was inevitable but maybe the partition did not need to be so violent again. We had learned nothing from 1947 and still no signs of growth on that front. 


This review has been long but this book isn't. This is such a well-researched book. I read it on Kobo, and it gives an option to open the indexing immediately to check the reference the author is using. I highly recommend using an e-reader if you feel the need to check the sources the writer is using. It is much easier to do on an e-reader than in physical books. 


P.S. There was one error I caught in this book. The author states that women in Pakistan voted for the first time in 1971. Which is false, they definitely voted in the elections of January 1965 the one that took place between Ayub Khan and Fatima Jinnah. My maternal grandfather at the time was an election officer in Sukkhar, Sindh. Women were definitely voting in that election, there was even a case of voter fraud at polling stations by women trying to cast multiple votes by hiding their identity through a burka which was eventually sorted by putting female teachers to check each female voter's face. 

[Michael G. Zink · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an exceptional book. Dalrymple combines the skills of an accomplished researcher with a compelling writing style that keeps the narrative clear and keeps it moving at the right pace. There are a lot of characters involved in these stories that stretch across four decades, stories that tell the tale of a world morphing - often very violently - from the colonial era of the British Empire to the modern nation states that are at the heart of modern South Asia and much of the Middle East. The author has done a superb job of intertwining the parallel stories, and the many competing agendas of the protagonists, without confusing the reader. Masterful work.

Over the years I have read a lot about the history of Eurasia, and lived for 23 years in Russia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia. Still, and to my embarrassment, much of the history in this book was new to me. A good friend, who is originally from India, gave me this book. It has proven to be a precious gift.

[Aman Harshad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible take on the several partitions that helped shape today’s South Asia. Shattered Lands is a masterfully written book that sheds important light on some of the forgotten aspects of the British Indian Empire’s twilight years. Filled with stories of atrocities as well as that of incredible kindness amongst people, Sam manages to keep humanity as the protagonist of the book as he takes us through the final decades of an empire that once stood from south-western Arabia to the eastern tip of Myanmar. A proper page turner, this book should absolutely serve as a must read for anyone who wishes to understand the origins of the complex social and political landscape of today’s South Asia.

[Aditya Palacharla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating. Mind-boggling. Dense. This book took me a while to get through and I have sticky notes all over it to highlight different sections. I learned so much about the complexity of the partition time and years following, relationships between all the leaders, how their relationships and politics changed at different points of power, and all the suffering that seemingly flip-of-the-coin decisions created. Also the vastness of the British empire and the what-ifs if certain events had played out another way were really interesting. This is a book I could keep coming back to and learn new information each time.

[Imran Ahmed · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up Sam Dalrymple’s Shattered Lands with little expectation. The author’s name sounded familiar, but I assumed the book would be a standard rehash of the history of India’s partition. I was, however, pleasantly mistaken. The book altered my thinking about the collapse of British India! (I learnt later that Sam Dalrymple is the son of William Dalrymple, the acclaimed historian and author of The Last Mughal.)

Dalrymple’s Shattered Lands is indeed a retelling of the decolonization and partition of British India, but with a unique twist. Rather than treating the partition of India and Pakistan as a discrete or regionally confined phenomenon, Dalrymple situates it within a broader imperial context, tracing its connections to the concurrent retreat of British power from Burma, the Arabian Gulf, and other outposts of empire. Dalrymple's writings are supported by extensive research, drawing on sources in multiple languages, including Urdu, Hindi, and Farsi.  

Readers seeking polemic will not find it here. The author maintains an objective and balanced tone, which may not appeal to individuals with an ideological bent. For instance, Dalrymple treats Hindu militias supported by India's first Home Minister as objectively as massacres by Muslim mobs. This even-handedness strengthens the book’s authority, allowing the author to speak across political and national divides that still shape collective memory in South Asia and its diaspora. Indeed, by adopting a broader perspective, Dalrymple connects the violence and dislocation of South Asia’s partition to contemporaneous upheavals in regions seldom examined by historians. He juxtaposes the communal trauma of 1947 with the turmoil in Burma, the crisis in Aden, and the upheavals across other British territories, including the 1956 Suez Crisis. 

These parallels reveal that imperial retreat and the wider process of decolonization shared deeper structural similarities than is often recognized, notably in the patterns of mass displacement, the drawing of arbitrary borders, and the redefinition of religious and ethnic identities once integrated within unified colonial administrations. Dalrymple’s analysis thus portrays decolonization as a networked, rather than isolated, process of imperial unravelling, intertwined with the broader realignments of peoples and power. Consider the  experience of a resident of Khulna, i.e. British in 1946, Pakistani in 1947, and Bangladeshi by 1971, which exemplifies these shifting boundaries and identities.  

On a sidenote, as someone born in Karachi, I find accounts of the secession of East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, particularly difficult to read. Dalrymple’s chapters on the subject are no exception, though he offers a fair and balanced portrayal of Bengali nationalism and the 1971 war with India. However, it is disheartening to note that Pakistan’s ruling elites appear to have drawn few lessons from the tragic attempt to suppress Bengali aspirations, the the Hamoodur Rahman Commission notwithstanding.

Viewing the Subcontinent’s partition through fresh eyes and new sources yields a richer, more textured understanding of the collapse of British imperial power in South Asia. In doing so, Dalrymple offers a balanced interpretation that moves beyond the narrow Anglophone perspectives which have long dominated discussions of India’s partition and decolonization. Though Shattered Lands rests on meticulous research, it reads with remarkable ease. Dalrymple’s flair for storytelling ensures that the historical narrative never loses sight of the human dimension. 

Shattered Lands is an engaging and immersive work, appealing equally to the general reader and the serious student of history. It makes a significant contribution to the historiography of South Asian decolonization and to the broader study of imperial dissolution in the twentieth century. Dalrymple reframes familiar narratives, bridges neglected geographies, and reveals the human complexities within great political transformations. Shattered Lands stands as a remarkable debut from a historian whose future works promise to be original and insightful, contributions I await with anticipation!

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible book that manages to bring together many complicated conflicts under the theme of the dissolution of the British Raj.

Shows how politicians and demagogues have used the same tactics across time, religion, and geography.

[James Galileo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an important work of history on how the modern political environment of South Asia developed. Elegantly written and structured logically, the contents of this book is easy and enjoyable to consume.

A must read for anyone interested in the legacies of colonialism, war, nationalism, post-colonialism and empire building!

[Aparna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an ambitious, sweeping, and profoundly absorbing debut that re iterates beautifully more rather than reinterpreting the modern history of South Asia and its surrounding regions through the prism of five transformative partitions. Moving far beyond the conventional focus on the 1947 division of India and Pakistan, Dalrymple situates this traumatic rupture within a longer and more complex sequence of imperial unravellings. By examining the 1937 separation of Burma, the detachment of British Arabia, the fraught integration of princely states, and the birth of Bangladesh in 1971, the book reveals how a once-vast Indian Empire fractured into the political geography of contemporary Asia.
One of the book’s most striking strengths is its remarkable narrative breadth combined with an intimate storytelling voice. Drawing on extensive archival research, multilingual sources, and interviews conducted across borders, Dalrymple brings history to life with vivid clarity. His prose is fluid transforming bureaucratic decisions and geopolitical shifts into gripping human dramas. The inclusion of ordinary individuals—refugees, civil servants, soldiers, and displaced families—grounds the grand narrative in lived experience, underscoring the personal costs of political abstraction.
Equally compelling is the book’s refusal to indulge in nostalgia or simplistic nationalist interpretations. Dalrymple confronts the arbitrary nature of borders and exposes the enduring consequences of hurried imperial withdrawal. He demonstrates how these partitions sowed the seeds of ongoing conflict, displacement, and contested identities, legacies that continue to reverberate across Asia today. At times, the book’s expansive scope may limit deeper engagement with certain political debates, but this is a minor concession in light of its narrative momentum and originality challenges readers to rethink familiar stories of nationhood and empire, while illuminating the profound human consequences of division. Dalrymple announces himself as a compelling new voice in historical writing, offering a work that is as enlightening as it is unforgettable.

[Sujanroy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just finished Shattered Lands by Sam Dalrymple, and it's clear the historical acumen runs deep in that family. William Dalrymple's son certainly upholds the legacy, demonstrating the same commitment to meticulous research, journeying across continents to unearth diverse perspectives from various national archives.

--- A Fresh Look at Partition

In Shattered Lands, Dalrymple challenges the common perception of Partition as a singular event tied solely to the formation of Pakistan in 1947. He posits that India, in fact, experienced five successive partitions.

The narrative spans from the conclusion of the First World War, leading up to the sequence of events leading to the creation of Bangladesh, the assassination of Mujibur Rahman, and General Zia-ur-Rehman's ascent to power in Dhaka.

He thoughtfully traces the trajectories of all these splintered regions, once part of the British Indian Empire, and contemplates the alternate realities had some remained integrated with present-day India.

Having extensively traveled and lived across South Asia and Eastern Arabia — geographies central to the book's narrative — I found the historical context particularly illuminating. It provided clarity on many intriguing facets I've observed in these nations. For anyone with a keen interest in the South Asian landscape, this book offers a compelling and insightful read. From the deserts and wadis of Oman to the gurdwaras of Punjab, the stunning sunrises of Nepal, the monsoons of Bengal, the serene gompas of Bhutan, and even the fascinating linguistic transition in Teknaf where Bangla gives way to Burmese – I've been fortunate enough to experience these diverse regions, and this book skillfully connects their historical threads.

The final question - Is he as good as his celebrated father? Not quite, but almost. William has a way of adding juicy morsels of historical facts, intrigue and scuttlebutt that make his writing so much more entertaining. For example, in The return of the King, an English lady who is seated next to the legendary Maharaja Ranjit Singh, writes to her friend back home in England, her thoughts about him and how he quite expertly flirts with her.

These asides are the mark of an expert raconteur. Sam will get there, I sure but even as he is now, I'd go out and buy the book if I were you and settle down for a weekend of wonderful reading as the monsoons pour over the Shattered Lands.

[Akshat Upadhyay · Rating 2 out of 5]

God!!!!

If propaganda had a face, it would certainly resemble Sam Dalrymple. Having read almost all of Dalrymple Sr’s books, I can summarise that this bloke should move on to something else since serious history is not his forte.

The premise of the book’s cover is interesting: 5 partitions that shaped the Indian subcontinent. But when you take a closer look inside - all you find is this long yearning for the Good Ol Empire and a cliched representation of the ‘vile’ Hindus and the treacherous Congress. Almost all tropes have been applied here in copious amounts.

Take a look at what the author refers to Mr VP Menon as: chain smoking indentured labourer civil servant. This is not mentioned just once but driven home to the reader at least thrice in as many pages. Why this special treatment reserved for him? Since Mr Sam feels that Mr Menon was responsible for snatching away the ‘sovereign rights’ of the rajahs and the maharajahs and the sultans. There are much more such snippets that make this book feel more like an oral history project gone horribly wrong.

The Indian Army, Indian Government, Congress and its leaders are shown as devious crooks while the Muslim League and Mr Jinnah spout rainbows from (well you know from where).

A badly written book, undeserving of the fawning it’s received so far.

[Aditya Ansh · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book presents a deeply researched, story-rich narrative of political, cultural and human ruptures that have defined South Asia from the as early as 1930s to as later as 1970s. It also invites its readers to rethink how we remember the partition as for long our minds drift back to the Indo-Pak divide but is more of an ongoing, disjointed process of disintegration that continues to shape the geopolitical sphere.
The conventional Partition of 1947 was not the beginning of a divided South Asia but rather the third in a series of schisms, each with widespread bloodshed and consequences. Dalrymple identifies five major partitions beginning with the servance of Burma in 1937 and Aden (also 1937) moving through to the Indo-Pak divide, the separation of Arabian Raj and ending with the violent birth of Bangladesh. The initial chapters including ‘The Great Uprising’ and ‘The First Partitions of India’; challenges readers to reimagine the colonial India as a collection of entities fraying at the edges long before Nehru’s ‘tryst with destiny’ Burma’s estrangement is largely forgotten in the Indian history books, and is revealed as a traumatic separation filled with riots, racial resentment against the Indians and overlooked ethno-nationalism that would later sweep across Southern Asia. In the lush green hills of colonial Burma, Saya San led farmers in a revolt, giving an early sense of freedom against British rule. When Gandhi stepped off the boat in Rangoon, his presence was widely questioned and is considered controversial. While many locals believed that Gandhi would support Burma being a part of Indian subcontinent, he replied, "Burma must decide her destiny"
Sam collects the early history and shows how seeds of Hindutva were championed by figures like Vinayak Savarkar, as Jinnah continued to imagine a pluralistic India. As Gandhi fought for salt, Jinnah for federal compromise. In the subsequent chapters, “The Drums of War” and The Long March, Dalrymple excellently zooms into the chaos of the Second World War and the stories here are brutal as close to 600,000 Indians flee Burma through treacherous black routes. While India’s Bengal was hit by a deadly famine killing millions of people and Rangoon’s civic and military authority collapsed overnight. Sam points out that it was the disrupted rice supplies that prompted Bangalore's Mavalli Tiffin Room to invent the now-beloved Rava Idli by substituting rice with semolina. The most searing section lies in “Direct Action Day” where Dalrymple revisited the bloodshed events of 1946 and 47 through human stories and strange symbols. For example the Mohenjo-Daro necklace was split in half during the Indo-Pak division, trains of refugees were attacked in the night and temples were disassembled across borders. The book insists on multiplicity as Gandhi and Nehru are not elevated as flawless humans, while Jinnah is not reduced to either a victim or a villain. Instead, they are all humans experiencing personal pain, and political calculations. The book accounts intimate glimpses of history through letters like Jinnah's daughter writing to say she won't be joining him in Pakistan, choosing instead to wait in Bombay. This refusal to follow her father into a land newly created is more than just a familial rift and signifies Partition's personal violence. Meanwhile, exchanged notes between Nehru and Edwina Mountbatten reveals an uneven attraction between the two.
Dalrymple writes that post Indo-Pak division, Partition was less of a conclusion than a catalyst and talks about the forgotten annexation of Junagadh and belated insurgency that continues till date in Balochistan. The readers are made well aware that the line drawn by Radcliffe did not end the violence but intensified it further. In the later chapters, we see the slow emergence of other identities like Bengali nationalism leading to the birth of Bangladesh, the Nagas Mizos resisting with referendums and arms, the Arabian protectorates quietly serving ties leading to the birth of the UAE. Bangladesh had emerged from Pakistan and Jinnah’s dream was shattered as he himself used to say, “Pakistan is nothing without Bengal [East Pakistan]”, refugees kept flowing, women kept suffering and the borders kept moving, displacing millions.
Sam presents a fragmented South Asia which always contested but was deeply interlinked. He draws on rare archival materials, family memories and first hand accounts. He urges the readers to abandon linear narratives of rise and fall that offers a history shaped by rupture.
The book tells the stories we were never taught, presents us with the slow burn of tensions before 1947, forgotten Indian exodus from Burma, the rebellion, betrayals and human costs that never made it to textbooks. History however when taught to students, is perceived in binary: Heroes and Traitors, Shattered Lands however brings truth back to conversation. The book is deeply relevant today as Partition still continues to shape the subcontinent's politics, identities, and borders. The refugee crises of the Northeast, rise of exclusionary nationalism, cultural amnesia around South Asia is interlinked intensely with the past.