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{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2018}}
{{Infobox book
|italic title = 
|name = Kitne Pakistan
|image = Kitne Pakistan.jpg
|image_size =
|caption =
|alt =
|author = [[Kamleshwar (writer)|Kamleshwar]]
|title_orig = कितने पाकिस्तान
|orig_lang_code = hi
|title_working =
|translator =
|illustrator =
|cover_artist =
|country = India
|language = Hindi
|series =
|subject = [[partition of India]]
|genre = [[historical novel]]
|published = 2000 by Rajpal & Sons, Delhi <ref>{{cite web
|title=Book_Details: Kitne Pakistan
|url=http://www.rajpalpublishing.com/BookDetail.aspx?BookMasterId=871
|work=Rajpal & Sons
|accessdate=2014-10-11
|url-status=dead
|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141017041533/http://www.rajpalpublishing.com/BookDetail.aspx?BookMasterId=871
|archivedate=2014-10-17
}}</ref>
|media_type =
|pages = 361 pages <ref>{{cite web| title = LC Online Catalog - Item Information|work=Library of Congress| url = http://catalog.loc.gov/vwebv/holdingsInfo?searchId=10883&recCount=25&recPointer=4&bibId=12163765 | accessdate = 2014-10-11 }}</ref>
|awards = [[Sahitya Akademi Award]] (2003)
|isbn = 8170283205
|isbn_note = (2000 ed.)
|oclc = 44951976
|dewey = 891.433
|congress = PK2098.K26
|preceded_by = Not Flowers of Henna
|followed_by =
|wikisource =
|exclude_cover =
}}
'''''Kitne Pakistan''''' (translation: How Many Pakistan?<ref name="Sen1997"/>) is a 2000 [[Hindi]] novel by [[Kamleshwar (writer)|Kamleshwar]], noted 20th-century Hindi writer, a pioneer of the ''Nayi Kahani'' ("New Story") movement of the 1950s, and later screenwriter for Hindi cinema.<ref name="Kamleshwar2007">{{cite book|author=Kamleshwar|title=Not Flowers of Henna|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6dXQlaIX_GYC&pg=PA8|date=2007|publisher=Katha|isbn=978-81-89020-21-7|pages=6, 8}}</ref> The novel combines allegory and realism, and deals with a vast expanse of human history, as it follows the rise of [[sectarianism]], [[nationalism]], [[Hindutva]] and [[Communalism (South Asia)|communalism]], raising questions about the true motives of the people who make decisions on the behalf and for common people, who throughout the history have borne the brunt of their decision. It witnesses the violence, separation and bloodshed in the aftermath of [[partition of India]] in 1947 and examines the nature and futility of divisive politics and religion.<ref name="Sen1997"/><ref name="Kumar2004">{{cite book|author=Sukrita Paul Kumar|title=Narrating partition: texts, interpretations, ideas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CPFjAAAAMAAJ|year=2004|publisher=Indialog Publications|page=15|isbn=978-81-87981-62-6}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=अदीबों की अदालत है 'कितने पाकिस्तान'|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/hindi/entertainment/story/2003/12/031229_kitnepakistan_review.shtml|language=Hindi|work=BBC, Hindi|date=29 December 2003 |accessdate = 2014-10-11}}</ref>

It won the 2003 [[Sahitya Akademi Award]] for Hindi, given by [[Sahitya Akademi]], India's National Academy of Letters.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sahitya-akademi.gov.in/sahitya-akademi/awards/akademi_awards.jsp|title=Sahitya Akademi Awards listings|publisher=Sahitya Akademi, Official website|access-date=11 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100925203857/http://sahitya-akademi.gov.in/sahitya-akademi/awards/akademi_awards.jsp|archive-date=25 September 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref> Today, the novel is considered as author's finest work,<ref name="Kamleshwar2007"/> and one of the classics of modern [[Hindi literature]].<ref>{{cite web | title = 7 classics of Hindi literature you must read right now - Hindustan Times | url = http://www.hindustantimes.com/lifestyle/books/hindi-week-special-7-classics-of-hindi-literature-you-must-read-right-now/article1-1264249.aspx | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140916130804/http://www.hindustantimes.com/lifestyle/books/hindi-week-special-7-classics-of-hindi-literature-you-must-read-right-now/article1-1264249.aspx | url-status = dead | archive-date = 16 September 2014 |author=Sweta Kaushal|date=15 September 2014| accessdate = 2014-10-11 }}</ref>

==History==
Kamleshwar started working his ambitious novel in May 1990, aiming to understand Partition through allegory and realism.<ref name=bus>{{cite web | title = Four tales of Partition |work=Business Standard| url = http://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/four-tales-of-partition-106081501068_1.html |author=Nilanjana S Roy |date=15 August 2006| accessdate = 2014-10-11 }}</ref>

The first English translation of the novel came in 2001, in an partition anthology ''Translating partition'' published by Katha, which also featured works by [[Saadat Hasan Manto]] and [[Bhisham Sahni]].<ref>{{cite web | title = Book review of 'Translating Partition'|work=India Today | url = http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/book-review-of-translating-partition/1/230629.html
|author=Makarand Paranjape|date=9 July 2001|accessdate = 2014-10-11 }}</ref> This was followed by another translation by Ameena Kazi Ansari, ''Partitions'' was published by Penguin Books in 2006,<ref name="Kamleshwar2008">{{cite book|author=Kamleshwar|title=Partitions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9GeynZttww4C|date=2008|publisher=Penguin Books India|isbn=978-0-14-306370-4}}</ref> subsequently it was widely anthologised,<ref name="Sen1997">{{cite book|author=Geeti Sen|title=Crossing Boundaries|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BfukTDZTBNMC&pg=PA91|date= 1997|publisher=Orient Blackswan|isbn=978-81-250-1341-9|pages=81, 91}}</ref> It has been subject of several critical studies, including ''Partition stories : mapping community, communalism, and gender'' (2009) by Vinod K Chopra. In 2013, another study, ''Kitne Pakistan: sampradayika vimarsha'' (Dialogue on communalism) of the novel was published by Pratapsingh Rajput.<ref name="Rājapūta2013">{{cite book|author=Pratapsingh Rajput|title=Kitane Pākistān: sāmpradāyika vimarśa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xIhZlAEACAAJ|year=2013|isbn=978-81-89187-15-6}}</ref>

The novel achieved both popular and critical acclaim, it has been translated into several languages including Marathi and French.<ref>
{{cite web | title =PROFILE: Kamleshwar brings out the truth of life|author=Harihar Swarup|work= The Tribune, Chandigarh| url = http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20031228/edit.htm#3 |date=28 December 2003| accessdate = 2014-10-11 }}</ref>

==Summary==
In a fictional court, various historical characters are brought to the witness's box and asked to narrate their version of history. These historical personalities range from mughal emperors Babur and Aurangzeb, Spanish adventurer Hernando Cortez, Lord Mountbatten, Adolf Hitler and Saddam Hussein, along with political leaders, religious zealots and even scheming Gods of mythology, many are accused of creating innumerable divided nations and people, and a legacy of hatred and distrust. The only arbiter standing for the humanity, is an unnamed abeed, littérateur. He listens to the witnesses, and mulls over the casualties of Kurukshetra, Kargil, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Nazi Germany, East Timor, the Aztec civilization and mythological Greece to Bosnia.

==Legacy==
In a 2007 interview, poet-lyricist [[Gulzar]] with whom Kamleshwar had work in film career, noted about the novel, "I had underlined so many sentences that were potential short stories or film material. There is a description where a handkerchief falls off the bridge; I always used to tell him that I could write a complete short story on this one line only."<ref>{{cite web | title = Kamleshwar, Hindi’s gem, dies at 75|author=Gulzar |work=Indian Express | url = http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/kamleshwar-hindis-gem-dies-at-75/22039/ |date=29 Jan 2007|accessdate = 2014-10-11 }}</ref> The novel has also been adapted to a play in 2013.<ref>{{cite web | title =Founder’S Day: Dikshant students stage ‘Kitne Pakistan’|work= The Tribune, Chandigarh| url =http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20131229/cth1.htm#15 |date=29 December 2013| accessdate = 2014-10-11 }}</ref>

==Translation==
* ''Partitions'', Penguin Books, 2006. {{ISBN|0-14-400099-7}} (Reprint: 2008, {{ISBN|978-0-14-306370-4}})

==See also==
* [[Artistic depictions of the partition of India]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book|author=Attia Hosain|title=Translating partition: stories ; essays ; criticism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D4MLAQAAMAAJ|date=2001|publisher=Katha|isbn=978-81-87649-04-5}}
* {{cite book|author=Vinod K. Chopra|title=Partition Stories: Mapping Community, Communalism, and Gender|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-BnKB-fIND0C&pg=PA16|date=2009|publisher=Anamika Publishers & Distributors|isbn=978-81-7975-233-3}}
* {{cite book|author=Pratapsingh Rajput|title=Kitane Pākistān: sāmpradāyika vimarśa|language=Hindi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xIhZlAEACAAJ|year=2013|isbn=978-81-89187-15-6}}

[[Category:Hindi-language novels]]
[[Category:2000 Indian novels]]
[[Category:Partition of India in fiction]]
[[Category:Indian historical novels]]
[[Category:Sahitya Akademi Award-winning works]]
[[Category:Allegory]]
[[Category:Sectarianism]]
[[Category:2000 in India]]
[[Category:Books about Pakistan]]

Kitne Pakistan - Revision history

imported>GreenC bot at 01:55, 9 August 2021