Communal violence, ethnonationalist insurgencies, terrorism and State violence have marred the Indian nation-state since its inception. These phenomena frequently intersect with prevailing forms of gendered violence complicated by caste, religion, regional identity and class within communities Deepti Misri shows how Partition began a history of politicised animosity associated with the differing ideas of “India” held by communities and in regions on the one hand, and by the political-military Indian State on the other. She moves beyond that formative national event, however, in order to examine other forms of gendered violence in the postcolonial life of the nation, including custodial rape, public stripping, de-turbanning and enforced disappearances. Assembling literary, historiographic, performative and visual representations of gendered violence against women and men, Misri establishes that cultural expressions do not just follow violence but determine its very contours, and interrogates the gendered scripts underwriting the violence originating in the contested visions of what “India” means.