listen)), was an Indian writer famous for his modern Hindi-Urdu literature. He is one of the most celebrated writers of the Indian subcontinent, and is regarded as one of the foremost Hindi writers of the early twentieth century. He began writing under the pen name "Nawab Rai", but subsequently switched to "Premchand", Munshi being an honorary prefix. A novel writer, story writer and dramatist, he has been referred to as the "Upanyas Samrat"
("Emperor among Novelists") by writers. His works include more than a
dozen novels, around 250 short stories, several essays and translations
of a number of foreign literary works into Hindi .Early life
Munshi Premchand was born on 31 July 1880 in Lamhi, a village located near Varanasi (Benares) and was named Dhanpat Rai ("master of wealth"). His ancestors came from a large Kayastha family, which owned eight to nine bighas of land. His grandfather, Guru Sahai Rai was a patwari (village land record-keeper), and his father Ajaib Rai was a post office clerk. His mother was Anandi Devi of Karauni village, who could have been the inspiration for the character Anandi in his Bade Ghar Ki Beta. Dhanpat Rai was the fourth child of Ajaib Lal and Anandi; the first two were girls who died as infants, and the third one was a girl named Suggi. His uncle, Mahabir, a rich landowner, nicknamed him "Nawab" ("Prince"). "Nawab Rai" was the first pen name chosen by Dhanpat Rai.
Munshi Premchand Memorial Gate, Lamhi, Varanasi
As a child, Dhanpat Rai sought solace in fiction, and developed a fascination for books. He heard the stories from the Persian-language fantasy epic Tilism-e-Hoshruba at a tobacconist's shop. He took the job of selling books for a book wholesaler, thus getting the opportunity to read a lot of books. He learnt English at a missionary school, and studied several works of fiction including George W. M. Reynolds's eight-volume The Mysteries of the Court of London. He composed his first literary work at Gorakhpur, which was never published and is now lost. It was a farce on a bachelor, who falls in love with a low-caste woman. The character was based on Premchand's uncle, who used to scold him for being obsessed with reading fiction; the farce was probably written as a revenge for this.
After his father was posted to Jamniya in the mid-1890s, Dhanpat Rai enrolled at the Queen's College at Benares as a day scholar. In 1895, he was married at the age of 15, while still studying in the ninth grade. The match was arranged by his maternal step-grandfather. The girl was from a rich landlord family and was older than Premchand, who found her quarrelsome and not good-looking.
His father died in 1897 after a long illness. He managed to pass the matriculation exam with second division(below 60% marks). However, only the students with first division were given fee concession at the Queen's College. He then sought admission at the Central Hindu College, but was unsuccessful because of his poor arithmetic skills. Thus, he had to discontinue his studies. He then obtained an assignment to coach an advocate's son in Benares at a monthly salary of five rupees. He used to reside in a mud-cell over the advocate's stables, and used to send 60% of his salary back home. Premchand read a lot during these days. After racking up several debts, in 1899, he once went to a book shop to sell one of his collected books. There, he met the headmaster of a missionary school at Chunar, who offered him a job as a teacher, at a monthly salary of ₹ 18. He also took up the job of tutoring a student at a monthly fees of ₹ 5.
In 1900, Premchand secured a job as an assistant teacher at the Government District School, Bahraich, at a monthly salary of ₹ 20. Three months later, he was transferred to the District School in Pratapgarh, where he stayed in an administrator's bungalow and tutored his son.
Dhanpat Rai first wrote under the pseudonym "Nawab Rai". His first short novel was Asrar e Ma'abid ("Secrets of God's Abode", Devasthan Rahasya in Hindi), which explores corruption among the temple priests and their sexual exploitation of poor women. The novel was published in a series in the Benares-based Urdu weekly Awaz-e-Khalk from 8 October 1903 to February 1905. Literary critic Siegfried Schulz states that "his inexperience is quite evident in his first novel", which is not well-organized, lacks a good plot and features stereotyped characters. Prakash Chandra Gupta calls it an "immature work", which shows a tendency to "see life only white or black".
Stay at Kanpur
From Pratapgarh, Dhanpat Rai was relocated to Allahabad for training, and subsequently posted at Kanpur in 1905. He stayed in Kanpur for around four years, from May 1905 to June 1909. There he met Munshi Daya Narain Nigam, the editor of the Urdu magazine Zamana, in which he later published several articles and stories.Premchand visited his village Lamahi during the summer vacation, but did not find the stay enjoyable because of a number of reasons. He did not find the weather of the atmosphere conducive for writing. Plus, he faced domestic trouble due to quarrels between his wife and his step-mother. Premchand angrily scolded his wife, after she unsuccessfully tried to commit suicide by hanging. Dismayed, she went to her father's house, and Premchand displayed no interest in bringing her back. In 1906, Premchand married a child widow, Shivarani Devi, who was the daughter of a landlord from a village near Fatehpur. The step was considered to be revolutionary at that time, and Premchand faced a lot of social opposition. After his death, Shivarani Devi wrote a book on him, titled Premchand Ghar Mein ("Premchand in House").
In 1905, inspired by the nationalist activism, Premchand published an article on the Indian National Congress leader Gopal Krishna Gokhale in Zamana. He criticised Gokhale's methods for achieving political freedom, and instead recommended adoption of more extremist measures adopted by Bal Gangadhar Tilak. Premchand's first published story was Duniya Ka Sabse Anmol Ratan ("The Most Precious Jewel in the World"), which appeared in Zamana in 1907. According to this story, the most precious 'jewel' was the last drop of blood necessary to attain independence. Many of Premchand's early short stories had patriotic overtones, influenced by the Indian independence movement.
Premchand's second short novel Hamkhurma-o-Hamsavab (Prema in Hindi), published in 1907, was penned under the name "Babu Nawab Rai Banarsi". It explores the issue of widow remarriage in the contemporary conservative society: the protagonist Amrit Rai overcomes social opposition to marry the young widow Poorna, giving up his rich and beautiful fiance Prema. According to Prakash Chandra Gupta, "while containing seeds of his future greatness in many ways, the novel is still youthful and lacks the discipline which full maturity brings".
In 1907, another of Premchand's short novels, Kishna was published by the Medical Hall Press of Benares. This 142-page work, which satirises women's fondness for jewellery, is now lost.[15] Literary critic Nobat Rai criticised the work in Zamana, calling it a mockery of the women's conditions.
During April–August 1907, Premchand's story Roothi Rani was published in serial form in Zamana. Also in 1907, the publishers of Zamana published Premchand's first short story collection, titled Soz-e-Watan. The collection, which was later banned, contained four stories which sought to inspire the Indians in their struggle for political freedom.
Adoption of the name Premchand
In 1909, Premchand was transferred to Mahoba, and later posted to Hamirpur as the Sub-deputy Inspector of Schools. Around this time, Soz-e-Watan was noticed by the British Government officials, who banned it as a seditious work. The British collector of the Hamirpur District ordered a raid on Premchand's house, where around five hundred copies of Soz-e-Watan were burnt. After this, Munshi Daya Narain Nigam, the editor of the Urdu magazine Zamana, who had published Dhanpat Rai's first story "Duniya Ka Anmol Ratan" advised the pseudonym "Premchand". Dhanpat Rai stopped using the name "Nawab Rai" and became Premchand.In 1914, Munshi Premchand started writing in Hindi (Hindi and Urdu are considered different registers of a single language Hindustani, with Hindi drawing much of its vocabulary from Sanskrit and Urdu being more influenced by Persian). By this time, he was already reputed as a fiction writer in Urdu.[8] Sumit Sarkar notes that the switch was prompted by the difficulty of finding publishers in Urdu.[26] His first Hindi story Saut was published in the magazine Saraswati in December 1915, and his first short story collection Sapta Saroj was published in June 1917.
Gorakhpur
A plaque commemorating Munshi Premchand at the hut where he resided in Gorakhpur from 1916 to 1921.
At Gorakhpur, he developed a friendship with the bookseller Buddhi Lal, who allowed him to borrow novels for reading, in exchange for selling exam cram books at the school.[9] Premchand was an enthusiastic reader of classics in other languages, and translated several of these works in Hindi.
By 1919, Premchand had published four novels, of about a hundred pages each. In 1919, Premchand's first major novel Seva Sadan was published in Hindi. The novel was originally written in Urdu under the title Bazaar-e-Husn, but was published in Hindi first by a Calcutta-based publisher, who offered Premchand ₹ 450 for his work. The Urdu Publisher of Lahore published the novel later in 1924, paying Premchand ₹ 250.[28] The novel tells the story of an unhappy housewife, who first becomes a courtesan, and then manages an orphanage for the young daughters of the courtesans. It was well received by the critics, and helped Premchand gain wider recognition.
In 1919, Premchand obtained a BA degree from Allahabad. By 1921, he had been promoted to Deputy Inspectors of Schools. On 8 February 1921, he attended a meeting in Gorakhpur, where Mahatma Gandhi asked people to resign from government jobs as part of the non-cooperation movement. Premchand, although physically unwell and with two kids and a pregnant wife to support, thought about it for 5 days and decided, with the consent of his wife, to resign from his government job.
Back to Benares
After quitting his job, Premchand left Gorakhpur for Benares on 18 March 1921, and decided to focus on his literary career . Till his death in 1936, he faced severe financial difficulties and chronic ill health.In 1923, he established a printing press and publishing house in Benares, christened "Saraswati Press". The year 1924 saw the publication of Premchand's Rangabhumi, which has a blind beggar called Surdas as its tragic hero. Schulz mentions that in Rangabhumi, Premchand comes across as a "superb social chronicler", and although the novel contains some "structural flaws" and "too many authorial explanations", it shows a "marked progress" in Premchand's writing style According to Schulz, it was in Nirmala (1925) and Pratigya (1927) that Premchand found his way to "a balanced, realistic level" that surpasses his earlier works and manages to "hold his readers in tutelage". Nirmala, a novel dealing with the dowry system in India, was first serialised in the magazine Chand between November 1925 and November 1926, before being published as a novel.Pratigya ("The Vow") dealt with the subject of widow remarriage.
In 1928, Premchand's novel Gaban ("Embezzlement"), focusing on the middle class' greed, was published. In March 1930, Premchand launched a literary-political weekly magazine titled Hans, aimed at inspiring the Indians to mobilise against the British rule.[33] The magazine, noted for its politically provocative views, failed to make a profit. Premchand then took over and edited another magazine called Jagaran, which too ran at a loss.
In 1931, Premchand moved to Kanpur as a teacher in the Marwari College, but had to leave because of difference with the college administration. He then returned to Benares, and became the editor of the Maryada magazine. In 1932, he published another novel titled Karmabhumi. He briefly served as the headmaster of the Kashi Vidyapeeth, a local school. After the school's closure, he became the editor of the Madhuri magazine in Lucknow.
Bombay
Premchand arrived in Bombay on 31 May 1934 to try his luck in the Hindi film industry. He had accepted a script writing job for the production house Ajanta Cinetone, hoping that the yearly salary of ₹ 8000 would help him overcome his financial troubles. He stayed in Dadar, and wrote the script for the film Mazdoor ("The Labourer"). The film, directed by Mohan Bhawnani, depicted the poor conditions on the labour class. Premchand himself did a cameo as the leader of labourers in the film. Some influential businessmen managed to get a stay on its release in Bombay. The film was released in Lahore and Delhi, but was banned again after it inspired the mill workers to stand up against the owners.Ironically, the film inspired the workers of his own loss-making press in Benares to launch a strike, after they were not paid their salaries.[34] By 1934–35, Premchand's Saraswati Press was under a heavy debt of ₹ 4000, and Premchand was forced to discontinue the publication of Jagaran. Meanwhile, Premchand was beginning to dislike the non-literary commercial environment of the Bombay film industry, and wanted to return to Benares. However, he had signed a one-year contract with the production house. He ultimately left Bombay on 4 April 1935, before the completion of one year. Himanshu Roy, the founder of Bombay Talkies, tried to convince Premchand to stay back, but did not succeed.
Last days
Premchand was elected as the first President of the Progressive Writers' Association in Lucknow, in 1936. He died on 8 October 1936, after several days of sickness and while still in office.
Godaan upanyas (The Gift of a Cow, 1936), Premchand's last completed work, is generally accepted as his best novel, and is considered as one of the finest Hindi novels. The protagonist, Hori, a poor peasant, desperately longs for a cow, a symbol of wealth and prestige in rural India. According to Schulz, "Godan is a well-structured and well-balanced novel which amply fulfills the literary requirements postulated by the Western literary standards. Unlike other contemporary renowned authors such as Rabindranath Tagore, Premchand was not appreciated much outside India. Siegfried Schulz believes that the reason for this was absence of good translations of his work. Also, unlike Tagore and Iqbal, Premchand never travelled outside India, studied abroad or mingled with the renowned foreign literary figures.
In 1936, Premchand also published Kafaan ("Shroud"), in which a poor man collects money for the funeral rites of his dead wife, but spends it on food and drink. Premchand's last published story was Cricket Matching, which appeared in Zamana in 1938, after his death .
Novels
| Hindi title | Urdu title | Publisher | Date | Length (pages) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Devasthan Rahasya | Asrar-e-Ma'abid | Awaz-e-Khalk (serial form) | 1903 (8 October)-1905 (February) | English translation of the title: "The Mystery of God's Abode" | |
| Prema | Hamkhurma-o-Ham Sawab | Indian Press/Hindustan Publishing House | 1907 | Amrit Rai overcomes social opposition to marry the young widow Poorna, giving up his rich and beautiful fiance Prema. (Penned under the name "Babu Nawab Rai Banarsi") | |
| Kishna | Medical Hall Press, Benares | 1907 | 142 | Now lost; satirises women's fondness for jewellery | |
| Roothi Rani | Zamana (serial form) | 1907 (April–August) | |||
| Soz-e-Watan | Publishers of Zamana | 1907,1909 | Banned by the British Government in 1909 | ||
| Vardaan | Jalwa-e-Isar | Granth Bhandar and Dhanju | 1912 | 128 | Vardan ("Boon") is about Pratap Cahndra and Brij Rani, two childhood neighbours who like each other. Brij gets married to another man and becomes a famous poet after being widowed. Her friend Madhvi starts liking Pratap after hearing about him from Brij. Pratap becomes a sadhu, and Madhvi becomes his devotee. |
| Seva Sadan | Bazaar-e-Husn | Calcutta Pustak Agency (Hindi) | 1919 (Hindi); 1924 (Urdu) | 280 | An unhappy housewife first becomes a courtesan, and then manages an orphanage for the young daughters of the courtesans. |
| Premashram | Gosha-e-Afiyat | 1922 | |||
| Rangbhoomi | Chaugan-e-Hasti | Darul Ishaat (Urdu, 1935) | 1924 | ||
| Nirmala (novel) | Nirmala | Idaara-e-Furoogh-Urdu | 1925 | 156 | English title: The second wife. About the dowry system in India (serialised in the magazine Chand between November 1921 and November 1926, before being published as a novel) |
| Kaayakalp | Parda-i-Majaz | Lajpat Rai & Sons, Lahore (Urdu) | 1926 (Hindi), 1934 (Urdu) | 440 | |
| Pratigya | Bewa | 1927 | Deals with widow remarriage | ||
| Gaban | Ghaban | Saraswati Press, Benares; Lajpatrai & Sons, Urdu Bazaar | 1931 | 248 | |
| Karmabhoomi | Maidan-e-Amal | Maktaba Jamia, Delhi | 1932 | ||
| Godaan | Saraswati Press | 1936 | 344 | English title: The Gift of the Cow. Themed around the socio economic deprivation as well as the exploitation of the village poor. | |
| Mangalsootra (incomplete) | Hindustan Publishing House | Premchand completed only first four chapters (around 70 pages) of this novel.[48] |
Short stories
Several of Premchand's stories have been published in a number of collections, including the 8-volume Mansarovar (1900-1936). Some of his stories include:| Title | Publisher | Date | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adeeb Ki Izat | A story of writer who wanted respect and recognition of his work but later realised that he is a candle which will have to burn giving light to others. | ||
| Duniya ka Sabse Anmol Ratan | Zamana | 1907 | The title means "The Most Precious Jewel in the World", which according to the story, is the drop of the blood necessary for the nation's independence |
| Bade Bhai Sahab | Zamana | 1910 (December) | A story of two brothers, their conflict, resolution and understanding |
| Beti ka Dhan | Zamana | 1915 (November) | |
| Saut | Sarasvati (Vol. 16, Part 2, No. 6, 353–359) | 1915 (December) | The title means "co-wife". |
| Sajjanata ka dand | Sarasvati | 1916 (March) | The title means "The Penalty for Integrity". |
| Panch Parameshvar | Sarasvati | 1916 (June) | A friendship is marred when one friend delivers a verdict against the other. The story narrates how they reunite as friends. |
| Ishwariya Nyaya | Sarasvati | 1917 (July) | The title means "The Divine Law" |
| Beton Wali Vidhwa | Sarasvati | 1920 (July) | |
| Durga ka Mandir | Sarasvati | 1917 (December) | The title means "The Temple of Durga". |
| Maa | Sarasvati | 1921 (November) | |
| Ghar Jamai | Sarasvati | 1933 (June) | |
| Dhikkar | Sarasvati | 1925 (May) | |
| Dil ki Rani | Sarasvati | 1926 (December) | |
| Gulli Danda | Sarasvati | 1925 (May) | |
| Updesh | 1917 | ||
| Meri Pahli Rachna | Sarasvati | 1930 (May) | |
| Lanchan | Sarasvati | 1929 (May) | |
| Manovratti | Sarasvati | 1932 (May) | |
| Balidan | Sarasvati | 1918 (May) | The title means "Sacrifice". |
| Putra Prem | Sarasvati | 1920 (July) | The title means "Love of a Son". |
| Boodhi Kaki (The Old Aunt) | Hans | 1921 | An old woman craves for love from her family. |
| Pariksha | Chand | 1923 (January) | The title means "The Test". Its background is the Nadir Shah's invasion and sack of Delhi. The retiring minister Sardar Sujan Singh has been ordered by the king to find a new minister to replace him. The minister tests several candidates for a month and then announces the rightful successor based on his values of sympathy and bravery. |
| Shatranj ke khiladi (Hindi) Shatranj ki bazi (Urdu) |
Madhuri | October 1924 | Two aristocrats – Mirza Sajjad Ali and Mir Roshan Ali — live in the kingdom of Awadh during the times of the British Raj. Both of them are careless towards their duties and spend their days playing chess. Their love for the game is so immense that even when the ruler of Awadh, Wajid Ali Shah, is captured by the British they continue playing chess. In the end, a move in the game sparks a verbal conflict between them and they end up killing each other with their swords. |
| Hinsa Parmo Dharma | Madhuri | 1926 (December) | |
| Ghasvali | Madhuri | 1929 (December) | |
| Idgah | Chand | 1933 (August) | A poor boy in India lives with his grandmother. On the festival day of Eid, the other kids buy themselves candies and toys. The poor boy, thinking of his grandmother, buys a pair of tongs to help her make rotis, since she burns her hands trying to cook them bare-handed. |
| Nashaa | Chand | 1934 (February) | Two friends from different strata of society study away from their homes. The story explores class disparity and aspirations in their friendship. It has an autobiographical touch. |
| Kafan | Jamia | 1936 | A low-caste father and his son are poor labourers in a village. An emergency occurs when the son's wife dies while giving birth to a child and the family has no money to cremate the body of the dead woman. The lazy duo ask for money from the village zamindar and other members of the society. However, they use the money they get on liquor and food instead. |
| Cricket Match | Zamana | 1937 | Published posthumously |
| Gupt Dhan | Haridas, a man of character, owns a brick factory. He loses his character when he gets a map of a hereditary treasure of a worker, but eventually dies as a punishment of god. | ||
| Mantra | The selfishness of a rich doctor named Chaddha results in the death of a patient. The same patient's father selflessly cures Dr. Chaddha's son, when the doctor meets the same sort of situation. | ||
| Namak Ka Daroga | 1925 (May) | The title means 'The Salt Inspector'. An idealist becomes a police officer, and faces problems while performing his duties. | |
| Poos ki raat[49] | Madhuri | 1930 (May) | The title means "A night of the Poos month (Winter)". A poor farmer stays out with his dog to protect his field on an extremely cold December night. |
| Lottery | Zamana | It is a story of an Indian family in which every member bought a ticket of a 1 million rupees worth lottery. After some time they began to fight over that what would they do if anyone win the lottery but at last neither from their home even town, state or country win the lottery but someone from America. | |
| "Vidhwans" | The title means " Catastrophe". An old widow with no children is engulfed in a fire caused by the owner of the village intentionally and therefore, the pandit pays for the price. | ||
| "Kazaki" | A story of love, adore and friendship between a little boy and kazaki, a poor but cheerful and jolly man used to work under his father. |
- Abhushan
- Agni Samadhi
- Alagyojha
- Amrit
- Atmaram
- "Bade Ghar Ki Beti" (1926)
- Bhoot (1926)
- Chori
- Daroga Sahab
- Devi
- Dhaai ser gehun
- Dikri Ke Rupaye
- Do Bahanein
- Do Sakhiyan (1926)
- Do Bailon ki Katha
- Do Kabren (1920)
- Doodh ka Damm (1910)
- Fauzdaar
- Gilli danda"
- Grihaneeti
- Gurumantra (1927)
- Har Ki Jeet (1925)
- Jail (1931)
- Juloos (1930)
- Jurmana
- Khudai
- Mahatirtha
- Manushya Ka Param Dharma (March 1920)
- Maryada ki Vedi
- Mukti Marg (1922)
- Muktidhan (1921)
- Mamta (1928)
- Mandir (1927)
- Nairashya
- Nimantran (1926)
- Pashu se Manushya
- Prayaschit
- Prem Purnima
- Prem Ka Uday (1923)
- Prerna (1925)
- Ramleela (1926)
- Samar Yatra (1930)
- Sati (1925)
- Satyagraha (1923)
- Sawa Ser Gehun (1921)
- Sewa Marg
- Subhagi
- Suhag ki Sari (1923)
- Sujan Bhagat
- Rani Sarndha (1930)
- Swatva Raksha
- Thakur ka Kuaan (1924)
- Thriya Charita
- Tagada (1924)
- Khoon Safed (1923)
- Udhar Ki Ghadi
- Vajrpaat (1922)
- Raja Hardaul (1925)
- Vimata
- Hajje Akbar
- Sautele Maa
- Kajaki (1921)
- Ibrat
- Roshni
- Bhadde ka Tattu (1922)
- Nijat
- mazdoor
- Kazaaki (1921)
- Mritak Bhoj (1922)
Translations
Premchand translated several non-Hindi works into Hindi. These included the writings of Ratan Nath Dhar Sarshar, Leo Tolstoy, Charles Dickens (The Story of Richard Doubledick), Oscar Wilde (Canterville), John Galsworthy (Strife), Sadi, Guy de Maupassant, Maurice Maeterlinck (Sightless) and Hendrik van Loon (The Story of Mankind).Some of the translated titles include:
| Premchand's title | Original | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ahankar | Thais by Anatole France (adaptation) | |||||||
| Azad Katha | Fasana-e Azad (1880) by Ratan Nath Dhar Sarshar | |||||||
| Parvat Yatra | Sair-e-Kohsar (1890) by Ratan Nath Dhar Sarshar | |||||||
| Chandi Ki Dibiya | The Silver Box (1906) by John Galsworthy | |||||||
| Hartal | Strife (1909) by John Galsworthy | |||||||
| Nyaya | Justice (1910) by John Galsworthy | |||||||
| Sukhdas | Silas Marner by George Eliot (adaptation) | |||||||
| Tolstoy Ki Kahaniyan | Stories of Leo Tolstoy | SOURCES : POSTED BY ; | WIKIPEDIA | ': VIPUL KOUL |
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