Munshi Premchand

Infobox Writer
name = Munshi Premchand


imagesize = 150px
birthdate = birth date|1880|07|31|1880|71|31|mf=y
birthplace = Lamahi, Varanasi, IND
deathdate = death date and age|1936|10|8|1880|71|31|mf=y
deathplace = Varanasi, IND
occupation = Novelist, Poet
notableworks = "Gaban", "Idgah", "Bade ghar ki beti"

Munshi Premchand, प्रेमचंद (July 31, 1880ndash October 8, 1936) was a writer of modern Hindi and Urdu literature. In India, he is generally recognized as the foremost writer in both Hindi and Urdu during the early twentieth century."Munshi Premchand of Lamhi Village", Robert O. Swan, Duke University Press, 1969]

Life

Early years

Premchand (Hindi: प्रेमचंद, Urdu: پریمچںد), was born on July 31, 1880 in the village Lamhi near Varanasi to Munshi Ajaib Lal, a clerk in the post office, and his wife Anandi. His parents named him Dhanpat Rai (master of wealth) while his uncle, Mahabir, a rich landowner, called him Nawab (Prince), the name Premchand first chose to write under."Premchand: A Life", Amrit Rai (Harish Tirvedi, translator), People's Publishing House, New Delhi, 1982.] Premchand's parents died young - his mother when he was seven and his father while he was sixteen or seventeen and still a student. Premchand was left responsible for his stepmother and step-siblings.

Premchand was married at fifteen to a girl from a neighboring village but the marriage was a failure and, when Premchand left the village in 1899, the girl returned to her village. Several years later, in 1906, in response to an advertisement in a local paper from a man who wanted to marry off his child-widow daughter (a girl widowed while married as a child), he married a second time to Shivrani Devi.

When Premchand was eight, he started his education in Persian and Urdu under a Muslim teacher (a tailor who moonlighted as a teacher) in his village. At the age of twelve, he joined his father at Gorakhpur where he first went to the Rawat Pathshala (where he first learned English) and then to the Mission school of Gorakhpur where he studied upto the eighth grade. At fifteen, he returned to Lamhi and joined Queen's College in Benaras. His matriculation (tenth grade) was delayed a year by the death of his father and he passed it in the Second Class, not high enough for admission to college."Prem Chand: Novelist and Thinker" Govind Narain Sharma, Pragati Publications, Delhi, 1999]

The schoolmaster period

In 1899, Premchand left Lamhi to take up the position of a schoolmaster at a mission school in the town of Chunar at a salary of eighteen rupees a month, with which he had to support his wife, his step-mother, his half-brother, his step-mother's younger brother and himself. Times were hard for the young man and they became harder still when he was fired from the job for being 'too independent'. He returned to Lamhi and soon got a job as an assistant master at a government school in Benaras, only to be transfered two months later to Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh a town near Allahabad where he first started writing seriously., After two years at Pratapgarh, in 1902, he was sent to Allahabad to obtain training as a teacher where he impressed the principal enough to be offered a job as the headmaster of the Model School attached to the teacher's training college. In 1904, he passed the special vernacular examination in Hindi and Urdu a and was transferred to Kanpur as the deputy sub-inspector of schools.

While at Allahabad, Premchand's first novella, "Asrar e Ma'abid" (The Secrets of the Sanctum Sanctorum) was serialized in the Urdu weekly "Awaz-e-Khalq" (first publication date 8 October, 1903), but it was in Kanpur where his writing career really took off with his association with the Urdu magazine "Zamana" where he published a regular column, "The March of Time", focusing on national and international affairs. In Kanpur, he became a part of the literary circle and gained a reputation as a journalist and writer with a social conscience. His second novel, also in Urdu, "Kishna (1907)" was written during this period (the text of this novel has nor survived). He also published a collection of short stories in Urdu, "Soz-e-vatan".

Later, Premchand worked as the deputy sub-inspector of schools in what was then the United Provinces of Agra and Gorakhpur and even now there is a very lush green park on the name of Premchand - "Premchand Park". The Government of India has an autonomous body in Uttar Pradesh for research on his literature.

In 1910, he was hauled up by the District Magistrate in Gorakhpur (near Normal school where DIET - Training centre for B.Ed (B.T.C is eshtablished now a days)for his anthology of short stories "Soz-e-Watan" (Dirge of the Nation), which was labeled seditious. The first story of the anthology was "Duniya ka Sabse Anmol Ratan" (The Most Precious Jewel in the World), which according to him was "the last drop of blood shed in the cause of the country's freedom". All the copies of "Soz-e-Watan" were confiscated and burnt. Initially Premchand wrote in Urdu under the name of "Nawabrai". However, after the confiscation of "Soz-e-Watan". he started writing under the pseudonym "Premchand". Before Premchand, Hindi literature consisted mainly of fantasy or religious works. Premchand brought realism to Hindi literature. He wrote over 300 stories, a dozen novels and two plays. The stories have been compiled and published as "Maansarovar".

In 1921, he answered Mahatma Gandhi's call and resigned from his government job. Then he worked as the proprietor of a printing press, editor of literary and political journals ("Jagaran" and "Hans"). Briefly, he also worked as the script writer for the Bombay film world. He didn't think much of the film world of his times and once remarked about a film "Mazdoor" (The Labourer)- "The director is the all in all in cinema. The writer may be the king of his pen, but he is an ordinary subject in the director's empire...Idealism creeps into the plots I conceive and I am told there is no entertainment value in them."

Premchand's first marriage was a disaster. The second time, he married a child widow, Shivarani Devi, which was a considered taboo in India at that time. Premchand had three children - Sripat Rai, Amrit Rai and Kamla Devi Srivastava.

Premchand lived a life of financial struggle. Once he took a loan of two-and-a-half rupees to buy some clothes. He had to struggle for three years to pay it back.

When asked why he didn't write anything about himself, he answered: "What greatness do I have that I have to tell anyone about? I live just like millions of people in this country; I am ordinary. My life is also ordinary. I am a poor school teacher suffering family travails. During my whole lifetime, I have been grinding away with the hope that I could become free of my sufferings. But I have not been able to free myself from suffering. What is so special about this life that needs to be told to anybody?".

Premchand chaired the first All-India conference of the Indian Progressive Writers' Association in April 1936 at Lucknow.

During his last years, he became terribly ill. The money his wife used to give for his treatment was used in running his press "The Saraswati". He was also writing a book "Mangalsutra" which would never be completed. All this had serious impact on his health leading to his early death on October 8, 1936, at the age of 55. [ [http://www.indiaheritage.org/creative/litra/p_chand.htm Premchand at Indiaheritage] ]

Writing style

The main characteristic of Premchand's writings is his interesting story-telling and use of simple language. His novels describe the problems of the rural peasant classes. He avoided the use of highly Sanskritized Hindi (as was the common practice among Hindi writers), but rather he used the dialect of the common people.

Premchand called literature a work that expresses the truths and experiences of life impressively. Presiding over the Progressive Writers' Conference in Lucknow in 1936, he said that attaching the word "Progressive" to writer was redundant, because "A writer or an artist is progressive by nature, if this was not his/her nature, he/she would not be a writer at all."

Before Premchand, Hindi literature was confined to the "raja-rani" (king and queen) tales, the stories of magical powers and other such escapist fantasies. It was flying in the sky of fantasy, until Premchand brought it on the grounds of reality. Premchand wrote on the realistic issues of the day - communalism, corruption, zamindari, debt, poverty, colonialism etc.

Some criticize Premchand's writings as full of too many deaths and too much of misery. They believe Premchand does not stand anywhere near contemporary literary giants of India - Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay and Rabindranath Tagore. But it should be noted, that many of Premchand's stories were influenced by his own experiences with poverty and misery. His stories represented the ordinary Indian people as they were, without any embellishments. Unlike many other contemporary writers, his works didn't have any "hero" or "Mr. Nice" - they described people as they were.

Premchand was a contemporary of some other literary giants of that era like Acharya Ram Chandra Shukla and Jaishankar Prasad.

Literary works

Premchand has written about 300 short stories, several novels as well as many essays and letters. He has also written some plays. He also did some translations. Many of Premchand's stories have been translated into English and Russian.

Godaan (The Gift of a Cow), his last novel, is considered the finest Hindi novel of all times. [ [http://www.kalpana.it/eng/writer/indian_writers/phanishwarnath_renu.htm Finest Hindi novel] ] The protagonist, Hori, a poor peasant, desperately longs for a cow, a symbol of wealth and prestige in rural India. Hori gets a cow but pays with his life for it. After his death, the village priests demand a cow from his widow to bring his soul to peace.

In "Kafan" (Shroud), a poor man collects money for the funeral rites of his dead wife, but spends it on food and drink.

Famous stories

*"Panch Parameshvar" (पंच परमेश्वर پںچ پرمیشور)
*"Idgah" (ईदगाह اِیدگاہ)
*"Nashaa" (नशा نشا)
*"Shatranj ke khiladi" (शतरंज के ख़िलाडी شترںج کے خِلاڈی) (The chess players)
*"Poos ki raat" (पूस की रात پُوس کی رات)
*"Atmaram" (आत्माराम آتمارام)
*"Boodhi Kaki" (बूढी काकी بُوڈھی کاکی) (The Old Aunt)
*"Bade Bhaisahab" (बडे भाईसाब بڈے بھائیساب) (The Elder brother)
*"Bade ghar ki beti" (बडे घर की बेटी بڈے گھر کی بیٹی) (The girl of an affluent family)
*"Kafan" ("कफ़न" کفن) (Shroud)
*"Dikri Ke Rupai" (दिक्रि के रुपै دِکرِ کے رُپے)
*"Udhar Ki Ghadi" (उधार की घडी اُدھار کی گھڈی)
*"Namak Ka Daroga" (नमक का दरोगा نمک کا دروگا)
*"Panch Phool" (पाँच फूल)
*"Prem Purnima" (प्रेम पूर्णिमा)
*"Ram Katha" (राम कथा)

Novels

*"Gaban" (गबन)
*"Sevasadan"
*"Godaan" (गोदान)
*"Karmabhoomi" (कर्मभूमि)
*"Kaayakalp" (कायाकल्प)
*"Manorma" (मनोरमा)
*"Mangalsootra" (मंगलसूत्र), incomplete
*"Nirmala" (निर्मला)
*"Pratigya" (प्रतिज्ञा)
*"Premashram" (प्रेमाश्रम)
*"Rangbhoomi" (रंगभूमि)
*"Vardaan" (वरदान)

Plays

*"Karbala" (कर्बला)

Films based on Premchand's work

Satyajit Ray filmed two of Premchand's worksndash "Sadgati" and Shatranj Ke Khiladi. "Sadgati" (Salvation) is a short story revolving around poor Dukhi, who gets exhausted to death while hewing wood for a paltry favor. "Shatranj ke Khiladi" (The Chess Players) revolved around the decadence of nawabi Lucknow, where the obsession with a game consumes the players, making them oblivious of their responsibilities in the midst of a crisis.

"Sevasadan" (first published in 1918) was made into a film with M.S. Subbulakshmi in the lead role. The novel is set in Varanasi, the holy city of Hindus. "Sevasadan" ("House of Service") is an institute built for the daughters of courtesans. The lead of the novel is a beautiful, intelligent and talented girl called Suman. She belongs to high caste. She is married to a much older, tyrannical man. She realizes that marriage is just like prostitution except that there is only one client. Bholi, a courtesan, lives opposite Suman. Suman realizes that Bholi is "outside purdah", while she is "inside it". Suman leaves her husband and becomes a successful entertainer of gentlemen. But after a brief period of success, she ends up as a victim of a political drama played out by self-righteous Hindu social reformers and moralists.

He also worked with the film director Himanshu Rai of Bombay Talkies, one of the founders of Bollywood.

Films and TV serials

* Sadgati (1981) (TV)
* Shatranj Ke Khilari (1977)
* Godhuli (1977)
* Oka Oori Katha (1977)
* Gaban (1966)
* Godaan (1963)
* Seva Sadan (1938) (based on the novel "Bazaar-e-Husn")
* Mazdoor (1934)
* Nirmala (TV Series, 1980s)
* Tahreer: Munshi Premchand ki (Doordarshan 2006, Director - Gulzaar)

References

External links

* [http://www.indohistory.com/premchand.html Premchand Stories on Indohistory]
* [http://mobilelibrary.cdacnoida.com/bookHindi.html Collection of Munshi Premchand's stories and novels]
* [http://www.urdustan.com/adeeb/nasr/premchand.htm Another brief biography]
* [http://www.pustak.org/bs/home.php?author_name=Premchand Complete collection of his literature and some of it available for reading online]