Book review (written) 20

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.

Animal farm George Orwell The alchemist Paulo coehlo Jonathan Livingston the seagull by Richard Bach Tuesdays with Morrie Mitch Albom The monk who sold his Ferrari Robin Sharma The profet by Khalil Gibran The mating game ---- PG Woodhouse Man and superman - George Bernard Shaw life of pi -- yan martel Lord Jim --------Joseph Conrad shantaram for whom the bell tolls Ernest Hemmingway A village by the sea Anita Desai The palace of illusion Chitra Banerjee Name sake Jumpa Lahiri Ghare Baire Raindranath Tagore Godaan Munshi Premchand The Japanese wife Kunal Basu Room on the roof --- Ruskin Bond The monk who sold his Ferrari Robin Sharma

Objective of final presentation :students to be able to amalgamate , critically appreciate , and communicate their thoughts They can create the ambience , wear period clothes if they wish Use props 35+ 5 marks ( marketing of the presentation --- students may invite faculties , use marketing methods , incentives to ensure an interested audience )

Speak on any author his thought , style & language , character analysis and his works,( if it has been picturised ,any relevant dramatic scenes clipping may be shown )and their influence on the society ( 35+5 =40)
Godaan - The Gift of a Cow is a Hindi novel by Munshi Premchand. It was first published in 1936 and is considered the greatest Hindi novel of modern Indian literature, although originally written in Urdu. Themed around the socio economic deprivation as well as the exploitation of the village poor, the novel was the last complete novel of Premchand. Its English translation first published in 1968, by Gordon C. Roadarmel is now also considered a classic by itself The protagonist, Hori, a poor peasant, desperately longs for a cow, a symbol of wealth and prestige in rural India. In a Faustian twist of fate, Hori gets his cow, but ends by paying for it with his life. After his death, the village priests demand a cow from his widow to bring his soul absolution, and peace (Godaan).

vGodaan (

) The Gift of a Cow is a Hindi novel by Munshi Premchand.

It was first published in 1936 and is considered one of the greatest Hindi-Urdu novels of modern Indian literature. Themed around the socio economic deprivation as well as the exploitation of the village poor, the novel was the last complete novel of Premchand.[1] It was translated into English in 1957 by Jai Ratan and P. Lal translation[2]; a 1968 translation by Gordon C. Roadarmel is now considered "a classic in itself".[3] Godaan was made into a Hindi film in 1963, starring Rajkumar, Mehmood and Shashikala.[4] In 2004, Godaan was part of the 26-episode TV series, 'Tehreer.... Munshi Premchand Ki, based on the writing of Premchand, starring Pankaj Kapur and Surekha Sikri, directed by Gulzar and produced by Doordarshan.[5]

Synopsis
The story revolves around many characters representing the various sections of Iy. The peasant and rural society is represented by the family of Hori mahato and his family members which includes Dhania, Rupa and Sona(Daughters), Gobar(son), Jhunia( daughter in law). The Story starts from a point where Hori has a deep desire of having a cow as other millions of poor peasant. He purchased one cow by taking debt. Hori tried to cheat his brothers for 10 rupees.

This in turn led to a fight between his wife and his younger brother Heeras wife. Zealous on this, his Heera poisoned the cow and run away because of the fear of police action. Hori took the loan and paid the bribe to the police and was able to clear off his younger brothers name. Jhunia was widow and eloped with Gobar after she got pregnant by him. Because of the fear of the action from villagers Gobar also run away. Panchayat issued a penalty on Hori. Hori again took the loan and paid the penalty. Hori is in huge debt from local money lenders and eventually married his daughter Rupa for mere 200 rupees to save his lend to save his ancestors lend from being auctioned because of his inability to pay land tax. But his determination to pay those 200 rupees and to have a cow to provide milk to his grand son, led to Horis his death because of excessive work. When he is about to die, his wife Dhania took out all the money she have (1.25 Rupees) and made Hori pay to the the priest on behalf of (Godaan) (cow donation). This eventually fulfils the traditional dream of Hori but still his desire to pay back the rupees 200 to his son in law and to have a cow to feed the milk to his grandson remain unfulfilled. Hori is shown as a typical poor peasant who is the victim of circumstances and possess all the deficiencies of common man but despite all this, he stand by his honesty, duties and judgement when time requires. He is shown died partially satisfied and partially unsatisfied. Other rural characters includes but not limited to Datadin(priest), Matadin, Bhola, Bateswari etc. The urban society is represented by Malati devi( Doctor), Mr. Mehta( Lecturer and philosopher), Mr. Khanna (Banker), Rai Sahib(Zamindar), Mr Tankha( Broker) and Mr. Mirza(social worker). Rai sahib is two times local election winner. He wanted to marry his daughter, want to win in election and claim the property of his in-laws. He married his daughter to another rich, widow and rake zamindar. He claimed and won the zamindari of his in-laws. He won the election and became the municipal minister. But when he planned to get his son married to the daughter of Raja Suryankant for his familys prestige, his son refused that. He is in love with Saroj, the younger sister of Malati devi. They both married and went to London. His son claimed and won the entire property Rai sahib won from in-laws leaving Rai sahib in huge debt. His daughter got divorced. This eventually left Rai sahib too unsatisfied despite all his efforts. Malati devi is a beautiful lady. She is mostly involved in levish lifestyle with many men around her. She keeps interacted most of them but do not love any of these me. Mr. Khanna is married but is in love with Malati. Malati in turn fall in loves with Mr. Mehta because of his ideology. On a trip to the village of Hori, she explored herself. She started serving poor and got involved in many social activities. After seeing the change in Malati, Mr. Mehta falls in love with Malati. But though Malati loves Mr. Mehta, she refused his marriage proposal. She now wants to serve the poor and do not want to marry. Mr. Mehta and Malati keep serving the poor and needy people together. Malati devi is the only character shown as satisfied at the end because of her commitment to the charity. Mr. Khanna eventually started loving his wife and stop taking interest in Malati devi. The narrative represents the average Indian farmer's existence under colonial rule, with the protagonist facing cultural and feudal exploitation. It shows how the life of these character takes the shapes. Godaan ( ) The Gift of a Cow is a Hindi novel by Munshi Premchand.

It was first published in 1936 and is considered one of the greatest Hindi-Urdu novels of modern Indian literature. Themed around the socio economic deprivation as well as the exploitation of the village poor, the novel was the last complete novel of Premchand.[1] It was translated into

English in 1957 by Jai Ratan and P. Lal translation[2]; a 1968 translation by Gordon C. Roadarmel is now considered "a classic in itself".[3] Godaan was made into a Hindi film in 1963, starring Rajkumar, Mehmood and Shashikala.[4] In 2004, Godaan was part of the 26-episode TV series, 'Tehreer.... Munshi Premchand Ki, based on the writing of Premchand, starring Pankaj Kapur and Surekha Sikri, directed by Gulzar and produced by Doordarshan.[5]
.

Munshi Premchand

Dhanpat Rai Srivastava Born July 31, 1880 Lamhi, Uttar Pradesh, India

Died

October 8, 1936 (aged 56) Varanasi, India

Occupation

Writer, Novelist

Notable work(s)

Godaan, Rangbhoomi, Karmbhoomi, Premashram,"bodh" & Short Stories

mansarovar-8

Munshi Premchand (Hindi: , Urdu: ( ,) July 31, 1880 October 8, 1936) was a famous writer of modern Hindi-Urdu literature. He is generally recognized in India as the foremost Hindi-Urdu writer of the early twentieth century.[1] A novel writer, story writer and a dramatist, he is known as "Upanyas Samrat" ("Emperor of Novels") among the Hindi writers.

[edit] Biography
Premchand was born on July 31, 1880 in the village Lamhi near Varanasi in a Kayastha family to Munshi Ajaib Lal, a postal clerk, 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.[2] His early education was at a local madarsa under a maulvi, where he studied Urdu.[3] Premchand's parents died young - his mother when he was seven and his father when he was sixteen or seventeen and still a student. His father's death left Premchand with no other option but to absent himself from the intermediate examination he was going to give that year. Moreover Premchand was left responsible for his stepmother and stepsiblings. The next year when he gave his intermediate examination, indeed he got successful scoring second division but he was unable to enter college. Coincidentally near Varanasi in Chunar there in a school he got employed as a teacher. From 1899 to 1921 Premchand worked as a school teacher when in Gorakhpur he gave resignation as a government employee on call of Mahatma Gandhi. Being in profession as a school teacher he completed his Bachelor of Arts degree. Premchand was married at fourteen years to a girl from a neighboring village, but the marriage was a failure, and when he left the village in 1899 the girl returned to her village. Several years later, in 1909, he married a young widow named Shivrani Devi. This step was considered to be revolutionary at that time, and Premchand had to face a lot of opposition.[4] On February 8, 1921 Mahatma Gandhi in a seminar in Gorakhpur in which Premchand was also present asked people to resign from government jobs. Premchand, although physically unwell, with two kids at home, his wife pregnant took a vow and after five days of mental conflict decided to resign from his government job albeit with the agreement of his wife. To serve the cause of Independence Premchand tried writing for the columns of Urdu dailies of Gorakhpur Tehkik and Swadesh but his failure to do that led him to settle in Varanasi, again coincidentally four months after giving resignation from his government job Premchand arrived at Marwari Vidyalya, Kanpur but his conflicts with the school principal and manager led him to get back to Varanasi. In Varanasi he took the responsibility of editing the magazine Maryada, later he became principal of Kashi Vidyapith a school in Varanasi. On its closure he worked for his ambitious project of running a printing press. Though he ran it but it didn't gave him any financial profits. Finally he accepted

the job offer of editing the journal Madhuri. He remained in Lucknow for six years and remaining there in 1930 he started the weekly Hans being printed in Varanasi. In early 1932 Premchand came back to Varanasi. Along with Hans he started another weekly Jagran, only to find it unmanageable although technically sound. In order to unburden himself from loan resulting from both the weeklies he worked as script writer for Ajanta Cinetone in Mumbai. He wrote for film Mazdoor and before the completion of his annual contract he came back to Varanasi because more than Mumbai it was the culture of Mumbai film industry which was leaving him blank. Himanshu roy, the founder of Bombay Talkies, insisted on Premchand not leaving Mumbai but he didn't wanted to stay. In Mumbai itself his health had deteriorated and after coming back to Varanasi, he fell ill. After several days of sickness, Premchand died on October 8, 1936

[edit] Literary works

Premchand wrote about three hundred short stories and fourteen novels, as well as many essays and letters, plays and translations. Many of Premchand's stories have themselves been translated into English and Russian. Godaan (The Gift of a Cow), his last novel, is considered one of the finest Hindi novels.[5] The protagonist, Hori, a poor peasant, desperately longs for a cow, a symbol of wealth and prestige in rural India. The story depicts the human beings' deep-rooted beliefs, and their ability to survive and uphold these beliefs despite great misery In Kafan (Shroud), a poor man collects money for the funeral rites of his dead wife, but spends it on food and drink.
[edit] Famous stories

Panch Parameshvar is a story about two friends Jumman Sheikh and Algu Chowdhari who live in a village in India. One of the friend Jumman troubles his aunt who seeks the help of the village panchayat to get justice. aman friend Algu is chosen as the judge(sarpanch), and on the post Algu takes the correct action (which is against his friend) due to which their friendship is affected. After sometime Algu decides to sell his oxen to the local moneylender but is cheated. The matter goes to the panchayat in which Jumman is chosen as a judge. Jumman comes to the realization that a judge should not be biased as the words from his mouth are treated like words from the mouth of God.He proclaims a justifiable decision in favour of Algu, his former friend.In the end the Algu and Juman reunite, becoming friends again. Idgah is a very touching story of a poor orphan boy named Hamid, who lives with his grandmother. He has very little money to spend on Eid ul-Fitr, a Muslim festival. He goes to a fair along with his friends, who spend a lot of money in buying candy, toys etc.; but he remembers his grandmother whose fingers get burnt when she makes rotis over a fire in a clay oven as she has no chimta (tongs) to flip the rotis over. He bargains for a chimta in a shop for whatever little money he has. Other children make fun of him for buying a pair of tongs instead of toys or candies. Upon his return, his grandmother initially scolds him for the seemingly poor choice of purchase, but is touched when she becomes aware of the actual thought process behind Hamid's gesture. Daroga Sahab

Mantra is a story about a rich doctor named Chaddha whose selfishness results in the death of a patient and how that same patient's father very non selfishly cures Dr. Chaddha's son, when the doctor meets the same sort of situation. Nashaa a story about two friends living in colonial India from different strata of society. Studying away from their homes, residing in city, when during holiday period the rich friend decides to spend time in his lavish abode in village the poor friend accompanies him.In village Ishwari the rich friend son of a Zamindar introduces his friend falsely as a rich zamindar's son. When the poor friend gets used to the luxuries of his friend's home and both return back for college, a stark incidence ends the intoxication of luxuries the poor friend and nameless speaker of the story were beholding. Shatranj ke khiladi is a story about two aristocrats Mirza Sajjad Ali and Mir Roshan Ali living in the kingdom of Avadh during the times of 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 their senior and ruler of Avadh Wajid Ali Shah is captured by the British they continue playing the game of chess. In the end when a move in the game sparks a verbal conflict between both they end up killing each other with the swords they held with them. Poos ki raat is a story about a poor farmer and his struggle with the chilling cold during the month of December. Halku a poor farmer doesn't have enough money to buy a blanket and when he and his pet dog in a night during the time of winters are staying in their fields in order to protect the farm produce from animals, they become so restless to sleep and cold that their purpose of protecting their field is lost. Atmaram Boodhi Kaki a story about a old woman craving for love from her family. Buddhiram, a man with a family has obtained all the legal powers to the financial belongings of her old aunt whose offspring and husband are dead. His old aunt age lives a downtrodden life dependent on his nephew's family. She is often taken advantage of due to this shortcoming of hers by his nephew Buddhiram and his wife Rupa. When the matrimonial ceremony of his nephew's son takes place the delicasies made in the house tempts her to delve into it. But when her nephew and his wife dishonour her in front of the guests and reject her desires she succumbs to her helplessness and stays in her room empty stomach. Later when her innocent granddaughter secretly offers her those delicasies and the old woman's hunger for more of it leads her to feed on the leftovers, it melts the heart of Rupa who ultimately serves her mother-in-law all the tasty food openly and warm heartedly.

A movie based on Bade Bhai Sahab story

Bade Bhaisahab is a touching story about two school going brother and the relationship shared by them. Bade ghar ki beti is a story of two brothers whose family conflict is undone by the intervention of elder brother's wife. Benimadho Singh a zamindar of village Gauripur and has two sons Shree Kanth Singh and Lal Bihari Singh, Shree Kanth the elder brother is a employee in city and his wife comes from a financially strong family. Once when Shree Kanth is outside the village a pity incident leads to a fight between Lal Bihari and his elder brother's wife Anandi. On Shri Kanth's arrival Anandi insists on justice with her emotions to which Shri Kanth tells his father of family separation from his brother. The younger brother repentant and with tears in his eyes talks to his sister-in-law which results in end of conflict. Kafan is a story about a lower caste father and son poor labours from a village, emergency strikes when the son's wife dies while giving birth to a child and both father and son have no money to cremate the body of the dead woman. The lethargic duo seek financial help from village zamindar and other members of the society. But the money they obtain they end up spending on liquor and food. Dikri Ke Rupaye Udhar Ki Ghadi Namak Ka Daroga Do Bahanein Grihaneeti Prem Purnima Ramleela Chori Jurmana The night ghost Thakur ka kuaan Dhaai ser gehun Alagyojha Vajrpaat gupth dhanis a story about a man of character 'haridas' who owns a brick factory but looses his character when he gets a map of a heridatory tresure of a worker and thus evetually dies as a punishment of god.

He was a mad.
[edit] Novels

Gaban

Bazaar-e-Husn or Seva Sadan. Bazaar-e-Husn was Premchand's first major novel; Written originally in Urdu under the title Bazaar-e-Husn, but first published in Hindi under the title Seva Sadan (i.e.
The House of Service) in 1919.[6]

Godaan Karmabhoomi
Kaayakalp Manorama Mangalsootra incomplete Nirmala

Pratigya Premashram Rangbhoomi Vardaan Prema Juloos

[edit] Plays

Karbala Tazurba

[edit] Adaptation of Premchand's work

Satyajit Ray filmed two of Premchand's works Sadgati and Shatranj Ke Khiladi. Sadgati (Salvation) is a short story revolving around poor Dukhi, who dies of exhaustion 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 a loveless 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. The Actor Factor Theatre Company, a young Delhi based theatre group, staged KAFAN in 2010 in New Delhi. It is an original stage adaptation of Munshi Premchands last short story. Kafan is a dark comedy. In the play, Puppetry is being explored to depict the tussle between two classes and the plight of Budhia, who is caught in the crossfire. Bleakness of hope in the story and awfulness of the father-son duo find a delicate balance. At times the situations break into morbid humor. In the end a wine-house becomes the stage for Ghisu (Father) and Madhav's (Son) rebellious dance, defying not only the laws of the land but also that of the Gods.
[edit] Films and TV serials

Mazdoor (1934) Seva Sadan (1938) (based on the novel Bazaar-e-Husn) Mazdoor (1945).[7]

Heera Moti (1959), based on a short story, Do Bailon ki Kahani Godaan (1963) Gaban (1966) Sadgati (1981) (TV) Shatranj Ke Khiladi (1977) Godhuli (1977) Oka Oori Katha, based on the story Kafan (1977)with ayush Nirmala (TV Series, 1980s) Prem Sarovar (TV Series, 1994 - Doordarshan Lucknow & 1996 - DD National Hindi Belt) : Director Sunil Batta Guldasta (TV Series, 2006 - Doordarshan Urdu): Director - Sunil Batta Tahreer: Munshi Premchand ki (Doordarshan 2006, Director - Gulzar) [7]

[edit] References
1. ^ Munshi Premchand of Lamhi Village, Robert O. Swan, Duke University Press, 1969 2. ^ Premchand: A Life, Amrit Rai (Harish Tirvedi, translator), People's Publishing House, New Delhi, 1982. 3. ^ Literaryindia.com 4. ^ Premchand Ki Sugam Kahaniyan, by Dr. Giriraj Sharan Agarwal, Diamond Pocket Books (Private) Limited, New Delhi, 2005. 5. ^ Finest Hindi novel 6. ^ "The power of Premchand", The Hindu (The Oxford India), Sunday, May 2, 2004, http://www.hindu.com/lr/2004/05/02/stories/2004050200280400.htm 7. ^ a b Munshi and the movies The Tribune, July 31, 2005.

Premchand at the Internet Movie Database

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Premchand

Premchand's stories online on kahaani.org Collection of Stories in PDF Format - IIT Kanpur Initiative Premchand Stories on Indohistory Another brief biography Complete collection of his literature and some of it available for reading online [hide]v d eNotable Hindi writers

Rambriksh Benipuri
Sachchidananda Hirananda Vatsyayan 'Ajneya'

Rahul Sankrityayan Harivansh Rai Bachchan Dharamvir Bharati Subhadra Kumari Chauhan Makhanlal Chaturvedi Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar' Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi
Swami Sahajanand Saraswati

Dushyant Kumar Hazari Prasad Dwivedi Maithili Sharan Gupt Acharya Kuber Nath Rai Bharatendu Harishchandra Kamleshwar Gajanan Madhav Muktibodh Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala' Sumitranandan Pant Jaishankar Prasad
Munshi Premchand

Mohan Rakesh Nagarjun Phanishwar Nath 'Renu' Viveki Rai Bhadant Anand Kausalyayan Acharya Shivpujan Sahay Bhisham Sahni
Nathuram Sharma 'Shankar'

Shivani Krishna Sobti Shivmangal Singh Suman Mahadevi Varma

Pandit Nalin Vilochan Sharma

Nirmal Verma Maitreyi Pushpa Vibhuti Narain Rai

Premchand Biography
Born: July 31, 1880 Died: October 8, 1936. Achievements: Premchand brought realism to Hindi literature. Premchand wrote on the realistic issues of the day-communalism, corruption, zamindari, debt, poverty, colonialism etc. He avoided the use of highly Sanskritized Hindi and instead used the dialect of the common people. Premchand popularly known as Munshi Premchand was one of the greatest literary figures of modern Hindi literature. His stories vividly portrayed the social scenario of those times. Premchand's real name was Dhanpat Rai Srivastava. He was born on July 31, 1880 in Lamahi near Varanasi where his father Munshi Azaayab Lal was a clerk in the post office. Premchand lost his mother when he was just seven years old. His father married again. Premchand was very close to his elder sister. His early education was in a madarasa under a Maulavi, where he learnt Urdu. When he was studying in the ninth class he was married, much against his wishes. He was only fifteen years old at that time. Premchand lost his father when he was sixteen years old. Premchand was left responsible for his stepmother and stepsiblings. He earned five rupees a month tutoring a lawyer's child. Premchand passed his matriculation exam with great effort and took up a teaching position, with a monthly salary of eighteen rupees. While working, he studied privately and passed his Intermediate and B. A. examinations. Later, Premchand worked as the deputy sub-inspector of schools in what was then the United Provinces. In 1910, he was hauled up by the District Magistrate in Jamirpur for his anthology of short stories Soz-e-Watan (Dirge of the Nation), which was labelled seditious. His book Soz-e-Watan was banned by the then British government, which burnt all of the copies. Initially Premchand wrote in Urdu under the name of Nawabrai. However, when his novel Soz-e-Watan was confiscated by the British, 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. His famous creations are: Panch Parameshvar, Idgah, Shatranj Ke Khiladi, Poos Ki Raat, Bade Ghar Ki Beti, Kafan, Udhar Ki Ghadi, Namak Ka Daroga, Gaban, Godaan, and Nirmala. Premchand was a great social reformer; he married a child widow named Shivarani Devi. She wrote a book on him, Premchand Gharmein after his death. In 1921 he answered Gandhiji's call and resigned from his job. He worked to generate patriotism and nationalistic sentiments in the general populace. When the editor of the journal _Maryaada_ was jailed in the freedom movement, Premchand worked for a time as the editor of that journal. Afterward, he worked as the principal in a school in the Kashi Vidyapeeth. The main characteristic of Premchand's writings is his interesting storytelling and use of simple language. His novels describe the problems of rural and urban India. He avoided the use of highly Sanskritized Hindi and instead used the dialect of the common people. Premchand wrote on the realistic issues of the day -communalism, corruption, zamindari, debt, poverty, colonialism etc.

Premchand's writings have been translated not only into all Indian languages, but also Russian, Chinese, and many other foreign languages. He died on October 8, 1936.