Premchand

The Indian novelist and short-story writer Premchand (1880-1936) was the first major novelist in Hindi and
Urdu. His writings describe in realistic detail the political and social struggles in India of the early 20th century. Premchand, whose
real name was Dhanpatrai Srivastava, was born in the
small village of Lamhi a few miles from Benares. His
immediate forebears were village accountants in Lamhi.
His intimate acquaintance with village life began here
and continued when, as a schoolteacher and subdeputy
inspector of schools, he traveled extensively for 21 years
through Uttar Pradesh State.
Premchand's early writing was all done in Urdu, but from
1915 he found that writing Hindi was more profitable.
Hindi, using the Sanskrit-based script and borrowing
heavily from Sanskrit vocabulary, was strongly promoted
by the Hindu reform group called the Arya Samaj, and within a few years Hindi publications numerically outstripped those written in Urdu.
Premchand's early work in Urdu reveals the strong influence of Persian literature, particularly in the short stories. These were usually
romantic love stories in which, the course of love not being smooth, various unusual devices are used to bring lovers together again. In
these romantic stories and novels, however, also appear evidences of patriotic fervor and descriptions of Indian and foreign heroes who died
bravely for their countries. Premchand's first collection of short stories, Soz-e-Vatan, brought him to the attention of the government. The
British collector of Hamirpur District called them seditious and ordered that all copies be burned and that the author submit future writing for
inspection. Fortunately, a few copies survived, and Premchand, in order to evade censorship, changed his name from Dhanpatrai to
Premchand.
In 1920 Premchand resigned from a government high school and became a staunch supporter of Mohandas Gandhi, whose influence
strongly marked Premchand's work from 1920 to 1932. With realistic settings and events, Premchand contrived idealistic endings for his
stories. His characters change from pro-British to pro-Indian or from villainous landlord to Gandhi-like social servant in midstream; the
frequent conversions tend to make the stories repetitious and the characters interesting only up to the point of conversion.
Premchand's last and greatest novel, Godan, and his most famous story, Kafan (The Shroud), both deal with village life. However, whatever
the setting, his late work shows a new mastery. The characters appear to have taken over their own world. The claims of social, moral, and
political tenets are secondary to the claims of artistry. Premchand died from a gastric ulcer. One son, Amrtrai, was a noted Hindi writer, and
the other, Sripatrai, a talented painter.