Famous Stories

By Munshi Premchand

Premchand was a prolific writer. He has left behind a dozen novels and nearly 250 short stories. Seva Sadan was his first novel. He believes in the principle: 'hate the sin and not the sinner.' His best known novels are Sevasadan, Rangamanch, Ghaban, Nirmalaand Godan. Three of his novels have been made into films. Besides being a great novelist, Premchand was also a social reformer and thinker. His greatness lies in the fact that his writings embody social purpose and social criticism rather than mere entertainment. Literature according to him is a powerful means of educating public opinion. He believed in social evolution and his ideal was equal opportunities for all.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mahesh Dutt Sharma
• Release date: May 15, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311493637

Munshi Premchand

Premchand was the pen name adopted by the Hindi writer Dhanpatrai who was born on 31 July, 1880 at Lamahi near Varanasi, India. 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 then fifteen. In 1919, while he was a teacher at Gorakhpur, he passed his B.A., with English, Persian and History. He had a second marriage with Shivarani Devi, a child-widow, who wrote a book on him, 'Premchand Gharmein' after his death.Premchand's literary career started as a freelancer in Urdu. In his early short stories he depicted the patriotic upsurge that was sweeping the land in the first decade of the present century. Soz-e-Watan, a collection of such stories published by Premchand in 1907, attracted the attention of the British government. In 1914, when Premchand switched over to Hindi, he had already established his reputation as a fiction writer in Urdu. Premchand was the first Hindi author to introduce realism in his writings. He pioneered the new art form – fiction with a social purpose. He wrote of the life around him and made his readers aware of the problems of the urban middle-class and the country's villages and their problems. He supplemented Gandhiji's work in the political and social fields by adopting his revolutionary ideas as themes for his literary writings.Premchand was a prolific writer. He has left behind a dozen novels and nearly 250 short stories. Seva Sadan was his first novel. He believes in the principle: 'hate the sin and not the sinner.' His best known novels are Sevasadan, Rangamanch, Ghaban, Nirmalaand Godan. Three of his novels have been made into films.Besides being a great novelist, Premchand was also a social reformer and thinker. His greatness lies in the fact that his writings embody social purpose and social criticism rather than mere entertainment. Literature according to him is a powerful means of educating public opinion. He believed in social evolution and his ideal was equal opportunities for all.Premchand died on 8 October, 1936 and has since been studied both in India and abroad as one of the greatest writers of the century.Premchand was an Indian writer famous for his modern Hindustani literature.Born Dhanpat Rai Srivastav, 'Munshi Premchand' was a novel writer, story writer and dramatist, and he has been referred to as the 'Upanyas Samrat' ('Emperor among Novelists') by some Hindi 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.Premchand was born on 31 July 1880 in Lamhi, a village located near Varanasi (Benares). When he was 7 years old, Premchand began his education at a madarsa in Lalpur, located around 21⁄2 km from Lamahi. Premchand learnt Urdu and Persian from a maulvi in the madarsa. When he was 8, his mother died after a long illness. His grandmother, who took the responsibility of raising him, died soon after. Premchand felt isolated, as his elder sister had already been married, and his father was always busy with work. His father, who was now posted at Gorakhpur, re-married, but Premchand received little affection from his step-mother. The step-mother later became a recurring theme in Premchand's works.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. In 1895, he was married at the age of 15, while still studying in the 9th 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. In 1900, Premchand secured a job as an assistant teacher at the Government District School, Bahraich, at a monthly salary of rupees 20.Dhanpat Rai first wrote under the pseudonym 'Nawab Rai'. His first short novel was Asrar-e- Ma'abid (Devasthan Rahasya in Hindi, 'The Mystery of God's Abode'), 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.

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Famous Stories

By Munshi Premchand

Published by Mdsharma

Smashwords Edition

© mds e-books 2013

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Preface

Premchand was the pen name adopted by the Hindi writer Dhanpatrai who was born on 31 July, 1880 at Lamahi near Varanasi, India. 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 then fifteen. In 1919, while he was a teacher at Gorakhpur, he passed his B.A., with English, Persian and History. He had a second marriage with Shivarani Devi, a child-widow, who wrote a book on him, 'Premchand Gharmein' after his death.

Premchand's literary career started as a freelancer in Urdu. In his early short stories he depicted the patriotic upsurge that was sweeping the land in the first decade of the present century. Soz-e-Watan, a collection of such stories published by Premchand in 1907, attracted the attention of the British government. In 1914, when Premchand switched over to Hindi, he had already established his reputation as a fiction writer in Urdu. Premchand was the first Hindi author to introduce realism in his writings. He pioneered the new art form – fiction with a social purpose. He wrote of the life around him and made his readers aware of the problems of the urban middle-class and the country's villages and their problems. He supplemented Gandhiji's work in the political and social fields by adopting his revolutionary ideas as themes for his literary writings.

Premchand was a prolific writer. He has left behind a dozen novels and nearly 250 short stories. Seva Sadan was his first novel. He believes in the principle: 'hate the sin and not the sinner.' His best known novels are Sevasadan, Rangamanch, Ghaban, Nirmalaand Godan. Three of his novels have been made into films.

Besides being a great novelist, Premchand was also a social reformer and thinker. His greatness lies in the fact that his writings embody social purpose and social criticism rather than mere entertainment. Literature according to him is a powerful means of educating public opinion. He believed in social evolution and his ideal was equal opportunities for all.

Premchand died on 8 October, 1936 and has since been studied both in India and abroad as one of the greatest writers of the century.

Premchand was an Indian writer famous for his modern Hindustani literature.

Born Dhanpat Rai Srivastav, 'Munshi Premchand' was a novel writer, story writer and dramatist, and he has been referred to as the 'Upanyas Samrat' ('Emperor among Novelists') by some Hindi 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.

Premchand was born on 31 July 1880 in Lamhi, a village located near Varanasi (Benares). When he was 7 years old, Premchand began his education at a madarsa in Lalpur, located around 2½ km from Lamahi. Premchand learnt Urdu and Persian from a maulvi in the madarsa. When he was 8, his mother died after a long illness. His grandmother, who took the responsibility of raising him, died soon after. Premchand felt isolated, as his elder sister had already been married, and his father was always busy with work. His father, who was now posted at Gorakhpur, re-married, but Premchand received little affection from his step-mother. The step-mother later became a recurring theme in Premchand's works.

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. In 1895, he was married at the age of 15, while still studying in the 9th 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. In 1900, Premchand secured a job as an assistant teacher at the Government District School, Bahraich, at a monthly salary of rupees 20.

Dhanpat Rai first wrote under the pseudonym 'Nawab Rai'. His first short novel was Asrar-e- Ma'abid (Devasthan Rahasya in Hindi, 'The Mystery of God's Abode'), 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.

-Publisher

Table of Contents

1. The Shroud

2. Festival of Eid

3. Sentimental Editor

4. Splashed

5. The Deliverance

6. Catastrophe

7. Penalty

8. A Lesson in the Holy Life

9. The Road to Salvation

10. On A Winter's Night

11. Two Bullocks

12. Thakur's Well

13. Big Brother

14. The Naive Friends

15. Power of a Curse

1. The Shroud

At the door of their hut, in front of a dying fire, both father and son were sitting silently. Inside the hut Budhiya, the son's wife, was writhing in the pangs of childbirth. Her painful and heart-rending groans shook them both. It was a winter night. Nature seemed to be plunged in silence. And the whole village merged with darkness.

Gheesu said, 'It seems she won't survive. I am exhausted. Go and see her.'

Madhav got irritated, 'Why doesn't she die soon if she has to? What can I do?'

'Hey! You are really heartless. You have spent one year of marital bliss with her and now such faithlessness!'

'I can't see her restless and rolling about in agony.'

They were chamars, a low caste amongst Hindus, and defamed in the whole village. If Gheesu worked one day he would rest for three days. Madhav also shirked work so much that if somehow he worked for half an hour, he would waste one hour in smoking chillum, a clay pipe. Therefore they didn't get work anywhere. Even a handful of grain in the house would prevent them from going to work. When they literally starved, Gheesu would climb a tree and cut some wood. Madhav would sell it in the market. As long as there was money in their pockets they wandered about hither and thither. Only on the verge of starvation would they be compelled to cut wood or look for work. In that village of farmers there was no dearth of work for hard working people, but because of their slothfulness, nobody would venture to employ them unless they were in dire need of workers and would be satisfied with the work of one labour by engaging two. Had they been sadhus they would not have required any self-restraint nor strict discipline for cultivating contentment and patience. This was their nature. Strange was their life. But for a few earthenware utensils, there was nothing else in their house. With just tattered rags to cover their nudity, they carried on their lives free from worldly cares, burdened with debt. Though abused and beaten, they were not remorseful. So miserably poor that they could hardly pay back their loans, people still lent them something every now and then. During the season of potatoes and peas they would pluck them from others' farms, roast them and eat them, else they would uproot upto five or ten sugarcanes and suck them in the night.

Gheesu had spent sixty years of his life with this tendency of living hand to mouth. Madhav, too, like a dutiful son not only followed his father's foot-steps but brought more credit to his father's name! Now, sitting beside the fire, they were baking potatoes which they had dug out from someone's field.

Gheesu's wife had died long ago. Madhav had got married a year ago. Since then his wife had laid the foundation for some order in their house. Either she would grind corn for others or she would cut grass and manage a seer of flour to fill the bellies of these two shameless creatures. Since her coming the two had continued to grow lazier and haughtier. If someone called them for work, they would shamefacedly demand double the wages. And now the woman who had cared so much for them was dying of labour pains and they were waiting, perhaps, for her die so that they could sleep comfortably.

Digging out roasted potatoes from the fire and peeling them Gheesu said, 'Go and see how she is now. She seems to be haunted by some witch. Here the village exorcist too demands a rupee!' Madhav feared going out of sight for that would allow Gheesu to quickly devour a major portion of potatoes. So he pretended, 'I'm afraid to go inside.'

'Why are you afraid? I'm here with you.'

'Then why don't you go yourself?'

'When my wife died, I did not move away from her for three days. But won't your wife feel shy if I go in? She always veiled herself from me and now you ask me to go and see her uncovered body! She might be beyond herself to care for her body. In my presence she might not throw up her hands and feet freely.'

'I am worried if she delivers the baby, how shall I manage things. Ginger, jaggery, oil....there is nothing in the house!'

'Everything will be taken care of. Those refusing today, will call you and give you money tomorrow if you have God's blessings. I had nine sons. We had nothing in the house, but God somehow saw us through.'

In a society where the condition of those who work day and night was as bad and deplorable as of these two, and people who knew how to exploit the poor farmers grew richer, the development of a mentality such as Gheesu's was not surprising. We would say Gheesu was far more intelligent than them. Instead of joining the band of those stupid farmers he

Reviews for Famous Stories

[Aayushi pal · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

nice and worth a read at least for once .amor