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Unit 9: The Shroud by Munshi Premchand

of Premchand’s stories were influenced by his own experiences with poverty and misery. His Notes
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.
Premchand wrote about 300 short stories, several novels as well as many essays and letters.
He also wrote 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.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.
Satyajit Ray filmed two of Premchand’s works 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 favour. 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.
An extremely famous name that comes to mind when we talk of Urdu novel writers is that
of Munshi Premchand. The life history of Prem Chand is like that of any ordinary man. But
what makes him stand out are the numerous works he composed in his lifetime. They are still
read with much enthusiasm and admiration. Though he had financial crunches all through his
life, he had the rich collection of his works and compositions. Read on further about Munshi
Premchand’s biography to know more about the life of this common man who was an extraordinary
genius.
Born in a village called Pandepur near Varanasi, he was named Dhanpat Rai by his parents.
Tragedy struck early in his life when he lost his mother at the tender age of seven. His father,
Munshi Ajayab Lal worked as an ordinary clerk in the postal department. He left Premchand
in the guardian of his grandmother and married someone else. He grew up without the love
of his parents and was given responsibility at a very young age. His grandmother also died
soon and he was left with no one to take care of him.
At the age of 15, he got married and it didn’t work out well. Meanwhile, his father died and
he had to curtail his studies, as he had to take care of not just himself but also his stepsiblings.

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