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Elective English—IV

Notes By 1919, Premchand had published four novellas, of about a hundred pages each. In 1919,
Premchand’s first major novel Seva Sadan was published in Hindi. The novel was initially written
in Urdu under the title Bazaar-e-Husn, but was published in Hindi first by a Calcutta-based
publisher, who gave Premchand 450 for his work. Later in 1924, the Urdu Publisher
of Lahore published the novel, paying Premchand 250. The novel talks about a story of an
unhappy housewife, who first becomes a courtesan, and then manages an orphanage for the
young daughters of the courtesans. It was well received by critics, and helped Premchand gain
widespread recognition.
In 1919, Premchand acquired a BA degree from Allahabad. By 1921, he had been promoted to
Deputy Inspectors of Schools. On 8 February 1921, Premchand attended a meeting in Gorakhpur,
where Mahatma Gandhi asked people to resign from government jobs as part of the
non-co-operation movement. Premchand, though physically unwell and with two kids and a
pregnant wife to support, thought about it for 5 days and decided, with the consent of his wife,
to resign from his government job.

12.1.4 Back to Benares

After leaving his job, Premchand left Gorakhpur for Benares on 18 March 1921, and decided to
focus on his literary career. Till his death in 1936, he faced severe financial problems and chronic
ill health.
In 1923, Premchand established a printing press and publishing house in Benares, christened
“Saraswati Press”. The year 1924 saw the publication of Premchand’s Rangabhumi, which has a
blind beggar called Surdas as its tragic hero. Schulz mentions that in Rangabhumi, Premchand
comes across as a “superb social chronicler”, and though the novel contains some “structural
flaws” and “too many authorial explanations”, it shows a “marked progress” in Premchand’s
writing style. Schulz said that it was in Nirmala (1925) and Pratigya (1927) that Premchand found
his way to “a balanced, realistic level” that surpasses his earlier works and manages to “hold his
readers in tutelage”. Nirmala, a novel dealing with the dowry system in India, was first serialised
in the magazine Chand, before being published as a novel. Pratigya (“The Vow”) dealt with the
subject of widow remarriage.
In 1928, Premchand’s novel Gaban (“Embezzlement”) was published. This novel focuses on the
middle class’ greed. In March 1930, Premchand launched a literary-political weekly magazine
titled Hans, meant to inspire the Indians to mobilise against the British rule. The magazine,
famous for its politically provocative views, could not reap any benefits. Premchand then took
over and edited another magazine called Jagaran, which too ran at a loss.
In 1931, Premchand moved to Kanpur as a teacher in the Marwari College, but had to leave
because of difference with the college administration. He then returned to Benares, and became
the editor of the Maryada magazine. In 1932, he published another novel titled Karmabhumi.
He briefly worked as the headmaster of the Kashi Vidyapeeth, a local school. After the school’s
closure, he became the editor of the Madhuri magazine in Lucknow.

12.1.5 Mumbai

Premchand arrived in Mumbai on 31 May 1934 to try his luck in the Hindi film industry. He had
accepted a script writing job for the production house Ajanta Cinetone, hoping that the yearly
salary of 8000 would help him overcome his financial crises. Premchand stayed in Dadar, and
wrote the script for the film Mazdoor (“The Labourer”). Directed by Mohan Bhawnani, this film
depicted the poor conditions on the labour class. Premchand himself did a cameo as the leader
of labourers in the film. Some influential businessmen managed to get a stay on its release in

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