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Elective English—IV

Notes During the late 1900s, Premchand started taking an interest in political affairs while at Kanpur,
and this is reflected in his early works, which have patriotic implications. His political thoughts
were originally influenced by the moderate Indian National Congress leader Gopal Krishna
Gokhale, and then later, he relocated towards the more extremist Bal Gangadhar Tilak. According
to him, the Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms and the Minto-Morley Reforms were inadequate,
and he supported greater political freedom. Mnay of his early works, such as A Little Trick and A
Moral Victory, satirised the Indians who worked together with the British Government. He did
not specifically mention the British in some of his stories, due to strong government censorship,
but disguised his opposition in settings from the medieval era and the foreign history. He also
got influenced by the teachings of Swami Vivekananda.
In the 1920s, he was influenced by Mahatma Gandhi’s non-co-operation movement and the
associated struggle for social reform. During this period, his works dealt with the social issues
such as zamindari exploitation (Premashram, 1922), dowry system (Nirmala, 1925), poverty,
educational reform and political oppression (Karmabhumi, 1931). Premchand concentrated on
the economic liberalisation of the peasantry and the working class, and was opposed to the
rapid industrialisation, which Premchand felt would hurt the oppression of the workers and the
interests of the peasants. This can be seen in works like Rangabhumi (1924).

In his last days, he laid emphasis on village life as a stage for complex drama, as seen in the
short-story collection Kafan (1936) and in novel Godan (1936). Premchand believed that social
realism was the way for Hindi literature, as opposed to the “feminine quality”, emotion and
tenderness of the contemporary Bengali literature.

12.2 Major Works of Munshi Premchand

When it comes to writing Urdu short stories and novels, Premchand definitely has a distinct
place of his own. His style of writing novels began as fantasy tales of kings and queens. However
as Premchand became increasingly conscious of what was happening around him, he started to
write on social problems and his novels had the element of evoking the feeling of social
responsibility and consciousness. He wrote about the realities of life and the numerous problems
faced by the common man in a turbulent society.
Premchand’s mainly focussed on rural India and exploitation faced by a common villager at the
hands of landlords, priests, loan sharks, etc. He also stressed upon the unity of Muslims and
Hindus. A few of his well-known works are Pratigya, Gaban, Godaan, Karmabhoomi, etc. His
famous short stories include popular names such as Udhar Ki Ghadi, Atmaram, Bade Ghar Ki
Beti, etc. A few of his works were also made into films by renowned filmmaker, Satyajit Ray.

Besides being good at writing, Premchand was also famous for his proficiency in Urdu language.
His strong command over Urdu language earned him a reputation of a brilliant journalist. As a
journalist his writing was influenced by the independence movement going on in India at the
time. In his writing he used to express his desire to actively participate in the freedom movement.
He compiled a book of short stories called Soz-e-Watan, influenced with the on-going patriotism
of that time. This work by Premchand was considered to be of a very bold nature. It was thought
to be rebellious. This book was also responsible for provoking several Indians to take part in the
freedom struggle against the British rule. This resulted in a cruel reaction from the side of British
government. The government took possession of Soz-e-Watan and burnt all of its copies.
Premchand brought realism into Hindi literature, which was thought of as a revolutionary
development in Hindi literature at that time as a majority of the writers before him mainly
wrote on fantastical stories or mythological and religious tales. He was a visionary and social
reformer. Premchand used reality and realistic situations in most of his stories. All of his characters
were real people with genuine problems. He also wrote about the social evils that existed in

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