Page 161 - DENG503_INDIAN_WRITINGS_IN_LITERATURE

Unit 20: Premchand: Godan—Introduction to the Text

20.1 Text—Godan Notes

Premchand, the veteran Hindustani writer, raised his voice and cautioned us, as early as 1904
against the tide of Western civilisation which, foolishly imitated by the intelligentsia of the land,
was tending the deterioration of moral standards in Indian social life, and leading to a lamentable
hybridisation of culture. The position of woman in the family and in society early attracted his
attention and forms the central theme of all his novels that appeared before 1920 and Ghaban and
Nirmala later. As an important secondary thread, it exists in almost all the others. His attitude, as
reflected in his books and which was in line with the ancient Indian ideal of self-denial, self-
sacrifice and self-control-ideals which placed woman on a higher pedestal than man-remained
consistent throughout his life; there was no appreciable modification. That way Premchand was a
conservative writer. But in his last novel, Godan, his views on the various aspects of this problem
were crystallised and are brought out with great artistry.
Miss Malati, an England-returned doctor, is a social butterfly. She is vociferous and demands
equality with man in regard to votes and the right of courtship. Chance brings her info contact
with the philosopher Professor Mehta, who may be said to be the mouthpiece of Premchand, and
to express the author's views. She falls in love with him and ultimately forgets all about her ideals.
But Mehta does not love her; his outlook on life is different; he envies Mr. Khanna, an industrialist
and banker who sucks the blood of the poor labourers another prototype of John Sewak in
Rangabhumi, because of Mrs. Govindi Khanna, who is ten times more sensible and practical and
honest than her greedy husband. She is the ideal woman of Premchand's conception and has few
faults, although for these qualities she has once to leave her house, the real cause being Malati
whom Khanna loves, in spite of the fact that she merely flirts with him.
But Malati, or Mehta, or Khanna, or Rai Sahib form only the second important theme of the novel:
they all belong to the middle classes, which formed the central theme of Premchand's pre-1920
novels, that is, till the time Gandhiji came on to the Indian stage and Premchand resigned his job
to participate in the Non-cooperation Movement of 1921. From now onwards the central theme of
all his novels was, primarily, the peasant. Premasram, Rangabhumi, Kayakalp, Karmabhumi and
Godan are all agrarian novels, wherein everything else revolves round the life of the peasant. In
Premasram or in Gosha-i-Afiat (Urdu), it is his struggle against the Taluqdar or the hereditary
landlord; in Rangabhumi or in Chaugan-i-Hasti (Urdu), the struggle is against the pseudo-nationalist
industrialists; in Karmabhumi or in Maidan-I-Amal (Urdu), it also envelops the Harijans and the
labour class in the fight for the vindication of their rights. The shame-faced and ruthless exploitation
of the peasant by the moneylender is the theme of Godan.
The last of his agrarian epics, Godan, is also the last of Premchand's novels, published in the year
of his death, 1936. And it is his best. For its characters are more Chiseled, polished and realistic,
the plot more coherent, although herein, as in most of his novels, the two main themes run parallel
to each other and touch only at a few points and that too only at the surface. The ideas are more
systematically arranged and the dull monotony of long speeches and harangues is broken by the
periodic criticisms and interruptions by Pandit Onkar Nath, the editor of the Bijli, and in the
speech of Mr. Mehta on women's demand for equality with man. Premchand's art is seen here at
its best. Unlike far too many of his novels, wherein the characters die unnatural deaths, by epidemics,
suicide, murder or drowning and far too many improbable happenings and coincidences take
place, in Godan, these defects cannot be pointed out.
Besides, the language herein used is unparalled in homeliness, vivacious simplicity, spontaneity
and suggestion. There is the excellence of style and narration. The novel is quick with the rhythm
of life. Those messages wherein the author expresses his own philosophical or metaphysical
reflections are superb, because, although they are polished and finished to a great degree, the
language used is very simple. Rural and homely words come to him without the least effort.

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