Page 162 - DENG503_INDIAN_WRITINGS_IN_LITERATURE

Indian Writings in Literature

Notes In all his novels that preceded it, idealism almost always swayed him. Herein realism and its twin-
brother, pessimism, are predominant. In all his novels before Godan, he created idealist heroes,
Premshankar in Premasram, Sur Das in Rangabhumi, Chakradhar in Kayakalp and Amarkant in
Karmabhumi, all of whom bear the indelible imprint of Gandhi and Tolstoy. Valiant fighters
against tyranny, inspired by the highest and noblest ideals of love and service of the down-
trodden masses whom they organie for mass-scale satyagraha, they always pursue, undeterred by
the sacrifices they are called upon to make, the path of Truth.
Perhaps the only idealist character in Godan is Prof. Mehta, who is sagacious, but verges on
eccentricity, and he figures only in a minor theme in the story. Save one very isolated strike in Mr.
Khanna's mill, there are no strikes, let alone mass movements. One wonders if Premchand, in his
last days, lost faith in the efficacy of non-violent struggle. And if he did not lose his faith, he at
least came to entertain some doubts about the same.
Unlike all other agrarian novels, Godan does not end in a compromise, in the triumph of the
peasant. As a matter of fact, herein Premchand refrains from suggesting any solution to any
problem, an idea so dear to his heart. He had absolutely no faith in votes for the peasant, in
Councils, in elections and in popular ministries (they had not come into existence then, and
Premchand had before him only the 1919 experiment.) They could not ameliorate the lot of the
peasant. He makes Tanakha say that democracy is the rule by the big bankers and traders. The
futility of rural reconstructions, a fad started in those days, is reflected in what Malati, after her
conversion and dedication to a life of service, achieves. She analyses the problem of rural
indebtedness as being due to fragmentation of land and the extravagance of the peasant on social
functions; But she suggests no real solution. She merely employs Gobar as a mali and gives him a
rather privileged position in her family; it is more or less by way of charity.
When we first meet Gobar, we find him a rebellious soul. We hope that, like all other characters
of Premchand, which are dynamic and never static, changing with the changing environments
and always developing the traits talent in them. Gobar would grow into, perhaps, a Socialist
leader and would organise people for a struggle against moneylenders and the system which
grinds down the peasant into a paste. Our hopes are, however, belied. Gobar becomes a part of the
system which victimises the peasants and against which Gobar was to raise voice. Instead, he now
hates the village and prefers to be a poor servile labourer in the town where, in the first instance,
he carves out a place for himself. He earns some money and lends it to others at exorbitant rates,
which, if the moneylender charged from Hori, perturbed Gobar. In a way he becomes a cog in the
machine which is responsible for Hori's ruination and ends in his death. But could Gobar help it?
Perhaps not, for, as Premchand says, in the society as it is constituted today, either one is an
exploiter or is exploited. There can be no third alternative. The only solution of the problem,
Premchand said, was a thorough shake-up of the present system. And till that comes the peasant's
fate would be the fate of Hori.
Hori's is the most realistic characterisation in Premchand's works. It is indigenous to the Indian
soil. Hori is not merely an individual; he is the representative of a class, whose virtues and failings
he shares. If you know Hori intimately, as you actually do from Godan, you know almost everything
important about the peasant in India, for the U. P. peasant is not much different from, say, the
peasant from South India, as also about the class or stratum he comes from. Indeed, Hori is the
class.
It is significant that Godan is a romance in ugly names. Hori, Gobar, Jheengur, Dhaniya, Paniya,
Jhuniya, Nokhe Ram, Magru Shah and Chuhiya-all bring to our mind their proximity with the
soil.
To Hori, ideas count for little. For him feelings and instinct are the only real things. Realism is the
backbone of his life. He does not believe in Gobar's reasoning, which may all be very sound, but
cannot be put into practice, because Hori's ancestors did not act that way.

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