Page 163 - DENG503_INDIAN_WRITINGS_IN_LITERATURE

Unit 20: Premchand: Godan—Introduction to the Text

Gobar resents Hori's kowtowing before the Rai Sahib, when he enjoys no concession and pays Notes
almost the same taxes as others do. But Hori knows that his mere visits to the Rai Sahib raise him
in the estimation his fellow-peasants. Indeed, without any teachings of Dale Carnegie, he is the
master of the engineering of the human mind. He is clever that way; he sympathises with Bhola,
in the latter's difficulties in re-marrying, and promises to help him-all this because he has an eye
on one of Bhola's cows, an objective wherein he ultimately succeeds. By speaking highly of middle-
aged Dhaniya, he tickles her vanity, so that she may give hay free of charge to Bhola without any
fuss. All this is instinctive.
Gobar says that God has made every one of us equal. Hori differs. He believes that all those who
are born poor would not have earned good by their actions in their previous life while those who
were born rich must have.
The Past is Hori's only argument; it is his only sheet-anchor. He is a slave to custom. He believes
in things, he acts, he behaves exactly in the same way as did his forefathers and does so because
they did so. He does not have anything, not even a rupee, to offer at the altar of the idol at the
annual "Katha" and feels remorseful, not because he is poor but because he could not offer anything,
his mite at the altar of God, whom he truly fears.
The brahmin is another agency which the peasant can never defy Pandit Data Din is a moneylender
with all the privileges that a high-caste birth has given him, for as Hori says: "The last pie that is
the Brahmins due shall break through our very bones."
Hori knows, and Dhaniya has an argument with him, that the Council of Five may be wrong.
Nevertheless, its orders must be obeyed: "In Council of Five resides God." And he obeys its orders
because its orders had always had the seal of sanctity which was respected by his forefathers. And
if he disobeyed, the family's izzat was at stake. So when the Council actually fines him Rs. 100,
almost his entire produce of the season, for giving shelter to Jhuniya, a widow whose hand had
been accepted by Gobar in camera, and who had no other place to go to with her five months old
burden, knowing that he is already under heavy debt, he borrows money to pay the fine. Besides,
his children are starving. And he also knows that those who have fined him are fornicators
themselves. Still, Hori cannot, must not, defy the Council. It had the seal of sanctity and custom.
Hori shares the vices of his class, too. He beats his wife, whenever he feels like it. Nevertheless, he
is faithful to her, although he would not loose an opportunity to cut a few vulgar jokes with Dulari
Sahuyayin, a woman moneylender, whom he jestingly addresses as "Bhabi" or sister-in-law.
Hard-pressed by circumstances, he "sells" away his daughter, Rupa, to an aged widower. His
house is already mortgaged; Data Din demands his money back, while Hori has none. His land,
which is more than peasant's life, is in danger of being taken away. Although Gobar says there is
nothing basically wrong so long as the money taken from the son-in-law is returned, Hori feels
remorseful and this event hastens his end.
The policeman to Hori is death incarnate. His very sight freezes Hori's blood. But he is not a
coward. When he sees that his landlord life is in danger and is sure of the latter's implicit approval,
he simply jumps at the "Pathan," jeopardising his own life.
The supreme ambition of Hori is a cow. And he does bring one although it proves to be his
undoing. When the entire village comes to see it and admires it and only Hira does not come to see
the cow, Hora is pained. He is even restless and sends an emissary for him to come and have a
look at it little knowing that Hira is jealous and harbours sinister designs on the animal. He
poisons the cow and, because of the crime, leaves home. By doing this, however, he has sealed the
fate of Hori, for the death of the cow is only the signal for calamites after calamities. Hori has seen
Hira approaching the cow in the dark with his own eyes. He does not report to the police, and
when police does come he swears by his son that he has not seen Hira near the cow. To his already
heavy debts he adds more by borrowing more money to bribe the police, so that they may not

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 157