Page 171 - DENG503_INDIAN_WRITINGS_IN_LITERATURE

Unit 21: Premchand: Godan: Detailed Study of the Text

Premchand's utopian dreams are merely a manifestation of his strong faith in man. He was doing Notes
the same thing that philosophers and sages like Gandhi were doing all around the world at that
time, using his creative imagination to project the vision of a perfect society in which men,
transcending their selfishness and greed and forgetting the distinctions of caste and creed, could
live like brothers and sisters. He was no armchair philosopher or an ideal dreamer. Poverty and
want were living realities to him because he was nurtured in their midst and had experienced
them himself. But his faith in men led him to strive ceaselessly to impress on his upper-class
countrymen and criminality of the economic and social system which they upheld. He did bring
into existence the Hindu- Urdu social-political novel, molding the attitudes of younger writers
who acknowledged their indebtedness to him and some of whom chose to call themselves
progressive.
Literature for him implied a vigorous involvement with ideas and issues, rather than an escapist
withdrawal into the realms of fantasy and romantic love. He evolved a style which is simple, lucid
and subtle, a finely tempered instrument which can with equal ease capture the raciness and vigor
of the villager's idiom and the urbanity and elegance of that of the elite. The recurrent figure in
Premchand's novels is the idealistic young man who is called upon to choose between his own self
advancement and the claims of the community and the nation. Some of these young men turn out
to be lifeless and wooden like the virtuous heroes of other great novelist's like Tolstoy and George
Elliot. Such fictional heroes from his works include Amrit Rai, Pratap Chandra, Vinaya Singh,
Prem Shankar and Shankhdar. Premchand also composed some outstanding works which are
masterpieces in their own right and include such heroes- stories like Boori Kaki, Qafan and
Shtranj Ke Khiladi, and novels like Seva Sadan, Rangabhumi and Godan. But to form a true
estimate of his genius it is necessary to consider the totality of his output, which constitutes one of
the most varied, rich, and comprehensive renderings of live ever achieved by a writer of fiction.
Premchand was keenly aware of the indifferent status of the creative writer in the Indian society.
There was not likely to be much confusion about his place if he had composed works of learning.
Premchand was never influenced by caste, money or such other social evils. He is one of the first
Indian writers who refused to follow this path, who was fiercely independent in his attitude and
absolutely uncompromising in his principles. His resignation form government service was in its
way an example of his courage to stand up against oppression. Thus great as Premchand is as a
novelist, short-story writer, essayist and moralist, he is equally great as a humanist, a humanitarian
and a man. An estimate of his worth as a creative writer which ignores his distinction as a human
being runs the risk of being partial and inadequate.
21.1 Text—Godan

‘That damned cow came and ruined everything’. —Godan
India at the beginning of the 1930s was a country in flux. The nationalist euphoria and idealism of
the early 1920s—born of the Khilafat movement, Gandhi’s Rowlatt Satyagraha and the Indian
National Congress Party’s Non-Cooperation campaigns—had given way to nascent ideological
orthodoxies and political opportunism. The violence and social upheaval of the 1947 Partition and
the ambivalent victories of independence were still on the historical horizon. The decade began
under the ominous burden of a world wide economic depression; and ended with the definitive
parting of ways between the Muslim League and the Indian National Congress (INC), symbolised
in Jinnah’s observance of the ‘Day of Deliverance’ (of Muslims from the alleged tyranny of the
Hindu-dominated INC) in December 1939. By its close, euphoria and optimism had, for many,
turned into bitterness and cynicism. If the 1930s were to be given a name, perhaps the most fitting
would be the ‘age of disillusionment’.

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