Page 172 - DENG503_INDIAN_WRITINGS_IN_LITERATURE

Indian Writings in Literature

Notes The renowned North Indian writer Premchand penned his last complete novel Godan (The Gift
1
Of a Cow) right in the middle of the intellectual and moral turmoil of the 1930s. Published in 1936,
it is considered by many to be Premchand’s finest achievement, if not in fact the finest novel ever
written in Hindi. 2
As a writer, Premchand had his hand on the pulse of many trends and movements, and he was
particularly adept at translating his observations into a lively, accessible stream of prose—one of
the many factors that make his fiction simultaneously tangible, rich and evocative. But if Godan
can perhaps be seen as Premchand’s Swansong, it is by no means merely the grand culmination of
his previous works—especially his morally didactic and overtly ideological early novels. Godan is
different. Premchand was acutely aware of the changing moods of the 1930s, and as a result,
Godan is a novel of weary disillusionment. At the heart of Godan is a continual and relentless
lamentation over the prevalence of injustice in everyday life and the frustrating absence of any
meaningful way to offer resistance, seek redress, or find justice. The ‘great struggles’ of nationalism,
and the Gandhian projects of self-sufficiency and moral redemption, dominant themes in
Premchand’s earlier works, now seemed to him too abstract and self-absorbed to have any
widespread impact on the sufferings of the Indian masses. The mantra of ‘blame the British’ had
3
also, by the 1930s, begun to appear to Premchand too convenient and contrived to provide a
satisfying explanation for the outrages of everyday life that eroded the lives and hopes of the
majority of his fellow Indians. And other proffered remedies for India’s malaise looked ever more
barren. The retreat to a putatively moral and pure past as recommended by the cultural nationalists,
had revealed itself to be little more than an elitist and communal platform for promoting

1. Premchand (1880–1936) is the pen-name of Dhanpat Rai. The name change became necessary after the
publication of his first collection of stories Soz-e-vatan (1910) incurred the ire of the authorities. The stories
were written under the name of Nawab Rai, but since the district officer had demanded that he not publish
anything else without first showing it to the local officer in charge, the name change to Premchand was one
efficient way around the request. On his life and times, see, among others, Madan Gopal, Munshi Premchand:
A Literary Biography (Bombay: Asia Publishing House, 1964); and Amrit Rai, Premcand: Kalam ka Sipahi
(Allahabad: Hamsa Prakashana, 1962).
2. Citations from the works of Premchand in Hindi are all taken (unless otherwise indicated) from the collected
works edition Premcand Racanavali, Ramvilas Sharma (ed.) (Delhi: Janavani Prakashan, 1996), 20 vols.
Hereafter this will be cited as Prem. Rac. followed by the volume and page number. Volume 6 contains
Godan, so all references in the text refer to that volume. Other useful collections of Premchand’s works are
Mansarovar (Allahabad: Sarasvati Press, 1956), 8 vols., which comprises short works of fiction; and Vividh
Prasang (Allahabad: Hans Prakashan,1962), 3 vols., which comprises many essential essays and editorials.
There is an English translation of Godan available by Gordon C. Roadarmel under the title The Gift Of a Cow
(Bloomington: Indian University Press, 1968). This translation has recently been re-issued (2002) as a second
edition with a new preface by Vasudha Dalmia. Throughout the text, I have given two page numbers for
each quotation from Godan: the first refers to the Hindi text, and the second to the English translation.
Though all translations here are my own, readers of the English translation should be able, I hope, to locate
the appropriate passages if they wish to pursue their interests further.
3. Among Premchand’s other novels, those that deal with the themes of social reform or with the Gandhian
vision of a reconstructed India are Sevasadan (The Abode Of Service) (1918), Prem. Rac. 3, which deals with
the rehabilitation of prostitutes and other ‘fallen’ women; and Karmabhumi (The Field Of Action) (1932),
Prem. Rac. 5, which is Premchand’s last attempt to engage Gandhian ideals seriously (in the novel, through
programs of uplift and respectability for the dalit community of Chamars). Many of Premchand’s
contemporaries also used their literary works to promote social reform and Gandhian ideals, among them
Pandey Becan Sharma (pen-name ‘Ugra’) (1900–1969) in works such as Buddhua ki Beti (Buddhua’s Daughter)
(1928), which dealt with caste injustices, and Sharabi (The Alcoholic) (1930), which promoted abstention
from alcohol as the path to moral rejuvenation; and Rishabhcaran Jain (1912–1986), in works such as Dilli ka
Vyabhicar (An Adultery in Delhi) (1928) and Vesyaputra (The Prostitute’s Son) (1929), both of which addressed
issues such as the treatment of Hindu widows or the plight of ‘morally compromised’ women.

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