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Indian Writings in Literature

Notes from the village. The relationship of course violates all the ‘rules’ of caste, and Siliya, not surprisingly,
is out-casted from her community, her own mother exclaiming: ‘Why don’t you go drown yourself
in a handful of water?’ (230/305). As with Jhuniya, Siliya soon finds herself seeking refuge with
Dhaniya. Matadin, meanwhile, attempts to keep himself ‘pure’ and above suspicion by strictly
observing all the Brahmanic food rules, a strategy whose inherent absurdity is not lost on Premchand:
‘Maintaining proper food habits provides a shield protecting us from unrighteousness [adharma]’
(168/222). The Chamars, though, are quite aware of this ‘shield’, and also know exactly what to do
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to pierce the ritual armour. In a disturbing scene wrought with frustration, violence, and outrage,
several members of the Chamar community overpower and detain Matadin and force a bone down
his throat, ending his protective state of caste purity. Matadin is able to return to the caste fold by
‘spending several hundred rupees’ and by consuming cow’s dung and cow’s urine, and yet he
realises the hollowness of the ritual ‘rehabilitation’: aside from literally being able to buy back his
caste status, the reality is that he is still treated as a Chamar, since many people now refuse to take
water from him or let him touch their cooking utensils. After the death of Ramu, Matadin and
Siliya’s newborn child, Matadin is ‘reborn’ a Chamar and takes up residence with Siliya. As with
Hori, Matadin’s behavior is another example that shows that the only authentic spirituality is chosen
from within; rituals are only external and superficial, and caste is ultimately just a state of mind. 31
Premchand also spends a considerable amount of time exploring the relationship between dharma
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and justice. When Matadin makes his decision to move in with Siliya, he declares: ‘I want to live
as a Chamar, not as a Brahmin. Whoever keeps to his dharma is a Brahmin; whoever turns away
from his dharma is a Chamar’ (316/419). The statement seems somewhat ambivalent at first, but
in the context of Premchand’s extended critique of religious injustice, it makes perfect sense. 33
Since dharma has become associated with injustice, turning away from one’s dharma is ironically
to turn away from injustice. There is also an implication that the Chamars have more justice than
the Brahmins! Earlier in the novel, when Bhola comes to Hori’s house seeking redress for the loss
of the ill-fated and now deceased cow, he declares that he must take away Hori’s bullocks as just
compensation. Hori is shocked and says to Bhola: ‘If you take these two bullocks, then I’ll be
ruined. But if your dharma says so, then go ahead and take them’ (142/189). Bhola duly takes the
bullocks. When Datadin subsequently hears of this, he declares it to be utterly ‘inhuman’; yet when
Hori explains to Datadin (and to Lala Pateshwari) that it was a matter of dharma, Datadin opines
reverently: ‘When it’s a matter of dharma, then what can anyone say?’ (146/193). Here dharma

30. Here it is food, but in the story ‘Sabhyata ka Rahasya’ (The Secret Of Civilisation) (1925), Prem. Rac. 13: 166–
71, it is the rituals of ‘cultured’ or ‘civilised’ behaviour among elites. Whether religious or social, Premchand
had little tolerance for rituals that hid or shielded one from culpability.
31. One of Premchand’s most powerful stories about the state of mind produced by caste prejudice and injustice
can be found in his story ‘Thakur ka Kuan’ (The Thakur’s Well) (1932), Prem Rac. 15: 54–6. In this story
Gangi, an untouchable woman, desperately needs water but, being an untouchable, is not allowed even to
approach near the Thakur’s well. She sneaks to the well at night, but when she tries to get the water, the
Thakur’s door suddenly opens. She is not caught, but it is the fear—the continual and oppressive fear—that
Premchand evokes so strongly here. As he describes Gangi’s reaction to the sound of the opening door: ‘The
jaws of a tiger could not have been more frightening to her’ (p.56).
32. Justice is of course a theme throughout much of Premchand’s fiction. Other stories that explore directly the
relationship between religious and legal justice are, for instance, ‘Iswariya Nyaya’ (Divine Justice) (1916),
Prem. Rac. 11: 403–17; and ‘Dharma Sankat’ (A Crisis Of Dharma) (1913), Prem. Rac. 11: 268–74.
33. Another of Premchand’s stories that brings many of the themes presented here together is ‘Brahm ka Swang’
(The Brahmin Farce) (1920), Prem. Rac. 12: 198–204. In this story, full of Gandhian influence, a Brahmin
husband and wife ‘duel’ in their attempts to break down caste barriers. The satirical message is that what
is understood as caste equality by the upper castes is really only caste inequality, just less of it.

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