Page 190 - DENG503_INDIAN_WRITINGS_IN_LITERATURE

Indian Writings in Literature Digvijay Pandya, Lovely Professional University

Notes Unit 22: Premchand: Godan—Plot Construction and
Characterisation

CONTENTS
Objectives
Introduction
22.1 Plot Construction of Godan
22.2 Characterisation of Godan
22.3 Summary
22.4 Key-Words
22.5 Review Questions
22.6 Further Readings

Objectives

After reading this Unit students will be able to:
• Introduce the Plot of the novel Godan.
• Discuss Characterization of Godan.
Introduction

The Indian novelist and short-story writer Premchand was the first major novelist in Hindi and
Urdu. His writings describe in realistic detail the political and social struggles in India of the early
20th century.
Premchand, whose real name was Dhanpatrai Srivastava, was born in the small village of Lamhi
a few miles from Benares. His immediate forebears were village accountants in Lamhi. His intimate
acquaintance with village life began here and continued when, as a schoolteacher and subdeputy
inspector of schools, he traveled extensively for 21 years through Uttar Pradesh State.
Premchand's early writing was all done in Urdu, but from 1915 he found that writing Hindi was
more profitable. Hindi, using the Sanskrit-based script and borrowing heavily from Sanskrit
vocabulary, was strongly promoted by the Hindu reform group called the Arya Samaj, and within
a few years Hindi publications numerically outstripped those written in Urdu.
Premchand's early work in Urdu reveals the strong influence of Persian literature, particularly in
the short stories. These were usually romantic love stories in which, the course of love not being
smooth, various unusual devices are used to bring lovers together again. In these romantic stories
and novels, however, also appear evidences of patriotic fervor and descriptions of Indian and
foreign heroes who died bravely for their countries. Premchand's first collection of short stories,
Soz-e-Vatan, brought him to the attention of the government. The British collector of Hamirpur
District called them seditious and ordered that all copies be burned and that the author submit
future writing for inspection. Fortunately, a few copies survived, and Premchand, in order to
evade censorship, changed his name from Dhanpatrai to Premchand..
In 1920 Premchand resigned from a government high school and became a staunch supporter of
Mohandas Gandhi, whose influence strongly marked Premchand's work from 1920 to 1932. With
realistic settings and events, Premchand contrived idealistic endings for his stories. His characters
change from pro-British to pro-Indian or from villainous landlord to Gandhi-like social servant in
midstream; the frequent conversions tend to make the stories repetitious and the characters
interesting only up to the point of conversion.

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