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Gowher Ahmad Naik, Lovely Professional University Unit 23: Premchand: Godan -Theme

Unit 23: Premchand: Godan -Theme Notes

CONTENTS
Objectives
Introduction
23.1 Godan—Analysis
23.2 Themes
23.3 Summary
23.4 Key-Words
23.5 Review Questions
23.6 Further Readings

Objectives

After reading this Unit students will be able to:
• Understand Godan as an Agrarian Novel.
• Discuss the theme of the novel of Godan.

Introduction

Godan are all agrarian novels, wherein everything else revolves round the life of the peasant. In
Premasram or in Gosha-i-Afiat (Urdu), it is his struggle against the Taluqdar or the hereditary
landlord; in Rangabhumi or in Chaugan-i-Hasti (Urdu), the struggle is against the pseudo-nationalist
industrialists; in Karmabhumi or in Maidan-I-Amal (Urdu), it also envelops the Harijans and the
labour class in the fight for the vindication of their rights. The shame-faced and ruthless exploitation
of the peasant by the moneylender is the theme of Godan.
The last of his agrarian epics, Godan, is also the last of Premchand's novels, published in the year
of his death, 1936. And it is his best. For its characters are more Chiseled, polished and realistic,
the plot more coherent, although herein, as in most of his novels, the two main themes run parallel
to each other and touch only at a few points and that too only at the surface. The ideas are more
systematically arranged and the dull monotony of long speeches and harangues is broken by the
periodic criticisms and interruptions by Pandit Onkar Nath, the editor of the Bijli, and in the
speech of Mr. Mehta on women's demand for equality with man. Premchand's art is seen here at
its best. Unlike far too many of his novels, wherein the characters die unnatural deaths, by epidemics,
suicide, murder or drowning and far too many improbable happenings and coincidences take
place, in Godan, these defects cannot be pointed out.

23.1 Godan—Analysis

Godan, a story of stark realism, is Premchand’s most outstanding novel. The realism, artistry and
tenderness with which he has created the characters here, particularly that of Hori, are unparalleled
and unsurpassed in the whole fiction of India. Hori is an immortal character symbolic of the
peasantry of this country.
Godan, which means “the gift of a cow”, is a novel that takes you through the lives of Hori and his
wife Dhania. A peasant by profession, Hori pays for carrying a noble and pure heart inside him.
Page after page you get the same sinking feeling that Hori gets when his spirit is crushed every
waking moment by the machinery comprising of the Zamindari system, the police, the money
lenders, the religious zealots, the caste system and prestige.

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 191