BOOK EXHIBITION ON PREMCHAND

MUNSHI PREMCHAND

Born: 31 July 1880

Died: 08 October, 1936

ONLINE BOOK EXHIBITION

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Godan

The story revolves around many characters representing the various sections of Indian community. The peasant and rural society is represented by the family of Hori mahato and his family members which includes Dhania, Rupa and Sona(Daughters), Gobar(son), Jhunia( daughter in law). The Story starts from a point where Hori has a deep desire of having a cow as other millions of poor peasants. He purchased on debt of Rs.80 a cow from Bhola, a cowherd. Hori tried to cheat his brothers for 10 rupees. This in turn led to a fight between his wife and his younger brother Heera’s wife. Jealous of Hori, his younger brother Heera poisoned the cow and ran away because of the fear of police action. When the police came enquiring the death of the cow, Hori took a loan and paid the bribe to the police and was able to clear off his younger brother’s name. Jhunia, the daughter of Bhola, was a widow and eloped with Gobar after she got pregnant by him. Because of the fear of the action from villagers Gobar also ran away to the town. Hori and Dhania were unable to throw a girl carrying their son's child from their doorstep and gave her protection and accepting her as their daughter-in-law. The village Panchayat takes action against Hori for sheltering a low caste girl and issued a penalty on Hori. Hori again is compelled to take a loan and pay the penalty. Hori is in huge debt from local money lenders and eventually married off his daughter Rupa for mere 200 rupees to save his ancestral land from being auctioned because of his inability to pay land tax. But his determination to pay those 200 rupees and to have a cow to provide milk to his grand son, leads to Hori's death because of excessive work. When he is about to die, his wife Dhania took out all the money she had (1.25 Rupees) and made Hori pay the priest on behalf of (Godaan) (cow donation). This eventually fulfils the traditional dream of Hori but still his desire to pay back the rupees 200 to his son- in- law and to have a cow to feed the milk to his grandson remain unfulfilled. Hori is shown as a typical poor peasant who is the victim of circumstances and possess all the deficiencies of common man but despite all this, he stands by his honesty, duties and judgement when time requires. He is shown dead partially satisfied and partially unsatisfied.

Karmabhumi

Karmabhoomi is a Hindi novel by Munshi Premchand. Karmabhoomi is set in the Uttar Pradesh of the 1930s. By the beginning of the 20th century, Islam and Hinduism had coexisted in India for over a thousand years. The story has a character Amarkant who is an intelligent and idealistic, though weak, young man who has grown up hating his father's business and adherence to the formalities of Hindu religion. He is married to Sukhada who is beautiful and intelligent but dominates him through her logical and down-to-earth approach to life.

Denied love at home and stifled by his wife, Amarkant is attracted to their watchman's granddaughter, the modest and courteous Sakina. When his father refuses to accept Sakina, Amarkant leaves home to wander from village to village. Finally settling in a village of Untouchables, he teaches children and help villagers in their fight for relief against land tax.

Initially unable to comprehend her husband's sympathy for the poor, Sukhada is ultimately drawn into the movement when she sees the police firing on a non-violent demonstration for acceptance of the Untouchables inside temples. She instantaneously gains recognition and acceptance as a leader of city's poor and downtrodden.

Impelled by the desire to gain similar recognition, Amarkant deviates from the path of non-violence in favour of direct confrontation that leads to many casualties among the farmers. He finally realizes that the Gandhian path was the better one and returns to its fold.

Gaban

The novel revolves around Ramaa, a young man of malleable moral values and his intrepid wife Jaalpa who seems outwardly flaky and greedy for gold ornaments but hides a much stronger core.Ramaa’s world is build on a mountain of lies and hubris. Jaalpa is young and restless and believes all the tall stories her handsome husband tells.Rama soon finds himself committing fraud(Gaban) to buy her ornaments which leads to a huge misunderstanding thanks to his cowardice. Gaban tells its story with impeccable empathy for all its characters.

Vardan

Vardan is a novel that is set in Varanasi. The hero of the novel is a young person who is the only son of a father, a rich construction contractor who later leaves his wife and only son is search of peace. When the head of the family leaves for Kumbha snan he never comes back. As usual the mother of the hero is a housewife with little knowledge of what her husband has been doing all these days. She was not involved in the nitty-gritty of her husband's entrepreneurial venture. She is lost in the web of the account register of her husband and ultimately gets out of it by selling all her property except the house. To make both ends meet she lends one portion of the house. A family comes to stay in the house. The family had a girl child, only child of her parents, the heroine of the novel. Both the hero and heroine start loving each other. Premchand wrote novel in a different era and love had a different meaning.

Idgah

Idgah is a Hindustani story written by the Indian author Munshi Premchand. Written under the pen name Nawab Rai, it is one of the most well-known stories of Premchand.

Idgah tells the story of a four-year-old orphan named Hamid who lives with his grandmother Amina. Hamid, the protagonist of the story, has recently lost his parents; however his grandmother tells him that his father has left to earn money, and that his mother has gone to Allah to fetch lovely gifts for him. This fills Hamid with hope, and despite Amina's worry surrounding their poverty and her grandson's well-being, Hamid is a happy and positive child.

The story begins on Eid morning, as Hamid sets out for the Eidgah with other boys from the village. Hamid is notably impoverished next to his friends, poorly dressed and famished-looking, and has only three paise as Idi for the festival. The other boys spend their pocket money on rides, candies and beautiful clay toys, and tease Hamid when he dismisses this as a waste of money for momentary pleasure. While his friends are enjoying themselves, he overcomes his temptation and goes to a hardware shop to buy a pair of tongs, remembering how his grandmother burns her fingers while cooking rotis.

As they return to the village Hamid's friends tease him for his purchase, extolling the virtues of their toys over his tongs. Hamid retorts with several clever arguments and before long his friends become more enamoured with the tongs than their own playthings, even offering to trade their items for his, which Hamid refuses. The story ends on a touching note when Hamid gifts the tongs to his grandmother. At first she scolds him for making the purchase, rather than buying something to eat or drink at the fair, until Hamid reminds her of how she burns her fingers daily. She bursts into tears at this and blesses him for his kindness.

Some other Creations of Premchand