Page 8 - NIS English Jul 16-31 2024

P ersonality Munshi Premchand
Personality
Munshi Premchand's

novels sketched the real

plight of villages, poor,

and farmers

BORN: 31 JULY 1880 | DIED: 8 OCTOBER 1936

Munshi Premchand is counted among the great writers of India whose novels and stories
are liked worldwide. Premchand's stories most accurately showcase the real India before the
independence which is beyond compare. Villages, poverty, social fabric, women, and farmers
were subjects that were close to his heart on which he wrote extensively. He understood
the might of the pen and guided society with it for betterment...

e was born on 31 July 1880 in Lamhi village entered the struggle for freedom. He also edited
Hnear Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. His childhood some newspapers and magazines during his
name was Dhanpat Rai. His father's name was lifetime. He is also known as the 'Upanyas Samrat'.
Ajaib Rai and his mother's name was Anandi Devi. His works include diversity.
Born in a middle-class family he had to shoulder Eidgah is a story that probably everyone is
many responsibilities from an early age and familiar with, which was written by Premchand
struggled with financial difficulties throughout his in the year 1933. The main character of the story
life. He entered the literary field at a very early age. is a small child Hamid who instead of buying
He started writing in Urdu and later shifted to Hindi. and eating sweets at the fair, buys tongs for his
He exposed social evils prevailing in social systems grandmother. So that her hands do not get burnt
in his works and also attacked them deeply. It is while cooking. On 28 May 2018, while interacting
said that literature is only meaningful when its with the beneficiaries of the Ujjwala scheme, Prime
characters remain alive in the memories of the Minister Narendra Modi narrated the same story
readers. His work had a similar impact which made and said I can never forget Premchand's Eidgah.
him a writer popular with readers. His every work This story of Munshi Premchand still inspires
is a masterpiece that tells the truth of his time and me. He had said that I think if Hamid can do it,
their specialty is that they are still relevant today. then why can't the Prime Minister of the country?
Premchand started writing stories while in Premchand's successful literary journey can be
government service. He used to write under the gauged from the fact that PM Modi took the help
pseudonym Nawab Rai and his uncle also used of his story to highlight the importance of making
to call him by this name. During the freedom the lives of housewives comfortable through the
movement, he wrote the story collection 'Soz-e- Ujjwala scheme in the country.
Watan' under the name Nawab Rai, which was Premchand's other popular stories include Shatranj
banned by the British. Its copies were burnt and Ke Khiladi, Poos Ki Raat, Bade Ghar Ki Beti, and Namak
the collector issued an order not to write anything Ka Daroga. Apart from Godaan, he also wrote famous
further. After this, he started writing under the name novels like Karmabhoomi, Nirmala, Rangbhoomi and
Premchand. On the call of the Father of the Nation Sevasadan. He died on 8 October 1936. Before his
Mahatma Gandhi, during the Non-Cooperation death, when Premchand was ill, he was still working
Movement in 1921, he left his government job and on many stories which remained incomplete. n

6 New India Samachar July 16-31, 2024