Premchand’s GODAN: Travails of rural India
About this ebook
Much of the vagaries and vicissitudes of rural life outlined in, reflect much of what Premchand drew from his childhood and subsequent background. He was born and brought up in an insignificant village near Banaras, now Varanasi, and lived much of his life there. The characters he has depicted are mostly based on rural dwellers or those with rural backgrounds who later migrated to cities in search of livelihood. However, their hearts always remained in their villages because of the strong emotional bond that not many could forget.
About the author
Premchand, later known popularly as Munshi Premchand, was born in Lamhi village, near present-day Varanasi on 31 July1880. His parents were Ajaib Rai and Anandi Devi. He studied Urdu and Persian in a nearby madrassa and then learned English at a missionary school. He lost his mother when he was eight years old, following which his father married again. However, Premchand could not strike a rapport with his stepmother. One finds his attitude towards stepmothers in many of his works, some of which gained national and international popularity.
To overcome his loneliness, he adopted reading books with a vengeance. After his father died in 1897, he took up tuitions and taught at a missionary school to pay for his expenses. In this way, he succeeded in completing B.A. which got him a job in the government’s education department. He edited a local magazine for a while. He was drawn by the Gandhi-led freedom struggle and devoted himself to inspiring national awareness among the masses. Some reflections of this are seen in Godan in the manoeuvrings that marked the council elections. He wrote hundreds of stories, nearly a dozen novels and several plays. He also translated some writings of Leo Tolstoy, Charles Dickens, and Oscar Wilde.
He died on 8 October 1936.
Jeevan Nair, who holds a doctorate in English, worked for 32 years at a stretch with The Hindustan Times, starting as a junior reporter and eventually ending as resident editor (on contract). He resigned two years before retirement in 1998. He explained his premature resignation in his first book, Rich Heritage of Ancient India, thus: “I used to write about Jawaharlal Nehru and Dr. Radhakrishnan and other people of like stature. I ended up writing about people you wouldn’t allow into your drawing room.”
He compares himself to the famous jailor of British days as depicted in the iconic ‘Sholay’ who was transferred frequently after complaints but never changed. Likewise, he was transferred fifteen times in his career and worked in practically in all the states of India and in three foreign postings–Nepal, Congo, and the United Nations in the USA. He covered the Bangladesh War in 1971 and was awarded a Gold Medal for it. Dressed in a lungi and vest, he penetrated deep into enemy territory and sent back reports that led to the Pakistani authorities announcing a reward of Rs. 1 lakh for his capture, dead or alive.
He has written a total of 42 books, but this is first attempt at translation. He spends his time editing books for various authors and publishers. On the anvil are his experiences in journalism with the original stores as they were printed with the title ‘I was a typewriter terrorist.’
