Munshi Premchand

 

Birth Name: Dhanpat Rai Srivastav
Birth Date:     31 July 1880

Birth Place:    varanazi

Death Date:   8 October 1936

 

Early life

 

One of the greatest Indian authors of the 20th century Munshi premchand known earlier as Dhanpat Ra was born in a small town called  Vasanasi in the northern India. His parents died when he was young and at the age of 15 years he married. Premchands marriage did not last as he left the girl after three years.

 

Career and influence

 

     PremChands mother died when he was 8 and his sisters married, these left him lonely and made him write more about things happening around him like social and political issues. Premchand is a unique writer who focused more on real characters and he his famous as the first Hindi author featuring realism in most of his writings. For example, his mother is the character Anandi in his book Bade Ghar Ki Beti that focused on joint family as a social issue.  He wrote more of novels and short stories. In 1903, his first published short novel story "The Mystery of God's Abode" expressed corruption and sexual exploitation in the Hindi temple by the priests. This is a social issue because, in the Hindu religion, a wife has equal rights like the husband, and the wife is expected to protect her husband.  He used his stories to significant effect for social reforms, and this made him loved by Indians. Godaan (The Gift of a Cow, 1936), Premchand's last completed work, is generally accepted as his best novel, and is considered as one of the finest Hindi novels.

 

     Premchand never traveled outside India, studied abroad or mingled with the renowned foreign literary figures, this is believed as the reason why his writing characters are always the ordinary people of India. His stories give the correct picture of village realities. Premchand's first published story was Duniya Ka Sabse Anmol Ratan ("The Most Precious Jewel in the World"), According to this story, the most precious 'jewel' was the last drop of blood necessary to attain independence. Many of Premchand's early short stories had patriotic overtones, influenced by the Indian independence movement His book Soje Vathan was banned and all printed copies burned by the then British government because they think it was anti government. Above all other writers, Premchand was made the chairman of the first All-India conference of the Indian Progressive writer's association in 1936. months after this, he ahd abdominal problems and died on the 8th of October 1936 after days of sickness.