We should be proud that Premchand was not the only great writer of Hindi and Hindustan. There are also Urdu-speaking Pakistanis. After all, what are the reasons that Premchand is accepted and valid in the same way as in other countries in national politics, like Mir-Ghalib and Faiz or Manto. Those who know Premchand know that their initial story is ‘Soje Vatan‘, it has gone through the author’s deep love towards the country and went on the path of the Kurdish people. Today is the 138th birth anniversary of Premchand on 31 July today. Among the common people, Premchand was more famous as a story writer and novelist. Apart from those who are interested in literature and Premchand, very few people know that Premchand has written many ideological articles too.
Early Life of Prem Chand
Munshi Premchand was born on July 31, 188,0 in the village of Lamhi in Benaras. Premchand had written more than a dozen novels and about 250 short stories from the treasury of Hindi literature. Premchand’s childhood name was Dhapat Rai Srivastava. When Premchand was in Class 9, he was married to the 15-year-old Shivranani Devi. Shivranani Devi was a child widow. It was a great job to have the courage to marry a child widow at that time. In 1900 Premchand was appointed an assistant teacher in the government school of Bahraich on a salary of Rs 20 per month. After this, he was transferred to Pratapgarh.
In 1907, Premchand was transferred to Mahoba. There the attention of the British Government went to Soz-e-Watan and the British termed this book as a traitor. After this, the collector of Hamirpur burnt his copies in front of him. Despite this, he continued writing. For this, he started publishing his compositions with the pseudonym ‘Premchand’. It was amazing for his compositions that he became more popular than his pseudonym.
उपन्यास सम्राट 'मुंशी प्रेमचंद्र' की जयंती पर उन्हें शत्-शत्-नमन #MunshiPremchand pic.twitter.com/Oi0zVdzBPN
— Sushil Kumar Modi (@SushilModi) July 31, 2018
From ‘Hori’ to ‘Halku’, Premchand always kept the situation of farmers in the center of their compositions. In his compositions, women also get a strong form. His compositions are truly the mirror of society. In all the stories like ‘Poos Ki Raat’, ‘Namak ka Daroga’, ‘Sava Seir Genhu’, ‘Mantra’, ‘Do Bailo ki Katha’, Kalam ka Sipaahi, he portrayed only, farmer, poverty, and corruption.
In October 1931, Premchand wrote an article titled ‘Hindu-Muslim Ekta‘. In this article, Premchand writes, ‘We have akhtiyar, we worship gau(Cow), but we are not sure that we can force others to go to worship. We can do more than that to touch the judicious wisdom of the cow-eaters. ‘
“Namak ka daroga”, “godaan” and many more… how exciting those days were at school when we grew up reading #MunshiPremchand Hindi literature! Such readings built our foundation and outlook of life! Remembering such an amazing writer on this birth anniversary! ? pic.twitter.com/47d3NKlUQF
— Suresh Raina (@ImRaina) July 31, 2018
Premchand is the pioneer of our Ganga-Jamuna culture or Tehajib. They are as much as Hindi as they are of Urdu too. He has written pictures of ‘real Hindustan’ by writing stories like ‘Eidgaha‘ and ‘Ramleela’. Whereas, humanity has been given priority over caste and minor discrimination. Humanity was the most important for Premchand. Premchand seeks this in every religion. Where he sees evil, he is strictly opposing him without any finesse, who fondly praises him for his good looks.
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