Premchand   pronunciation (help·info) (Hindi: प्रे�मचं�द, Urdu:  چند پریم ,July 31, 1880 – October 8) ,(منشی

1936) was a famous writer of modern Hindi-Urduliterature. He is one of the most celebrated writers of

the Indian subcontinent,[1] and is regarded as one of the foremost Hindi-Urdu writers of the early

twentieth century.[2] A novel writer, story writer and dramatist, he has been referred to as the "Upanyas

Samrat" ("Emperor of Novels") by some Hindi writers. He was born as Dhanpat Rai and first began

writing under the pen name "Nawab Rai". He switched to the name "Premchand" after his short story

collection Soz-e-Watan was banned by the British Raj. He is also known as "Munshi

Premchand", Munshi being an honorary prefix. His works include more than a dozen novels, around

250 short stories, several essays and translations of a number of foreign literary works into Hindi.

Contents

  [hide] 

1 Biography

o 1.1 Early life

o 1.2 Stay at Kanpur

o 1.3 Adoption of the name Premchand

o 1.4 Gorakhpur

o 1.5 Back to Benares

o 1.6 Bombay

o 1.7 Last days

2 Style and influences

3 List of works

o 3.1 Novels

o 3.2 Short stories

o 3.3 Translations

o 3.4 Other

4 Adaptations of Premchand's works

5 Notes

6 References

7 Further reading

8 External links

[edit]Biography

[edit]Early life

Premchand was born on 31 July 1880 in the Lamhi village near Benares. His ancestors came from a

large Kayastha family, which owned six bighas of land.[3] His grandfather Gur Sahai Lal was

a patwari (village accountant), and his father Ajaib Lal was a post office clerk. His mother was Anand

Devi of Karauni village, who could have been the inspiration for the character Anandi in his Bade Ghar

Ki Beti.[4] Premchand was the fourth child of Ajaib Lal and Anandi; the first two were girls who died as

infants, and the third one was a girl named Suggi.[5] His parents named him Dhanpat Rai ("the master

of wealth"), while his uncle, Mahabir, a rich landowner, nicknamed him "Nawab" ("Prince"). "Nawab

Rai" was the first pen name chosen by Premchand.[6]

When he was 7 years old, Premchand began his education at a madarsa in Lalpur, located around

2½ km from Lamahi.[5] Premchand learnt Urdu and Persian from a maulvi in the madarsa. When he

was 8, his mother died after a long illness. His grandmother, who took the responsibility of raising him,

died soon after.[7] Premchand felt isolated, as his elder sister had already been married, and his father

was always busy with work. His father, who was now posted at Gorakhpur, re-married, but

Premchand received little affection from his step-mother. The step-mother later became a recurring

theme in Premchand's works.[8]

After his mother's death, Premchand sought solace in fiction, and developed a fascination for books.

He heard the stories from the Persian-language fantasy epic Tilism-e-Hoshruba at a tobacconist's

shop. He took the job of selling books for a book wholesaler, thus getting the opportunity to read a lot

of books.[9] He learnt English at a missionary school, and studied several works of fiction

includingGeorge W. M. Reynolds's eight-volume The Mysteries of the Court of London.[8] He

composed his first literary work at Gorakhpur, which was never published and is now lost. It was a

farce on a bachelor, who falls in love with a low-caste woman. The character was based on

Premchand's uncle, who used to scold him for being obsessed with reading fiction; the farce was

probably written as a revenge for this.[8]

After his father was posted to Jamniya in the mid-1890s, Premchand enrolled at the Queen's College

at Benaras as a day scholar.[10][11] In 1895, he was married at the age of 15, while still studying in the

9th grade. The match was arranged by his maternal step-grandfather. The girl was from a rich

landlord family and was older than Premchand, who found her quarrelsome and not good-looking.[10][11]

Premchand's father died in 1897 after a long illness. He managed to pass the matriculation exam with

second division. However, only the students with first division were given fee concession at the

Queen's College. Premchand then sought admission at the Central Hindu College, but was

unsuccessful due to his poor arithmetic skills.[12] Thus, he had to discontinue his studies.

Premchand then obtained an assignment to coach an advocate's son in Benares at a monthly salary

of five rupees. He used to live reside in a mud-cell over the advocate's stables, and used to send 60%

of his salary back home.[12] Premchand read a lot during these days. After racking up several debts, in

1899, he once went to a book shop to sell one of his collected books. There, he met the headmaster

of a missionary school at Chunar, who offered him a job as a teacher, at a monthly salary of   18.

[12] He also took up the job of tutoring a student at a monthly fees of   5.

In 1900, Premchand secured a job as an assistant teacher at the Government District

School, Bahraich, at a monthly salary of   20. Three months later, he was transferred to the District

School inPartapgarh, where he stayed in an administrator's bungalow and tutored his son.[13]

Dhanpat Rai first wrote under the psudonym "Nawab Rai". His first short novel was Asrar e

Ma'abid (Devasthan Rahasya in Hindi, "The Mystery of God's Abode"), which explores corruption

among thetemple priests and their sexual exploitation of poor women. The novel was published in a

series in the Benares-based Urdu weekly Awaz-e-Khalk from 8 October 1903 to February 1905.

[14] Siegfried Schulz states that "his inexperience is quite evident in his first novel", which is not well-

organized, lacks a good plot and features stereotyped characters.[15] Prakash Chandra Gupta calls it

an "immature work", which shows a tendency to "see life only white or black".[14]

[edit]Stay at Kanpur

From Partapgarh, Dhanpat Rai was relocated to Allahabad for training, and subsequently posted at

Kanpur in 1905. Premchand stayed in Kanpur for around four years, from May 1905 to June 1909.

There he met Daya Narain Nigam, the editor of the magazine Zamana, in which he later published

several articles and stories.[14]

Premchand visited his village Lamahi during the summer vacation, but did not find the stay enjoyable

due to a number of reasons. He did not find the weather of the atmosphere conducive for writing.

Plus, he faced domestic trouble due to quarrels between his wife and his step-mother. Premchand

angrily scolded his wife, after she unsuccessfully tried to commit suicide by hanging. Dismayed, she

went to her father's house, and Premchand displayed no interest in bringing her back.[16] In 1906,

Premchand married a child widow, Shivarani Devi, who was the daughter of a landlord from a village

near Fatehpur.[17] The step was considered to be revolutionary at that time, and Premchand faced a

lot of social opposition. After his death, Shivarani Devi, wrote a book on him, titled Premchand Ghar

Mein ("Premchand in House").

In 1905, inspired by the nationalist activism, Premchand published an article on the Indian National

Congress leader Gopal Krishna Gokhale  in Zamana. He criticized Gokhale's methods for achieving

political freedom, and instead recommended adoption of more extremist measures adopted by Bal

Gangadhar Tilak.[18] Premchand's first published story was Duniya Ka Sabse Anmol Ratan ("The Most

Precious Jewel in the World"), which appeared in Zamana in 1907.[19] According to this story, the most

precious 'jewel' was the last drop of blood necessary to attain independence.[20] Many of Premchand's

early short stories had patriotic overtones, influenced by the Indian independence movement.[7]

Premchand's second short novel Hamkhurma-o-Hamsavab (Prema in Hindi), published in 1907, was

penned under the name "Babu Nawab Rai Banarsi". It explores the issue of widow remarriage in the

contemporary conservative society: the protagonist Amrit Rai overcomes social opposition to marry

the young widow Poorna, giving up his rich and beautiful fiance Prema. According to Prakash

Chandra Gupta, "while containing seeds of his future gratness in many ways, the novel is still youthful

and lacks the discipline which full maturity brings".[14]

In 1907, another of Premchand's short novels, Kishna was published by the Medical Hall Press of

Benares. However, this 142-page work, which satirizes women's fondness for jewellery, is lost now.

[14]Literary critic Nobat Rai criticized the work in Zamana, saying that it is a mockery of the women's

conditions.[21]

During April–August 1907, Premchand's story Roothi Rani was published in serial form in Zamana.

[21] Also in 1907, the publishers of Zamana published Premchand's first short story collection,

titledSoz-e-Watan. The collection, which was later banned, contained four stories which sought to

inspire the Indians in their struggle for political freedom.[22]

[edit]Adoption of the name Premchand

In 1909, Premchand was transferred to Mahoba, and later posted to Hamirpur as the Sub-deputy

Inspector of Schools.[23] Around this time, Soz-e-Watan was noticed by the British Government

officials, who banned it as a seditious work. The British collector of the Hamirpur District ordered a

raid on Premchand's house, where around five hundred copies of Soz-e-Watan were burnt.

[24]Subsequently, Dhanpat Rai had to change his pseudonym from "Nawab Rai" to "Premchand".

In 1914, Premchand started writing in Hindi (Hindi and Urdu are considered different registers of a

single language Hindi-Urdu, with Hindi drawing much of its vocabulary from Sanskrit and Urdu being

more influenced by Persian). By this time, he was already reputed as a fiction writer in Urdu.[7] His first

Hindi story Saut was published in the magazine Saraswati in December 1915, and his first short story

collection Sapta Saroj was published in June 1917.

[edit]Gorakhpur

A plaque commemorating Premchand at the hut where he resided in Gorakhpur from 1916 to 1921.

In August 1916, Premchand was transferred to Gorakhpur on a promotion. He became the Assistant

Master at the Normal High School, Gorakhpur.[25]

At Gorakhpur, he developed a friendship with the bookseller Buddhi Lal, who allowed him to borrow

novels for reading, in exchange for selling exam cram books at the school.[8] Premchand was an

enthusiastic reader of classics in other languages, and translated several of these works in Hindi.

By 1919, Premchand had published four novellas, of about a hundred pages each. In 1919,

Premchand's first major novel Seva Sadan  was published in Hindi. The novel was originally written in

Urdu under the title Bazaar-e-Husn, but was published in Hindi first by a Calcutta-based publisher,

who offered Premchand  450 for his work. The Urdu Publisher of Lahore published the novel later in

1924, paying Premchand   250.[26] The novel tells the story of an unhappy housewife, who first

becomes a courtesan, and then manages an orphanage for the young daughters of the courtesans. It

was well-received by the critics, and helped Premchand gain wider recognition.

In 1919, Premchand obtained a BA degree from Allahabad.[7] By 1921, he had been promoted to

Deputy Inspectors of Schools. On 8 February 1921, he attended a meeting in Gorakhpur,

where Mahatma Gandhi asked people to resign from government jobs as part of the non-cooperation

movement. Premchand, although physically unwell and with two kids and a pregnant wife to support,

thought about it for 5 days and decided, with the consent of his wife, to resign from his government

job.

[edit]Back to Benares

After quitting his job, Premchand left Gorakhpur for Benares on 18 March 1921, and decided to focus

on his literary career. Till his death in 1936, he faced severe financial difficulties and chronic ill health.

[27]

In 1923, he established a printing press and publishing house in Benares, chistened "Saraswati

Press".[1] The year 1924 saw the publication of Premchand'sRangabhumi, which has a blind beggar

called Surdas as its tragic hero. Schulz mentions that in Rangabhumi, Premchand comes across as a

"superb social chronicler", and although the novel contains some "structural flaws" and "too many

authorial explanations", it shows a "marked progress" in Premchand's writing style.[28] According to

Schulz, it was in Nirmala (1925) and Pratigya (1927) that Premchand found his way to "a balanced,

realistic level" that surpasses his earlier works and manages to "hold his readers in tutelage".

[29] Nirmala, a novel dealing with the dowry system in India, was first serialized in the

magazine Chand, before being published as a novel. Pratigya ("The Vow") dealt with the subject of

widow remarriage.

In 1928, Premchand's novel Ghaban ("Embezzlement"), focusing on the middle class' greed, was

published. In March 1930, Premchand launched a literary-political weekly magazine titled Hans,

aimed at inspiring the Indians to mobilize against the British rule.[30] The magazine, noted for its

politically provocative views, failed to make a profit. Premchand then took over and edited another

magazine called Jagaran, which too ran at a loss.[31]

In 1931, Premchand moved to Kanpur as a teacher in the Marwari College, but had to leave because

of difference with the college administration.[19] He then returned to Benares, and became the editor of

the Maryada magazine. In 1932, he published another novel titled Karmabhumi. He briefly served as

the headmaster of the Kashi Vidyapeeth, a local school. After the school's closure, he became the

editor of the Madhuri magazine in Lucknow.[19]

[edit]Bombay

Premchand arrived in Bombay on 31 May 1934 to try his luck in the Hindi film industry. He had

accepted a script writing job for the production house Ajanta Cinetone, hoping that the yearly salary

of  8000 would help him overcome his financial troubles. He stayed in Dadar, and wrote the script for

the film Mazdoor ("The Laborer"). The film, directed by Mohan Bhawnani, depicted the poor conditions

on the labour class. Premchand himself did a cameo as the leader of laborers in the film. Some

influential businessmen managed to get a stay on its release in Bombay. The film was released in

Lahore (Punjab) and Delhi, but was banned again after it inspired the mill workers to stand up against

the owners.[31]

Ironically, the film inspired the workers of his own loss-making press in Benares to launch a strike,

after they were not paid their salaries.[31] By 1934-35, Premchand's Saraswati Press was under a

heavy debt of   4000, and Premchand was forced to discontinue the publication of Jagaran.

Meanwhile, Premchand was beginning to dislike the non-literary commercial enviornment of the

Bombay film industry, and wanted to return Benares. However, he had signed a one-year contract

with the production house. He ultimately left Bombay on 4 April 1935, before the completion of one

year.[32] Himanshu Roy , the founder of Bombay Talkies, tried to convince Premchand to stay back, but

did not succeed.

[edit]Last days

After leaving Bombay, Premchand wanted to settle in Allahabad, where his sons Sripat Rai and Amrit

Rai were studying. He also planned to publish Hans from there. However, owing to his financial

situation and ill-health, he had to hand over Hans to the Indian Literary Counsel and move to Benares.

[33]

Premchand was elected as the first President of the Progressive Writers' Association in Lucknow, in

1936.[1][34] He died on 8 October 1936, after several days of sickness.

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.[35] The protagonist, Hori, a poor

peasant, desperately longs for a cow, a symbol of wealth and prestige in rural India. According to

Schulz, "Godan is a well-structured and well-balanced novel which amply fulfills the literary

requirements postulated by the Western literary standards."[36] Unlike other contemporary renowned

authors such as Rabindranath Tagore , Premchand was not appreciated much outside India. Siegfried

Schulz believes that the reason for this was absence of good translations of his work. Also, unlike

Tagore and Iqbal, Premchand never traveled outside India, studied abroad or mingled with the

renowned foreign literary figures.[37]

In 1936, Premchand also published Kafan ("Shroud"), in which a poor man collects money for the

funeral rites of his dead wife, but spends it on food and drink. Premchand's last published story

wasCricket Match, which appeared in Zamana in 1937, after his death.[38]

[edit]Style and influences

Premchand is considered the first Hindi author whose writings prominently featured realism.[7] His

novels describe the problems of the poor and the urban middle-class.[7] His works depict a rationalistic

outlook, which views religious values as something that allow the powerful hypocrites to exploit the

weak.[27] He used literature for the purpose of arousing public awareness about national and social

issues and often wrote about topics related to corruption, child widowhood, prostitution, feudal

system, poverty, colonialism and on the India's freedom movement.[39]

Premchand started taking an interest in political affairs while at Kanpur during the late 1900s, and this

is reflected in his early works, which have patriotic overtones. His political thoughts were initially

influenced by the moderate Indian National Congress leader Gopal Krishna Gokhale , but later, he

moved towards the more extremist Bal Gangadhar Tilak.[17] He considered the Minto -Morley

Reformsand the Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms as inadequate, and supported greater political

freedom.[17] Several of his early works, such as A Little Trick and A Moral Victory, satirized the Indians

who cooperated with the British Government. He did not specifically mentioned the British in his some

of his stories, due to strong government censorship, but disguised his opposition in settings from the

medieval era and the foreign history.[27] He was also influenced by the teachings of Swami

Vivekananda.[20]

In the 1920s, he was influenced by Mahatma Gandhi's non-cooperation movement and the

accompanying struggle for social reform. During this period, his works dealth with the social issues

such as poverty, zamindari exploitation (Premashram, 1922), dowry system (Nirmala, 1925),

educational reform and political oppression (Karmabhumi, 1931).[27] Premchand was focused on the

economic liberalization of the peasantry and the working class, and was opposed to the rapid

industrialization, which he felt would hurt the interests of the peasants and oppression of the workers.

[40] This can be seen in works like Rangabhumi (1924).

In his last days, he focused on village life as a stage for complex drama, as seen in the

novel Godan (1936) and the short-story collection Kafan (1936).[27] Premchand believed that social

realism was the way for Hindi literature, as opposed to the "feminine quality", tenderness and emotion

of the contemporary Bangla literature .[41]

[edit]List of works

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Premchand wrote over three hundred short stories and fourteen novels, many essays and letters,

plays and translations.[42] Many of Premchand's works were translated into English and Russian

after his death.

[edit]Novels

Title Publisher DateGenr

eLength (pages)

Asrar-e-Ma'abid (Urdu)Devasthan Rahasya(Hindi)

Awaz-e-Khalk (serial form)1903 (8 October)-1905 (February)

English translation of the title: "The Mystery of God's Abode"

Prema (Hindi)Hamkhurma-o-Ham Sawab (Urdu)

Indian Press/Hindustan Publishing House

1907Amrit Rai overcomes social opposition to marry the young widow Poorna, giving up his rich and beautiful fiance Prema. (Penned under the name "Babu Nawab Rai Banarsi")

Kishna Medical Hall Press, Benares 1907 Satire 142 Now lost; satirizes women's fondness for jewellery

Roothi Rani Zamana (serial form) 1907 (April–August)

Soz-e-Watan(collection) Publishers of Zamana 1907 Banned by the British Government in 1909

Vardaan (Hindi)Jalwa-e-Isar (Urdu)

Granth Bhandar 1912

Seva Sadan (Hindi)Bazaar-e-Husn (Urdu)

Calcutta Pustak Agency (Hindi)1919 (Hindi); 1924 (Urdu)

280An unhappy housewife first becomes a courtesan, and then manages an orphanage for the young daughters of the courtesans.

Premashram (Hindi)Gosha-e-Afiyat (Urdu)

1922

Rangbhoomi (Hindi)Chaugan-e-Hasti(Urdu)

Darul Ishaat (Urdu, 1935) 1924

Nirmala Idaara-e-Furoogh-Urdu 1925 156English title:magazine Chand

Kaayakalp (Hindi)Parda-i-Majaz (Urdu)

Lajpat Rai & Sons, Lahore (Urdu)1926 (Hindi), 1934 (Urdu)

440

Pratigya (Hindi)Bewa (Urdu)

1927 Deals with widow remarriage

Gaban (also transliterated asGhaban)

Saraswati Press, Benares; Lajpatrai & Sons, Urdu Bazar

1928 248

Karmabhoomi (Hindi)Maidan-e-Amal (Urdu)

Maktaba Jamia, Delhi 1932

Godaan Saraswati Press 1936 344English title:exploitation of the village poor.

Mangalsootra(incomplete) Hindustan Publishing House

Manorama

Juloos

[edit]Short stories

Several of Premchand's stories have been published in a number of collections, including the 8-

volume Mansarovar. Some of his popular stories include:

TitlePublishe

rDate Genre Description

Duniya ka Sabse Anmol Ratan (The Most Precious Stone in the World)

Zamana 1907The most precious stone is the drop of the blood necessary for the nation's independence

Bade Ghar ki Beti Zamana1910 (December)

A story of two brothers, their conflict and its resolution.

Beti ka Dhan Zamana1915 (November)

Boodhi Kaki (The Old Aunt)

Hans 1921 An old woman craves for love from her family.

Hinsa Parmo Dharma

Madhuri1926 (December)

Ghasvali Madhuri1929 (December)

Idgah Chand1933 (August)

A poor boy in India lives with his grandmother. On the festival day, while other kids go and buy themselves candies and toys, the boy buys a pair of tongs to help his grandmother make rotis.

Nashaa Chand1934 (February)

Two friends from different strata of society study away from their homes. The story explores class disparity and aspirations in their friendship. The story has an autobiographical touch.

Kafan Jamia 1936

A low-caste father and his son are poor labourers in a village. An emergency occurs when the son's wife dies while giving birth to a child and the family has no money to cremate the body of the dead woman. The lazy duo ask for money from the village zamindar and other members of the society. However, they use the money they get on liquor and food instead.

Cricket Match Zamana 1937 Published posthumously

Shatranj ke khiladi

Two aristocrats — Mirza Sajjad Ali and Mir Roshan Ali — live in the kingdom of Avadh during the times of the British Raj. Both of them are careless towards their duties and spend their days playing chess. Their love for the game is so immense that even when the ruler of Avadh, Wajid Ali Shah, is captured by the British they continue playing chess. In the end, a move in the game sparks a verbal conflict between them and they end up killing each other with their swords.

Abhushan

Agni Samadhi

Alagyojha

Amrit

Atmaram

Bade BhaisahabA story of two school-going brothers and their relationship.

Chori

Daroga Sahab

Devi

Dhaai ser gehun

Dikri Ke Rupaye

Do Bahanein

Do Bailon ki Katha

Fauzdaar

Grihaneeti

Gupt Dhan

Haridas, a man of character, owns a brick factory. He loses his character when he gets a map of a hereditary treasure of a worker, but eventually dies as a punishment of god.

Har Ki Jeet

Jurmana

Khudai

Mahatirtha

Mantra

The selfishness of a rich doctor named Chaddha results in the death of a patient. The same patient's father selflessly cures Dr. Chaddha's son, when the doctor meets the same sort of situation.

Maryada ki Vedi

Mukti Marg

Nairashya

Namak Ka DarogaAn idealist becomes a police officer, and faces while performing his duties.

Panch Parameshvar

A friendship is marred when one friend delivers a verdict against the other. The story narrates how later due to other incidents they reunite as friends.

Pariksha

Retiring minister Sardar Sujan Singh has been ordered by the king to find a new minister to replace him. The king tests several candidates for a month and then announces the rightful successor based on his values of sympathy and bravery.

Poos ki raatA poor farmer stays out with his dog to protect his field in an extremely cold December night.

Prayaschit

Prem Purnima

Ramleela

Sati

Sawa Ser Gehu

Sewa Marg

Sujan Bhagat

Swatva Raksha

Thakur ka Kuaan

The night ghost

Thriya Charita

Udhar Ki Ghadi

Vajrpaat

Vimata

[edit]Translations

Premchand translated several non-Hindi works into Hindi. These included the writings of Ratan

Nath Dhar Sarshar, Leo Tolstoy, Charles Dickens (The Story of Richard Doubledick), Oscar

Wilde(Canterville), John Galsworthy (Strife), Sadi, Guy de Maupassant, Maurice

Maeterlinck (Sightless) and Hendrik van Loon  (The Story of Mankind).[41][43]

Some of the translated titles include:

Premchand's title Original

Ahankar Thais by Anatole France [27]  (adaptation)

Azad Katha Fasana-e Azad (1880) by Ratan Nath Dhar Sarshar

Parvat Yatra Sair-e-Kohsar (1890) by Ratan Nath Dhar Sarshar

Chandi Ki Dibiya Silver Box (1906) by John Galsworthy

Hartal Strife (1909) by John Galsworthy

Nayay Justice (1910) by John Galsworthy

Sukhdas Silas Marner by George Eliot [44]  (adaptation)

Tolstoy Ki Kahaniyan

Stories of Leo Tolstoy

[edit]Other

Film script

Mazdoor (1934)

Plays

Karbala

Tazurba

Prem Ki Vedi

Roohani Shadi

Sangram

Essays

Kuchh Vichar (two parts)

Qalam Tyag aur Talwar

Biographies

Durgadas

Mahatma Sheikhsadi (biography of Saadi)

Children's books

Jangal ki Kahaniyan

Kutte ki Kahani

Manmodak

Ram Charcha

[edit]Adaptations of Premchand's works

Satyajit Ray filmed two of Premchand's works– Sadgati and Shatranj Ke

Khiladi. Sadgati (Salvation) is a short story revolving around poor Dukhi, who dies of exhaustion

while hewing wood for a paltry favor. Shatranj ke Khiladi (The Chess Players) revolved around

the decadence of nawabi Lucknow, where the obsession with a game consumes the players,

making them oblivious of their responsibilities in the midst of a crisis.

Sevasadan (first published in 1918) was made into a film with M.S. Subbulakshmi in the lead role.

The novel is set in Varanasi, the holy city of Hindus. Sevasadan ("House of Service") is an

institute built for the daughters of courtesans. The lead of the novel is a beautiful, intelligent and

talented girl called Suman. She belongs to a high caste. She is married to a much older,

tyrannical man. She realizes that a loveless marriage is just like prostitution except that there is

only one client. Bholi, a courtesan, lives opposite Suman. Suman realizes that Bholi is

"outside purdah", while she is "inside it". Suman leaves her husband and becomes a successful

entertainer of gentlemen. But after a brief period of success, she ends up as a victim of a political

drama played out by self-righteous Hindu social reformers and moralists.

Premchand also worked with the film director Himanshu Rai  of Bombay Talkies, one of the

founders of Bollywood.

The Actor Factor Theatre Company, a young Delhi based theatre group, staged Kafan in 2010 in

New Delhi. It is an original stage adaptation of Premchand's short story. Kafan is a dark comedy.

In the play, puppetry is explored to depict the tussle between two classes and the plight of

Budhia, who is caught in the crossfire. Bleakness of hope in the story and awfulness of the father-

son duo find a delicate balance. At times the situations break into morbid humor. In the end a

wine-house becomes the stage for Ghisu (father) and Madhav's (son) rebellious dance, defying

not only the laws of the land but also that of the Gods.