Munshi Premchand (Hindi: मुंशी प्रेमचंद) was an Indian writer famous for his modern Hindustani literature. He is one of the most celebrated writers of the Indian subcontinent,and is regarded as one of the foremost Hindustani writers of the early twentieth century.
Born Dhanpat Rai, he began writing under the pen name "Nawab Rai", but subsequently switched to "Premchand", while he is also known as "Munshi Premchand", Munshi being an honorary prefix. A novel writer, story writer and dramatist, he has been referred to as the "Upanyas Samrat" ("Emperor among Novelists") by some Hindi writers. 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.
Premchand is considered the first Hindi author whose writings prominently featured realism. His novels describe the problems of the poor and the urban middle-class. His works depict a rationalistic outlook, which views religious values as something that allows the powerful hypocrites to exploit the weak. 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.
Several of his early works, such as A Little Trick and A Moral Victory, satirised the Indians who cooperated with the British colonial government.
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 dealt with the social issues such as poverty, zamindari exploitation (Premashram, 1922), dowry system (Nirmala, 1925), educational reform and political oppression (Karmabhumi, 1931).
In his last days, he focused on village life as a stage for complex drama, as seen in his most famous work Godan as well as the short-story collection Kafan (1936).Premchand believed that social realism was the way for Hindi literature, as opposed to the "feminine quality", tenderness and emotion of the contemporary Bengali literature.
Possibly the best in Urdu short stories I have yet to read.
انحراف كا اثر ترياق سي رد نحي هو سكتا. No anti-dote can cure once rebellion sets in. أميد كا سراب ديكه كر بري بري دانا بهي شيخ چلي بن جاتي هيى. حر آيك اصول كي عملي شان كچه أور هوتي هي.
راندْ اپني ماندْ ميى خوش حيى. A prostitute who is only content when in demand. جس نئ كبهى تلوار نه چلاى هو وه إرادى كرنى پر بهى تلوار نحيى چلا سكتا. بحاوٓ كى طرف كشتى كو ليجانا أسان حي. بحادر ملاح وهى هى جو چرْهاوٓ كى طرف كشتى كو ليجاى.
Simple and short stories that sometimes leave you wondering how relevant the situations are even decades later and some times feels like reading fables. Nice book to pick up when you dont want to read anything mind boggling. But would rathr want some thing simple instead.
Who hasn't heard of Munshi Prem Chand stories in the world of Hindi Literature, they are thought provoking, stirring and a great window to the darker pages of our past. They are dramatic and engaging through and through. However, I genuinely believe that one must not look up to them as the only source account to those times because History as a spectrum has a very wide range both in its events and their interpretation.