Stories on the Village

by Munshi Premchand, M. Asaduddin (Editor)

MUNSHI PREMCHAND is one of the most important writers of the Hindi–Urdu canon. His prolific writing contributed largely to shape the genre of the short story as we know it in India. His range and diversity were limitless as he tackled themes of romance and satire, gender politics and social inequality, with unmatched skill and compassion.

Premchand’s love for the countryside is evident in his fictional and non-fictional writings. Nonetheless, he understood that the seeming idyllic village life was ridden with its own issues. This carefully curated collection brings together some of his best short stories on Indian village life, which he used as an opportunity to critique social issues such as moral bankruptcy, caste injustices, money woes, and blind faith.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

152 pages, Hardcover

Published August 10, 2018

About the author

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.

Reviews

[Reading_ Tamishly · Rating 5 out of 5]

"At the final moment, when the worthlessness of life stands out as a harsh truth, the regret for whatever one had left undone and the remorse for whatever one had done makes the heart generous and guileless."

"Everybody hates the bad, that's why there's love among people who are bad. On the other hand, everybody loves the good, and that's why there's rivalry among the good."

This collection of stories explores the life of the village life in India. They represent well the struggles and the social norms the villagers have to go through on normal days and on days with more pressure because of social pressure and rituals they have to follow because of the community they belong to.

The writing accurately showcase human nature and what matters the most at the end of the day.

The stories are special and memorable.
Go for it without thinking twice.

One of the best translated fiction.

*Contents:
1. A Night in the Month of Poos
5 🌟
*Poverty, canine love

2. The Shroud
5 🌟
*Irresponsibility at its worst, satire

3. Idgah
5 🌟
*The joy and the curse of celebrations, social pressure, politics
*The best ending

4. The Funeral Feast
5 🌟
*Social pressure, burden of social status

5. Holy Judges
5 🌟
*One of my favourite short stories of all times
*Have read a better translation during my school days
*Friendship, dispute and justice

6. Atmaram
5 🌟
*Twist of fate
*Witty

7. Road to Salvation
5 🌟
*When two grown men are entangled in a hopeless, useless fued

8. Babaji's Feast
5 🌟
*Satire on humanity and hunger

9. The Basis of Life
2 🌟
*Pride goes before a fall
*Uncomfortable regarding the marriage of a five year old

10. Ramleela
5 🌟
*Is it devotion, pride or for honour?

[Megha · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*

[Dilip Chauhan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely love stories by Premchand, my favourites from the book are The shroud, The funeral feast and Ramleela.

[| Shakshi | · Rating 5 out of 5]

Firstly, I would like to thank all the translators to translate some of the finest work of Premchand in the exact way. And, Penguin Random House, India to compile and publish these in a beautiful format.💌

MUNSHI PREMCHAND is one of the most important writers of the Hindi–Urdu canon. His prolific writing contributed largely to shape the genre of the short story as we know it in India. His range and diversity were limitless as he tackled themes of romance and satire, gender politics and social inequality, with unmatched skill and compassion.

This book comprises his works that revolves around the village lifestyle in India and all the things , good or bad happens in a village. A really soothing description of human nature mixed with cultural influences and mindset that lets you compare that even though time has passed but people's mentality, is still the same.

Some eye-opening and heart touching quotes included in the book are:

Now I realize that the one who occupies the seat of judgment has no enemy or friend. To one who dispenses justice, nothing matters. Today I 've discovered that God, in fact, speaks through the Panchayat. .

Everybody hates the bad, that's why there's love among people who are bad. On the other hand, everybody loves the good, and that's why there's rivalry among the good.

Speaking of the stories included in the book..:

1.) A Night in the Month of Poos
5🌟
- story about man's struggle to debts and season change that let him give up.

2.) The Shroud
5🌟
- a satirical tale of laziness, irresponsibility and cultural sarcasm.

3.) Idgah
5🌟
- tale about love , boundness, sacrifice and separation along with festivities.
(I read this tale in hindi for like 5+ times and still love it)

4.) The Funeral Feast
5🌟
- story about social status and cultural burden that lets a family to see worst days , indifference of people in name of community towards needy and selfish desires.

5.) Holy Judges
5🌟
-Description of Panchayati Raj system of village and importance of pure and unbiased judgment .

6.) Atmaram
5🌟
- story about love and longings towards materialistic things in the world.

7.) Road to Salvation
5🌟
- a tale about the human nature- jealousy, hatred , feeling of superiority and realization of truth.

8.) Babaji's Feast
5🌟
- a peculiar tale of clever feasting on the kindness and purity of good people.

9.) Ramleela
5🌟
- a tale on cultural events, satirical tale of human hypocrisy and a child's love towards his favorite characters.

All the stories are really beautiful and mesmerizing. A do read for all the age group.

**One or two translations includes direct translation of hindi quotes ( Kahaawatein, as we say in hindi) by Premchand , directly into english that seems to reduce the importance of the words. But it can be overseen .**

[Mayank Bawari · Rating 5 out of 5]

Skip the Introduction by the translator, rest of the stories are good

[Japneet (millennial_reader) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Premchand is a writer I have grown up reading. A fond memory that I have of him is reading his stories in Hindi in my school years. I remember every year there was at least one story by him in my syllabus and those stories were fun. I have been fascinated by him ever since and honestly when I saw this book at the IGI Airport's book shop while I was heading for my trip to Sikkim (Ah, nostalgia!), I couldn't stop myself from buying it. Premchand often wrote about social issues and injustices.

"What an unjust custom! She, who didn't have even tattered rags to cover her body while she was  alive, must now have a new shroud."

'Stories On The Village' is a collection of 10 interesting and enlightening short stories that revolve around many issues in Indian villages including the caste system, untouchability, Brahminical patriarchy, and upper-caste privilege. Although these stories were written in the early 20th century most of them still ring true and are quite relevant. The translation is great. It is free of any grammatical errors and the feel of the stories was retained.

The best part was how these stories end, the climax is so interesting! Halku's respite of not having to spend cold winter nights out in the open in 'A Night In The Month Of Poos', calling out society's double facedness and moral corruption in 'The Shroud', Hamid's thoughtfulness and gestures and depicting the purity of a child's heart in 'Idgah', calling out society for its notions of false pride and portraying how the rich only care for money and the poor have heart and courage in 'The Funeral Feast', portraying how justice is above everything including friendship and nothing comes in its way in 'Holy Judges', calling out superstitions and raising the problems with the idea of 'Dharma' and in Hinduism and questioning blind faith in 'Babaji's Feast' and the other stories which Premchand uses as a measure to critique and comment on social issues in the village. I fully recommend this one.

[Shivangi Jain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple short stories about the lives of people in Indian villages. While one would like to believe that villagers' lives are simpler and devoid of stress and trouble, Premchand brings to light the plethora of problems that plague their lives- from the ubiquitous human jealousy to the lesser talked about social evil casteism.

[Niraj Khandwala · Rating 5 out of 5]

brilliant work ... Premchand's writing is sure to evoke emotions in you. Introduces you to the village life and how difficult it used to be

[Gazala · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a compilation of short stories by the legend, that have been translated from Urdu and Hindi by different people.
The first story hit me square in the face and I was transported back to a stuffed classroom in a basement where the Hindi prefessor read this story out for us. She was quite the narrator and the story itself was so bittersweet that I still remember it after over a decade. No, there is going to be no "review" but an experience that I'd want to share with you. The stories are set in villages and talk about poverty, the society and the actions of people. It is amazing how Premchand had the prowess to write as he did. There is no pretence, no judgement or any inkling that he wants to influence your opinion..They are simply stories, written simply in the most raw style. It was a light and breezy read for me and he is someone that I'd totally recommend you to read
.