Sadgati

by Munshi Premchand

दुखी चमार द्वार पर झाड़ू लगा रहा था और उसकी पत्नी झुरिया घर को गोबर से लीप रही थी। दोनों अपने-अपने काम से फुरसत पा चुके तो चमारिन ने कहा, ‘‘तो जाके पंडित बाबा से कह आओ न! ऐसा न हो, कहीं चले जाएँ।’’ दुखी—‘‘हाँ जाता हूँ; लेकिन यह तो सोच, बैठेंगे किस चीज पर?’’ झुरिया—‘‘कहीं से खटिया न मिल जाएगी? ठकुराने से माँग लाना।’’ दुखी—‘‘तू तो कभी-कभी ऐसी बात कह देती है कि देह जल जाती है। ठकुरानेवाले मुझे खटिया देंगे! आग तक तो घर से निकलती नहीं, खटिया देंगे! कैथाने में जाकर एक लोटा पानी माँगूँ तो न मिले। भला, खटिया कौन देगा! हमारे उपले, सेंठे, भूसा, लकड़ी थोड़े ही हैं कि जो चाहें उठा ले जाएँ। ला, अपनी खटोली धोकर रख दें। गर्मी के दिन तो हैं। उनके आते-आते सूख जाएगी।’’ झुरिया—‘‘वे हमारी खटोली पर बैठेंगे नहीं। देखते नहीं, कितने नेम-धरम से रहते हैं!’’

Genres: Classics

Paperback

Published January 1, 2011

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

[Pranjal Awasthi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Premchand's themes remind you of the Russian greats like Gogol, his writing reminds you of Hemingway's working man succinct prose. Sadgati is one of the harshest critique of class hierarchy in India. Premchand does what any great socially conscious writer does - show the society a mirror of its ugliest truths. He remains probably the most prolific and criminally underrated hindi writer. His works are a must read

[Rashid Hassan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Story of rural India before independence and its main problem. (Castism)

[Sunny Bhardwaj · Rating 5 out of 5]

damn

[Saurabh Singhal · Rating 5 out of 5]

A bleak sketch of the cruel caste hierarchies in rural India

[Jyotsna Jaya · Rating 4 out of 5]

A true tale by Premchand of caste-based Indian society. It is a satire with a mixture of sarcasm which makes you think hard that did God really made us unequal because we were born in different caste, creed, place etc. It raises few questions which hit hard. A short but impactful story.

[Nonano · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story is not just about the past — it still exists in our society. Even today, fear of police cases, legal trouble, or social backlash sometimes prevents people from giving the dead their last dignity. That is the real tragedy.

[Souvam Biswas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Strong and thought provoking

[Riddhima Rajput · Rating 5 out of 5]

SADGATI is phenomenal story about caste discrimination , inequality and poverty where the name of main character is Dukhi Chamar. Premchand ji realistically portrayed social issues. The remarkable part of this story is when lower caste people denied to take Dukhi's dead body and stand up against upper caste people.
Title of story also indicate deep meaning ,SADGATI means Salvation ; it symbolizes that DUKHI is in better place after death.