Godaan By Munshi Premchand Novel Summary , Introduction , About Author Life & Proper Explanation

Godaan By Munshi Premchand

Godaan By Munshi Premchand - In this post you will get all the information about ‘Godaan’. The proper and easy explanation of the novel is written below, i hope will read the summary and know everything about 'Godaan’.

godaan movie godaan read online godan pdf godaan book pdf

Introduction

Godaan By Munshi Premchand - Godaan (Hindi: गोदान, gōdān, lit. 'Cow donation') is a famous Hindi novel by Munshi Premchand. It was first published in 1936 and is considered one of the greatest Hindi novels of modern Indian literature. Themed around the socio-economic deprivation as well as the exploitation of the village poor, the novel was the last complete novel of Premchand. It has been translated into English in 1957 by Jai Ratan and Purushottama Lal as The Gift of a Cow. A 1968 translation by Gordon C. Roadarmel is now considered "a classic in itself".

Godaan By Munshi Premchand - Godaan was made into a Hindi film in 1963, starring Raaj Kumar, Kamini Kaushal, Mehmood and Shashikala. In 2004, Godaan was part of the 27-episode TV series, Tehreer.... Munshi Premchand Ki, based on the writing of Premchand, starring Pankaj Kapur and Surekha Sikri, directed by Gulzar and produced by Doordarshan.

Characters

· Hori

· Dhania

· Gobar

· Datadin

· Matadin

· Bhola

· Heera

· Punia

· Shobha

· Chuhia

· Rai Sahib

· Ms. Malati

· Mr. Mehta

· Mr. Khanna

· Govindi

· Mirza Saheb

About the Author

Godaan By Munshi Premchand - Dhanpat Rai Srivastava (31 July 1880 – 8 October 1936), better known by his pen name Premchand (pronounced [preːm t͡ʃənd̪]), was an Indian writer famous for his modern Hindustani literature. Premchand was a pioneer of Hindi and Urdu social fiction. He was one of the first authors to write about caste hierarchies and the plights of women and labourers prevalent in the society of late 1880s. He is one of the most celebrated writers of the Indian subcontinent, and is regarded as one of the foremost Hindi writers of the early twentieth century. His works include Godaan, Karmabhoomi, Gaban, Mansarovar, Idgah. He published his first collection of five short stories in 1907 in a book called Soz-e-Watan.

Godaan By Munshi Premchand - He began writing under the pen name "Nawab Rai", but subsequently switched to "Premchand". A novel writer, story writer and dramatist, he has been referred to as the "Upanyas Samrat" (Emperor Among Novelists) by Hindi writers. His works include more than a dozen novels, around 300 short stories, several essays and translations of a number of foreign literary works into Hindi.

Godaan By Munshi Premchand - Premchand was born on 31 July, 1880 in Lamhi, a village located near Varanasi (Benares) and was named Dhanpat Rai ("master of wealth"). His ancestors came from a large Kayastha family, which owned eight to nine bighas of land. His grandfather, Guru Sahai Rai was a patwari (village land record-keeper), and his father Ajaib Lal was a post office clerk. His mother was Anandi Devi of Karauni village, who probably was also his inspiration for the character Anandi in his "Bade Ghar Ki Beti". Dhanpat Rai 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. His uncle, Mahabir, a rich landowner, nicknamed him "Nawab", meaning baron. "Nawab Rai" was the first pen name chosen by Dhanpat Rai.

Godaan By Munshi Premchand - When he was 7 years old, Dhanpat Rai began his education at a madrasa in Lalpur, Varansi, located near Lamhi. He learnt Urdu and Persian from a maulvi in the madrasa. When he was 8, his mother died after a long illness. His grandmother, who took the responsibility of raising him, died soon after. Premchand felt isolated, as his elder sister Suggi had already been married, and his father was always busy with work. His father, who was now posted at Gorakhpur, remarried but Premchand received little affection from his stepmother. The stepmother later became a recurring theme in Premchand's works.

Godaan By Munshi Premchand - As a child, Dhanpat Rai sought solace in fiction, and developed a fascination for books. He heard the stories of 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. He learnt English at a missionary school, and studied several works of fiction including George W. M. Reynolds's eight-volume The Mysteries of the Court of London. 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.

Summary

Godaan By Munshi Premchand - The story revolves around many characters representing the various sections of Indian community. The peasant and rural society is represented by the family of Hori Mahato and his family includes his wife Dhania, daughters Rupa and Sona, son Gobar, daughter-in-law Jhunia. The story begins with Hori wanting to have a cow as other millions of poor peasants. He purchased, on debt of Rs. 80, a cow from Bhola, a cowherd. Hori tried to cheat his brothers for 10 rupees. This in turn led to a fight between his wife and his younger brother, Heera's wife. Jealous of Hori, his younger brother Heera poisoned the cow and ran away because of the fear of police action. When the police came inquiring the death of the cow, Hori took a loan and paid the bribe to the police and was able to clear off his younger brother's name. Jhunia, the daughter of Bhola, was a widow and eloped with Gobar after she got pregnant by him. Because of the fear of the action from villagers Gobar also ran away to the town. Hori and Dhania were unable to throw a girl carrying their son's child and gave her protection and accepted her as their daughter-in-law. The village panchayat fines Hori as his wife tackles the personal attack of the Pandit on them for sheltering Jhunia. Hori again is compelled to take a loan and pay the penalty.

Godaan By Munshi Premchand - Hori is in huge debt from local money lenders and eventually married off his daughter Rupa for mere 200 rupees to save his ancestral land from being auctioned because of his inability to pay land tax. But his determination to pay those 200 rupees and to have a cow to provide milk to his grand son, leads to Hori's death because of excessive work. When he is about to die, his wife Dhania took out all the money she had (1.25 rupees) and made Hori pay the priest on behalf of godaan (cow donation). This eventually fulfils the traditional dream of Hori but still his desire to pay back the 200 rupees to his son-in-law and to have a cow to feed the milk to his grandson remain unfulfilled.

Hori is shown as a typical poor peasant who is the victim of circumstances and possess all the deficiencies of common man but despite all this, he stands by his honesty, duties and judgement when time requires. He is shown dead partially satisfied and partially unsatisfied towards the end of the story. In a way, Hori stays true to his beliefs hence making the ending bittersweet.