Story of Hori, a poor peasant who yearns to own a cow and to make the pious Hindu's traditional gift to a Brahmin when he dies. Through Premchand's vivid character portrayals we witness the efforts of Hori's family to survive the conflicts of village politics and the webs spun by colonial landownership patterns. Counterposed to the culture of rural connectedness but also constriction is the isolation but also freedom of the city. Here the rigors of industrialization and empty materialism only can be offset by the promise of Gandhian idealism.

Godaan is one of the most celebrated novels of Munshi Premchand. Set in pre-independence India, the novel captures social and economic conflict in a north Indian village. The story revolves around Horiram, a poor village farmer, and the struggle of his family to survive and maintain their self-respect. Horiram does everything in his capacity to fulfil his sole desire to own a cow, which is considered a farmer's source of wealth and happiness. One of the classics of Indian literature, the book offers an insight into the colonial history of India, captures the ethnic flavour of the Indian villages and also catches the human emotions in all their rawness.

This international Hindi classic by Munshi Premchand is the last book from the stable of this prolific and brilliant writer who continues to live in the hearts of Hindi lovers even nearly a century after his death. This book is widely acknowledged as Premchand’s best, and ranks among the top, in fact, is at the top, of novels that have enriched the world of Hindi literature. Completed in 1936, the year of his death, Godan depicts in telling detail the vicissitudes of rural life, the political upheavals of the early twentieth century, and how events and circumstances shaped the lives of people, city and rural. However, the emphasis is more on life in the villages and the problems villagers face and the misery that makes their lives a constant struggle for existence from birth to death. Much of the vagaries and vicissitudes of rural life outlined in, reflect much of what Premchand drew from his childhood and subsequent background. He was born and brought up in an insignificant village near Banaras, now Varanasi, and lived much of his life there. The characters he has depicted are mostly based on rural dwellers or those with rural backgrounds who later migrated to cities in search of livelihood. However, their hearts always remained in their villages because of the strong emotional bond that not many could forget.

Munshi Premchand-pen name of Dhanpat Rai Srivastava born in Lamhi Village, near Banaras on August 31 July, 1880, died at Banaras on October 8, 1936. Mother died when he was 7 and father died when he was 15 years old. First wife, married when he was 13, left him in 1904 and he remarried a child widow. Became a teacher in 1899 and served in Education department. U.P. till 1921, when he resigned his post to support Gandhiji's non co-operation movement worked as editor of "Maryada" and "Madhuri" and started "Jagaran" and "Hans" from self established Saraswati Press Literary life began in 1901: articles in the Zamana, first short story in 1907, left over 220 stories on his death. First novel in 1901 but that which stamped him as a writer of marked ability was "Sevasadan", or Bazaar-a-Husn (1914). followed in rapid succession by "Premasharam", "Nirmala", "Rangbhumi," "Ghaban", "Godan" 1936, He joined a film company as a scenario writer in 1934 but gave it up in disgust.When asked why he does not write anything about himself, he answered: "What greatness do I have that I have to tell anyone about? I live just like millions of people in this country; I am ordinary. During my whole lifetime, I have been grinding away with the hope that I could become free of my sufferings. But I have not been able to free myself from suffering. What is so special about this life that needs to be told to anybody?".

His real name was Dhanpat Rai but he is better known by his pen name Munshi Premchand. He has been read and studied both in India and abroad as one of the greatest writers of the century. Premchand's literary career started as a freelancer in Urdu. In his initial short stories he has depicted the patriotic upsurge that was sweeping the country in the first decade of the 19th century. In 1914, Premchand started writing in Hindi. Premchand was the first Hindi author to introduce realism in his writings. He pioneered the new art form of fiction with a social purpose. He wrote of the life around him and made his readers aware of the problems of the urban middle-class and the country's villages. Besides being a great novelist, Premchand was also a social reformer and thinker. Pratigya is the story about a young idealist who takes on himself the task of social upliftment and progress. It gives a vivid description of the society during that era and the obstructions that were faced by the few who believed in a new and better country by the removal of social evils prevalent during those times.

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