Munshi Premchand: Life, Works and Where to Start

Premchand was born Dhanpat Rai Srivastava on 31 July 1880 in Lamhi, a village near Varanasi. His father was a post-office clerk; his mother died when he was a child. He studied Urdu and Persian with a maulvi before going to school, and the Urdu dastan tradition, especially Tilism-e-Hoshruba, was among his first loves as a reader.

He worked for years as a schoolteacher and school inspector. His first writings were in Urdu under the name Nawab Rai. His first collection of patriotic stories, Soz-e-Watan (1907), was seized by the British authorities and copies were burned; after that he wrote as Premchand. In 1921, answering Gandhi's call for non-cooperation, he left government service to write, edit and publish.

In April 1936 he presided over the first conference of the Progressive Writers' Association in Lucknow, where he said that literature must stir its readers to change the world. He died in Varanasi on 8 October 1936.

Bazar-e-Husn / Sevasadan (1919): a young wife driven into a courtesan's life, and the society that judges her.

Nirmala (1927): a girl married to a much older widower, and the tragedy of the household.

Gaban (1931): a clerk's embezzlement and its consequences. See our guide to Gaban or read it here.

Karmabhoomi (1932) and Rangbhoomi / Chaugan-e-Hasti (1925): large novels of the national movement.

Godaan (1936): his masterpiece, the life of the farmer Hori. See our guide to Godaan or read it here.

Premchand wrote some three hundred stories. Among the best known are Kafan (The Shroud), Idgah, Shatranj ke Khiladi (The Chess Players, filmed by Satyajit Ray), Poos ki Raat (A Winter Night), Namak ka Daroga (The Salt Inspector) and Bade Bhai Sahab (Elder Brother).

Both. Premchand began in Urdu, moved increasingly to Hindi for publication from the 1910s, and kept writing and revising in both. His language is the everyday Hindustani that underlies both standards, which is why his books read naturally in Urdu script and in Devanagari. See our guide to the difference between Urdu and Hindi.

If you want one book, read Godaan. If you prefer a tighter, faster story, start with Gaban. Both can be read here in Urdu with a facing English translation, with audio for every chapter, so they also make excellent reading for learners of Urdu.