GODAN(INDIAN CLASSICAL LITERATURE) NOTES AND SUMMARY.

GODAN (Indian Classical literature) 
By Premchand

1 INTRODUCTION TO GODAN
2 ABOUT THE AUTHOR OF GODAN
3 SUMMARY AND NOTES OF GODAN

INTRODUCTION TO GODAN:

Godan is considered a masterpiece of Premchand .This novel is written in Hindi. The story of this novel is very heart touching . The novelist has mainly focussed the lifestyle of the rural area though he has also presented a glimpse of urban lifestyle. Th hero of this novel is poor farmer living in dilapidated state. Premchand has highlighted the pitiable condition of farmers very sincerely. The novel, Godan was written in Urdu and published in 1936. It’s English translation was first published in 1968 by Gordon C. Roadarmel.

  

                                                           

ABOUT THE AUTHOR OF GODAN:

Munshi Premchand was an Indian writer . He is considered amongst the greatest Hindustani writer of the early 20^th century . He was born on 31 july,1880 in Lamhi, a village near Varanasi . His parents were Ajaib Rai a post office clerk and Anandi Devi , a housewife. He was fourth(4^th) child of his parents.

Premchand was a novelist, short story writer and dramatist who penned over a dozen novels hundreds of short stories and numerous essays. He translated a number of literary works of other language into Hindi. Premchand has also written many short stories. There is a collection of these short stories called ‘Mansarovar’. This book contains more than 300 stories. By profession he was a teacher. His life was full of hardships . In most of his works he presented naked realities of life. He had married a widow and her name was Shivrani Devi. He died on 8 oct,1930.

MAIN CHARACTERS OF THE NOVEL ‘GODAN’:

    1.  HORI: Hori is the main character of the novel . He is a poor farmer

    2.  DHANIA: She is the wife of Hori

    3.  GOBAR: He is the only son of Hori and Dhania

    4.  RUPA&SONA: They are two daughters of Hori and Dhania

    5.  BHOLA: He is a cow herder

    6.  JHUNIA: She the widow daughter of Bhola

    7.  HEERA: He was Hori’s brother

    8.  DATTADIN: He is the village Brahmin priest and moneylender  

    9.   MATTADIN: He was the son of Dattadin. He had an affair with a girl name Seliya

   10.  SELIYA: She was a low caste girl and works on the farm of Dattadin

   11.  Rai Shaib: He was the zamindar and had won the election once

   12.  MALTI DEVI: She was a doctor who is educated in Europe 

   13.  SAROJ: She was the young sister of Dr.Malti

   14.  Mr.MEHTA: He was a scholar and lecturer in college

   15.  MR.KHANNA: He was an industrialist and had sugar factory

   16.  GOVINDI: She was the wife of Mr. Khanna 

STORY(SUMMARY) OF THE NOVEL ‘GODAN’:

Literature is the true mirror of society. A writer is considered a keen observer of the incidents taking place in society. Munshi Premchand was a sincere observer of the incidents of contemporary. Godan is regarded as an immortal novel. Premchand has highlighted various aspects of life of a poor farmer living in rural area during British rule. This was the time when the condition of peasant was very pathetic.

Munshi Premchand was also focussing on the issues like exploitation, Untouchability, poverty, hunger, illiteracy etc. He has beautifully highlighted the helplessness of a poor farmer. Undoubtedly Premchand is known as the greatest novelist in Hindi. He has composed more than 300 short stories. Godan is the last complete novel written by Premchand and was published in the year 1936.

The novel ‘GODAN’ presents before us the social, economical, and political situation of India during British rule. The story of the novel presents the pathetic condition of poor Indian peasant being exploited  by the Britishers and local zamindar. The poor farmers were helpless ,there was no one who could came forward and help them. They were compelled to bear the tyranny of the British rule. Thus Godan is the story of naked poverty, incessant, hunger and ruthless exploitation of the poor in Indian society.

The  main character of the novel is Hori, a poor farmer. He has Dhania as his wife , Gobar as his son and Rupa & Sona are his two daughter. The novel began with a scene where Hori is in hurry to go to zamindar , Rai Shaib place. He was called by the zamindar to convey a message to other farmers of village. Hori is informed by zamindar that all the villagers have to contribute rupees 500 to him so that a program in the near future can be organised. When the zamindar conveyed this message to him he was in great furry. Hori was extremely in a fearful state. He was not able to understand as to how the money on his part will be managed to be contributed to the zamindar. Hori informed his family members about the order of zamindar. At this Gobar and Dhania revolted openly. But Hori kept his calm and made them understand by saying “One cannot fight with the crocodile while living in water”.

There is another important character in this novel i.e. Bhola. He was a widower and was willingness to marry again. Actually Bhola was kind hearted and noble person. He was a member of lower caste. He was 50 year old . He dealt in milk and cow. His two son are already married. He had a young widow daughter, Jhunia at his house. On the other hand Hori had a great desire to have a cow at his house. At this point of time Hori developed a plan in his mind as he had no money he decided to trick Bhola by virtue of clever policy to get a cow without paying instant money.

Hori and Gobar go to Bhola’s house to bring the cow. Gobar meets Jhunia at Bhola’s house. When cow was brought to Hori’s house it became a matter of envy for the neighbours. A fight took place between Dhania and Heera, Hori’s brother. Due to enmity the cow was poisoned. Thus Hori’s desire of having cow remains unfulfilled.

Gobar is having a love affair with Jhunia. Dhania came to know about this affair. The couple, Hori and Dhania discuss about it and they do not approve this. Gobar does not follow the instruction of his parents and bring Jhunia at his house. Gobar went to Lucknow with a resolve that he would return after making some money. Thus for humanity they accepted Jhunia as their daughter-in-law. This act of humanity brought a great trouble for Hori. The community of village imposed a fine rupees 100 on Hori.

Hori was facing all short of problems. He had no money on the other hand Gobar had fled to the town. He was residing in Lucknow while his wife was living with Hori and Dhania. Bhola was also pressing Hori to give the price of cow. One day Bhola came to Hori’s house to take away Hori’s two bullocks in exchange of the cow. At this point of time Hori was surrounded by all short of problems. Actually Bhola was victim of Dattadin’s conspiracy and was playing in the hands of Dattadin.

After some days Hori meet his sad demise. After his death Dhania, Hori’s wife was asked by the priest to do “GODAN”, charity of cow for the peace of his soul. But because of money issues she could not afford a cow so instead of cow she gave 1repees25paise to the priest as everything for the ceremony of her husband death.