Biography of Munshi Prem Chand
Prem Chand was born on 31 July 1880 in Lamahi, a village located near Varanasi (Banaras). His father Ajaib Lai was a post office clerk. His mother was Anandi Devi of Karauni village, who could have been the inspiration for the character Anandi in his Bade Ghar Ki Beti. Premchand was the fourth child of Ajaib Lai and Anandi. His parents named him Dhanpat Rai (“the master of wealth”), while his uncle, Mahabir, a rich landowner, nicknamed him “Nawab” (“Prince”). “Nawab Rai” was the first pen name chosen by Prem Chand.
When he was 7 years old, Prem Chand began his education at a madarsa in Lalpur, located around 2’A km from Lamahi. Prem Chand learnt Urdu and Persian from a maulviin the madarsa. When he was 8, his mother died after a long illness.
His grandmother, who took the responsibility of raising him, died soon after. After his mother’s death, Prem Chand sought solace in fiction, and developed a fascination for books. 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.
Prem Chand’s first published story was Duniya Ka Sabse Anmol Ratan (“The Most Precious Jewel in the World”), which appeared in Zamana in 1907. Ac- cording to this story, the most precious ‘jewel’ was the last drop of blood necessary to attain independence.
Many of Prem Chand’s early short stories had patriotic overtones, influenced by the Indian independence movement.
Prem Chand 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.
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). He died on 8th Oct. 1936.
