(Hindi) Kafan By Premchand (Paperback)

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Maple Press
Language ‏ : ‎ Hindi
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 144 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 938830408X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-9388304085

Munshi Premchand (Hindi: मुंशी प्रेमचंद) was an Indian writer famous for his modern Hindustani literature. He is one of the most celebrated writers of the Indian subcontinent,and is regarded as one of the foremost Hindustani writers of the early twentieth century. Born Dhanpat Rai, he began writing under the pen name "Nawab Rai", but subsequently switched to "Premchand", while he is also known as "Munshi Premchand", Munshi being an honorary prefix. A novel writer, story writer and dramatist, he has been referred to as the "Upanyas Samrat" ("Emperor among Novelists") by some Hindi writers. His works include more than a dozen novels, around 250 short stories, several essays and translations of a number of foreign literary works into Hindi. Premchand 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. Several of his early works, such as A Little Trick and A Moral Victory, satirised the Indians who cooperated with the British colonial government. 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). In his last days, he focused on village life as a stage for complex drama, as seen in his most famous work Godan as well as the short-story collection Kafan (1936).Premchand believed that social realism was the way for Hindi literature, as opposed to the "feminine quality", tenderness and emotion of the contemporary Bengali literature. Munshi Premchand’s real name was Dhanpat Rai. He was born on 31 July 1880 in Lamhi village in Banaras. He was born into a middle class family which made him keenly observe the poverty and disadvantages of the middle class society. He dedicated his whole life to Hindi literature. He was honoured with the titles of a short-story writer, a novelist and a social reformer. He died on 8 October, 1936.In this collection of short stories, Premchand has thrown light on the different aspects of society such as social systems, faith and religion.