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Describes the Life of a poor farmer Hori and his struggle to keep alive in the milieu of British Raj.
Hori is a poor farmer, who has 3 acres of farmland, which he and his 2 daughters, a son and wife till. However, he is perenially in debt and is therefore never really the master of his own destiny. He is, however, largely at peace with his life and the only thing he wants is to own a cow. One day, he sees a milkman coming toward him with exactly the kind of cow he wants, but he has to hold his horses as he cannot afford it. However, the urge to own it only intensifies. As it happens, he is able to get the same cow. However....
The book is a wonderfully written account of the trials and travails of farmers during the time of British raj and Zamindars. It also describes diverse characters that lived in the then Lucknow city. The story really starts off as at least two distinct life-threads, but through introduction of various characters, meshes into a single, interconnected story which still manages to portray the life of various characters quite well.
The biggest draw for me was the character development. Each character is introduced, and developed beautifully. Godan is a story of various people from different backgrounds and of different personalities. The beauty of the story is in the interaction of these characters, and their subsequent development and the unmasking of the various layers of their nature.
Premchand uses this vehicle to parody and satirize the then prevalent social evils, poke fun at various vagaries of human nature, and describe as well as comment / share his views on social, economic and political aspects of life in that era in a way that is extremely relate-able.
The story makes you laugh, cry, think, and certainly paints a picture of life that not many books can do. It does all that with a simplicity that is delightful. If like me, you want to read serious Hindi literature, you won't go wrong with this book.
Highly recommended.
Hori is a poor farmer, who has 3 acres of farmland, which he and his 2 daughters, a son and wife till. However, he is perenially in debt and is therefore never really the master of his own destiny. He is, however, largely at peace with his life and the only thing he wants is to own a cow. One day, he sees a milkman coming toward him with exactly the kind of cow he wants, but he has to hold his horses as he cannot afford it. However, the urge to own it only intensifies. As it happens, he is able to get the same cow. However....
The book is a wonderfully written account of the trials and travails of farmers during the time of British raj and Zamindars. It also describes diverse characters that lived in the then Lucknow city. The story really starts off as at least two distinct life-threads, but through introduction of various characters, meshes into a single, interconnected story which still manages to portray the life of various characters quite well.
The biggest draw for me was the character development. Each character is introduced, and developed beautifully. Godan is a story of various people from different backgrounds and of different personalities. The beauty of the story is in the interaction of these characters, and their subsequent development and the unmasking of the various layers of their nature.
Premchand uses this vehicle to parody and satirize the then prevalent social evils, poke fun at various vagaries of human nature, and describe as well as comment / share his views on social, economic and political aspects of life in that era in a way that is extremely relate-able.
The story makes you laugh, cry, think, and certainly paints a picture of life that not many books can do. It does all that with a simplicity that is delightful. If like me, you want to read serious Hindi literature, you won't go wrong with this book.
Highly recommended.