Munshi Premchand

Munshi Premchand wrote stories about ordinary people — farmers with tired hands, mothers who worried at night, children who dreamed of something more. He wrote in simple Hindi and Urdu so that anyone could read him.

His most famous novel, 'Godaan', tells the story of a poor farmer's wish to own just one cow. A hundred years after his death, kids and grown-ups still read his stories and feel that Premchand was writing about them.

Dhanpat Rai Srivastava, known by his pen name Munshi Premchand, was born in 1880 near Varanasi. He started writing in Urdu and later switched to Hindi, becoming one of the founding figures of modern Hindi–Urdu prose fiction.

He worked as a teacher and school inspector while writing on the side.

He wrote around a dozen novels, including 'Godaan', 'Nirmala', 'Gaban' and 'Rangbhoomi', and more than 300 short stories such as 'Idgah', 'Kafan' and 'Poos Ki Raat'. Unlike much of the fiction of his time, his work centred on peasants, workers, women and Dalits, and looked honestly at poverty, caste and social change.

He also edited literary magazines like 'Hans' and 'Jagaran'. Premchand died in 1936, but his stories remain in school textbooks across India and are read every year by millions.