‘Kahaani Path’
A reading of Munshi Premchand’s short story ‘Kafan’ (The Shroud)
On 24th September 2021 the English Literary Association and LSR’s Hindi creative writing society Abhivyakti presented ‘Kahaani Path’, a reading of Munshi Premchand’s short story ‘Kafan’ (The Shroud).
Premchand was among the first Hindi authors to prominently feature realistic depictions of Indian society in their work. His novels describe the problems of the poor and the urban middle-class, specifically the plight of farmers and the perpetuation of debt cycles. His perspective depicts religious values as something that allows the powerful 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 Indian independence movement.
Kafan is one of Premchand’s most highly acclaimed works. It delves deeper into the existing inequalities and discriminations in Indian society. The story explores the way constant abuse and oppression break the spirit of men and reduce them to animal-like states of being where they are numbed to the lives of others and think only of their own survival. The father-son duo of Ghisu and Madhav belong to the lowest jati of their village and symbolise the lumpenproletariat - the unorganized and unpolitical lower orders of society that is devoid of any class consciousness. There is no blame laid on either of the men, they think, act and respond the way they do because Hindu society treated them as subhuman for so long that by the time they reach the phase of their lives that is captured in the story, the rhetoric of the oppressor is part of their identity.
Premchand was among the first Hindi authors to prominently feature realistic depictions of Indian society in their work. His novels describe the problems of the poor and the urban middle-class, specifically the plight of farmers and the perpetuation of debt cycles. His perspective depicts religious values as something that allows the powerful 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 Indian independence movement.
Kafan is one of Premchand’s most highly acclaimed works. It delves deeper into the existing inequalities and discriminations in Indian society. The story explores the way constant abuse and oppression break the spirit of men and reduce them to animal-like states of being where they are numbed to the lives of others and think only of their own survival. The father-son duo of Ghisu and Madhav belong to the lowest jati of their village and symbolise the lumpenproletariat - the unorganized and unpolitical lower orders of society that is devoid of any class consciousness. There is no blame laid on either of the men, they think, act and respond the way they do because Hindu society treated them as subhuman for so long that by the time they reach the phase of their lives that is captured in the story, the rhetoric of the oppressor is part of their identity.
Written by Mrittika Maitra