Godaan ( Minz ma'am )

Godaan

Godaan is a hindi novel by Munshi Premchand translated into English as ‘The Gift Of A Cow’. It was first published in 1936 and is considered as greatest hindustani novels of modern Indian literature. Heed around the socio-economic deprivation as well as the exploitation of the poor villager, the novel was the last complete novel of Premchand. It was published in 1957 by Jai Ratan and P. Lal translation in 1968 by Gordon C Roadarmel. The story revolves around many characters representing the various sections of Indian community. The peasant and the rural society is represented by the family of Hori Mahato and his family members which includes Dhania, who is the wife, Rupa and Sona who are the daughters, Gobar, son of Hori, Jhumia, daughter in the law of Hori.

The story starts from a point where Hori has a deep desire of having a cow as other millions of poor peasants. He purchased on debt of ₹80, a cow from Bhola, a cowherd Hori tried to cheat his brothers for ₹10. This in turn led to a fight between his wife and his younger brother Heera's wife. Jealous of Hori, his younger brother Heera poisoned the cow and ran away because of the fear of police action. When the police came enquiring the death of the cow. Hori took a loan and paid the bribe to the police and was able to clear of his younger brother’s name. Jhumia, the daughter of Bhola, was a widow and eloped with Gobar after got pregnant by him. Because of the fear of action from villagers Gobar also ran away to the town. Hori and Dhania were unable to throw a girl carrying their son's child from their door step and gave her protection and accepted her as their daughter in law. The village panchayat finds Hori as his wife tackles the personal attack of the pandit on them for sheltering Jhumia. Hori again is compelled to take a loan and pay the penalty. Hori is in huge debt from local money lenders and eventually married off his daughter Rupa for mere ₹200 to save his ancestral land from being auctioned. But his determination to pay those ₹200 and to have a cow to provide milk to his grandson leads to Hori's death because of excessive work. When he is about to die, his wife Dhania took out all the money she had (₹1.25) and made Hori pay the priest on behalf of Godaan (cow donation). This eventually fulfills the traditional dream of Hori but his desire to pay back ₹200 to his son-in-law and to have a cow to feed the milk to his grandson remained unfulfilled. Hori is shown as a typical poor peasant who is the victim of circumstances and possesses all the deficiencies of common man but despite all this he stands by his honesty duties and judgement when time requires.

Problems due to caste segregation.

People of different vocation and their respective caste represent the village. Datadin the Brahmin priest represents the uppermost caste, he exploits the lower class villager with his various religious sanctions Hori (peasant), Bhola (cowherd), Selia (a cobbler’s daughter) represent the various hierarchies of lower castes in the caste system that existed in India.

Exploitation of the lower caste.

Premchand has drawn a realistic picture of the poor peasants exploited by the village Zamindars and the greedy money-lenders. The Zamindars collected the revenue and imposed fine. Here Rai Saheb fine Hori for the death of the cow though he didn’t kill it. The peasants are unable to pay the debts in time and it gets multiplied with the passage of time. The author is advocating the need of the feudal system that existed in the country.

Exploitation of women

The women characters Dhania, Jhunia, Se liya and Roopa are exploited by the men they love and they are dedicated to.

Interpersonal relationship (love and marriage)

Premchand as a progressive writer envisages a modern India where love and intercaste marriage would thrive. We have the intercaste marriages of Gobar and Jhunia and Nata and Seliya and that of the educated pair, Rudrapratap and Sarg. The marital relationship of Mr. Khanna and his wife is strained as he lacks love and respect for her. Mr. Mehta and Miss Malathi have serious thought provoking discussions on the issues of love, the institutions of marriage, the relation of man and women and womenhood. They represent the voice of modern India and mutually decide to live as free friends serving society in their respective capacities.

________________________

The gift of a cow revolves around Hori Ram who lives with his family in the small village Belari. Hori is a poor farmer, a decent soul but like all other villagers, is deeply indebted. Hori believes in the order of the day which also means putting the welfare of the local Zamindar Rai Saheb Amarpal Singh ahead of that of his family. The title of the novel 'Godaan' refers to 'the gift of a cow' by a pious hindu Brhaman at the time of death. But while Hori longs for a cow to call his own, it is not that easy. The hope that will have one to give at his death, creates a sense of pathos. Getting a cow is something Hori does dream of :

" it was his life's ambition, his greatest dream, since any ideas of living of bank interest, of buying land or of building a mansion where two grandiose for his cramped mind to comprehend"

Among the consequences of his having accepted the cow, from a herdsman Bhola is that Hori's son Gobar falls head over heels in love with Bhola's daughter and begins an affair with her. When she gets pregnant, Gobar brings her to his family's home. He sends her ahead and he himself moves to town in order to make good money.

The proper thing for Hori and his wife to do is, not to allow Jhumia to their house, but they are decent folk ( which in that society means they are weak ). And they do the right thing and take the poor peasant girl in. This cast all in dishonour and the whole village is outraged.

Caste is one of the central features of the society. The villagers are largely of same caste and this makes them a sort of extended family. Caste however brings obligations with it. Bringing someone like Jhumia who has dishonored her family by her actions into the hope of Hori is a major no . Hori is only fined by this act.

The village is a place of odd contrast. On one hand everyone tries to turn things to their own advantage and on the other, there is a surprising generosity of spirit and a willingness to help those who are down on their luck.

The major problem of the village is that everyone is deep in debt and that debt keep growing. Premchand denotes considerable space to money lending practices since it was central to the lives of the villagers ( the unavailability of ready credit at reasonable terms ) is convincingly as one of the main reasons for the miserable life of the villagers.

The money problem is also faced by the rich and urban class that includes the Zamindars, lawyers, professors, industrialists and other business men. Rai Saheb laments "Our parasitic existence has crippled us... sometimes...sometimes I think the government would do us a big favour by confiscating lands and making us work for a living. " We have fallen prey to the system, a system that's completely destroying us. Godan can also viewed as political novel. Though Premchand generally concentrates on recounting the village people, the contrast between village and city life is well handled. Gobar is the main character who bridges the two worlds, first he does well in town but then returns to the right thing in his village. Premchand offers a good picture Indian society of this time. He focusses more on the simplistic way of life to quote

" if there weren't injustice in the world, why should people call it hell ".

The novel offers a rich picture of humanity and is a good presentation on social criticism.