Novel
The Gift of a Cow
गोदान
Munshi Premchand · 1936
Synopsis
Hori, a small peasant in a village in northern India, lives poorly off his land with his wife Dhaniya and their children, crushed by the dues owed to the landlord and the debts contracted with moneylenders. His dream is modest: to own a cow, a sign of prosperity and piety. He finally acquires one, and this happiness drags the family into a series of misfortunes, while in the neighbouring town the landlord, a professor, a woman doctor and businessmen move in and out of the story.
Context
It is the last novel the author completed, published in 1936, the year of his death. It alternates a rural plot and an urban plot and shows the dispossession of the peasants by the landowner and the moneylenders, trapped in a debt that never stops growing. Translated into English as early as 1957, then by Gordon Roadarmel in 1968, it has appeared in German and in French. It is regarded as one of the greatest novels of modern Indian literature.
Who it is for
A long realist novel with two parallel plots; knowledge of the colonial land tenure system helps in following the mechanics of debt.
Prizes and reception
Received from its publication as a masterpiece; adapted for the screen in 1963 and translated into many languages.
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