The Indian novelist and short-story writer Premchand (1880-1936) was the first major novelist in Hindi and Urdu. His writings describe in realistic detail the political and social struggles in India of the early 20th century.

Premchand, whose real name was Dhanpatrai Srivastava, was born in the small village of Lamhi a few miles from Benares. His immediate forebears were village accountants in Lamhi. His intimate acquaintance with village life began here and continued when, as a schoolteacher and subdeputy inspector of schools, he traveled extensively for 21 years through Uttar Pradesh State.

Premchand's early writing was all done in Urdu, but from 1915 he found that writing Hindi was more profitable. Hindi, using the Sanskrit-based script and borrowing heavily from Sanskrit vocabulary, was strongly promoted by the Hindu reform group called the Arya Samaj, and within a few years Hindi publications numerically outstripped those written in Urdu.

Premchand's early work...