Godan is a story of a simple farmer Hori Mahato and his family members which include Dhania, Rupa and Sona (daughters), Gobar (son), Jhunia (daughter-in-law). Hori possesses a deep desire of having a cow as other millions of poor peasants. He purchases, on debt of Rs.80, a cow from Bhola, a cowherd. Hori tries to cheat his brothers for 10 rupees. This in turn leads to a fight between his wife and his younger brother, Heera’s wife. As a result of jealousy, Hori not only has to pay for the dead cow, he also has to save the honor of his younger brother, who runs away after killing the cow. He takes a loan to bribe the police not to harass Heera’s family for the death of the cow.
On the other hand, Gobar, Hori's son elopes with Bhola's widowed daughter Jhunia. Hori and his family faces wrath of the village panchayat for sheltering a low-caste, unmarried girl in the house. Dhania is a strong character who urges her husband to free himself from the shackles of the money-lenders and the hypocritical village priests. She takes responsibility for her husband’s extended family, even taking care of Heera’s children after he runs away.
Hori, in the book, is depicted as a typical poor peasant who is the victim of circumstances and possess all the deficiencies of common man but despite all this, he stands by his honesty, duties and judgement when time requires.
About the Author
Munshi Premchand, popularly known as Premchand, was an Indian writer famous for his modern Hindi-Urdu literature. He is one of the most celebrated writers from India. Born Dhanpat Rai Srivastav, he began writing under the pen name "Nawab Rai", but subsequently switched to "Premchand". His works include more than a dozen novels, around 250 short stories, several essays and translations of a number of foreign literary works into Hindi.
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