Mansarovar – 3

Munshi Premchand was the pen name of Hindi and Urdu writer Dhanpat Rai Shrivastava (1880-1936), born to Ajaiblal and Anandi Devi in Lamhi, a village near Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. Premchand’s written work includes 14 novels, 250 to 300 short stories, several translations of English classics, and innumerable essays and editorial pieces. He also published and edited two literary journals: Hans (The Swan) and Jagran (Awakening). Many of Premchand’s short stories were collected posthumously in an eight-volume series titled Mansarovar. In volume III (which has 32 stories), Premchand critiques the caste system and highlights the hypocrisy of Brahmins through stories like Manushya ka param dharma, Guru-mantra and Babaji ka bhog. Others like Pariksha, Shatranj ke khiladi, Vichitra Holi and Satyagraha are set in the times of Nadir Shah (in the 18th century), Wajid Ali Shah (in the 19th century), the British, and the independence movement (in the early 20th century), respectively. Shatranj ke khiladi depicts the debauchery of Lucknow’s aristocracy during the reign of Wajid Ali Shah, the last independent nawab of Awadh. Premchand says that they indulge in dance, music, poetry, opium, clothes and chess, forgetting all else. His protagonists – the aristocrats Mirza Sajjad Ali and Mir Raushan Ali – are so immersed in a game of chess that they neglect their familial responsibilities and even flee Awadh when it is captured by the British East India Company – just so they can continue their game...