Munshi Premchand(1880-1936)

He is one of the greatest Hindi writers. His stories gives the correct picture of village realities. He used his stories to great effect for social reforms. He married a child widow Shivarani Devi when widow marriages were considered as a sin in Indian society. He also wrote varios novels voicing for these social reforms. Early in his career he took up the government job of a school teacher to support his family. But in 1921 he resigned the job to take up Gandhi's call. He contributed to freedom movement through his writings. He changed his pen name to "Premchand" after his book Soje Vathan was banned by the then British government, which burned all the copies. In his writings the characters are always the ordinary people. When asked why he doesn't write anything about himself, he answered: "What greatness do I have that I have to tell anyone about? I live just like millions of people in this country; I am ordinary. My life is also ordinary. I am a poor school teacher suffering family travails. During my whole lifetime, I have been grinding away with the hope that I could become free of my sufferings. But I have not been able to free myself from suffering. What is so special about this life that needs to be told to anybody?". This is the greatness of the man.