One of the most celebrated Indian writers of early 20th century, and regarded as "Upanyas Samrat", Munshi Premchand was born on 31 July 1880. He began his writing career when the Indian Independence movement was atits peak. Through his early writings, he expressed his support for the cause of freedom. In 1910, his collection Soz-e-Watan was labelled rebellious on account of its message which provoked Indians to overthrow the British empire and gain independence. Some of Premchand's seminal works include Sevasadan, Rangbhoomi, Nirmala, Kaayakalp, Gaban and Godaan among others. His last published story was 'Cricket Match', which appeared in Zamana in 1938, posthumously. Munshi Premchand died on 8 October 1936, at the age of 56. Munshi Premchand Ki Sarvashrestha Kahaniya is a keepsake edition.
Sevasadan (The House of Service), originally written in Urdu under the title Bazaar-e-Husn (Market of Beauty), is one of the most iconic novels by 'Upanyas Samrat' Munshi Premchand, first published in Hindi in 1919. A Brahmin woman is beguiled into a loveless marriage owing to her family's poverty. Suman's journey from her maternal home to an orphanage, sheltering daughters of courtesans, is a life-changing one. Premchand offers an incisive and yet a sensitive representation of a 'fallen' woman in a hypocritical patriarchal society at the turn of the 20th century. Suman's reformation is a powerful narrative revolving around themes of sexuality, matrimony and prostitution. Set in Varanasi, Sevasadan foregrounds the socio-cultural history of India through a woman's gaze.
