Question

Character sketch of maternal aunty in chapter God live in panch

Answer 1

God Lives in the Panch – Munshi Premchand About the Author:
 Munshi Prem Chand was born on July 31, 1880 and expired on October 8, 1936. He was a famous Hindi-Urdu writer and was born in Lamahi, a village located near Varanasi (Benares) . When he was seven years old, Premchand began his education at a madarsa in Lalpur, located around two and half kilometers from Lamahi. Premchand learnt Urdu and Persian from a Maulvi in the madarsa. When he was eight, his mother died after a long illness. After his mother’s death, Premchand sought solace in fiction, and developed a fascination for books.
 Born Dhanpat Rai, he wrote under the pen name “Nawab Rai”, but subsequently switched to “Premchand”. His first short novel was Asrar e Malabid (Devasthan Rahasya in Hindi, “The Mystery of God’s Abode”), which explores corruption among the temple priests and their sexual exploitation of poor women. Premchand’s second short novel Hamkhurma-o-Hamsavab (Prema in Hindi), published in 1907, was penned under the name “Babu Nawab Rai Banarsi”. It explores the issue of widow remarriage in the contemporary conservative society. Premchand’s first major novel Seva Sadan was published in Hindi. In 1923, he established a printing press and publishing house in Benares, christened “Saraswati Press”. The year 1924 saw the publication of Premchand’s Rangabhumi, which has a blind beggar called Surdas as its tragic hero. In 1928, Premchand’s novel Gaban (“Embezzlement”), focusing on the middle class’ greed, was published. In March 1930, Premchand launched a literary-political weekly magazine titled ‘Hans’, aimed at inspiring the Indians to mobilize against the British rule. In 1932, he published another novel titled Karmabhumi. 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.
Summary:
 Jumman Sheikh and Alagu Chowdhari had been close friends from their childhood. Their friendship was founded on a common outlook and a deep trust in each other. They ploughed their fields together and were partners in a money- lending business.
 In the course of time, Jumman came to be held in high esteem by the village folk for his learning and achievements, while Alagu was respected for his wealth.
 All went smoothly until there arose a dispute between Jumman and his old maternal aunt. The old woman, hoping that her nephew would look after her, had transferred all the property she owned to him. As long as the deed of the transfer of property remained unregistered Jumman and his wife made every effort to please the aunt. However, once the deed was registered their attitude changed and they began to ill-treat the old lady.
 Jumman’s wife Kariman, in particular, lost no opportunity to insult her while Jumman remained indifferent. When the aunt could no longer endure this humiliation she decided to live separately and asked for a small allowance from Jumman. When even this was rudely refused by her nephew Jumman, she decided to take the case to the panchayat.
 Jumman was not perturbed at this, and in fact, was secretly pleased. He felt that his friends Alagu in the panchayat would side with him. The old lady, however, went around the village narrating her tale of woe to all – some were sympathetic while most were quite indifferent towards her.
 At last, tired and exhausted, she came to Alagu and requested him to attend the panchayat. He was reluctant at first and said that he would rather not take direct part in the proceedings as Jumman was his close friend. The aunt then asked him whether he would rather remain silent and see injustice done. This had an immediate impact on Alagu and his conscience was stirred.
 Ramadhan Misra, who nursed a grudge against Jumman, now arose and asked Jumman to appoint a person of his choice as head-panch. Jumman, realizing that most of those present were against him, discreetly replied that he would leave the choice to his aunt; and when the old lady nominated Alagu, Jumman could hardly believe his luck.
 Alagu at first hesitated and told the aunt that perhaps she was unaware that Jumman was his close friend. The aunt said that she was aware of this fact but she was also quite confident that Alagu would follow the dictates of his conscience.
 The case began. Alagu asked Jumman if he had anything to say in his defence. Jumman said that he was not obliged to pay her an allowance as it was not specified in the deed