Character sketch of the samju sahu in holy panchayat by premchand
Answers
The Holy Panchayat’ or ‘Panch Parmeshwar’ as it was titled in Hindi carries the distinction of being Premchand’s first story to be published in Hindi. Originally it had been written in Urdu and was titled ‘Panchayat’ but Premchand’s desire to reach a wider readership led him to switch over to writing in Hindi and he translated this story himself. It was published in 1916 in the May-June issue of the periodical Saraswati. ‘Panch Parmeshwar’ belongs to the early group of short stories by Premchand, which were written between 1916 and 1920. Other stories included in this group are ‘Namak ka Daroga’, ‘Bade Ghar ki Beti’, ‘Rani Sarandha’, ‘Mamta’, ‘Saut’, ‘Amavasya ki Raat’ etc. Most of these stories share a common purpose and exhibit a similar flow of ideas. They are narrative / descriptive in nature and are based on an idealistic view of things. The sense of the teller and the tale comes through quite strongly and the stance of the author is of the omniscient narrator. He reveals all, knows the characters’ background, can take a peep into their hearts and minds and can philosophize on the prevailing state of affairs. Most of these stories carry within them Premchand’s early beliefs and convictions. When he bases the resolution of these stories on a ‘change of heart’ he actually believed it to be possible. In fact, these stories have often been referred to as the ‘change of heart’ stories since they mostly end with the events getting resolved through a ‘change of heart’ in the concerned characters.
The element of chance plays an important role, both in the development of the plot as well as in the resolution of events towards the end. Because the resolution of the stories depends to a large extent on an idealistic premise, there seems to be a corresponding lack of the element of believable probability, which in turn takes the story away from being entirely realistic in nature.