The Gift of a Cow: A Translation of the Classic Hindi Novel GodaanPremchand is the most famous name in modern Hindi fiction, and Godaan is Premchand's most celebrated novel. It is the story of Hori, a poor peasant who yearns to own a cow and to make the pious Hindu's traditional gift to a Brahmin when he dies. Through Premchand's vivid character portrayals we witness the efforts of Hori's family to survive the conflicts of village politics and the webs spun by colonial landownership patterns. Counterposed to the culture of rural connectedness but also constriction is the isolation but also freedom of the city. Here the rigors of industrialization and empty materialism only can be offset by the promise of Gandhian idealism. An engaging introduction to north India before Independence, Godaan is at once village ethnography, moving human document, and insightful colonial history. |
Contents
Section 1 | v |
Section 2 | xviii |
Section 3 | xxviii |
Section 4 | 15 |
Section 5 | 23 |
Section 6 | 28 |
Section 7 | 40 |
Section 8 | 63 |
Section 22 | 246 |
Section 23 | 251 |
Section 24 | 266 |
Section 25 | 281 |
Section 26 | 297 |
Section 27 | 311 |
Section 28 | 322 |
Section 29 | 330 |
Section 9 | 71 |
Section 10 | 96 |
Section 11 | 125 |
Section 12 | 134 |
Section 13 | 144 |
Section 14 | 153 |
Section 15 | 163 |
Section 16 | 173 |
Section 17 | 185 |
Section 18 | 194 |
Section 19 | 209 |
Section 20 | 219 |
Section 21 | 233 |
Section 30 | 337 |
Section 31 | 351 |
Section 32 | 360 |
Section 33 | 372 |
Section 34 | 384 |
Section 35 | 396 |
Section 36 | 400 |
Section 37 | 414 |
Section 38 | 420 |
Section 39 | 430 |
Section 40 | 439 |
Common terms and phrases
achkan asked beat become began begging bhang Bhola brahman brother bullocks cane chamar chapaties Chuhia curse Damri Datadin daughter Dhaniya door drink Dulari eyes face father feel feet felt girl give Gobar Godaan gone Govindi grain hands happiness head heart Hindi Hira honour Hori Hori's hundred rupees husband Jhinguri Singh Jhuniya kabaddi keep Khanna kind laughed leave live loan look Lucknow Mangaru marriage married Mathura matter Mehta milk Mirza Khurshed Miss Malti moneylender months mother never night Nohri Nokheram Onkarnath Pandit Pateshwari pice poor Premchand Rai Sahib Raja realize Rupa sari Shobha Siliya smiled someone Sona started sugar sugar cane talk Tankha tears tell there's thing thought thousand rupees took trouble turned What's whole village wife woman women worry zamindar