Although Rafaqat had retained his outspokenness, no one now appreciated it. It was now treated as a waffle, like the harangue of a helpless widow. An insecure person is quick to take offence. One day, when some of his neighbours made some funny remarks about his new wife, he lost his temper. He was bare in his upper body and was wearing tattered pyjamas. He was in a rage, the veins in his throat dilated and his ankles aflutter. His addressees were sitting and playing cards, scarcely paying him any attention. It was as though a dog was barking. He had reached the lowest state of degradation where people treated even his anger with contempt.
. . . Once, at my initiative, the office colleagues, out of sympathy, contributed money and bought him provisions for a month. But the provisions meant to last a month disappeared in a week. The rice was bartered for mango, dal for jamun. The oven was lit three times a day, and then . . . the same story of starvation and want. Eventually, people lost all sympathy for him, so no one lent him even a paisa now. He stood there praying and blessing people, but no one even cared to look at him.
. . . ‘Spend less than you earn, however compelling the circumstances. And why do you start borrowing from the first day of the month? Thinking of you, once I had arranged for a month’s provisions for you. But you have gone back to your old ways. You were a reasonable person. You know very well that people do not always have ready money in their hands. Everyone has his own needs to take care of. And even if someone has money, why should he lend and thus invite trouble for himself? You have to go begging to ten persons to get one favourable response. How embarrassing is all this! What is the matter with you, after all? You have been reduced to this condition for the last two-and-a-half years. Earlier, you looked so contented.’
Extract translated from the Urdu by M. Asaduddin
Atmaram
First published in Urdu with the title ‘Atmaram’ in Zamana (January 1920), and later collected in Prem Batteesi 2 (1920). Now available in Kulliyaat-e Premchand 10 (2001). It was published in Hindi with the same title in Aaj (May 1921), and later collected in Mansarovar 7 (1947).
The Urdu story is longer by two pages, but as the lines do not occur in one place but are interspersed in different paragraphs in the story, they cannot be extracted without creating confusion. The Urdu version fleshes out Mahadev’s character and his philosophical bent of mind in a more substantial way than the Hindi version.
It is only in the Urdu version, which is more expansive, that the reader gets to know that Mahadev and his sons fight over liquor. The Hindi version remains non-committal. There is only one line towards the end that says that Mahadev had quit drinking.
The conclusion in the Hindi version is far more ambivalent than in the Urdu version. The narrator in the Urdu version extols Mahadev’s transformation from an ordinary sinner to a divinely inspired man, whereas the Hindi version seems cynical about it.
The Correction
First published in Hindi with the title ‘Pashu se Manushya’ in Prabha (February 1920), and later collected in Prem Pacheesi (1923), and Mansarovar 8 (1950). It was published in Urdu with the title ‘Islaah’ in Kahkashan (April 1920), and later collected in Prem Batteesi 2 (1920). Now available in Kulliyaat-e Premchand 10 (2001).
The Urdu title is neutral but the Hindi title has strong moral and ideological implications. This is also reflected in the text. About a dozen sentences from the third section of the story in Urdu are missing in Hindi, making the Urdu story longer by half a page. Moreover, while the Urdu version refers only to farmers, the Hindi version mentions farmers, weavers, carpenters, blacksmiths, tanners and bricklayers thus expanding the ambit of professions encompassing the moral and ideological issue that is the central theme of the story. The ideological slant in the Hindi version gets more intense when the narrator suggests that any dispute among the people of these professions should be resolved through ‘panchayat’ and not law courts. The narrator drives the point home by asking why a farmer should be paid five rupees for his wages while a doctor or a lawyer five thousand! Several paragraphs are the ‘rewriting’ of the other version, with differing inflections, rather than plain translation or transliteration. Dr Mehra, the employer of the gardener Durga, has been changed to Dr Irfan Ali in the Urdu version.
The Prime Dharma of Man
First published in Hindi with the title ‘Manushya ka Param Dharma’ in Swadesh (March 1920), and later collected in Prem Pratima (1926), and Mansarovar 3 (1938). It was published in Urdu with the title ‘Insaan ka Muqaddas Farz’ in Prem Batteesi 1 (1920). Now available in Kulliyaat-e Premchand 10 (2001).
Black Face
First published in Hindi with the title ‘Pratigya’ in Shree Sharda (March 1920), and not compiled in any volume for a long time. It was first compiled in Premchand ka Aprapya Sahitya 1 (1988). It was published in Urdu with the title ‘Roo-e Siyah’ in Subh-e Ummeed (November 1920), and collected much later in Kulliyaat-e Premchand 10 (2001).
Banter
First published in Hindi with the title, ‘Brahm ka Swang’ in Prabha (May 1920) and later collected in Prem Pacheesi (1923) and Mansarovar 8 (1950). It was published in Urdu with the title ‘Nok-Jhonk’ in Zamana (December 1920), and later collected in Khwab-o Khayal (1928). Now available in Kulliyaat-e Premchand 10 (2001).
The endings of the stories in Hindi and Urdu are somewhat different. One version
