Tradition- A manifesto of Progressive Writers Movement

 

The first conference under the presidency of Prem Chand took place in Lucknow because the progressive writers were against the feudal system in India and they raised their voice against an oppressive government. They followed the theory of carl Marx and talked about how laborers and females are oppressed in Indian society. Prem Chand in this movement said, “It is the duty of Indian writers to give full expression to the changes taking place in Indian life and promote scientific and radical outlook and set such critical standards that could adequately combat outdated ideas and beliefs about family, religion, sex, war, and society. It is incumbent upon them to check the growth of such ideas and trends, which advocate communalism, racial prejudice and human exploitation." (Javed Akhtar, 2006)

Apart from focusing on literature to spread strong messages, Prem Chand knew that Indians have a unique attraction towards their past. The movement of Indian writers was to create conventional patterns in fiction so that they can secure their tradition, and this is a natural response to their worldview promoted by their cultural heritage. All the efforts made through this movement were for the wish to return to the past which they felt very pleasant for themselves. In other words, we can say that Indian’s special attachment to their past makes them escape from the bitter realities of life. In the literature, there are repeated themes such as the woman sacrificing, and suffering and rituals of purification are adopted. Moreover, Prem Chand shaped the characters of his literary works from the Hindu past keeping in view of protection of the past times. (Prem Kumar, 2014)

This story ‘Kafan’ describes the pathetic situation in India during the colonial regime. Munshi Prem Chand has talked about the exploitation of the middle class and poor by the elite class.  As in the story, both father and the son were humiliated by the landlord and they forced the master class to shell out money that they would not have in ordinary circumstances. As both belonged to a low caste ‘Chamars’, lacked basic rights, and looked upon in the society. Prem Chand raised his voice and wrote about this reality of how the basic rights of people were ignored.

Furthermore, Hunger occupies the leading role in the story kafan. In the twentieth century, many people in India were experiencing famine which led to the death of many people. Prem Chand focused on this idea that how under feudal system rich is becoming rich and poor people lack basic necessities like food, cloth etc.

The lady in the story lays the foundation of civilization. There was tradition to cover the dead body with shroud and burn them later on, but that tradition was not followed as Ghishu and Madhav get drunk instead of buying a shroud for the dead Budhiya. But Prem Chand has focused on the idea that how difficult it is for a layman to buy a piece of cloth to cover the dead body and how they are oppressed by the elite class. Similarly, Prem Chand focused on the opposition of male Vs females and Budhiya depicts the helplessness of females in male dominant society. Prem Chand has focused that female is suppressed by the males after marriage and has no role in the society and they are meant to satisfy the physical desires of a man in Indian society.

 

REFERENCES

Rasheed Sheikh & Farrukh Nadeem, “The Narrative in Munshi Premchand’s Short Story, The Shroud (Kafan): A Poststructuralist Analysis Faisal

Donatella Dolcini, “ The theme of hunger in Kafan, a short story by Prem Chand”

 Javed Akhtar and Humayun Zafar Zaidi (2006), “ Progressive Writers' Movement in Urdu Literature”

Prem Kumar (2014), “ARCHETYPAL PATTERNS IN PREMCHAND'S EARLY NOVELS”