Editing Premchand (section)

===Early life===

Munshi Premchand was born on 31 July 1880 in [[Lamhi]], a village located near [[Banaras]], and was named Dhanpat Rai ("master of wealth"). His ancestors came from a large [[Chitraguptavanshi Kayastha]] family, which owned eight to nine [[bigha]]s of land.<ref>{{Harvnb|Gupta|1998|p=7}}</ref> His grandfather, Guru Sahai Rai, was a [[patwari]] (village land record-keeper), and his father, Ajaib Lal, was a post office clerk. His mother was Anandi Devi of Karauni village, who probably was also his inspiration for the character Anandi in his "Bade Ghar Ki Beti".<ref>{{Harvnb | Gupta | 1998 | p = 7 }}</ref> Dhanpat Rai was the fourth child of Ajaib Lal and Anandi; the first two were girls who died as infants, and the third one was a girl named sama.<ref name="Sigi 2006 15">{{Harvnb | Sigi | 2006 | p = 15}}</ref> His uncle, Mahabir, a rich landowner, nicknamed him "[[Nawab]]", meaning baron. "Nawab Rai" was the first pen name chosen by Dhanpat Rai.<ref name=amrit>{{cite book|last=Rai|first=Amrit |author-link=Amrit Rai |year=1982|title=Premchand: A Life|translator-last=Trivedi|translator-first=Harish |place=New Delhi|publisher=People's Publishing House}}</ref>

[[File:Lamhi, Varanasi.jpg|thumb|right|Munshi Premchand Memorial Gate, Lamhi, Varanasi]]

When he was seven years old, Dhanpat Rai began his education at a [[madrasa]] in Lalpur, [[Varanasi]], located near Lamhi.<ref name=" Sigi 2006 15"/> He learned Urdu and [[Persian language|Persian]] from a [[maulvi]] in the madrasa. When he was 8, his mother died after a long illness. His grandmother, who was responsible for raising him, died soon after.<ref name="pib_2001_great">{{cite web | url = http://pib.nic.in/feature/feyr2001/fjul2001/f190720011.html | title = Munshi Premchand: The Great Novelist | access-date = 13 January 2012 | publisher = Press Information Bureau, Government of India | archive-date = 28 February 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120228022503/http://pib.nic.in/feature/feyr2001/fjul2001/f190720011.html | url-status = dead }}</ref>  Munshi Premchand felt isolated, as his elder sister Suggi had already been married, and his father was always busy with work. His father, who was now posted at [[Gorakhpur]], remarried, but Premchand received little affection from his stepmother. The [[stepmother]] later became a recurring theme in Premchand's works.<ref name="Gupta_1998_10">{{Harvnb | Gupta | 1998 | p = 10 }}</ref>

As a child, Dhanpat Rai sought solace in [[fiction]] and developed a fascination for books. He heard the stories of the Persian-language fantasy epic ''Tilism-e-Hoshruba'' at a [[tobacconist]]'s shop. He took the job of selling books for a book wholesaler, thus getting the opportunity to read a lot of books.<ref>{{Harvnb | Sigi | 2006 | p = 16}}</ref> He learnt English at a missionary school and studied several works of fiction, including [[George W. M. Reynolds]]'s eight-volume ''[[The Mysteries of the Court of London]]''.<ref name="Gupta_1998_10"/> He composed his first literary work at [[Gorakhpur]], which was never published and is now lost. It was a farce on a bachelor who falls in love with a low caste woman. The character was based on Premchand's uncle, who used to scold him for being obsessed with reading fiction; the farce was probably written as revenge for this.<ref name="Gupta_1998_10"/>

After his father was posted to [[Zamania]] in the mid-1890s, Dhanpat Rai enrolled at the [[Queen's College Varanasi|Queen's College]] at [[Banaras]] as a [[day scholar]].<ref name="Gupta_1998_11">{{Harvnb | Gupta | 1998 | p = 11 }}</ref><ref name="Sigi_2006_17">{{Harvnb | Sigi | 2006 | p = 17}}</ref> In 1895, he was married at the age of 15, while still studying in the ninth grade. The match was [[arranged marriage|arranged]] by his maternal step-grandfather. The girl was from a rich landlord family and was older than Premchand, who found her quarrelsome and not good-looking.<ref name="Gupta_1998_11"/><ref name="Sigi_2006_17"/>

His father died in 1897 after a long illness. He managed to pass the [[matriculation exam]] with second division (below 60% marks). However, only the students with the first division were given fee concessions at the Queen's College. He then sought admission at the [[Central Hindu School]] but was unsuccessful because of his poor arithmetic skills.<ref name = "Gupta_1998_12">{{Harvnb | Gupta | 1998 | p = 12 }}</ref> Thus, he had to discontinue his studies. He then obtained an assignment to coach an advocate's son in Banaras at a monthly salary of five rupees. He used to reside in a mud cell over the advocate's stables and used to send 60% of his salary back home.<ref name=" Gupta_1998_12"/> Premchand read a lot during these days. After racking up several debts, in 1899, he went to a bookshop to sell one of his collected books. There, he met the headmaster of a missionary school at [[Chunar]], who offered him a job as a teacher at a monthly salary of {{₹|18}}.<ref name=" Gupta_1998_12"/> He also took up the job of tutoring a student at a monthly fee of {{₹|5}}.

In 1900, Premchand secured a job as an assistant teacher at the Government District School, [[Bahraich]], at a monthly salary of {{₹|20}}. Three months later, he was transferred to the District School in [[Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh|Pratapgarh]], where he stayed in an administrator's bungalow and tutored his son.<ref>{{Harvnb | Sigi | 2006 | p = 20 }}</ref>

His first short novel was ''Asrar-e-Ma'abid'' ("Secrets of God's abode", ''Devasthan Rahasya'' in Hindi), which explores corruption among the [[mahant|temple priests]] and their sexual exploitation of poor women. The novel was published in a series in the Banaras-based Urdu weekly ''Awaz-e-Khalq'' from 8 October 1903 to February 1905.<ref name="Gupta_1998_13">{{Harvnb | Gupta | 1998 | p = 13 }}</ref> Literary critic Siegfried Schulz states that "his inexperience is quite evident in his first novel", which is not well-organized, lacks a good plot and features stereotyped characters.<ref>{{Harvnb | Schulz | 1981 | p = 16}}</ref> [[P. C. Gupta|Prakash Chandra Gupta]] calls it an "immature work", which shows a tendency to "see life only in black or white".<ref name="Gupta_1998_13"/>