Editing Premchand (section)

=== Stay at Kanpur ===
From Pratapgarh, Dhanpat Rai was relocated to [[Allahabad]] for training and subsequently posted at Kanpur in 1905. He stayed in Kanpur for around four years, from May 1905 to June 1909. There, he met [[Daya Narain Nigam|Munshi Daya Narain Nigam]], the editor of the Urdu magazine ''[[Zamana (magazine)|Zamana]]'', in which he later published several articles and stories.<ref name="Gupta_1998_13"/>

Premchand visited his village, Lamhi, during the summer vacation but did not find the stay enjoyable because of a number of reasons. He did not find the weather or the atmosphere conducive to writing. Moreover, he faced domestic trouble due to quarrels between his wife and his step-mother. Premchand angrily scolded his wife after she unsuccessfully tried to commit suicide by hanging. Dismayed, she went to her father's house, and Premchand displayed no interest in bringing her back.<ref>{{Harvnb | Gupta | 1998 | p = 14 }}</ref> In 1906, Premchand married a child widow, Shivarani Devi, who was the daughter of a landlord from a village near [[Fatehpur, Uttar Pradesh|Fatehpur]].<ref name="Gupta 1998 17">{{Harvnb | Gupta | 1998 | p = 17 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Illustrated Weekly of India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I2UnQES-79gC|access-date=17 May 2019|year=1984|publisher=Published for the proprietors, Bennett, Coleman & Company, Limited, at the Times of India Press|pages=68–69}}</ref> The step was considered to be revolutionary at that time, and Premchand faced a lot of social opposition. After his death, Shivarani Devi wrote a book on him, titled ''Premchand Ghar Mein'' ("Premchand at Home").

In 1905, inspired by nationalist activism, Premchand published an article on the Indian National Congress leader [[Gopal Krishna Gokhale]] in ''Zamana''. He criticised Gokhale's methods for achieving political freedom and instead recommended adoption of more extremist measures adopted by [[Bal Gangadhar Tilak]].<ref>{{Harvnb | Sigi | 2006 | p = 24 }}</ref> Premchand's first published story was "Duniya ka Sabse Anmol Ratan" ("The Most Precious Jewel in the World"), which appeared in ''Zamana'' in 1907.<ref name="Giriraj2001">{{cite book | last=Agarwal |first=Girirajsharan | title=Premchand: Karam Bhoomi (Abhyas Pustika) | year = 2001 | publisher=Diamond | isbn=978-81-7182-328-4 | language = hi | pages = 5–9 }}</ref> According to this story, the most precious 'jewel' was the last drop of blood necessary to attain independence.<ref name="Sigi_2006_25">{{Harvnb | Sigi | 2006 | p = 25 }}</ref> Many of Premchand's early short stories had patriotic overtones, influenced by the [[Indian independence movement]].<ref name="pib_2001_great"/>

Premchand's second short novel ''Hamkhurma-o-Hamsavab'' (''Prema'' in Hindi), published in 1907, was penned under the name "Babu Nawab Rai Banarsi". It explores the issue of [[widow remarriage]] in the contemporary conservative society: the protagonist, Amrit Rai, overcomes social opposition to marrying the young widow, Poorna, giving up his rich and beautiful fiancée Prema. According to Prakash Chandra Gupta, "While containing seeds of his future greatness in many ways, the novel is still youthful and lacks the discipline which full maturity brings".<ref name="Gupta_1998_13"/>

In 1907, another of Premchand's short novels, ''Kishna'' was published by the [[Medical Hall Press]] of Banaras. This 142-page work, which satirises women's fondness for jewellery, is now lost.<ref name="Gupta_1998_13"/> Literary critic Nobat Rai criticised the work in ''Zamana'', calling it a mockery of the women's conditions.<ref name="Sigi_2006_26">{{Harvnb | Sigi | 2006 | p = 26 }}</ref>

During April–August 1907, Premchand's novel ''Roothi Rani'' was published in [[serial (literature)|serial form]] in ''Zamana''.<ref name="Sigi_2006_26"/> Also in 1907, the publishers of ''Zamana'' published Premchand's first short story collection, titled ''Soz-e-Watan''. The collection, which was later banned, contained four stories that sought to inspire the Indians in their struggle for political freedom.<ref name="Mohan2006">{{cite book|last=Lal |first=Mohan | title=[[Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature]]: Sasay to Zorgot |volume=5 | year = 2006 | publisher=[[Sahitya Akademi]] | isbn=978-81-260-1221-3 | page=4149}}</ref>

==== Adoption of the name Premchand ====
In 1909, Premchand was transferred to [[Mahoba]] and later posted to [[Hamirpur district, Uttar Pradesh|Hamirpur]] as the Sub-deputy Inspector of Schools.<ref>{{Harvnb | Sigi | 2006 | p = 27 }}</ref> Around this time, ''Soz-e-Watan'' was noticed by British Government officials, who banned it as a seditious work. James Samuel Stevenson, the British [[District magistrate|collector]] of [[Hamirpur district, Uttar Pradesh|Hamirpur district]] ordered a raid on Premchand's house, where around five hundred copies of ''Soz-e-Watan'' were burnt.<ref name="SahniPaliwal1980">{{cite book | last1=Sahni |first1=Bhisham |author-link1=Bhisham Sahni|last2=Paliwal |first2=Om Prakash | title=Prem Chand: A Tribute | year=1980 | publisher=Premchand Centenary Celebrations Committee }}</ref> After this, Munshi Daya Narain Nigam, the editor of the Urdu magazine ''Zamana'', who had published Dhanpat Rai's first story "Duniya ka Sabse Anmol Ratan" advised the pseudonym "Premchand". Dhanpat Rai stopped using the name "Nawab Rai" and became Premchand.

Premchand was often referred to as Munshi Premchand. The fact is, he, along with Kanhaiyalal Munshi, edited the magazine Hans. The credit line read "Munshi, Premchand". He thenceforth began being called Munshi Premchand.{{cn|date=November 2023}} In 1914, Premchand started writing in Hindi ([[Hindi]] and [[Urdu]] are considered different [[register (sociolinguistics)|registers]] of a single language [[Hindustani language|Hindustani]], with Hindi drawing much of its vocabulary from [[Sanskrit]] and Urdu being more influenced by [[Persian language|Persian]]). By this time, he was already reputed as a fiction writer in Urdu.<ref name="pib_2001_great"/> [[Sumit Sarkar]] notes that the switch was prompted by the difficulty of finding publishers in Urdu.<ref name="Sarkar1983">{{cite book|last=Sarkar|first=Sumit |author-link=Sumit Sarkar|title=Modern India, 1885–1947|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x1uBQgAACAAJ|year=1983|publisher=Macmillan|isbn=978-0-333-90425-1|pages=85–86}}</ref> His first Hindi story "Saut" was published in the magazine ''[[Saraswati (magazine)|Saraswati]]'' in December 1915, and his first short story collection ''Sapta Saroj'' was published in June 1917.