Editing Premchand (section)

=== Gorakhpur ===
[[File:Shilalekh.jpg|thumb|right|A plaque commemorating Munshi Premchand at the hut where he resided in [[Gorakhpur]] from 1916 to 1921.]]
In August 1916, Premchand was transferred to Gorakhpur on a promotion. He became the Assistant Master at the Normal High School, [[Gorakhpur]].<ref name="Madan1964">{{cite book | last=Gopal |first=Madan | title=Munshi Premchand: A Literary Biography | year=1964 | publisher=Asia Pub. House | pages = 114–117 }}</ref>

At Gorakhpur, he developed a friendship with the bookseller Buddhi Lal, who allowed him to borrow novels for reading in exchange for selling exam cram books at the school.<ref name="Gupta_1998_10"/> Premchand was an enthusiastic reader of classics in other languages and translated several of these works into Hindi.

By 1919, Premchand had published four novels of about a hundred pages each. In 1919, Premchand's first major novel ''[[Bazaar-e-Husn|Seva Sadan]]'' was published in Hindi. The novel was originally written in Urdu under the title ''Bazaar-e-Husn'' but was published in Hindi first by a [[Calcutta]]-based publisher, who offered Premchand {{₹|450}} for his work. The Urdu Publisher of [[Lahore]] published the novel later in 1924, paying Premchand {{₹|250}}.<ref>{{cite news |last=Trivedi |first=Harish |title=The power of Premchand (Literary Review of The Oxford India Premchand) |work=[[The Hindu]] |date=2 May 2004 |url=http://www.thehindu.com/lr/2004/05/02/stories/2004050200280400.htm }}{{dead link|date=April 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> The novel tells the story of an unhappy housewife, who first becomes a courtesan, and then manages an orphanage for the young daughters of the courtesans. It was well received by the critics and helped Premchand gain wider recognition.

In 1919, Premchand obtained a BA degree from [[University of Allahabad|Allahabad University]].<ref>{{Harvnb | Sigi | 2006 | p = 12}}</ref> By 1921, he had been promoted to Deputy Inspectors of Schools. On 8 February 1921, he attended a meeting in Gorakhpur, where [[Mahatma Gandhi]] asked people to resign from government jobs as part of the [[Non-cooperation movement (1909–22)|non-cooperation movement]]. Premchand, although physically unwell and with two kids and a pregnant wife to support, thought about it for five days and decided, with the consent of his wife, to resign from his government job.