Panch-Parmeshwar (Illustrated Edition)

by Munshi Premchand

जुम्मन शेख और अलगू चौधरी में गाढ़ी मित्रता थी। साझे में खेती होती थी। कुछ लेन-देन में भी साझा था। एक को दूसरे पर अटल विश्वास था। जुम्मन जब हज करने गए थे, तब अपना घर अलगू को सौंप गए थे और अलगू जब कभी बाहर जाते तो जुम्मन पर अपना घर छोड़ देते थे। उनमें न खान-पान का व्यवहार था, न धर्म का नाता; केवल विचार मिलते थे। मित्रता का मूल मंत्र भी यही है।
इस मित्रता का जन्म उसी समय हुआ, जब दोनों मित्र बालक ही थे; और जुम्मन के पूज्य पिता जुमराती उन्हें शिक्षा प्रदान करते थे। अलगू ने गुरुजी की बहुत सेवा की थी, ख़ूब रकाबियाँ माँजी, ख़ूब प्याले धोए। उनका हुक्का एक क्षण के लिए भी विश्राम न लेने पाता था, क्योंकि प्रत्येक चिलम अलगू को आध घंटे तक किताबों से अलग कर देती थी। अलगू के पिता पुराने विचारों के मनुष्य थे। उन्

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories

23 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1922

About the author

Munshi Premchand (Hindi: मुंशी प्रेमचंद) was an Indian writer famous for his modern Hindustani literature. He is one of the most celebrated writers of the Indian subcontinent,and is regarded as one of the foremost Hindustani writers of the early twentieth century.

Born Dhanpat Rai, he began writing under the pen name "Nawab Rai", but subsequently switched to "Premchand", while he is also known as "Munshi Premchand", Munshi being an honorary prefix. A novel writer, story writer and dramatist, he has been referred to as the "Upanyas Samrat" ("Emperor among Novelists") by some Hindi writers. His works include more than a dozen novels, around 250 short stories, several essays and translations of a number of foreign literary works into Hindi.

Premchand is considered the first Hindi author whose writings prominently featured realism. His novels describe the problems of the poor and the urban middle-class. His works depict a rationalistic outlook, which views religious values as something that allows the powerful hypocrites to exploit the weak. He used literature for the purpose of arousing public awareness about national and social issues and often wrote about topics related to corruption, child widowhood, prostitution, feudal system, poverty, colonialism and on the India's freedom movement.

Several of his early works, such as A Little Trick and A Moral Victory, satirised the Indians who cooperated with the British colonial government.

In the 1920s, he was influenced by Mahatma Gandhi's non-cooperation movement and the accompanying struggle for social reform. During this period, his works dealt with the social issues such as poverty, zamindari exploitation (Premashram, 1922), dowry system (Nirmala, 1925), educational reform and political oppression (Karmabhumi, 1931).

In his last days, he focused on village life as a stage for complex drama, as seen in his most famous work Godan as well as the short-story collection Kafan (1936).Premchand believed that social realism was the way for Hindi literature, as opposed to the "feminine quality", tenderness and emotion of the contemporary Bengali literature.

Reviews

[Sumeet Mahendra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another wonderful fable with an incredible moral, I must say it's must read book.

[Ramesh Kumar Maali · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had read the story in my fourth class from Hindi book of Rajasthan Board, it is in mind due to its message.
Recently I has witnessing 'Jatiya Panchayat' of my community sitting and deciding matter extra-legally (some of them are illegal acts as well), I observed that Panch are deciding matters in biased and illogical way. That pushed me to read this story again and tell to some members of my community and my family.

Nonetheless, it is a very good story on Idea of Justice by Judgeship.

[Aanya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, who am I review a Premchand book? But just wanna say one thing: "Through this story, Sahitya Samrat has proved that sitting on the throne of Justice, We are nobody's friend or family. We have to choose what is RIGHT and what is WRONG and be true to ourselves. Because that's what matters.🍁

[Himanshu · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best stories of premchand. The tussle between frienship and justice is beautifully shown in the story. Must read

[Prabhat sharma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Panch Parmeshwar by Munshi Prem Chand- It is a classic story by the famous Indian author Munshi Premchand. The story is about two childhood friends Alagu Chowdhary and Jumman Sheikh. Both are educated in a school in which father of Jumman Sheikh is a teacher. Alagu is the favourite student along with studies; Alagu fills the hukka for his teacher. Juman is a scribe and drafts deeds of mortgage and sale. Thus he has a good impression on people of the village and on government office like tehsildar, police officer and other at tehsil level. Aunt of Jumman own agricultural land which Jumman gets a gift deed registered in his favour. After the deed is registered, Jumman’s wife does not look after her daily needs well. She brings the matter to the village Panchayat. Here Alagu is nominated Panch. On sitting on the dice as law giver, Alagu delivers judgment in favour of Aunt of Jumman and orders that a fixed amount she be provided to her each month. This brings a gap between their friendship. Alagu purchases a pair of oxen. Soon one ox dies, it is rumored that Jumman’s wife has poisoned the ox. Alagu tries to purchase another ox of the same size but he does not succeed. Alagu sells the ox to Samjhu Sahu, a shopkeeper who promises to pay the price after one month. The shopkeeper uses the ox to bring loads of material from the nearby market but does not feed the ox well. He also takes more trips of the market than the capability of the ox. The ox becomes weak. On one trip the ox dies. In the night, the locals steal the material loaded on the cart. In the morning, the shopkeeper comes home and the village knows about the story. Alagu meets Samajhu Sahu and demands the price of the ox for which he refuses. The case is brought to the Panchayat where Jumman Sheikh is nominated a Sarpanch, Lawgiver. Sitting on the podium, on hearing the case, Jumman realises that while sitting on the seat of justice, he has not friends and he decides that Sahu should pay the price of the ox of Alagu. Both friends meet, weep and renew friendship. One of the morals of the story is that God resides in heart of the judge. Second, Hindu and Muslims have been friends this is fact relevant today also.

[Timsi Gupta · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of the early works of Premchand and although his writing and character development in this book is not as polished as in some of his later works, I'm still awed by the timelessness of the subject/content. This book was written over a century ago and yet the human nature, politics, societal influences captured in this book is so relatable even today.

[Ujjwal karn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its needless to review any book written by munshi premchand.P anch parmeshwar which is set against the backdrop of ancient India shows how power comes with responsibilities and how one prefers justice over his personal choice.Something people in power should understand.

[Vaishnavi Rai · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book literally gives us the message that Justice is above everything . And also we come across friendship, society and the societal standards.
A must read and I guess this story is added in class textbooks also.
Loved it

[Satyam Upadhyay · Rating 5 out of 5]

मेरा सबसे प्रिय उपन्यास

[Prashant Gupta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seriously this book shuld be included in law courses.

[Ritika]

best

[Srija Soni · Rating 5 out of 5]

In contemporary world we need such leaders...

[Aditya Jain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly portrays the importance and the responsibilities that the Panch has.

[Aditi]

क्या कहानी लिखी है I धार्मिक व सामाजिक भिन्नता के बावजूद इंसान को इंसान की तरह समझने की बड़ी सीख है इसमें I ऐसे ही नही हर विद्यालय में छात्रों को इस कहानी को पढ़ाया जाता है I न्याय औऱ धर्म

[Saurabh Singhal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story on friendship

[Rajan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jumman Mian and Algoo Chowdhary were best friends. They were known for the steadfastness of their friendship, which spanned years and myriad situations.

Jumman Shaikh inherited his aunt’s property. She was old and had no one to care for her. She gave it to him on the rider that he would attend to her. Jumman Mian agreed. He tried his best to take care of the aunt but she was dissatisfied. She demanded her property back. Jumman found this unfair. The villagers decided upon calling an arbitrator.

Both parties were asked to nominate a person. Jumman immediately nominated his friend Algoo. His aunt agreed. She said : Anyone sitting on the chair of Panch is impartial. He is like parmeshvar. So it doesn’t matter who it is. Jumman was happy, expecting an outcome in his favor.

Algoo patiently heard both sides. The aunt explained how she was dissatisfied with Jumman’s care-taking. Jumman explained how his resources were limited and that he provided the best care possible for him.

Algoo concluded that the aunt had given her limited property to Jumman expecting that all her needs would be fulfilled. And since Jumman was unable care for her adequately, he should return the aunt’s property.

It was a fair decision. But Jumman felt cheated. And it was the end of the road for Jumman and Algoo’s friendship.

Life went by and came around.

Algoo Chowdhary happened to sell a drought-bull to a villager. The deal was fixed at rupees 500/-. But the customer begged and spoke of his inability to pay immediately. Algoo was kind-hearted and allowed him a time of three months to pay. Meanwhile the bull happened to die within two months. Now the customer refused to pay: If there’s no animal, then whats the question of payment? A deadlock had been reached. It was decided to settle the dispute with help of an arbitrator.

Both parties were asked to nominate a candidate. The customer nominated Jumman Shaikh immediately. Algoo, using the rationale of Jumman Mian’s aunt said: Anyone in the seat of Panch is Parmeshvar himself, agreed.

Jumman heard both sides patiently. The customer explained how could he make payments for something that did not even exist anymore. Algoo explained that the bull was healthy when it was sold. The customer made him slog hard without regard for its diet or health. He beat the bull regularly and ruthlessly. It was one such that the half-fed bull under heavy load and heartless beating, collapsed.

Jumman concluded that a healthy bull had been sold, the amount.was fair and all villagers knew about the transaction. Had the payment been made immediately, this arbitration wouldn’t even be needed. The panchayat concludes the payment be made.

The decision was fair. And this time, it bought the two friends back together.

[Ujjwala · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember this being the first Premchand story that I read when I was in school. A good moral story.

[Pradyuman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story is the perfect example of "Satyamev Jayate" and people's belief in justice. A perfect work of realism by "उपन्यास सम्राट".

[Mrityunjay chauhan · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are looking for microscopic description of human emotions and transition of a human being through various ups and downs go for this book one of the best books

[Ayush Jaiswal · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book is awsm...!!
i just liked the theme of justice not the friendships.
the 2 friends not of taking the revenge followed the path of truth.

[Sumeet Mahendra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent piece of Classic & still very contemporary. If you're an Indian or Love anything about, India, then you must read it. At least once...!

[sania · Rating 3 out of 5]

हमेशा की तरह, मुंशी प्रेमचंद यह साबित कर रहे हैं कि आप एक साधारण पृष्ठभूमि के पात्रों के साथ गहन कहानियाँ कैसे लिख सकते हैं

[Anmol Chaudhary]

frendship