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The Co-Wife and Other Stories
The Co-Wife & other Stories is a collection of twenty classic tales of Premchand. These stories provide a glimpse into Premchand s extraordinary range and diversity and his amazing ability to write on a variety of subjects from romance and satire to social dramas and nationalist tales. Some of the stories included in the book reflect Premchand s sympathy for the underdog, while the others expose human idiosyncrasies in a humorous manner. A few of the stories included in the book are Stigma, Rani Sarandha, Two Graves, The Co-Wife, The Child and A Winter Night. Ruth Vanita s translation captures the beauty of Premchand s language and conveys the nuances of the original. This book will be cherished by all Munshi Premchand fans.
275 pages, Paperback
First published February 14, 2008
About the author
Munshi Premchand
1,039 books1,196 followersMunshi 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
May 27, 2021
I am rating each short story.
1. The Grinding Woman's Well (paranormal content) 4 🌟
2. Stigma (how baseless gossips are put to an end) 5 🌟
3. Rani Sarandha (historical/how a queen sacrifices everything to save the honour of her family & her kingdom) 3 🌟
➡️ I cannot understand why being headstrong is regarded as matyrdom, there were other reasonable ways to opt for. Well, I guess opinions do differ.
4. The Farce of Brahm (how blind devotion & doing something in excess brings harm) 4 🌟
5. Two Graves (how another life gets ruined just because of the fear of what society thinks) 4 🌟
6. Family Break-up (how much a person gets selfish & how much a person can forgive) 4 🌟
7. Subhagi (child marriage & becoming a widow at 11) 4 🌟
8. The Anxiety of Authority (how anxiety kills) 4 🌟
9. The Co-wife (broken family, selfishness & forgiveness) 4 🌟
10. Theft (childhood days, mischiefs, caste difference) 5 🌟
11. Newly-weds (mismatched marriage, infidelity) 4 🌟
12. A Widow with Sons (broken family, woes of the elderly) 4 🌟
13. Atmaram (greed & penance) 4 🌟
14. Intoxication (caste & status difference) 5 🌟
15. The Child (infidelity, devotion, acceptance) 5 🌟
16. The Story of Two Bullocks (friendship, loyalty) 5 🌟
17. The Price of Milk (poverty, the homeless, hunger) 4 🌟
18. The Voice of God (justice is blind) 5 🌟
19. A Winter Night (peace of mind Vs the material world) 4 🌟
20. The Shroud (when it is too late to change someone) 5 🌟 (my favourite!)
1. The Grinding Woman's Well (paranormal content) 4 🌟
2. Stigma (how baseless gossips are put to an end) 5 🌟
3. Rani Sarandha (historical/how a queen sacrifices everything to save the honour of her family & her kingdom) 3 🌟
➡️ I cannot understand why being headstrong is regarded as matyrdom, there were other reasonable ways to opt for. Well, I guess opinions do differ.
4. The Farce of Brahm (how blind devotion & doing something in excess brings harm) 4 🌟
5. Two Graves (how another life gets ruined just because of the fear of what society thinks) 4 🌟
6. Family Break-up (how much a person gets selfish & how much a person can forgive) 4 🌟
7. Subhagi (child marriage & becoming a widow at 11) 4 🌟
8. The Anxiety of Authority (how anxiety kills) 4 🌟
9. The Co-wife (broken family, selfishness & forgiveness) 4 🌟
10. Theft (childhood days, mischiefs, caste difference) 5 🌟
11. Newly-weds (mismatched marriage, infidelity) 4 🌟
12. A Widow with Sons (broken family, woes of the elderly) 4 🌟
13. Atmaram (greed & penance) 4 🌟
14. Intoxication (caste & status difference) 5 🌟
15. The Child (infidelity, devotion, acceptance) 5 🌟
16. The Story of Two Bullocks (friendship, loyalty) 5 🌟
17. The Price of Milk (poverty, the homeless, hunger) 4 🌟
18. The Voice of God (justice is blind) 5 🌟
19. A Winter Night (peace of mind Vs the material world) 4 🌟
20. The Shroud (when it is too late to change someone) 5 🌟 (my favourite!)
July 30, 2017
Pros: A very good book to pick up between heavy reads or to overcome reading slumps. It has lots of short stories, all of them revolving around Indians and their cultural beliefs and moral values. It took me back to those days when I used to read a lot of Reader’s Digest in English but specially the ones in Bengali. The style and feel are a lot like reading short articles...
Cons: Too much is possibly lost in translation from Hindi to English. The writing style and language used is way below par. The stories (with the exception of 1 or 2), are way too abrupt and often the moral-of-the-story behind them are just too obvious, too judgy, too preachy. In this 21st century, the stories and the characters come across as too deeply steeped in their age-old culture, superstition and mindset. For a modern thinker like myself, I found them extremely annoying and irritating for my taste...
Cons: Too much is possibly lost in translation from Hindi to English. The writing style and language used is way below par. The stories (with the exception of 1 or 2), are way too abrupt and often the moral-of-the-story behind them are just too obvious, too judgy, too preachy. In this 21st century, the stories and the characters come across as too deeply steeped in their age-old culture, superstition and mindset. For a modern thinker like myself, I found them extremely annoying and irritating for my taste...
April 11, 2019
This book consists of 20 short stories by the renowned Hindi short story teller Munshi Premchand. Nostalgia led me to this book as I've read the author in my Hindi textbooks at school.
'The Farce of Brahm' is easily my favorite, it shows the dual mindedness of religious people on matters of theology and practical life. 'Two Graves' and 'The Child' show the differing consequences of stigma in society. 'A Widow with Sons' is a poignant story rooted on apathy that brought me to tears.
'Family Break-up', 'The Co-wife' and 'Shubangi' are about the twists and turns in family circumstances, nature of the parties involved, and how they can make or break relations. 'The Story of Two Bullocks' and 'The Anxiety of Authority' are short stories with anthropomorphism that deal with a sense of belonging and desire.
'Intoxication' and 'The Shroud' are two good stories that show the volatile and incorrigible nature of humans respectively. 'Newly-weds' is a vivid story on the nature of corporeal and marital fancies.
On the whole, I'd say most of these stories depict very weak minded people who bend (sometimes, fatally) due to society. Most of these people are very inconsistent, fatalistic, and employ twisted manipulation on others and themselves owing to ignorance and pride.
'The Farce of Brahm' is easily my favorite, it shows the dual mindedness of religious people on matters of theology and practical life. 'Two Graves' and 'The Child' show the differing consequences of stigma in society. 'A Widow with Sons' is a poignant story rooted on apathy that brought me to tears.
'Family Break-up', 'The Co-wife' and 'Shubangi' are about the twists and turns in family circumstances, nature of the parties involved, and how they can make or break relations. 'The Story of Two Bullocks' and 'The Anxiety of Authority' are short stories with anthropomorphism that deal with a sense of belonging and desire.
'Intoxication' and 'The Shroud' are two good stories that show the volatile and incorrigible nature of humans respectively. 'Newly-weds' is a vivid story on the nature of corporeal and marital fancies.
On the whole, I'd say most of these stories depict very weak minded people who bend (sometimes, fatally) due to society. Most of these people are very inconsistent, fatalistic, and employ twisted manipulation on others and themselves owing to ignorance and pride.
March 4, 2022
A running theme in Munshi Premchand’s short stories is that he tends to kill his characters to prove a point. You and your spouse got into a heated argument? Well, why don’t you die so that he will regret ever raising his voice at you. Similarly, concepts like child marriage and dowry seem very normal and natural for the characters in his stories, since of course, he wrote these stories in an era when these practices were not frowned upon. Another interesting thing I’ve noticed in his writings is how he has even written some stories and characters from the perspectives of animals, like bullocks and dogs, to bring to light how society only considers them a tool for humanity and not living, sentient beings.
This book, which is a collection of 20 short stories offers a new perspective and a new moral in every single story which makes this book quite a page-turner. I believe that to fully appreciate the depth and the message of these stories, one needs to keep an open mind about some of them. Some plot points might seem somewhat awry but the reader needs to understand that these stories have been written to critique certain social practices which can require some out of the box writing.
This book, which is a collection of 20 short stories offers a new perspective and a new moral in every single story which makes this book quite a page-turner. I believe that to fully appreciate the depth and the message of these stories, one needs to keep an open mind about some of them. Some plot points might seem somewhat awry but the reader needs to understand that these stories have been written to critique certain social practices which can require some out of the box writing.
February 21, 2024
I have read quite a few of Munshi Premchand's short stories, though most were in Hindi and I've never really understood the universal appeal they seem to hold but maybe that's just me. With this collection, there were some that I liked but most of them were duds for me. And the writing style didn't help much either. It didn't really seem to encapsulate the narrative that Premchand was trying to portray. I do think all these stories would read better in Hindi and probably be even more entertaining, because as much as I don't like to admit it, these stories, most of them are pretty entertaining in their own right, in spite of being quite dated.
May 6, 2017
some stories are pretty ordinary. lots is lost in translation. but across all the stories, the author's unwavering moral compass and his value systems - staunchly supporting the underdog - shine through. his views on social discrimination, women of the household, widows and venal elites are all the more remarkable considering these stories were written a century back.
March 10, 2026
Munshi Premchand is a master of expressing human emotions in words that touches deep inside one's heart. His stories are not full of mysteries or twists/ surprises in the last paragraph, they are full of characters, living ones, just like us - extremely relatable. And it is so powerful to feel the same way as those characters feel inside the story.
Wonderful wonderful wonderful
Wonderful wonderful wonderful
June 11, 2024
If you want to understand India, then you should read Premchand.
Premchand Short-stories containing not only values and lessons but also providing an understanding about India and its culture.
Premchand Short-stories containing not only values and lessons but also providing an understanding about India and its culture.
January 4, 2018
reading Premchand is always a delight...
October 9, 2019
Realistic tales.
March 22, 2022
Simple language. Rooted in India
August 11, 2022
Good stories. I have always enjoyed reading Premchand's work since I read Godaan.
July 6, 2024
Will always re visit in the future
November 21, 2019
Gangu said with deep emotion ‘Sir, a woman cannot live where there is no love. A woman wants more than food and clothes, she wants some love too. Those people think they have done a widow a great favor by marrying her. They want her to become theirs, body and soul; but to make another person one’s own, one has to first become the other person’s, sir.’ - “The Child” (The Co-Wife and other stories).
You know that feeling when a book if so good you don’t want it to end? This how I felt; completely blown away. How can a man in pre-independent India write women with such accuracy and compassion and justice? My favorite stories were “The Grinding Woman’s Well”, “Stigma” and “The Co-Wife”.
You know that feeling when a book if so good you don’t want it to end? This how I felt; completely blown away. How can a man in pre-independent India write women with such accuracy and compassion and justice? My favorite stories were “The Grinding Woman’s Well”, “Stigma” and “The Co-Wife”.
July 2, 2012
Premchand is really India. He takes you to an India which is so real and true. I was rooting for his stories after "Godaan", this one didn't disappoint me. In fact, there is a selection of fine writing in this touching upon every other thing. Exploitation of peasants, the caste divide, women upliftment et al. The simple language, simple details and great story telling makes his stories worth reading and relevant even today. I will be looking out for more of Premchand.
January 13, 2012
All the stories were great,one i liked the most were
1.Rani Sarandha
2.The Anxiety of Authority and Newly weds.
Each story shows us different facets of Premchand.Thanks to Ruth Vanita for this great translation.
1.Rani Sarandha
2.The Anxiety of Authority and Newly weds.
Each story shows us different facets of Premchand.Thanks to Ruth Vanita for this great translation.
August 31, 2014
Realistic tales.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews