Representation of Popular Culture in Premchand's Works

Author(s): Jagdish Lal Dawar

Source: Social Scientist , Apr. - Jun., 1996, Vol. 24, No. 4/6 (Apr. - Jun., 1996), pp. 109-
129
Published by: Social Scientist

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3517793

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JAGDISH LAL DAWAR*

Representation of Popular Culture in Premchand's

Works

Premchand believed that a writer has a social function to perform. He

had adopted realism as a form in literature. To him realism in art was
Adarshonmukhi Yatharthvad (idealistic-realism)' which had an
important social function: to contribute to the transformation of society
by creating an awareness about the existing conditions and by projecting
a vision of the future.2 Premchand's creative efforts were strongly
imbued with this social commitment,which perhaps found the best
expression in the manner in which he treated the problem of popular
classes (subordinate sections of society) in his fiction. This paper
attempts to explore the various strands of popular culture and how
these are sites of resistance as well as social control.

We begin by taking taking up the theme: Popular Hinduism,

specifically pilgrimage, which forms an integral component of some of
Premchand's literary productions. C.J.Fuller defines popular Hinduism
as:

the beliefs and practices that constitute the living," Practical"

religion of the ordinary Hindus...popular Hinduism can be
distinguished from "textual Hinduism" in the sacred texts...The
sacred texts of Hinduism-and the concepts,ideas and speculations
contained in them-are often vitally important to popular
religion, and the latter can not be studied successfully unless
textual scholarship is taken in to account... Nevertheless, themes
central in the scriptures are not always central in ordinary
people's beliefs and practices.3

Pilgrimage constitutes an important feature of popular Hinduism.

Pilgrimage can be to a distant religious place or to a shrine or any other

Department of History, Arunachal University, Itanagar.

Social Scientist, Vol. 24, Nos. 4-6, April-June 1996

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110 SOCIAL SCIENTIST

place with religious significance. It can also be to a nearby holy river.

In Premchand's works it is represented as a journey to Ganges for a
ritual bath on the occasion of solar or lunar eclipse. The worship of
natural objects like sun, moon,stars etc is an important feature of
popular Hinduism.
As early as 1913 Premchand wrote a story 'siraf -aik -Avaz' which
opens with a devout villager,Thakur Darshan Singh's family members
busy in hectic preparations for his departure for taking ritual bath on
the occasion of lunar eclipse in the Ganges, near Kashi. Along with his
wife he travels on foot to cover a long distance.
The term used for pilgrimage in this story is 'Yatra' instead of
'Jatra'.4 Ann Gerodzins Gold in her work on Rajasthani pilgrims makes
a distinction between 'Yatra' and 'Jatra'. She refers to her informants
during her fieldwork:

Yatra indicated pilgrimage to a tirtha,or 'crossing place',such as

the Ganges river at Hardwar or Gaya,the temple of Jagannath
Puri near the ocean shore, or the Himalayan peak of shri
Badrinath. Jatra on other hand, implied a trip to any of the
countless shrines dedicated to 'goddesses-gods', most often of very
local origin and fame.5

'Yatra' according to her pursued 'merit' (Punya), 'removal of

sins'(pap dur Karna),"biomoral" duty (dharma), and even
"release"(moksha),'Jatris' had work to be done or vows to fulfil".6
Bhardwas has described two 'patterns of pilgrim circulation'which he
calls 'merit' or 'general' and 'specific'. These patterns correlate broadly
with journeys to pan-Hindu and journeys to regional or local shrines
respectively?7
'Siraf-Aik-Avaz'consists of a bundle of discourses.8 There is
overlapping of seriousness and its subversion in the narrative. The
opening paragraph itself is suggestive of subversion of the seriousness
of the occasion. The Thakurian's (old woman's) injunctions to both her
daughters-in-law to avoid touching certian things (like sickle, knife
and hatchet) are taken very casually.9 They were anxiously waiting
for the moment when the old woman would depart for pilgrimage and
afford them an opportunity to exult in singing songs since it was the
month of Fagun (Feb-March).10
There is a vivid description of pilgrims:

It was nearly mid-day when the Thakur and Thakurian left their
village. The main road was full of pilgrims. It was one surging
mass of humanity. Men and women, young and old, healthy and
invalid, all formed part of it. The blind were being led. The aged
were being carried on shoulders. Some were carrying their bundles
of clothes, others had a bowl and a string. Many had wound rags
round their feet because they could not afford shoes. Some women

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 REPRESENTATION OF POPULAR CULTURE 111

were chanting devotional songs in praise of moon and sun. The

whole mass was happily on the move, imbued with a fervent
religious zeal, almost like a river which after collecting its small
tributaries goes forward to meet the ocean.11

These pilgrims can be said to be in a stage of liminality. The

experience or journey on the way may be characterised as
Icommunitas'.12 The journey takes people away from their ordi
domestic, mundane life, and they join others who are not their day-to-
day associates. The journey on foot develops a social bond among them
and welds them into a group. Turner designates the process of
pilgrimage as a form of anti-structure.13 In a state of communitas,
people are fully and individually human, and they cease to play their
socially ascribed roles. It subverts the normal structuring conditions of
life. There is a notion of disruption of the normal and the routine.
Turner summarizes the characteristics of communitas as follows:

a direct, immediate confrontation or 'encounter' between free,

equal, levelled, and total human beings, no longer segmentalized
into structurally defined roles. It means freedom, too, from class or
caste affiliation, of family and lineage membership.14

The story also touches upon though in a few lines the theme that
such as event was not solely religious in character but also had a
potentially subversive aspect. Thus when

the pilgrims reach the place there were a few hours left for the
eclipse to set in. The people were loitering here and there.
Somewhere the jugglers were showing their spectacles, at other
places the mountebanks were exhibiting their marvels in pleasant
talks. Some people had assembled to watch the wrestling match
of the rams.15

Thakur Darshan Singh also went for a walk along with some of his
followers. But he did not dare to participate in these 'cheap
entertainments'.16 (Bazaroo dilchaspian). Premchand thus dismisses
these shows as 'cheap entertainment' and shifts the focus of the story
on another aspect of the narrative.
Tlhakur Darshan Singh spotted a big tent where most of the educated
people had assembled. Here a sanyasi (monk) was delivering a 'serious
discourse'. Nearly two thousand people were sitting and listening to
the sweet voice of the speaker. The author is sarcastic while describing
the educated people who were present:

Largely the fashionable persons were occupying the front rows.

They could not get a better opportunity to whisper in the ears
(regarding criticism). Many of the gentlemen (well-dressed
persons) seemed to be depressed because lower class/caste people
were sitting beside them.17

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112 SOCIAL SCIENTIST

These comments reveal that "the place of pilgrimage" as Morinis

points out "is a site where people gather to create symbolic reflections
of existing social relations among men and, by so doing, to provide these
human situation with divine sanction. "18 Therefore, it is a site of
reinforcement of social structure.
The Sanyasi delivers a long lecture on the evil of untouchability. He
pleads for the humane treatment to the untouchables. And finally he
pleads before the audience to take a vow that now-on-onwards they
would 'fraternize with the untouchables, would participate in their
festivals and invite them in your festivals, would embrace each other,
share their happiness and sorrows.' And despite heavy odds would
abide by this vow whole of their lives.19 On hearing these words there
was a 'hushed silerce among the gathering'. No body from the crowd
moved. It seemed as if the words of the speaker had get drowned in the
Ganges.20 This gathering included large number of educated people:
staunch nationalists, zealous students, journalists, political activists,
college professors, government servants, lawyers. But none had the
courage to get up and accept the challenge.21 Thakur Darshan Singh
had been watching all this and after listening to this challenge could
not control himself and he stood impulsively and declared "I take this
vow and solemnly promise to abide by this till my death."22
Premchand's comments on Thakur Darshan Singh's religious belief
reveal his attitude to popular religion:

He was a man of olden times who was fearful of the stone he

worshipped, for whom fast on the Ekadshi day was not merely a
means to maintain good health and Ganges not merely health-
giving water. His beliefs might have lacked awakening but there
was no dilemma about it. In other words there was no dichotomy
between his words and deeds and its basis was partly emulation of
others but mostly fear which is next to enlightenment and is the
biggest source of strength for existence. Reverence and worship of
saffron clothes was very much a part of his religious faith.23

While contrasting popular religion and the religion of the enlightened

the author seems to be extolling the former. But Thakur Darshan
Singh's challenge becomes a source of laughing stock among the
educated persons present there. He is taken as a uncivilised person.24
Thus the place of pilgrimage in this story also becomes a site for
reformation of the social evils. The author's intention in this story
might primarily be the abolition of untouchability but a text attains
meanings not necessarily intended by the author once it becomes a
finished product. According to Adorno once a cultural object or work
leaves the hands of the creator, its cultural meaning becomes something
other than the initial meaning given it by the creator.25 Thus this story
attains various meanings for us not necessarily intended by the author.
Thus the site of pilgrimage emerges as one of subversion as well as the

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 REPRESENTATION OF POPULAR CULTURE 113

reproduction of the dominant social systerm-in other words a site for

social control.
This type of pilgrimage gets an ironic treatment in Premchand's
later writings. Thus the novel Kayakalap published in 1926 opens
with an authorial commentary on Hindus' practice of pilgrimage to
sacred rivers (in this case banks of Triveni) for the ritual bath on the
occasion of the eclipse to wash off their sins.26
Premchand's non-fictional writings of the 1930's provide a trenchant
critique of the rituals related to eclipse. He wrote an article 'Rahu Ke
Shikar' published in Hans (August, 1933). Here, he makes a distinction
between the pilgrimage undertaken during olden times and the modem
ones. In the former case this had significance attached to it since "the
people used to gather experience during their journey on foot. It
provided an opportunity to receive instruction in religious matters on
the banks of the rivers."27 On the other hand, the pilgrimage 'now-a-
days' involves hardships for the poor who constitute the majority of
pilgrims.28 And moreover the places of pilgrimage have become the
seats of corruption:

What are our places of pilgrimage but dens of thugs, impostors

and hypocrites. Wherever you see you will find the bazar of
hypocrisy of religion is being carried on. Every other street is
abounded by temples, pujaris and beggars, who have no other
purpose in life except to dupe in the garb of religion the innocent
devotees. When the people themselves want to be beguiled then
there will not be a shortage of gullibles.29

Premchand has used two terms 'Andh-vishvas' (blind faith) and

'Mithya Dharma' (false religion) in order to denote this type of
faith.30 Both these terms can be encompassed under the broad category
of 'superstition'. He wondered why people associate religious
sentiments to a purely 'natural' and 'scientific' phonomenon. Here
Premchand seemns to make a binary opposition between the domains of
science and faith.
In his non-fictional writings of this period there is recurrence of the
term 'superstition'. The article 'Hindu Samaj Ke Vibhatasav
Darishay' ('Disgusting aspects of the Hindu community') is devoted to
the condemnation of 'superstitious' practices. The sub-titles of this
article are: (a) 'Las Ki Durgati' ('Terrible plight of a corpse')
published in Zamana, March, 1934; (b) 'Andh-Vishvas'
('Superstition') published in Jagaran, 26 March, 1934 and (c) 'Mandiron
Par Aik Darishti' ('A view of temples') published in Zamnana, April,
1934.31
In the first article he attacked the mortuary rituals of the Hindus.
In the opening lines he points out that for eradicating some of the social
evils sanction from the Shastras has to be sought and for others social
legislation.32 Both these are formidable (arduous) tasks. But some of

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114 SOCIAL SCIENTIST

the social evils neither require sanction from the Shastras nor social
legislation for their removal or reform.33 What is required is good will
and refinement (good taste) among the masses and rituals related to the
cremation of dead bodies is one of these evils.34 He praised the
Christians and Muslims for maintaining gravity and gentility on such
occasions while on the other hand the Hindus make lot of noise. And
once the torment of cremation of the dead body is over, the rituals
relating to the resting of dead man's soul in peace start and conclude
with the brahmabhojan (feasting of brahmins). And this part is the
most ridiculous one: "The Pinddan (oblation of cooked rice balls to the
man), brahmins' pretences (brahmins who conduct funeral obsequies for
payment), the biradarimen (community men) enjoying feast while
twisting their big moustaches-this entire pageant makes the Hindu
culture ridiculous."35
Therefore, Premchand made a plea for reforming customs and
practices. He points out that "it is true that the customs live longer
than the Shastras but at the same time it is not denying the fact that
with the passage of time the customs get subdued and there is no reason
why there should not be reform in this regard.36
In the second article 'Andh-Vishvas' ('Blind faith') Premchand
took to task Sadhus and holy men. He exposed the deceit of sadhus and
Mahatrias.37 The opening paragraph of this article sets the tone for
the rest of the article:

In the Hindu society all that is needed to worship is to tie on a

loincloth and smear some ashes over the body. If you become an
expert at Ganja and charas (hemp drugs), so much the better.
After mastering these frauds the Babaji(ascetic) becomes a god.
He may be stupid, deceitful, low, but all this means nothing. He is
a baba. Baba has renounced the world, he has kicked over the
snares of illusion, what more is necessary? Now he is a treasure of
learning, he has reached selilessness. We search for masterful
subtleties in his insane speech, and consider him a treasure-house
of supernatural powers. The next thing that happens is a crowd of
seekers of boon gatherers about him. Merchants and moneylenders,
subordinate court officials, the ladies of prominent families come
to be benefited for a view of him. Nobody wonders how a dull-
witted, evil-looking, licentious man can become a saint just by
putting on a loincloth.38

Premchand laments that "We have lost sense of our discrimination and
are following others blindly without bothering that we may fall in a
well or a ditch."39 Such a society, lacking any rational thinking, would
take a long time to reform itself.40
A large number of groups of babas have emerged to take advantage of
the innocent devotees for their own interests.41 Such lumpen elements

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 REPRESENTATION OF POPULAR CULTURE 115

who can not get any work as wage labourers anywhere, are enjoying
good feasts by becoming babas:

What a disgusting scene is that a fat looking person having

matted locks of hair on his head is sitting keeping the fire
(incense-ascetic's fire) alive and a dozen persons are making their
life meaningful by sitting around him and taking puffs of ganja
(hemp drug)."42

A society which has to support such a large army of parasites is bound

to be impoverished economically as well as intellectually.43
Premchand believed that economic and political independence
would not benefit the peasants/masses as long as they are enslaved by
the superstitious practices.44 Rather, it is possible the peasants' love
for the next world would further accentuate and they would become
more easily prey to the hypocrites. Therefore, he stressed the
importance of integration of cultural and political struggle. He
believed that this was really a very difficult task before the
nationalists. But he concluded this article on an optimistic note by
pointing out that fortunately

now a group of true sanyasis in this country has emerged whose

aim of life is social service and national awakening but so far
they have not been successful in their efforts to awaken the
worthless sadhus. No one knows when that good opportunity
would come when our sadhu samaj would realize its duty and
would understand the influence they wield in awakening the
nation.45

Premchand seems to put all types of sadhus, babas etc along with the
priestly class as corrupt. He ridiculed these babas for pretending to
possess sidhhis (magical powers).46 The tradition of these ascetics
owes its origin to medieval renouncers who professed to have attained
Siddhis (magical powers) owing to their Hathyogic and tantric
practices. It was an anti-brahmin movement, rejuvenated by Buddhist
Siddhacharya and Nath-brahmin movement, rejuvenated by Buddhist
Siddhacharya and Nath-panthi yogis-the followers of Gorakhnath.47
According to Reginald Ray "The Siddhas come not only from the high
castes (brahmana and Ksatriya) but as often from the low; some of the
greatest Siddhas were originally hunters, fishers, herdsmen, weavers,
cobblers, blacksmiths, prostitutes, and even thieves."48 Mahesh
Sharma who has done his work on the Siddh shrines of Himachal
Pradesh points out the popularity of these Siddhis among the lower
castes. According to him "The priests at these centres belonged to the
lowest castes and were distinct from the Pujaris or Brahminical priests,
normally officiating at the sanskritic shrines."49 He further states:

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116 SOCIAL SCIENTIST

The Siddh ideology was anti-caste, anti-ritual and above all

anti-Brahamanic. More specifically, the Siddhs were opposed to
the Brahmanical model of social organisation and their
movement was a protest against sanskritic culture.50

In a different context, Premchand, too, states about the priests

belonging to untouchable caste. Advocating the cause of the
untouchables' entry in the temples he wrote:

Though religion may have been reduced to a superstition among

the educated and the question of entry into temples may seem to
them a needless fuss, yet the majority of the population still
clutches to its heart both its religion and its gods. There are in
fact some gods i.n North India whose priests are our Harijan
brethren. Go into any village and in the quarters of the
untouchable castes of chamars or the bhars, and you will see und
a neemn tree a group of a dozen or so earthem miniature elephants
painted red with a trident beside them and a red banner fluttering
from the tree. This place is sacred to a goddess. The priest of this
shrine will be found to be some chamar or pasi or bhar. The caste
Hindus will visit this shrine with great reverence and offer
puffed sugar balls and lamps and joss-sticks and flowers
there..."51

While attacking groups of babas, Premchand, perhaps, was making a

distinction between genuine ascetics (renouncers) and the fake ones. He
condemned the later.
It seems his attack was mainly on the rituals derived from
brahmanical tradition. Pilgrimage, especially to the sacred centres
spread across the length and breadth of the sub-continent had been a
part of the brahamanical tradition. These type of rituals had been
used as tools by the upper castes for exercising their domination over
the lower castes. This is evident in the story 'Mukti-Marga' (published
in Madhuri, April, 1924).
This story is woven round a casual enmity between a farmer and a
haughty and prosperous shepherd. The farmer Jhingur owns three
bighas of land and belongs to the backward caste. The latter, Buddhu is
a gaderia (shepherd) from a low caste. He becomes an object of envy not
only by Jhingur but also the entire caste, especially the upper-caste.
Jhingur is envious of him and tells Harihar:

When God gives I bow my head and accept it. It's not that I think
no body is equal to me but when I hear him bragging it's as though
my blood starts to bum "cheat yesterday, a banker today." He has
stepped on us to get ahead. Only yesterday he was hiring himself
out in the fields with just a loincloth on to chase crows and today
his lamp's burning in the skies.52

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 REPRESENTATION OF POPULAR CULTURE 117

Jhingur implicates him in the slaughter of a cow. The brahmins also

support Jhingur since they were, too, envious of a low-caste person rising
economically and thus being haughty vis-a-vis upper-castes:

The pious Brahmin also stood to gain from the penance imposed on
Buddhu. So how could he let such an opportunity pass by. Buddhu
was duly charged with the sin of cow-slaughter. The Brahmin
had long envied him; now he had got the chance to settle old
scores. Buddhu's penance comprised three months of begging for
alms, pilgrimage to seven holy places and, to top it all, he had to
feed 500 Brahmins and give away five cows in charity.53

Buddhu had to sell his entire property in order to perform this penance
and was finally reduced to a pauper and became a daily wage-labourer.
In fact the lower-castes themselves were emulating the conservatism
of the upper-castes for upward movement once they achieved economic
status.54 Bernard Cohn conducted his field work among the Chamars of
Madhopur village in Utter-Pradesh from September 1952 to August
1953 has brought out this fact.55 Though he conducted field work amon
the Dalits but this fact is applicable to lower castes and backward
castes as well. "A new emphasis on pilgrimage' writes Bernard Cohn
"has helped to sanskritize Chamar religion even more fully."56 The
process had started during the colonial period. This is brought out by
Premchand in an article titled "Harijano Ke Mandir Parvesh Ka
Prashan":

We have witnessed many downtrodden and depressed classes

(castes) have renounced their previous Sanskaras and have
started wearing up sacred threads. They ... are giving up eating
carrion beef ... Now, they perform Sandhyas (evening prayers),
shradha and read scriptures... They have, now, similar gods as
those of 'twice-bon.5

In "Mukti-Marga" Buddhu also emulates the brahamanical rituals

once be becomes prosperous and expands his house. When Jhingur pays
him a visit Buddhu flaunts the material for performing Satyanarayan
Katha:

Buddhu started showing him the preparation for the house-

warming feast. He had bought large quantities of ghee, sugar,
flour, vegetables. Everything was in readiness for the
Satyanarayan puja. Jhingur was amazed at the grand scale of the
preparations. He had never organized a feast such as this
himself, nor had he known any one else to do so.5s

Buddhu offered a massive feast to the Brahmins.59

Therefore, Premchand attacked the priestly class which
perpetuated these rituals to subjugate the depressed classes.60 Both his

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118 SOCIAL SCIENTIST

non-fictional writings -.s well as fictional narratives are replete with

attack on brahamanical rituals.61 Through his character Moteyram
Shastri who reappeared in various garbs in many of his stories,
Premchand caricatured brahmin priests.62
Premchand earned the wrath of the Hindu communalists for writing
such stories.63 Saraswati's joint-editor, Shrinath Singh, attacked
Premchand in his article 'Gharina Ka Pracharak Premchand'
(Saraswati, December, 1933). The charge was that "Premchand had
been spreading through many of his works hatred against the
brahmins, besides indulging generally in an utterly unrealistic and
false depiction of life in the villages, which was comparable only to
the images of India presented by Kipling and Katherine Mayo."64 The
immediate provocation for Singh had "probably been a recent story of
Premchand's' Sadgati."65 Shrinath stated that if in fifty years from
then, Premchand's books were to be taken as representative of this age,
and readers of his books would then think that Hindus of this age, and
in particular the Brahmins, "led a life full of hatred... that the
Brahmins of India were the most tyrannical, selfish, hypocritical and
deserved to be hated."66 In his turn Premchand in an article titled
'Jivan Me Gharina Ka Sthan' defended hatred "as a natural emotion
and an effective and valid literary tool".67 But this only brought forth
a fresh attack on him from one Jyoti Prasad Mishra 'Nirmal'. Replying
to him, Premchand frankly acknowledged that "he had indeed been
constantly attacking priests and religious touts"68 and even added that
"had he the strength to do so he would gladly have devoted his entire
life to the cause of ridding the society of these parasitical vermins."69
He went on to declare that "the damage done to the Hindu community
by these religious hypocrites had been a hundred times greater than
what had been done by the Muslims!"70 Premchand complained to
Banarasi Das Chaturvedi against Nirmal's attack on him:

He has accused me of impugning Brahmins as a class, simply

because I have ridiculed some of the hypocrisies of these priests,
mahants and religious loafers. He calls them Brahmins little
realising how much they are discrediting decent Brahmins. My
ideal of a Brahmin is based on sacrifice, service, whoever he may
be. ...These pujaris and pandas are a curse on Hindu society and
are responsible for our degradation.71

Premchand declared that he was not "prepared to insult the noble

and high title of Brahmin by applying it to each and every money-
grabbing priest."72 According to him only those who are "selfless,
truthful" and practice "renunciation", deserve to be called brahmins."73
The true brahmins in his scheme of things were : Mahatma Gandhi,
Nehru, Malviyaji, Sardar Patel and Swami Sharadhanand.74 "A
Writer" said Premchand "who wants to see good conduct, congeniality

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 REPRESENTATION OF POPULAR CULTURE 119

and national unity in the nation cannot afford to be apathetic to the

fraud played upon the society in the garb of religion."75 Therefore,
"the more hatred is preached against such an anti-social, anti-
national, inhuman organisation, the less it is."76

II

Premchand has also represented in one of his stories "Muth" ("The

ritual of first of death' published in Maryada, January, 1922) how a
popular ritual controlled by the low caste (a Harijan) exercised control
over a member of the upper caste.77 It indicates that the higher castes
also could not dissociate themselves from the matrix of popular
worldview. Let us briefly analyse this story. Jaypal, a doctor though
talented, is not able to earn much in his practice as a physician. He is
so much thrifty that he does not allow even his old mother to go for a
ritual bathing in the Ganges, what to talk of other places of
pilgrimage, since it would involve huge expenditure.78 As a result of
his miserliness there was no peace and happiness in his domestic life.
The only exception was his old maid servant, Jagia. She had nursed the
doctor since his childhood and therefore was so attached to this house
that inspite of heavy odds she was not willing to leave his house. Her
only ambition in life was to go on pilgrimage once in life. One day an
amount of Rs 500/- is stolen from the Doctor's Almira and he consults an
Ojha (a sorcerer, belonging to a chamar caste) to trace the thief. The
Ojha informs him that it is stolen by someone from his own household.
The Doctor requests him to send Muth. On reaching his house he
narrates the entire story to his family members and threatens them to
teach a lesson to the one who has stolen the money. At night his maid
servant Jagia starts getting fits and all the members of the family are
worried. The Doctor believes that Muth has started working. Earlier
he did not believe in these rituals but now he is wonderstruck to see this
miracle. He runs to Ojha's house and requests the old lady to send him
to his house. Though the old lady knows that Buddhu has not yet sent
Muth but she feigns that it is risky to recall the Muth once it is
invoked. Finally she settles to do the job for Rs 250/-. The Ojha heals
the patient but first extracts Rs 500/- as fees. And the Doctor feels verv
happy and learns a lesson and gladly offers the old maid servant the
same amount for performing pilgrimage.
It is evident from the story how these popular beliefs dominated the
psyche of the people and how a lower caste person was empowered by
this belief and he uses this power to balance the pervasive dominance
of high caste. Therefore, there does not seem to be binary opposition
between the domains of rationality and unreason, the domains of
science and faith. There is complexity involved here.

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120 SOCIAL SCIENTIST

III

In order to discern Premchand's perception of the relationship between

the dominant culture and the popular culture it is worthwhile to study
the nature of the politics of the elite (nationalist intelligentsia) and
that of the popular classes. We have to study to what extent the
popular movements as represented by Premchand in his works are
autonomous and to what extent they are hegemonised by the elite and
what is the nature of this hegemony exercised by the nationalist
intelligentsia.
The characters representing the nationalist intelligentsia are:
Premashankar in Premasharam, Vinay in Rangbhumi, Chakaradhar
in Kayakalap and Amarkant in Karambhumi. They are idealistic
educated young men who make efforts to identify themselves with the
peasants/tenants and thus establish a degree of rapport among them.
They try to exercise their hegemony over the popular classes. Thus
Premashankar in Premasharam opens an ashram primarily to conduct
experiments in agriculture and teach the village folks to be self-
reliant. He inculcates a sense of discipline among them. It has the
desired impact. The village people who come under his influence stop
stealing, shed away lethargy, stop gambling, give up the habit of
drinking and become thrifty.
Vinay in Rangbhumi devotes himself entirely to selfless service of
the poor, teaches them to renounce colonial courts and settle their
disputes in panchayats. He thus becomes their popular leader.
Chakaradhar in Kayakalap organises a Kisan Sabha to make the
peasants aware of their rights and as a result begar is almost
eliminated.
Amarkant in Karambhumi sets before himself a programme of social
reform and devotes himself to it selflessly. The main aspects of this
programme are: (a) the spread of education; (b) cleanliness; (c) removal
of the evil of drinking; and (d) the removal of the custom of eating the
carrion beef. He starts a school for the children. The impact on school-
going children is expressed in these words:

Now they keep themselves neat and tidy, seldom take recourse to
lies, lame excuses and abuses. They do not steal from their houses
and are less obstinate and perform household duties readily.79

What all of these educated leaders have been propagating, in fact, are
the ideals of civilisation. Their work among the peasants/tenants
amounts to their uplift, their moral and physical improvement. The
ideas of 'discipline', 'order', 'cleanliness', 'hygiene', 'health', etc are
related to the civilising discourse.80 Thereby implanting middle class
values on the level of popular culture, they were exercising nationalist
hegemony.81 Pierre Bourdieu has argued that the apparently
superficial reformation of manners is in fact one of the most powerful

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 REPRESENTATION OF POPULAR CULTURE 121

ways in which a culture inculcates its metaphysical, moral and

political scheme of things.82
These leaders channelised the peasants' energies into a non-violent
form of struggle for achieving their rights. How far the nationalist
intelligentsia was successful in implanting its hegemony? A study of
Premchand's fictional narratives brings out a complex picture. The
fictional narratives are not monological but dialogical.83 According to
Bakhtin there are plural possibilities of a text.84 In a fictional
narrative there are several possible narratives at work. In
'polyphonic' novels not one voice but multi-voices exist.85 If we view
history from the perspective of the marginal the later assumes central
importance. The marginal narrative within a fiction might have the
possibilities of symbolic subversion of the dominant narrative.
Thus in Premasharam, Rangbhumi, Kayakalap and Karambhumi
the peasants subjected to nationalist intelligentsia's hegemony, at
times, transgress and subvert this hegemony.86 But at these crucial
junctures the nationalist intelligentsia intervene to stop these
subversive activities.87 However when the peasants/tenants and
popular classes struggle for their rights without being led by the
educated leaders a different picture emerges. Thus in Premasharam the
peasants protest in defence of their traditional rights over the common
water tank and pasture land when these rights are threatened by the
landlord. It leads to a spontaneous revolt, leading to the murder of
Karinda.88 This type of protest in defence of traditional rights can be
termed in the words of E.P. Thompson as 'moral economy'.89 This is an
alternative concept of order.
In Rangbhumi the rebellion in defence of traditional rights is
launched by a beggar, Surdas who is blind. It is significant that Surdas
is an untouchable. In the novel it is the narrative weaved around
Surdas that 'interpellates'90 us most as compared to other narratives
the novel.
Surdas is the embodiment of "traditional" Indian culture. He owned
a plot of land which is used as a grazing field for cattle. Children used
it as a playground. John Sevak wants to buy it for establishing a
cigarette factory. But Surdas refuses to sell it because: (a) "It is the only
thing that I have inherited from my ancestors", he said, "and I will
have to hang my head in shame if I sell it for gain."91 (b) He hopes to
build a well and a dharamshala on this plot,92 which he hopes would
be a sort of a memorial for him after his death, otherwise how would
people know who this blind beggar was.93 If the land is sold his name
would bring ill repute.94 For this purpose he saved five hundred rupees
out of the alms he collected. (c) The people in his neighbourhood
utilised this land for grazing their cattle. If he sells his land "where
would the animals graze" since there is no vacant land nearby.95 "Why
should the poor cows die for the sake of a factory", he asks himself.

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122 SOCIAL SCIENTIST

Finally and most importantly Surdas is afraid of the immoral

consequences of industrialisation296 "A cigarette factory", he says, "can
be built only on my dead body".97 But the land is finally acquired by
John Sevak.98 But Surdas sacrifices his life fighting in defence of the
community's rights.
Premchand delineated this narrative from the point of view of the
oppressed. Perhaps Premchand had realized that the critique of
Icommon sense' had to be developed from within the oppressed groups
without it being inculcated by the nationalist intelligentsia. Godan
may be cited as one of these examples. Here, there is no educated
leader, working among and organising peasants. The critique of
'common-sense' does emerge from within the peasantry itself. The
category 'common-sense' has been derived from Antonio Gramsci.99 The
ideas of 'common-sense' is to be understood not in its everyday usage, but
as ":the conception of the world which is uncritically absorbed by the
various social and cultural environments in which the moral
individuality of the the average man is developed,100 It is "the
spontaneous philosophy of the multitude."101 It is a conception of the
world with which the subordinate classes rationalize their place in
the world. Thus Hori in Godan rationalises the inequality in terms of
the actions performed in previous life. He believed it is created by God:

God creates men great or small. Wealth is a reward for penance

and devotion. Those rich people are enjoying happiness because of
their good works in the last life. We built up no merit, so how can
we expect pleasures now.102

But Hori's son Gobar does not accept this and provides a critique of
Hori's 'common-sense.'103
The Peasants/tenants in Godan utilise the festival of Holi as a
means for expressing their protest against the dominant sections of the
society. The peasants/tenants though leading a very miserable life as
a result of everyday oppression and acute poverty, celebrate all the
festivals with great fun:

Neither the threats of the moneylenders nor the curses of the

agent could restrain these celebrations. Nor did it matter if there
was no grain in the house, no clothes on one's back, and no money in
one's purse. The instinctive joy of life could not be suppressed. To
live without laughter would have been impossible.'04

The Holi festivities in the village of Belari usually took place in front
of Nokheram's (the karinda cum moneylender) house. It was there
"that the bhang was prepared and the colour thrown and the dancing
carried on."105 But this time, however, Gobar drawn all the young
people of the village to his door, and Nokheram's place gets deserted.
Gobar had saved some money while working in the city and returns to
his village on this occasion. He appropriates the 'public space' which

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 REPRESENTATION OF POPULAR CULTURE 123

was used earlier by the moneylenders. In front of Gobar's house the

young people crush bhang, roll betel leaves and mix coloured powders.
In the evening the tenants perform Nakal (imitation):

people started gathering to watch the fun long before dark.

Crowds of spectators poured in from the neighbouring villages
also. By ten O'clock, three or four thousand people had
assembled, and not even standing room was left.106

The performers imitate and ridicule the moneylenders. Their private

lives, business dealings, cheatings, scandals all become targets of
ridicule. To illustrate one of the performance:
The Scene opened with the farmer coming, falling and weeping at
the master's feet. The thakur very reluctantly agreed to give the loan.
After the document had been prepared, he handed over five rupees.
The farmer was taken aback and said,

'But this is only five, master.'

'That's not five. It's ten. Go home and count it.'
'No, your honour, it's five.'
'One rupee goes for my tip, right?'
'Yes, your honour.'
'And one for writing up the note?'
'Yes, your honour.'
'And one for the official form?'
'Yes, your honour.'
'And one for commission?'
'Yes, your honour.'
'And one for the interest?'
'Yes, your honour.'
'Plus five in cash. Does that make ten or doesn't it?'
'Yes, your honour. Now please keep the other five also.'
'Are you crazy?'
'No, your honour. One rupee is a donation to your younger wife,
and one rupee is for your senior wife. One rupee is to buy betel
leaves for your younger wife to chew, and one is to buy them for
your senior wife. That leaves only one rupee-and it can go for your
funeral arrangements'107

The author comments:

Although the jokes were nothing new and the caricatures were
familiar, Girdhar's acting was so amusing and the audience so
unsophisticated that they laughed at any thing. The show kept
going all night, allowing oppressed hearts to feel cheered with
vicarious revenge.108

Thus the festival of Holi becomes a site of subversion.109

"Throughout North and Central India" writes C.J. Fuller, "temporary

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124 SOCIAL SCIENTIST

reversal is always a central theme in Holi."110 Writing about the Holi

festival in a village Kishan Garhi, located across the Jumna from
Mathura and Vrindavan, Mckim Marriott remarks:

The idiom of Holi thus differed from that of ordinary life...

this was an order precisely inverse to the social and ritual
principles of routine life. Each riotous act at Holi implied some
opposite, positive rule or fact of everyday social organization in
the village...112 Throughout Kishan Garhi, then, humiliation is
piled upon those who rule the roost for the rest of the year.113

The jokes in Godan become a vehicle for criticism. Sigmund Freud in

jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious deals specifically with the
motives of jokes and postulates two types of jokes: jokes that have a
purpose (tendentious), and those that do not have a purpose and are an
end in themselves (innocent):114

Where a joke is not an aim in itself...There are only two purpose

that it may serve... It is either a hostile loke (serving the purpose
of aggressiveness,satire, defence) or an obscene (serving the
purpose of exposure').1"5

Freud writes that "by making out enemy small, inferior,despicable or

comic,we achieve in roundabout way the enjoyment of overcoming
him". 116 When "external circumstances" do not permit political
criticism,jokes become

especially favoured in order to make aggressiveness or criticism

possible against persons in exalted positions who claim to exercise
authority. The joke then represents a rebellion against authority,
a liberation from its pressure.1 17

'Carnival' writes Bakhtin, "celebrates temporary liberation from the

prevailing truth of the established order".118 Carnival laughter is
"licensed affair", "a permissible rupture of hegemony ""1 as well as a
vehicle for social protest,120 a means of projecting counter hegemony on
the part of the subordinate classes of the society. It may often act as
"catalyst and site of actual and symbolic struggle."''21 In Godan the
peasants/tenants by means of performance of Nakal (imitation)
symbolically invert the relationships between the dominant and the
dominated. Barbara Babcock defines "symbolic inversion" as

an act of expressive behaviour which inverts, contradicts,

abrogates, or in some fashion presents an alternative to commonly
held cultural codes, values and norms be they linguistic, literary
or artistic, religious, social and political.122

The critique of 'common-sense' is represented very emphatically in one

of Premchand's last stories, 'Kafan' (published in 1936). It is a good
example of the critique of the 'common-sense' provided by the

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 REPRESENTATION OF POPULAR CULTURE 125

subordinate/oppressed/Dalit sections of the society. Ghisu and

Madhav belong to the depressed caste (untouchable) and are landless
agricultural workers. They generally shirk work. The author comments
"Madhav was such a loafer that whenever he worked for a half hour
he'd stop and smoke his pipe for an hour"'123 indicate symbolic
resistance of the weak against the powerful.124 It is true that they are
insensitive to a woman's suffering. Thus, instead of attending to
Madhav's wife who is dying of labour-pain they enjoy eating roasted
potatoes.125 The author's comments justify this type of mentality in a
society where the rich thrive at the cost of the deprived.126
The good imagery is very prominent in the story. Ghisu remembers
having taken good food only once in his life time, that is, on the
occasion of Thakur's barat (marriage).127 And he enjoys narrating to it
his son.128 They beg money for Madhav's wife's kafan (shroud) and
instead of buying one they enter a tavern and spend the money on good
food and drink.129
Ghisu, while enjoying this food and drink says:

'Yes', son, she'll go to heaven. She didn't torment anybody, she

didn't oppress anybody. At the moment she died she fulfilled the
deepest wish of all our lives. If she doesn't go to heaven then will
those big fat people go who rob the poor with both hands and
swim in the Ganges and offer holy water in the temples to wash
away their sins?.130

Food is generally associated with popular culture. But here it is not

that Madhav and Ghisu are gluttons. They remain without food for
days together and only on rare occasion get a chance to get good food
and therefore they derive carnival pleasure out of this, and subvert the
seriousness of the occasion-131

IV

Premchand did not represent popular culture as an autonomous one,

rather he represented culture as something marked by a changing
relationship between the dominant and the subordinate social groups.
He emphasised the ingenuity of ordinary people in coping with the
ideas imposed from above and interpreting these ideas in their own
way. Premchand, on the one hand attempted to regulate the taste of
the masses by changing some of the 'popular' cultural practice, on the
other hand he recovered some of the popular cultural forms which were
authentic and uncontaminated and thus recovered the voices of the
historically inarticulate. These authentic popular cultural forms were
represented as alternate cultural forms and as such as tools for counter-
hegemonic project on the part of the subordinate sections of the society
vis-a-vis the dominant groups.

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126 SOCIAL SCIENTIST

NOTES AND REFERENCES

1. 'Kahani-Kala' in Kuchh Vichar, Allahabad, 1985, p. 33; also see Premnchand to

Jainendra, 17 Dec, 1930, in Amrit Rai and Madan Gopal, eds, Chitthi Patri, vol. 2,
Allahabad, 1978, p. 14; Amrit Rai, ed, Premchand Smriti, Allahabad, 1982, p. 63;
'Upanayas' in Kuchh Vichar, p. 50; vividh-prasang, vol. III, Allahabad, 1978, p.
35.
2. See Premchand's Presidential address at the first convention of the Progressive
Witers' Association, April, 1936, in Kuchh Vichar, pp. 5 -25; also see Premchand
to Keshoram Sabharwal, 3 Sept. 1929, in Chitthi Patri, vol. 2, p. 207; Premchand
Smriti, op, cit, p. 223; and 'Upanyas' in Vividh-Prasang, vol. III, p. 36.
3. C.J. Fuller, The Camphor Flame: Popular Hinduism and Society in India, New
Delhi, 1992, pp. 5 -6.
4. 'Siraf-Aik-Avaz', .Gupat-Dhan, vol. i, ed, Amrit Rai, Allahabad, 1978, p. 142.
5. Ann Grodzins Gold, Fruitful Journeys : The Ways of Rajasthani Pilgrims, Delhi,
1989, p. 136.
6. ibid, p. 137.
7. Surinder Mohan Bhardwaj, Hindu Places of Pilgrimage In India (A Study in
Cultural Geography), Berkeley, 1973, pp. 168 -72.
8. My use of concept of discourse is influenced by Hayden White, Tropics of Discourse:
Essays in Cultural Criticism, Balfimore, 1978, p. 4.
9. 'Siraf-Ali-Avaz', op. cit, p. 142.
10. ibid, p. 141.
11. ibid, p. 142.
12. I have borrowed the concepts 'Liminality' and 'Communitas' from Victor Turner,
Dramas, Fields and Metaphors, Ithaca, 1974, p. 166.
13. Cited in E. Alan Morinis, Pilgrimage In The Hindu Tradition: A Case Study of
West Bengal, Delhi, 1984, p. 255.
14. Quoted by E. Alan Morinis, ibid, p. 256.
15. 'Siraf-Aik-Avaz', p. 143.
16. ibid.
17. ibid, emphasis added.
18. E. Alan Morinis, op. cit, p. 246.
19. 'Siraf-aik-Avaz', p. 148.
20. ibid.
21. ibid.
22. ibid.
23. ibid, p. 147.
24. ibid.
25. David Gross, "Lowenthal, Adorno, Barthes Three Perspectives on Popular
Culture", Telos, 45, Fall, 1980, p. 130.
26. Kayakalap, Allahabad, 1980, p. 7.
27. Amrit Rai, ed, Vividh-Prasang, vol. iii, Allahabad, 1962, p. 149.
28. ibid, p. 149.
29. ibid, p. 159.
30. ibid, p. 149.
31. ibid, pp. 154 -62.
32. ibid, p. 154.
33. ibid.
34. ibid.
35. ibid, p. 156.
36. ibid.
37. ibid.
38. Quoted by Robert O.Swan, Premchand of Lamhi Village, London, 1969, p. 97 quoted
at Foot Note no. 44.

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 REPRESENTATION OF POPULAR CULTURE 127

39. Vividh-Prasang, vol. III, p. 157.

40. ibid.
41. ibid, p. 158.
42. ibid, p. 159.
43. ibid.
44. ibid.
45. ibid, p. 160.
46. ibid, p. 157.
47. See G.W. Briggs, Gorakhnath And The Kanphata Yogis, (Reprint), Delhi, 1973.
48. The Encyclopaedia of Religion, vol. ed, Mircea Eliade, New York, 1987, p. 123.
49. Mahesh Sharma, 'Marginalisation and appropriation : Jogis, Brhamins and Sidh
Shrines', The Indian Economic and Social History Review, vol. XXXIII, No.1, Jan-
March, 1996, p. 76.
50. ibid.
51. Quoted by Amrit Rai, ed, Premchand: A Life, an abridged version of Kalam Ka
Sipahi, English translation by Harish Trivedi, New Delhi, 1982, pp. 277 -78.
52. 'The road to salvation' in David Rubin (English Translation), Premchand
Deliverance and other Stories, New Delhi, 1988, p. 24.
53. 'Mukti-Marga', Mansarovar, vol. III, Allahabad, 1979, p. 251.
54. Ranajit Guha, "Dominance Without Hegemony and Its Historiography" in Ranajit
Guha, ed, Subaltern Studies, vol. VI, Delhi, 1992, p. 272.
55. Bemard Cohn "Changing Status of a Depressed Caste" in in Bernard Cohn, An
Anthropologist Among the Historians and other Essays, Delhi, 1994, p. 280.
56. ibid, p. 281.
57. Vividh-Prasang, Vol. II, Allahabad, 1978, p. 439.
58. Rakhshanda Jalil, Translated, The Temple And the Mosque, Delhi, 1992, p. 119.
59. ibid.
60. Vividh-Prasang, vol. II, pp. 470 -76.
61. See Godan, op, cit, pp. 222, 301; Karambhumi, Allahabad, 1981, p. 41.
62. See 'Satyagraha', Mansarovar, Vol. III, pp. 292 -307; 'Guru-Martar' ibid, pp. 217 -
20; 'Nimantaran', Mansarovar, vol. V, Allahabad, 1978, pp. 14 -35;
'Manushayata-ka-Param-Dharama', Mansarovar, Vol. III, pp. 212 -216;
'Moteyram Shastri', Gupt-Dhan, Vol, II, Allahabad, 1978, pp. 193 -98.
63. See Shivrani Devi, Premchand, Premchand Ghar Main, Delhi, 1956, pp. 148 -49.
64. Quoted by Amrit Rai, Premchand: A Life, op, cit, p. 289.
65. ibid.
66. Quoted by Madan Gopal, Munshi Premchand: A Literary Biography, New Delhi,
1964, p. 352.
67. Amrit Rai, Premchand: A Life, op. cit, p. 289.
68. ibid, p. 289.
69. Vividh-Prasang, Vol. II, p. 471.
70. ibid, p. 471.
71. Premchand to Banarasi Das Chaturvedi, 12 January, 1934, in Amrit Rai and
Madan Gopal, eds, Chhithi Patri, vol. II, Allahabad, 1978, pp. 87 -88.
72. Amrit Rai, Premchand: A Life, op. cit, p. 289.
73. "Sahitya Aur Kala Mein Gha rina Ki Upyogita", Vividh-Prasang, vol. III, p. 59.
74. Vividh-Prasang, vol. II, p. 473.
75. Vividh-Prasang, vol. III, p. 58.
76. ibid, p. 59.
77. 'Muth', Mansarovar, vol. 8, Allahabad, 1980, pp. 114 -129.
78. ibid, p. 114.
79. Karambhumi, p. 142.
80. See Dipesh Chakrabarty, "The Difference-Deferrance of (A) colonial Modernity:
Public Debates on Domesticity in British Bengal", History Workshop, 36, Autumn,
1993, pp. 1 -33.

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128 SOCIAL SCIENTIST

81. According to Partha Chatterjee "The nationalist project was in principle a

hegemonic project", The Nation and Its Fragments, Colonial and post-Colonial
Histories, Delhi, 1994, p. 36.
82. Pierre Bourdieu, Outline of a Theory of Practice (tr. R. Nice), Cambridge, 1977, pp.
94 -95.
83. See M.M. Bakhtin, The Dialogical Imagination, ed, by Michael Holoquist,
Translated by Caryl Emerson and Michael Holquist, Austin, 1981.
84. ibid.
85. M.M. Bakhtin, Problems of Dostoevesky's Poetics, edited and translated by Caryl
Emerson, Manchester, 1984, pp. 7, 11, 1 6, 19 -20, 22, 27, 30, 32, 35 -36, 38, 39, 40, 42,
43, 56, 63, 65 -69, 75, 92, 178, 182, 270 -71, 283, 298, 000 -01.
86. For an analysis of the subversive politics of the marginal/popular classes see Peter
Styllesberge and Allon White, The Poetics and Politics of Transgression, Ithaca,
1986.
87. See Premasharam, pp. 193 -95; Godan, pp. 181 -83; Premasharam, pp. 186 -91;
Kayakalap, pp. 121 -22; Karambhumi, pp. 242 -56.
88. See Premasharam, pp. 180 -82, 198 -206.
89. E.P. Thompson, "The Moral Economy of the English Crowd in the Eightenth
Century", Past and Present, 50, 1971.
90. 'Interpellation' is derived from the work of Louis Althusser, see Louis Althusser,
"Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses", Lenin and Philosophy, translation
Ben Brewer, New Left Books, 1971, p. 153.
91. Rangbhumi, pp. 14, 87.
92. ibid, p. 14.
93. ibid.
94. ibid, p. 84.
95. ibid.
96. ibid, p. 88.
97. ibid, p. 68.
98. ibid, pp. 280 -86.
99. Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, ed. and translated by
Quintin Hoar and Geoffrey Nowell Smith, International Publishers, New York,
1989, pp. 323 -33, 419 -25.
100. ibid, p. 419.
101. ibid, p. 421.
102. The Gift of A Cow, op. cit, p. 31.
103. ibid, pp. 28 -31.
104. ibid, p. 266, emphasis added.
105. ibid.
106. ibid, p. 267.
107. ibid, pp. 267,-268.
108. ibid, p. 268. Emphasis added.
109. See the story "Vichatra Holi", Mansarovar, vol. III, pp. 235 -241. In this story
Premchand makes Holi as a site of resistance against the colonial official, the
District Commissioner. In his absence, the servants of house enjoy drinks kept in
the house and tum it into carnival. The roles here are inverted.
110. C.J. Fuller, The Camphor Flame, op. cit, p. 129.
111. Mc Kim Marriott, "The Feast of Love" in Milton Singer, ed, Krishna: Myths, Rites
and Attitudes, Honolulu, 1966, p. 206.
112. ibid, p. 210.
113. ibid.
114. Cited by Samer S. Shehata "The Politics of Laughter: Nasser, Sadat, and
Mubarek in Engyptian Political Jokes", Folklore, vol. 103: i, 1992, p. 75.
115. quoted by Samer S. Shehata, ibid, p. 75.
116. ibid.

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 REPRESENTATION OF POPULAR CULTURE 129

117. ibid, emphasis added.

118. M.M. Bakhtin, Rabelais and his World (tr. H. Iswolsky), Cambridge, Mass, 1968,
p. 109.
119. Terry Eagleton, Walter Benjamin: Towards a Revolutionary Criticism, London,
1981, p. 148.
120. See Roger Sales, English Literature in History 1780 -1830: Pastoral and Politics,
London, 1983, p. 169.
121. Peter Stallysbrass and Allon White, The Politics and Poetics of Transgression, op.
cit, p. 14.
122. Quoted by Peter Stallysbrass and Allon White, ibid, p. 17.
123. 'The Shroud" in David Rubin, Tr. The World of Premchand, London, 1969, p. 186.
124. See James C. Scott, Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance,
Delhi, 1980.
125. 'The Shroud", op. cit, p. 187.
126. ibid, pp. 187 -88.
127. ibid, pp. 188 -89.
128. ibid, pp. 191 -93.
129. ibid, p. 193.
130. ibid.
131. The idea of food as a vehicle of subversion is derived from M.M. Bakhitn,
Rabelais and His World, op. cit.

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