Early life[edit]

Premchand was born on 31 July 1880 in Lamhi, a village located near Varanasi (Banaras). His
ancestors came from a largeKayastha family, which owned six bighas of land.[3] His grandfather Guru
Sahai Rai was a patwari (village land record-keeper), and his father Ajaib Rai was a post office clerk.
His mother was Anandi Devi of Karauni village, who could have been the inspiration for the character
Anandi in his Bade Ghar Ki Beti.[4] Premchand was the fourth child of Ajaib Lal and Anandi; the first
two were girls who died as infants, and the third one was a girl named Suggi. [5] His parents named
him Dhanpat Rai ("the master of wealth"), while his uncle, Mahabir, a rich landowner, nicknamed him
"Nawab" ("Prince"). "Nawab Rai" was the first pen name chosen by Premchand. [6]

Premchand (pronounced [mni prem tnd] ( listen)) (31 July 1880 8 October 1936), better

known as Munshi Premchand, Munshi being an honorary prefix, was an Indian writer famous for
his modern Hindi-Urduliterature. He is one of the most celebrated writers of the Indian subcontinent,
[1]
and is regarded as one of the foremost Hindustani writers of the early twentieth century.
[2]
Born Dhanpat Rai Srivastav, he began writing under the pen name "Nawab Rai", but
subsequently switched to "Premchand". A novel writer, story writer and dramatist, he has been
referred to as the "Upanyas Samrat" ("Emperor among Novelists") by 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.