Page 282 - Communication Processes Volume 3 Communication Culture and Confrontation

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Resisting Colonial ModeRnity:

PReMChand’s Rangabhoomi

ShaShi BhuShan upadhyay

This chapter endeavours to explore the language of resistance deployed
by Premchand—one of the most important writers in the Hindi–
Urdu stream of literature—in opposition to colonial modernity.
Rangabhoomi (The Stage), a major novel by Premchand, written in
the aftermath of the withdrawal of the Non-Cooperation Movement,
serves as a crucial text to elucidate the significant points of this op-
position. It was written between October 1922 and April 1924 and
was published in February 1925 (Goenka 1981: 44–45). It was hailed
as a major achievement, earned Premchand the epithet of Upanyas
Samrat (Emperor of the Novel) and sold many more copies than
any of his earlier novels. It is the largest novel by Premchand and is
regarded as his second best (after Godan [The Gift of Cow]) by critics.
It is with relation to this text that the issues relating to the notions of
modernity and tradition as they operated in colonial Indian context
will be examined. These issues will also be considered with reference
to Premchand’s journalistic writings.
Western modernism, with many of its attributes, arrived in India
in the wake of colonialism. It went through several phases. From
the benevolent and admiring Orientalism of the early days, it soon
developed into the uncompromising Utilitarianism of the nineteenth
century, further flowering into social Darwinism and racism of the
late nineteenth century (see Metcalfe 1998; Stokes 1959). In many