| Munshi Premchand | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Dhanpat Rai July 31, 1880 Lamhi, Uttar Pradesh, India |
| Died | October 8, 1936 (aged 56) Varanasi, India |
| Pen name | Nawab Rai |
| Occupation | Writer, Novelist |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Notable work(s) | Godaan, Bazaar-e-Husn, Karmabhoomi, Shatranj ke khiladi |
| Spouse(s) | Shivarani Devi |
| Children | Sripath Rai, Amrit Rai, Kamala Devi |
| Signature |  |
pronunciation (help·info) (Hindi: प्रेमचंद, Urdu: منشی پریم چند), (July 31, 1880 – October 8, 1936) was an Indian writer famous for his modern Hindi-Urdu literature. He is one of the most celebrated writers of the Indian subcontinent,[1] and is regarded as one of the foremost Hindi-Urdu writers of the early twentieth century.[2] A novel writer, story writer and dramatist, he has been referred to as the "Upanyas Samrat" ("Emperor of Novels") by some Hindi writers. He was born as Dhanpat Rai and first began writing under the pen name "Nawab Rai". He switched to the name "Premchand" after his short story collection Soz-e-Watan was banned by the British Raj. He is also known as "Munshi Premchand", Munshi being an honorary prefix. 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.
