Munshi Premchand was one of the greatest literary figures of the modern Hindi and Urdu literature. It was with the writings of him that the Hindi novel matured into greatness.
He began writing in Urdu and then shifted to Hindi and remained an immensely influential writer in both languages. He drew on the traditional art of Kissa-goi (story telling).
Before Premchand, the Hindi literature was confined to the tales, the stories of magical power, fantasy, etc. His novel Sewasadan (The Abode of Service) published in 1916, first depicted the lives of ordinary people and social issues. Sewasadan dealt with the poor condition of women in society.
Premchand’s novels discussed the realistic issues like child marriage, dowry system, communalism, corruption, zamindari system, debt, poverty, colonialism, etc.
Premchand believed that social realism was the ultimate way for Hindi literature.