''Gaban'' (literally, ''

Embezzlement Embezzlement is a crime that consists of withholding assets for the purpose of conversion of such assets, by one or more persons to whom the assets were entrusted, either to be held or to be used for specific purposes. Embezzlement is a type ...

'') is a

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

novel by

Munshi Premchand Dhanpat Rai Srivastava (31 July 1880 – 8 October 1936), better known by his pen name Premchand (), was an Indian writer famous for his modern Hindustani literature. Premchand was a pioneer of Hindi and Urdu social fiction. He was one of ...

, published by Saraswati Press in 1931. Through this novel, he tries to show "the falling moral values among lower middle class Indian youth in the era of British India", and to what heights a person can get to, to reach the world of elite class, and maintain the false image as a rich person. It tells the story of Ramanath, a handsome, pleasure seeking, boastful, but a morally weak person, who tries to make his wife Jalpa happy by gifting her jewelry which he can't really afford to buy with his meager salary, gets engulfed in a web of debts, which ultimately forces him to commit embezzlement. It is considered Premchand's best work, after ''

Godaan ''Godaan'' ( hi, गोदान, , lit=Cow donation) is a famous Hindi novel by Munshi Premchand. It was first published in 1936 and is considered one of the greatest Hindi novels of modern Indian literature. Themed around the socio-economic ...

''. It was adapted into a 1966 Hindi film with the same name by

Hrishikesh Mukherjee Hrishikesh Mukherjee (30 September 1922 – 27 August 2006) was an Indian film director, editor and writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest filmmakers of Indian cinema. Popularly known as ''Hrishi-da'', he directed 42 films during his car ...

References

Bibliography

External links

*
''Gaban''
at Hindustan Books 1931 novels Hindi-language novels Indian novels adapted into films Novels by Premchand Novels set in British India Oxford University Press books {{1930s-novel-stub