ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the tentativeness of Premchand's formative years as a writer which gets manifested for instance through his diametrically opposite portrayals of the village council in The Power of a Curse and The Holy Panchayat. It argues the palpable venality of the village council that one encounter in Godaan; the Power of a Curse itself serves as a counter-narrative to The Holy Panchayat, thereby demystifying the sanctity of the indigenous institution of justice. The chapter raises pertinent questions vis-vis representation in general and realism in particular even as it demonstrates the paradoxes that Premchand enters into, albeit inadvertently, while trying to determine the organising principles of his fiction. There are only a few literary precursors in the Hindi tradition such as Devkinandan Khatri as opposed to the richness and heterogeneity that Premchand encountered through the Urdu language. His Chandrakanta was a phenomenal success owing to the elements of escapade, courtship, mystery and magic that were abundantly present in it.
