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The document summarizes the short story "God Lives in the Panch" by Munshi Premchand. It discusses how the story illustrates that a Panch, or village elder acting as a judge, rises above worldly relations and delivers impartial judgments. In the story, two friends, Jumman and Alagu, have disputes brought before the village panchayat. When acting as head Panch, each rules against their friend to ensure justice is served based on morality, law, and ethics rather than personal relationships. The story shows how the panchayat system can impartially administer rural villages and resolve disputes in India.

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Vibgyor Singhvi
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2K views1 page

Essay Type Question

The document summarizes the short story "God Lives in the Panch" by Munshi Premchand. It discusses how the story illustrates that a Panch, or village elder acting as a judge, rises above worldly relations and delivers impartial judgments. In the story, two friends, Jumman and Alagu, have disputes brought before the village panchayat. When acting as head Panch, each rules against their friend to ensure justice is served based on morality, law, and ethics rather than personal relationships. The story shows how the panchayat system can impartially administer rural villages and resolve disputes in India.

Uploaded by

Vibgyor Singhvi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Question: The Panch rises above worldly relations when he sits as a judge.

Show how this has


been illustrated in the story God lives in the Panch.
Answer: Munshi Premchands story God lives in the Panch was written when the British were
ruling India. Premchand, through the story, discusses the practice of the village panchayat . He
uses this story to show that Indians already have a rural judicial system (the panchayat) where
impartial enquiry and judgments are prevalent.
Panchayat is a system of administration of rural India where the elected representatives of the
village take decisions for the development and day-to-day running of the village. When one is
nominated as a panch or as the Head- Panch, he forgets about his earthly ties and gives
judgment according to the norm of morality, legality and ethics.
This story is about two cases in which Jumman Sheikh and Alagu Chowdhari went to the
Panchayat with their disputes. In the first case, Jummans aunt accuses him of neglect and illtreatment. Alagu Chowdhari, Jummans close friend is nominated as the head-panch. In contrast
to what everybody expects, Alagu passes the verdict against Jumman and he is ordered to pay a
fixed allowance every month to his aunt. Here justice wins over friendship. As an outcome of
this, the two friends turn into foes.
In the second case, Jumman sits on the judgment seat in a case involving Samjhu Sahu and
Alagu Chowdhari. Jumman had been seeking an opportunity to take revenge on Alagu.
However, here again truth triumphs. Jumman doesnt allow his personal feelings to swerve him
from the truth. Sitting on the judgment seat, Jumman becomes conscious of his responsibility
and pronounces a fair verdict.
The entire story revolves around the theme that the voice of the panch is the voice of God.
Premchand tries to show that both friends didnt let any relationship matter to them when they
became the head-panch. The role of the panchayat is to deliver justice and one needs to be fair
and impartial in fulfilling this responsibility. A Panch knows neither friend nor foe.

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