Essay Type Question 6s6f4t

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 Premchand’s 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 istration 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, Jumman’s aunt accuses him of neglect and illtreatment. Alagu Chowdhari, Jumman’s close friend is nominated as the head-panch. In contrast to what everybody expects, Alagu es 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 doesn’t 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 didn’t 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.