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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute“The Shroud” is the English title commonly used for Premchand’s short story Kafan. It follows Ghisu and his son Madhav as they sit outside their hut while Madhav’s wife, Budhiya, suffers in childbirth—and then confront the choices they make after she dies. The story’s grimly comic central turn comes when money collected for her shroud is spent on food and drink instead.
What happens in “The Shroud”
Ghisu and Madhav wait outside while Budhiya is in labor inside their hut. She dies, and the two men go to the village asking for money ostensibly to buy the cloth needed to wrap her body for burial. They receive contributions, but instead of buying the shroud, they spend the money on a feast and drink. Near the end, they give food to a beggar, a brief gesture that complicates the story’s otherwise bleak, unsettling close.
That outline identifies the story’s central action without settling how to judge the men. Their conduct can be read alongside the poverty and social relations around them, as well as the story’s grotesque humor. Those angles need not cancel one another out: the shroud is solicited for a woman neglected in life, while the village’s response to her death takes the form of money for her burial.
Why the shroud matters
The title’s object is both practical and morally charged. Budhiya is present in the story through her suffering and death, while Ghisu and Madhav’s public appeal centers on obtaining a proper burial cloth. Their decision to use the money for themselves creates the story’s sharpest contrast between the respectability associated with funeral custom and the conditions in which the family has been living.
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The ending resists a simple verdict. The feast can appear selfish and callous; the men’s claims about what they have endured can also be read against their deprivation. Their offer of food to a beggar adds another unresolved note: it is a moment of giving, but it does not undo what happened to Budhiya. Readers can weigh these details without reducing the story to either a defense of the men or a straightforward condemnation.
When Premchand’s story first appeared
The sources consulted identify 1936 as the story’s first-publication year. One story page gives a more specific sequence: it says Kafan appeared in the Urdu literary magazine Jamia in January 1936 and was followed by publication in Hans; it also describes the story as later giving its title to a collection. The digitized anthology The World of Premchand independently identifies the original title as Kafan and gives 1936 as the first-publication year. Read the story page and its publication account; see the digitized anthology record.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Where to read an English translation of Kafan
There is more than one English translation path, and the translator and edition matter. Frances W. Pritchett’s page presents her English translation and explains that it starts from the first printing, with notes on textual decisions, paragraphing, and punctuation. Read Pritchett’s translation and notes. A university course document also identifies Pritchett’s version as the English text used for study. See the course document.
Another option is the 2004 English translation by Matt Reeck and Aftab Ahmad. An academic study examines translation shifts in that version, which is a reason to attend to translators’ choices—not proof that one translation is categorically better. Read the study of the Reeck and Ahmad translation.
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The available sources do not establish a definitive best translation or verify current retail availability. If you want a print or collected edition, check the edition’s translator, publication details, completeness, and contents to confirm that it includes Kafan. The digitized World of Premchand is a useful lead to a collected volume, but its scan alone does not verify that a current retail copy matches it.
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