Nirmala is very well known literature by Munshi Premchand about the dowry system in India. Nirmala, first published in 1928 is a moving tale of a fifteen-year-old girl "Nirmala" whose life is bartered by the very hands of destiny when she is made to marry an elderly widower – a matchless match. Premchand presents a nuanced mockery of the institution of marriage and that of the patriarchal society with a high degree of reformist outline.
The novel "Nirmala" entirely deals about the life and activities of Nirmala. Nirmala as the protagonist and as the victim conveys some sensitive issues which leave the readers choked under the burden of the tragedy. It documents a change that was occurring in the earlier part of the 1900's and is an introduction of the history of women's rights and the status of women in Indian culture. Moreover "Nirmala", though is perceived as a progressive indictment to the debased patriarchal society, it enables the readers to have an insightful idea about the prehistory of `feminist` thinking in India of these days. It will be of special interest for the lovers of Indian culture and history and possibly of the history of women's rights.
