Caste, Fear and Social Injustice: A Critical Analysis of Premchand’s “The Thakur’s Well”

Abstract

Premchand’s short story “The Thakur’s Well” explores caste-based discrimination, deprivation and fear deeply embedded in rural Indian society. Through the characters of Gangi and Jokhu, the narrative presents the Dalit experience of humiliation, exclusion and struggle for basic needs like water. This paper critically examines the story’s themes of caste oppression, economic vulnerability, denial of education and psychological subjugation. It highlights how power and privilege control resources and create constructed notions of “purity” and “contamination” to sustain hierarchy. Using textual analysis, it also reflects on gender, land, fear and the absence of rebellion among the oppressed. The paper argues that Premchand uses Gangi’s failed attempt to fetch clean water not just as a literal act but as a metaphor for systemic denial of dignity and rights.