Analysis of the story Gulli Danda

The story “Gulli Danda” written by Munshi Prem Chand revolves round many sociological
aspects.

Some of which are:

1. Ethnocentrism
2. A glimpse of Instrumental Rationality
3. Selfishness
4. Protestant Dictum as said by Max Weber
5. Status concern in society

Ethnocentrism- The author, in the starting paragraph of his story gave an expression which
describes the aspect of Ethnocentrism in this story. The author wrote, “हमारे अँ गर् े जी दोस्त मानें
या न मानें मैं तो यही कहँ ग
ू ा कि गु ल्ली-डं डा सब खे लों का राजा है ।” This line itself says the essence of
Ethnocentrism. Ethnocentrism means considering one’s own culture as superior to other cultures.
In the above mentioned line the author wants to say that the sport of Gulli-Danda is the king of
all sports.

Instrumental Rationality-This aspect is there in this story but only for a short time, but in that
short time also it gave impact on readers. The line in the story when the author gives a brief
introduction of Gaya he says, “मालूम नहीं, उसके माँ -बाप थे या नहीं, कहाँ रहता था, क्या खाता था;
पर था हमारे गु ल्ली-क्लब का चै म्पियन।”Here author wants to convey that no matter from which
background was he coming or who were the parents of Gaya, he was always considered to be the
best player among us all.

This line shows the Instrumental Rationality as the author was only concerned with the skills of
Gaya and not the family background or place of residing.

Selfishness-The sense of selfishness is all over in the text. As a reader one can experience this
sense of selfishness in conversation between the two friends, author and Gaya. After they both
quarreled over the game the author said a line, “आखिर मैं ने किसी स्वार्थ से ही उसे अमरूद खिलाया
होगा। कौन नि:स्वार्थ किसी के साथ सलूक करता है । In this line the author clearly says about sense of
selfishness. The author wants to say that everyone does a favor to other for a reason and no one
do it without reason. This statement is in clear consonance with the words of Émile Durkheim.
Durkheim also says that every action is performed for a reason.

Protestant Dictum-Protestant Dictum says, “Work is worship” readers can visualize this dictum
in this story also. Readers can visualize this in line conversation between author and Gaya when
they meet again after 20 years. Author asks Gaya अब कभी गु ल्ली-डं डा खे लते हो? Gaya replies,
“अब तो धं धे से छुट् टी नहीं मिलती। This conversation shows that Gaya is now much centered in
his work that he hardly gets some time for leisurely activities.

Status concern in Society- This aspect has been the central idea of this story. The whole story
revolves around this aspect only. We can see this aspect from time to time in story, for example,
when author and Gaya meet each other after a long time, author wants to give a hug to Gaya but
he was unable to do so because there was a huge status gap between the two. Also, when at the
end of story it is revealed that Gaya was only pretending that he was unable to play well , we can
say that here he did this pretentious act because at the time when author and Gaya were playing
Gaya was inferior to author and therefore he did not wanted to beat author in the game.

-Naman Mishra

B.A.LL.B (first semester)