Greatly influenced by Gandhi's satyagraha movement, Karmabhumi is set in the Uttar Pradesh of the 1930s. By the beginning of the 20th century, Islam and Hinduism had coexisted in India for over a thousand years, and barring the occasional outbursts of violence, the two religious communities had lived together peacefully and shared strong social bonds except marriage. English education, however, drove a wedge between these two communities. It is against this backdrop that Premchand wrote Karmabhumi.
