Sarojini Naidu

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Sarojini Naidu
Sarojini Naidu in Bombay (now Mumbai), 1946
Sarojini Naidu in Bombay (now Mumbai), 1946
Born Sarojini Chattopadhyaya
(1879-02-13)13 February 1879
Hyderabad, Hyderabad State, India
Died 2 March 1949(1949-03-02) (aged 70)
Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
Occupation Poet, writer, social activist
Nationality Indian
Alma mater King's College London
Girton College, Cambridge
Spouse(s) Dr. Muthyala Govindarajulu
Children Jayasurya, Padmaja, Randheer, Nilawar and Leelamani
Signature

Sarojini Naidu, also known by the sobriquet The Nightingale of India,[1] was a child prodigy, Indian independence activist and poet. Naidu was one of the framers of the Indian Constitution. Naidu was the first Indian woman to become the President of the Indian National Congress[2] and the first woman to become the Governor of Uttar Pradesh state.[3] Her birthday is celebrated as Women's Day all over India.[4]

Contents

Early Life [edit]

Naidu Hyderabad to a Bengali Hindu Kulin Brahmin family to Agorenath Chattopadhyay and Barada Sundari Devi on 13th February 1879. Her father was a doctor of science from Edinburgh University, settled in Hyderabad State, where he founded and administered the Ahemdabad College, which later became the Nizam's College in Ahemdabad. Her mother was a poetess baji and used to write poetry in Bengali. Sarojini Naidu was the eldest among the eight siblings. One of her brothers Birendranath was a revolutionary and her other brother, Harindranath was a poet, dramatist, and actor. [5]

Education [edit]

Sarojini Naidu passed her Matriculation examination from University of Madras. She took four years break from her studies and was concentrated reading on various subjects. In 1895, she travelled to England to study first at King's College London and later at Girton College, Cambridge. She loved Govindarajulu and married him in 1898. They had four children’s namely Jayasurya, Padmaja, Randheer, and Leelamani, her daughter Padmaja got a position of the governor of West Bengal.

Career [edit]

Indian Freedom Fighter [edit]

Sarojini Naidu (extreme right) with Mahatma Gandhi during Salt Satyagraha, 1930

Sarojini Naidu joined the Indian national movement in the wake of partition of Bengal in 1905. She came into contact with Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Rabindranath Tagore, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Annie Besant, C. P. Ramaswami Iyer, Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru.[6]

During 1915-1918, she traveled to different regions in India delivering lectures on social welfare, women empowerment and nationalism. She awakened the women of India and brought them out of the kitchen. She also helped to establish the Women's Indian Association (WIA) in 1917.[7] She was sent to London along with Annie Besant, President of WIA, to present the case for the women's vote to the Joint Select Committee.

President of the Congress [edit]

In 1925, Sarojini Naidu presided over the annual session of Indian National Congress at Cawnpore. In 1929, she presided over East African Indian Congress in South Africa. She was awarded the hind a kesari medal by the British government for her work during the plague epidemic in India.[8] In 1931, she participated in the Round table conference with Gandhiji and Madan Mohan Malaviya.[9] Sarojini Naidu played a leading role during the Civil Disobedience Movement and was jailed along with Gandhiji and other leaders. In 1942, Sarojini Naidu was arrested during the "Quit India" movement. She was a great freedom fighter and an equally great poet.

Literary career [edit]

Sarojini Naidu began writing at the age of 12. Her play, Maher Muneer, impressed the Nawab of Hyderabad. In 1905, her collection of poems, named "The Broken Exes" was published.[10] Her poems were admired by many prominent Indian politicians like Gopal Krishna Gokhale.

Golden Threshold [edit]

Named “Golden Threshold” after Sarojini Naidu’s much celebrated collection of poems, this premise has a long and wider history. This was the residence of her father, Dr. Aghornath Chattopadhyay, the first Principal of Hyderabad College, later named Nizam College. This was the home of many reformist ideas in Hyderabad - in areas ranging from marriage, education, women’s empowerment, literature and nationalism –apart from being the home of brilliant, radical and creative members of the Chattopadhyay family, which included the anti-imperialist revolutionary Birendranath; maverick poet, actor and connoisseur of music and dance Harindranath; dancer and film actress Sunalini Devi; communist leader Suhasini Devi –and of course the poet, crusader for women’s rights, nationalist leader and ‘Nightingale of India’ Sarojini Devi. Harindranath Chattopadhyay said about this house, where anyone and any ideas were welcome for discussion, “a museum of wisdom and culture,a zoo crowded with a medley of strange types – some even verging on the mystique”. Golden Threshold now houses Theatre Outreach Unit an initiative of University of Hyderabad started in August 2012.

Marriage [edit]

During her stay in England, Sarojini met Dr. Govindarajulu Naidu, a non-Brahmin and a doctor by profession, and fell in love with him. After finishing her studies at the age of 19, she got married to him during the time when inter-caste marriages were not allowed. Her father approved the marriage and her marriage was a very happy one.[5]

The couple had five children. Jayasurya, Padmaja, Randheer, Nilawar and Leelamani. Her daughter Padmaja followed in to her footprints and became the Governor of West Bengal. In 1961, she published a collection of poems entitled The Feather of The Dawn. [11]

Death [edit]

In 1949 she fell ill. Her physician came and gave her a sleeping pill for good sleep. She smiled and said "Not eternal sleep I hope". But that night on March 2nd 1949 she died in her sleep.

Works [edit]

Each year links to its corresponding "year in poetry" article:

  • 1905: The Golden Threshold, published in the United Kingdom[12] (text available online)
  • 1912: The Bird of Time: Songs of Life, Death & the Spring, published in London[13]
  • 1917: The Broken Wing: Songs of Love, Death and the Spring, including "The Gift of India" (first read in public in 1915)[13][14]
  • 1916: Muhammad Jinnah: An Ambassador of Unity[15]
  • 1943: The Sceptred Flute: Songs of India, Allahabad: Kitabistan, posthumously published[13]
  • 1961: The Feather of the Dawn, posthumously published, edited by her daughter, Padmaja Naidu[16]
  • 1971:The Indian Weavers [17]

Famous Poems [edit]

  • Damayante to Nala in the Hour of Exile
  • Ecstasy
  • Indian Dancers
  • The Indian Gypsy
  • Indian Love-Song
  • Indian Weavers
  • In Salutation to the Eternal Peace
  • In the Forest
  • In the Bazaars of Hyderabad
  • Leili
  • Nightfall in the City of Hyderabad
  • Palanquin Bearers
  • The Pardah Nashin
  • Past and Future
  • The Queen's Rival
  • The Royal Tombs of Golconda
  • The Snake-Charmer
  • Song of a Dream
  • The Soul's Prayer
  • Suttee
  • To a Buddha Seated on a Lotus
  • To the God of Pain
  • Wandering Singers
  • Street Cries
  • Alabaster
  • Autumn Song
  • Bangle Sellers
  • The Coromandel Fishers

Quotes [edit]

Naidu writes:

"Shall hope to prevail where clamorous hate is rife,
Shall sweet love prosper or high dreams have place
Amid the tumult of reverberant strife
'Twixt ancient creeds, 'twixt race and ancient race,
That mars the grave, glad purposes of life,
Leaving no refuge save thy succoring face?"[18]

Naidu said, "When there is oppression, the only self-respecting thing is to rise and say this shall cease today, because my right is justice."[19] She adds, "If you are stronger, you have to help the weaker boy or girl both in play and in the work."

Commemoration [edit]

She is commemorated through the naming of several institutions including the Sarojini Naidu College for Women, Sarojini Naidu Medical College and Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital.

References [edit]

  1. ^ "Colors of India". First Woman Governor of a State in India. Retrieved 25 March 2012. 
  2. ^ editor; Ramchandani, vice president Dale Hoiberg; editor South Asia, Indu (2000). A to C (Abd Allah ibn al-Abbas to Cypress).. New Delhi: Encyclopædia Britannica (India). ISBN 978-0-85229-760-5. 
  3. ^ "SRIMATI SAROJINI NAIDU, Governor of UP". National Informatics Centre, UP State Union. Retrieved 25 March 2012. 
  4. ^ "Live India". 
  5. ^ a b "Biography of Naidu". 
  6. ^ compiled; Agrawal, edited by Lion M.G. (2008). Freedom fighters of India (in four volumes). Delhi: Isha Books. p. 142. ISBN 978-81-8205-468-4. 
  7. ^ Pasricha, Ashu (2009). The political thought of Annie Besant. New Delhi: Concept Pub. Co. p. 24. ISBN 978-81-8069-585-8. 
  8. ^ Jain, Reena. "Sarojini Naidu". Stree Shakti. Retrieved 25 March 2012. 
  9. ^ "The Biography of Sarojini Naidu". Poem Hunter. Retrieved 25 March 2012. 
  10. ^ Sarkar, [editors], Amar Nath Prasad, Bithika (2008). Critical response to Indian poetry in English. New Delhi: Sarup & Sons. p. 11. ISBN 978-81-7625-825-8. 
  11. ^ "Family of Naidu". 
  12. ^ Knippling, Alpana Sharma, "Chapter 3: Twentieth-Century Indian Literature in English", in Natarajan, Nalini, and Emanuel Sampath Nelson, editors, Handbook of Twentieth-century Literatures of India (Google books link), Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group, 1996, ISBN 978-0-313-28778-7, retrieved December 10, 2008
  13. ^ a b c Vinayak Krishna Gokak, The Golden Treasury Of Indo-Anglian Poetry (1828-1965), p 313, New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi (1970, first edition; 2006 reprint), ISBN 81-260-1196-3, retrieved August 6, 2010
  14. ^ Sisir Kumar Das, "A History of Indian Literature 1911-1956: Struggle for Freedom: Triumph and Tragedy", p 523, New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi (1995), ISBN 81-7201-798-7; retrieved August 10, 2010
  15. ^ "Jinnah in India's history". The Hindu. 12 August 2001. Retrieved 25 March 2012. 
  16. ^ Lal, P., Modern Indian Poetry in English: An Anthology & a Credo, p 362, Calcutta: Writers Workshop, second edition, 1971 (however, on page 597 an "editor's note" states contents "on the following pages are a supplement to the first edition" and is dated "1972")
  17. ^ "Indian Weavers". Poem Hunter. Retrieved 25 March 2012. 
  18. ^ Shashi, editor-in-chief Padmashri S.S. (2007). Encyclopaedia Indica : India, Pakistan, Bangladesh (1st ed. ed.). New Delhi: Anmol Publications. ISBN 978-81-7041-859-7. 
  19. ^ "About Sarojini Naidu". Sarojini Naidu Government Girls Postgraduate (Autonomous) College Website. Centre for Research and Industrial Staff Performance. Retrieved 26 April 2012. 

External links [edit]

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