Sarojini Naidu

From Freepedia

Sarojini Naidu (February 13,1879 - March 2,1949) was known as Bharata Kokila (The Nightingale of India) and was a freedom fighter and poet. Naidu was the first Indian woman to become the President of the Indian National Congress and the first woman to become the governor of a state in India.

Contents 1 Early Life and Family 2 Freedom Struggle 3 Poetry 4 External Links

Early Life and Family

Sarojini Chattopadhyaya was born in Hyderabad, India as the eldest daughter of scientist-philosopher, Aghornath Chattopadhyaya, and Barada Sundari Devi, a poetess .Her father was the founder of the Nizam College. She spoke Urdu, Telugu, English, Persian and Bengali. Her favorite poet was P.B. Shelley.

At the age of 15, she met Dr. Govindarajulu Naidu and fell in love with him. He was from South India. After finishing her studies at the age of 19, she married him during the time when inter-caste marriages were not allowed. Her marriage was a very happy one. They were married by the Brahmo Marriage Act (1872), in Madras in 1898. They had 4 children: Jayasurya, Padmaja, Randheera, and Leilamani.

Sarojini Chattopadhyaya Naidu
Image:Sarojini.jpg "The Nightingale of India" —Sarojini Naidu
Born	February 13, 1879 Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India
Died	March 2,1949 Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India

In 1905, the first volume of her collection of poems was published as The Golden Threshold. Two more volumes were published: The Bird of Time (1912) and The Broken Wing in (1917).

Freedom Struggle

She joined the Indian freedom struggle, in the wake of the aftermath of partition of Bengal in 1905. During 1903-17 Sarojini came into contact with Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Rabindranath Tagore, Jinnah, Annie Besant, C.P.Rama Swami Iyer, Gandhi and Nehru. She began her political career in 1906. From 1915 to 1918 she lectured all over India on welfare of youth, dignity of labour, women's emancipation and nationalism. After meeting Jawaharlal Nehru in 1916, she took up the cause of the indigo workers of Champaran. In 1925 she was elected as the President of the Congress, the first Indian woman to hold the post.

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

In March 1919, the British government passed the Rowlatt Act by which the possession of seditious documents was deemed illegal. Mohandas Gandhi organized a resistance movement to protest and Naidu was the first to join the movement which the government worked to suppress.

In July 1919, Naidu became the Home Rule League's ambassador to England. In July 1920 she returned to India and on August 1, Mahatma Gandhi declared the Non-Cooperation Movement.

In January 1924, she was one of the two Indian National Congress delegates at the East African Indian Congress.

Naidu arrived in New York in October 1928 and was concerned with the unjust treatment to the Blacks and the Amerindians. Upon her return to India she became a member of Indian Congress High Command.

On January 26, 1930 the National Congress proclaimed its independence from the British Empire.

On May 5, Mohandas Gandhi was arrested. Naidu was arrested shortly thereafter and was in jail for several months. She, along with Gandhi, was released on January 31, 1931. Later that year, they were again arrested. Naidu was eventually released due to her poor health and Gandhi was released in 1933. Naidu shared a warm relationship with Mohandas Gandhi, even calling him "Mickey Mouse".

At the Asian Relations Conference of March 1947, Naidu presided over the Steering Committee. On August 15, 1947, Naidu became the governor of Uttar Pradesh, India's first woman governor and she died in office in 1949.

Poetry

Sarojini Naidu is also well acclaimed for her contribution in poetry. Her poetry had beautiful words that could also be sung. Her collection of poems was published in 1905 under the title “Golden Threshold”. She published two other collections called “The Bird of Time”, and “The Broken Wings”. Later, “The Magic Tree”, “The Wizard Mask”, and “A Treasury of Poems” were published.

Naidu writes:

Shall hope 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 ?

External Links

• Works by Sarojini Naidu at Project Gutenberg
• Biography and Poems of Sarojini Naidu
• Letter written by Sarojini Naidu