Sarojini Naidu

Sarojini Naidu

Born	Sarojini Chattopadhyay 13 February 1879 Hyderabad, Hyderabad State, British India
Died	2 March 1949 (aged 70) Lucknow, United Provinces, Indian Union
Alma mater	King's College London (1895–1898); Girton College, Cambridge; University of Madras
Occupation	Poet, politician
Title	Governor of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh
Term	15 August 1947 – 2 March 1949
Predecessor	Francis Verner Wylie
Successor	Hormasji Peroshaw Mody
Political party	Indian National Congress
Movement	Indian independence movement
Spouse(s)	Govindarajulu Naidu (1898–1949)
Children	Padmaja and four others
Parent(s)	Aghore Nath Chattopadhyay, Barada Sundari Debi
Relatives	Harindranath Chattopadhyay, Virendranath Chattopadhyay, Suhasini Chattopadhyay

Sarojini Naidu (born as Sarojini Chattopadhyay), also known by the sobriquet as The Nightingale of India,^[1] was an Indian independence activist and poet. Naidu served as the first governor of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh from 1947 to 1949;^[2] the first woman to become the governor of an Indian state.^{[citation needed]} She was the second woman to become the president of the Indian National Congress in 1925 and the first Indian woman to do so.^[3]^[4]

Early life

Sarojini Naidu was born in Hyderabad to Aghore Nath Chattopadhyay and Barada Sundari Debi on 13 February, 1879. Her father, with a doctorate of Science from Edinburgh University, settled in Hyderabad, where he founded and administered Hyderabad College, which later became the Nizam's College in Hyderabad. Her mother was a poetess and used to write poetry in Bengali. She was the eldest among the eight siblings. Her brother Virendranath Chattopadhyaya was a revolutionary and her other brother, Harindranath was a poet, a dramatist, and an actor.^[5]
Naidu passed her matriculation examination from the University of Madras, but she took four years' break from her studies. In 1895, the "Nizam scholarship Trust" founded by the 6th Nizam – Mir Mahbub Ali Khan, gave her the chance to study in England first at King's College London and later at Girton College, Cambridge.
Naidu met Govindarajulu Naidu, a doctor by profession, and at the age of 19, after finishing her studies, she got married to him. At that time, inter-caste marriages were not allowed, but her father approved the marriage.^[5]
The couple had five children. Her daughter Padmaja became the Governor of West Bengal.

Political career

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

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.^{[citation needed]}
During 1915–1918, she travelled to different regions in India delivering lectures on social welfare, women's empowerment and nationalism. She also helped to establish the Women's Indian Association (WIA) in 1917.^[6] 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.

Congress party president

In 1925, Naidu presided over the annual session of Indian National Congress at Cawnpore (now Kanpur).
In 1929, she presided over East African Indian Congress in South Africa. She was awarded the Kaisar-i-Hind Medal by the British government for her work during the plague epidemic in India.^[7]
In 1930 during the salt satyagraha she was one of the women protesters at the Dharsana salt works, Gujrat. Hundreds of satyagrahis were beaten by soldiers under British command at Dharasana. The ensuing publicity attracted world attention to the Indian independence movement and brought into question the legitimacy of British rule in India.
In 1931, she participated in the Round table conference with Gandhi and Madan Mohan Malaviya.^[8]
She played a leading role during the Civil Disobedience Movement and was jailed along with Gandhi and other leaders. In 1942, she was arrested during the "Quit India" movement.

Literary career

Naidu began writing at the age of twelve. Her Persian play, Maher Muneer, impressed the Nawab of Hyderabad.
In 1905, her first collection of poems, named "The Golden Threshold" was published.^[9] Her poems were admired by many prominent Indian politicians like Gopal Krishna Gokhale.
Her collection of poems entitled "The Feather of The Dawn" was edited and published posthumously in 1961 by her daughter Padmaja.^{[citation needed]}

Death and legacy

Sarojini Naidu died of a heart attack while working in her office in Lucknow on 2 March (Wednesday), 1949.^[10]
She is commemorated through the naming of several institutions including the Sarojini Naidu College for Women, Sarojini Naidu Medical College, Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital and Sarojini Naidu School of Arts and Communication, University of Hyderabad.
Aldous Huxley wrote "It has been our good fortune, while in Bombay, to meet Mrs. Sarojini Naidu, the newly elected President of the All-India Congress and a woman who combines in the most remarkable way great intellectual power with charm, sweetness with courageous energy, a wide culture with originality, and earnestness with humor. If all Indian politicians are like Mrs. Naidu, then the country is fortunate indeed."^[11]
Her 135th birth anniversary (in 2014) was marked by a doodle on Google India's homepage.^[12]

Golden Threshold

The Golden Threshold is an off-campus annexe of University of Hyderabad. The building was the residence of Naidu's father Aghornath Chattopadhyay, the first Principal of Hyderabad College. It was named after Naidu's collection of poetry. Golden Threshold now houses Sarojini Naidu School of Arts & Communication of University of Hyderabad.^[13]
During the Chattopadhyay family's residence, it was the center of many reformist ideas in Hyderabad, in areas ranging from marriage, education, women's empowerment, literature and nationalism.^[14]

Works

By Sarojini Naidu
Library resources about Sarojini Naidu
Resources in your library Resources in other libraries
Online books Resources in your library Resources in other libraries

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

1905: The Golden Threshold, published in the United Kingdom^[15] (text available online)
1912: The Bird of Time: Songs of Life, Death & the Spring, published in London^[16]
1917: The Broken Wing: Songs of Love, Death and the Spring, including "The Gift of India" (first read in public in 1915)^[16]^[17]
1916: Muhammad Jinnah: An Ambassador of Unity^[18]
1943: The Sceptred Flute: Songs of India, Allahabad: Kitabistan, posthumously published^[16]
1961: The Feather of the Dawn, posthumously published, edited by her daughter, Padmaja Naidu^[19]
1971:The Indian Weavers^[20]

Poems

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 (Refer to English textbook of 8th, 9th and 10th [icse]and 6th andhra pradesh textbook)
Ramamuratham
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
Song of Radha,the milkmaid
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 Coromandal Fishers
To youth

the greaters

Wednesday, 8 July 2015