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Naidu Sarojini 1879 - 1949 (70)

We want deeper sincerity of motive, a greater courage in speech and earnestness in action.


QUOTES

In The Bazaars

of Hyderabad



Sarojini Naidu (1879-1949) was an Indian poet and activist for the liberation of her country from the British. Born in Hyderabad on February 13, 1879, her father was a Brahmin philosopher and college principal, her mother was a poet who wrote in Sanskrit and Bengali languages. Her parents founded the first school for girls in Nampally and worked for women's rights in education and marriage. Naidu had seven siblings and was a child prodigy, entering the University of Madras when she was just twelve years old, scoring the highest in the entrance examination. He moved to England at sixteen to study at King's College (London) and then at Girton College (Cambridge). She married in 1898 an Indian doctor who was not a Brahmin; her parents had no problem with the marriage being between different castes. The couple had 4 children. In 1905, Naidu published "The Golden Threshold", her first collection of poems. She also published collections with poems in 1912 and 1917. She wrote primarily in English. In India, Naidu joined the Indian National Congress in 1905, worked with Nehru for workers' rights, in 1916 she met Mahatma Gandhi. She was appointed President of the Indian National Congress in 1925 and was arrested, for the first time, along with other Congress leaders, including Gandhi and Nehru, for participating in the Salt March of 1930.

She emerged as one of the important figures who led the Civil Disobedience Movement in the struggle for independence, facing repeated arrests by the British authorities. In total she spent over 21 months in prison. In 1947 she became Governor of the United Provinces, the first woman to hold that office. After 2 years, on March 2, 1949, she died unexpectedly of a stroke, at the Government House in Lucknow.

Her work as a poet earned her the name "the nightingale of India". She wrote poetry on existential, patriotic, romantic themes, and for children. 'In the Bazaars of Hyderabad' remains one of her most popular poems. In 1914 she was elected a member of the Royal Society of Literature. All of her poems in English have been published under the titles "The Sceptred Flute" (1928) and The "Feather of the Dawn" (1961).