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Poet, political activist and politician, and mother to highly successful individuals. Sarojini Naidu was these and all more. Born in Hyderabad to non-residential Bengali parents, Sarojini’s course in life was as if charted from birth. Aghornath Chattopadhyaya, her father, was a PhD in Science from Edinburgh University, and the founder of Hyderabad College, later Nizam’s College. Her mother, Barada Sundari Devi was an extremely educated woman, and known for her poems written in Bengali. Naidu was the first woman to become a Governor when she began officiating as the Governor for the Provinces of Agra and Oudh, and she is also the first woman president of the Indian National Congress.
Sarojini was groundbreaking in many ways. A veritable child prodigy, Sarojini Naidu lernt to walk and talk at a very young age. Possibly under the influence of her mother’s prowess with the lyrical word, Naidu was enamoured with poetry from a very young age. According to some historians and biographers, she wrote an epic-fashion poem, consisting of thirteen hundred words, when she was barely into her thirteenth year.
And there was more to come. When she was merely seventeen years of age, Sarojini Naidu embarked on a semi-autobiographical piece of work about a girl called ‘Sunalini’. Evidently, Sunalini is a fictionalised version of the author herself, and, in the novel, Naidu explores the psyche of a young woman reared in a cosmopolitan atmosphere. The novel tells a lot about the kind of upbringing Sarojini enjoyed as a child, and which definitely attributed to the shaping of her personality.
Sarojini Naidu’s family allowed her to enjoy some privileges that were hard to come by in those days. The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were not known for the liberal atmosphere they provided to women. However, thanks to her erudite and enlightened family, Naidu was brought up in an open-minded atmosphere.
So much so, in fact, that she was encouraged by her father to pursue her higher studies abroad when she received the offer after her matriculation examinations. Consequently, Sarojini went on to complete her studies first from King’s College, London, and then from Girton College, Cambridge. It was after the completion of her studies, at the age of 19, that she married Dr. Govindarajulu Naidu, whom she had met a few years earlier. Here, again, she showed extreme grit and yet again her her tendency to avoid the beaten path and tread the treacherous one: her husband belonged to a different caste, and at the time, inter-caste marriages were not just frowned upon, but veritably shunned by the society.
The open-minded slant that is the defining characteristic of Naidu’s writings can be traced back to her childhood. As a young girl growing up in a academic household, she was witness to the enlightened gatherings that took place every evening at her father’s dwelling. From a very young age, Naidu was exposed to the best of academic minds of eclectic ethnicities gathering for discussions at her own home, minds that transcended the religion they were born into.
Sarojini Naidu was lovingly inferred the sobriquet of ‘The Nightingale of India’, and her literary career stands testimony to the aptness of the nickname. Her contributions to Indian literature simply cannot be be overestimated, and she formed the voice for women across cultures in the country. Not to mention the fact that her prolific career- both political and literary- showed the path to many a young woman in her time and beyond.
It was at the tender age of twelve that Naidu first tried her hand at poetry. The first collection of poems to be published from her pen was ‘The Broken Wings’, published in 1905. In those every early buddings, as in her later, more mature works, Sarojini shows an unbelievable mastery over the English language . She was writing at a time when the emphasis was very much of lyricism and imagery, and her poems, to say the least, paint pictures in vivid colours and mind boggling details.
Sarojini Naidu was highly influenced by the Romantic poets, and she was very closely associated with the Rhymer’s Club during her stay in England. This association, along with an extensive reading of the Romantic poets, gave Naidu the polish that made her natural talents irresistible to the lover of literature and to the common man alike. The lyricism of her poetry is unparalleled, and it is only a handful of poets who have managed to conjure such intense images of emotions and passions, so much so that it is almost erotic.
Naidu’s political career started off as a prolific and ardent activist for the Indian freedom struggle. The partition of West Bengal in 1905 was the moment of epiphany, following which she stepped into the National Movement. She was influenced by many a prominent figure in the Ntional Movement, Rabindranath Tagore, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Annie Besant and Mahatma Gandhi to name a few.
It was at the encouragement of Gopal Krishna Gokhale that Sarojini Naidu first donned the mantle of a political activist. Gokhale believed that the pen was truly mightier than the sword, and he encouraged Naidu to take up her pen and imbue the people with the patriotic spirit with the help of her powerful prose and lyrical poetry.
As a political activist, the world saw a different side of the poet and academic. Yet, the two sides were strangely and intricately interwoven. The influence of Annie Besant on her philosophy can be seen very strongly in her political career. Extremely vocal against oppression of women and a staunch supporter of woman empowerment and women emancipation, Sarojini Naidu travelled extensively across the country for three years- from 1915 to 1918. During these tours, she delivered fiery lectures on the role of women in the society, the breaking of stereotypes and the need for women and men alike to stand up against the face of the tortures inflicted upon women in the country. She established the Women’s India Association in 1917, and advocated for women’s riht to vote before the Joint Committee in London.
Sarojini’s active and prolific life came to an end when she succumbed to a heart attack while in office, in 1949. Today, the country remembers her fondly and with reverence. There are several institutions named after her, and she shine brightly in the nation’s memory as a “curious combination of so many things… while being a very great national figure, also truly internationalist”, as succinctly summed up by Jawaharlal Nehru.
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