Sarojini Naidu

“Oh, we want a new breed of men before India can be cleansed of her disease.”

Sarojini Naidu (née Chattopadhyay; 13 February 1879 – 2 March 1949) was an Indian political activist and poet. An advocate of civil rights, women's emancipation, and anti-imperialistic ideas, she was an key figure in India's struggle for independence from colonial rule. Naidu's poetry earned her the epithet 'the Nightingale of India', or 'Bharat Kokila' by Mahatma Gandhi.

Sarojini Naidu was born in Hyderabad to a Bengali Brahmin family. Her father, Aghorenath Chattopadhyay, with a doctorate of Science from Edinburgh University (WHOOP WHOOP).  Her mother, Barada Sundari Devi Chattopadhyay, was a Bengali poet, inspiring Sarojini in later life.

The Golden Threshold is an off-campus annex 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 very first collection of poetry. During the Chattopadhyay family's residence, it was the centre of many reformist ideas on issues ranging from marriage, education, women's empowerment, literature, and nationalism. Specifically, the reformist ideas included more power for women in a time where politics in India, especially regional politics, was dominated by men.

She was the eldest of eight siblings. One brother was a revolutionary, and another was a poet, a dramatist, and an actor. Their family was well-regarded in Hyderabad not only for their academic connections but also as Hyderabad's most famous artists at that time. Artistic careers were risky in British India, but their liberal values led the family to pursue them nonetheless.

Sarojini began writing at the age of 12. In 1905, her first collection of poems, named The Golden Threshold was published. Her poems were admired by prominent Indian politicians like Gopal Krishna Gokhale.

Naidu's poem "In the Bazaars of Hyderabad" was published as a part of The Bird of Time with her other poems in 1912. It was well received by critics, who variously noted Naidu's instinctive use of rich sensory imagery. Her poem The Gift of India is also notable for its patriotism and the actual environment of 1915 India.

 

At the age of just 12, Sarojini Naidu passed her examination from the University of Madras, but took four-year break from her studies. In 1895, H.E.H. the Nizam's Charitable Trust founded by the 6th Nizam, Mahbub Ali Khan gave her a chance to study in England, first at King's College, London and then at Girton College, Cambridge.

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“A country's greatness lies in its undying ideals of love and sacrifice that inspire the mothers of the race.”

Sarojini met Paidipati Govindarajulu Naidu - a physician, at the age of 19. He was not from her caste, and thus a marriage would traditionally have been looked down upon but their families approved and they married once Sarojini finished her studies. As Sarojini was from Bengal and Paidipati Naidu was from Andhra Pradesh, theirs was also an inter-regional marriage of East and South India, two different cultures. The couple had five children. (Their daughter Padmaja also joined the independence movement and was part of the Quit India Movement. She was appointed the Governor of the State of Uttar Pradesh soon after Indian independence).

Naidu joined the Indian independence movement soon after the partition of Bengal in 1905. She soon met other such leaders as Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Rabindranath Tagore, Mahatma Gandhi. Together, they set to work inspiring freedom from the colonial regime and social reform.

Between 1915 and 1918, Naidu travelled around India delivering lectures on social welfare, female emancipation and nationalism. She also helped to establish the Women's Indian Association (WIA) in 1917.

Later that year, Naidu also accompanied her colleague Annie Besant (president of Home Rule League and Women's Indian Association) to advocate universal suffrage in front of the Joint Select Committee in London.

Naidu returned to London in 1919 as a part of the All India Home Rule League who set out to advocate for freedom from the British rule. Upon return to India in 1920, she joined Gandhi's Satyagraha Movement. Naidu said in her address, "In the battle for liberty, fear is one unforgivable treachery and despair, the one unforgivable sin."

Naidu also presided over East African and Indian Congress' 1929 session in South Africa.

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

Naidu was arrested, along with other Congress leaders including Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru participating in 1930 Salt March. Sarojini was one of the major figures to have led the Civil Disobedience Movement and the Quit India Movement alongside Gandhi. She was repeatedly arrested by the British and spent over 21 months in jail.

When India finally achieved Independence in 1947, Naidu was appointed as the governor of the United Provinces (present-day Uttar Pradesh), making her India's first woman governor. She remained in office until her death in March 1949.

Naidu died of cardiac arrest on 2 March 1949 at the Government House in Lucknow. Having returned from Delhi on 15 February, she was advised to rest by her doctors. Her health quickly deteriorated, and bloodletting was performed on the night of 1 March after she complained of severe headache. She died following a coughing fit, sung to sleep by her nurse.

Analyzing her political legacy, English writer and philosopher Aldous Huxley wrote, "Mrs. Sarojini Naidu, the newly elected President of the All-India Congress…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."