Bharatiya Kokila - Sarojini Naidu - kavikkuil - Indian political activist, feminist and poet

 

In addition to being a celebrated poet and freedom fighter, Sarojini Naidu was also one of the greatest orators of her era. She was well-known under the name Bharatiya Kokila (The Nightingale of India). Sarojini Naidu was the first Indian woman to hold the positions of governor of a state and president of the Indian National Congress.

On February 13, 1879, Sarojini Naidu was born. Scientist and philosopher Aghoranath Chattopadhyaya was her father. He was the architect of Hyderabad's Nizam College. The poetess who raised her, Barada Sundari Devi, wrote Bengali poetry. The oldest of the eight siblings was Sarojini. Her other brother, Harindranath, was a poet, playwright, and actor, while one of her brothers, Birendranath, was a rebel.

Sarojini Naidu excelled in school. She was fluent in Bengali, English, Telugu, Urdu, and Persian. Sarojini Naidu gained national recognition when she won the Madras University matriculation test at the age of twelve. Sarojini Naidu's father wanted her to pursue a career in math or science, but she preferred poetry. She began producing English-language poetry. Nizam of Hyderabad awarded her a scholarship to study abroad after being moved by her poetry. She left her home country of Canada at the age of 16 to study in England, first at King's College London and then at Girton College, Cambridge. She met notable prizewinners from her era there including Arthur Simon and Edmond Gausse.

Gausse was the one who persuaded Sarojini to limit her poems to depictions of India's magnificent mountains, rivers, temples, and social landscape. She illustrated current Indian life and happenings. Her books "The shattered wing (1912)," "The bird of time (1912)," and "The golden threshold (1905)" earned a sizable following in both India and England. In the days following the 1905 partition of Bengal, Sarojini Naidu joined the Indian national movement. Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Rabindranath Tagore, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Annie Besant, C.P.Rama Swami Iyer, Gandhiji, and Jawaharlal Nehru were among the people she interacted with. She awoke the Indian women. They were brought out of the kitchen by her. She travelled from state to state and city to city to advocate for women's rights. She restored the women's sense of worth in India.

Naidu became the nation of India's first female governor when she was chosen to lead the United Provinces (modern-day Uttar Pradesh) after the country gained independence from British rule in 1947. She served as president until her passing in March 1949.

Palanquin Bearers poem:

Lightly, O lightly we bear her along,

She sways like a flower in the wind of our song;

She skims like a bird on the foam of a stream,

She floats like a laugh from the lips of a dream.

Gaily, O gaily we glide and we sing,

We bear her along like a pearl on a string.

Softly, O softly we bear her along,

She hangs like a star in the dew of our song;

She springs like a beam on the brow of the tide,

She falls like a tear from the eyes of a bride.

Lightly, O lightly we glide and we sing,

We bear her along like a pearl on a string.