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Unit 10: Indian Weavers by Sarojini Naidu

Early Life Notes

She was born in Hyderabad. Sarojini Chattopadhyay, later Naidu belonged to a Bengali family
of Kulin Brahmins. But her father, Agorenath Chattopadhyay, after receiving a doctor of
science degree from Edinburgh University, settled in Hyderabad State, where he founded and
administered the Hyderabad College, which later became the Nizam’s College in Hyderabad.
Sarojini Naidu’s mother Barada Sundari Devi or baji was a poetess. She used to write poetry
in Bengali. Sarojini Naidu was the eldest among the eight siblings. One of her brothers Birendranath
was a revolutionary and her other brother Harindranath was a poet, dramatist, and actor.
Sarojini Naidu was a brilliant student. She was proficient in Urdu, Telugu, English, Bengali,
and Persian. At the age of twelve, Sarojini Naidu attained national fame when she topped the
matriculation examination at Madras University. Her father wanted her to become a mathematician
or scientist but Sarojini Naidu was interested in poetry. Once she was working on an algebra
problem. When she couldn’t find the solution she decided to take a break, and in the same
book she wrote her first inspired poetry. She got so enthused by this that she wrote “The Lady
of the Lake”, a poem 1300 lines long. When her father saw that she was more interested in
poetry than mathematics or science, he decided to encourage her. With her father’s support,
she wrote the play “Maher Muneer” in the Persian language. Dr. Chattopadhyay distributed
some copies among his friends and sent one copy to the Nizam of Hyderabad. Reading a
beautiful play written by a young girl, the Nizam was very impressed. The college gave her
a scholarship to study abroad. At the age of 16 she got admitted to King’s College of England.

England

At the age of 16, she travelled to England to study first at King’s College London and later
at Girton College, Cambridge. There she met famous laureates of her time such as Arthur
Symons and Edmond Gosse. It was Gosse who convinced Sarojini to stick to Indian themes-
India’s great mountains, rivers, temples, social milieu, etc. to express her poetry. She depicted
contemporary Indian life and events. Her collections “The golden threshold (1905)”, “The bird
of time (1912)”, and “The broken wing (1912)” attracted huge Indian and English readership.

Love and Marry
During her stay in England, Sarojini met Dr. Govindarajulu Naidu, a non-Brahmin and a
doctor by profession, and fell in love with him. After finishing her studies at the age of 19,
she got married to him during the time when inter-caste marriages were not allowed. Her
father was a progressive thinking person, and he did not care what others said. Her marriage
was a very happy one.

Work
Her major contribution was also in the field of poetry. Her poetry had beautiful words that
could also be sung. Soon she got recognition as the “Bul Bule Hind” when her collection of
poems was published in 1905 under the title Golden Threshold. After that, she published two
other collections of poems—The Bird of Time and The Broken Wings. In 1918, Feast of Youth
was published. Later, The Magic Tree, The Wizard Mask and A Treasury of Poems were
published. Maharshee Arvind, Rabindranath Tagore and Jawaharlal Nehru were among the
thousands of admirers of her work. Her poems had English words, but an Indian soul.

Politics
One day she met Shree Gopal Krishna Gokhale. He said to her to use her poetry and her
beautiful words to rejuvenate the spirit of Independence in the hearts of villagers. He asked
her to use her talent to free Mother India.

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