Sarojini Chatterjee (Naidu, after marriage) was perhaps the greatest English language poetess India had ever known. A child prodigy, Sarojini was born to Dr. Aghorenath Chatterjee (Chattopadhaya), an eminent figure in the development of science in India, and the founder of the famous Nizam College of Science in Hyderabad. Her poetic talent was incidentally discovered by her father when she was around 12, and thus started the journey of the Nightingale of India.
Life and achievements
Sarojini was born to a very illustrious and educated Bengali Brahmin family. In addition to her father's great achievements, her mother also composed poetry in Bengali. Her brothers were notable figures as well, namely the great freedom fighterVirendranath Chatterjee (also known as Chatto, who led the Indo-Russian conspiracy for the liberation of India), and the talented actor turned politicianHarindranath Chatterjee.
In addition to being the foremost of English language poets in India, Sarojini was also a notable figure in women empowerment, as well as India's freedom struggle. She presided over the 1925 session of the Indian National Congress, and also participated in the Round Table Conference with Gandhi.
Expressing herself through the powerful medium of her poetry, understandable to the Europeans as well as the Indians, Sarojini meticulously carried out the process of carrying the voice of India as a nation. She spoke of the glory of India, of the misery of common men under colonial rule, the birthright of every Indian to live in a free country. She reminded the people of the nation, that India was not a downtrodden, fallen, uncultured and clueless domain of miserable, defeated people, but India had existed since the birth of civilization, as the shinning beacon of culture, light, wisdom, philosophy and knowledge.
Maybe we're getting overly emotional while stating her role, but without her, we would have lacked much, my fellow friends.
Literary career
What makes Sarojini's poetry special is her fluid expression of Indian culture, thescent of the soil, but in a foreign language. The way she presented the essence of India to the world, can be termed perhaps the best curation or showcasing of the glory of the nation.
Yet, despite using English as her primary medium for composing her poetry, Sarojini never forgot her roots. Her poems speak of the nation that's so very familiar to the Indians, and yet they are fairly enjoyable to non-Indians as well.
If you're not from India, you can know India by reading her poetry.
If you're from India, you can know India better by reading her poetry.
Exemplary pieces
The most famous collection of her poetry, The Golden Threshold is available as a free download from Project Gutenberg. You can grab it from here: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/680
We find her piece Coromandal Fishers to be our favourite. And here it is:
Rise, brothers, rise, the wakening skies pray
to the morning light,
The wind lies asleep in the arms of the dawn
like a child that has cried all night.
Come, let us gather our nets from the shore,
and set our catamarans free,
To capture the leaping wealth of the tide, for
we are the sons of the sea.
No longer delay, let us hasten away in the
track of the sea-gull's call,
The sea is our mother, the cloud is our brother,
the waves are our comrades all.
What though we toss at the fall of the sun
where the hand of the sea-god drives?
He who holds the storm by the hair, will hide
in his breast our lives.
Sweet is the shade of the coconut glade, and
the scent of the mango grove,
And sweet are the sands at the full o' the
moon with the sound of the voices we love.
But sweeter, O brothers, the kiss of the spray
and the dance of the wild foam's glee:
Row, brothers, row to the blue of the verge,
where the low sky mates with the sea.
Perhaps it was Aldous Huxley, the author of Brave New World, who was able describe Sarojini in the best, concise manner, when he said "It has been our good fortune, while in Bombay, to meet Mrs. Sarojini Naidu, the newly-elected President of the All-India Congress and 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 then country is fortunate indeed."
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