Sarojini Naidu
With lutes in our hands ever singing we roam, All men are our kindred, the world is our own.
—Sarojini Naidu, The Golden Threshold
It was the spring of 1930. As the country watched with bated breath, a thin old man with a big stick, walked for twenty-eight days to pick up a handful of salt on a beach.
Mahatma Gandhi had started the Civil Disobedience Movement with the famous march that ended on the beach at Dandi on 6 April. The next day he was arrested, but it did not end the Salt Satyagraha. Other leaders stepped up to lead protestors who continued to defy the salt law.
On 21 May two thousand freedom fighters marched towards the Dharasana Salt Works in Gujarat. Leading them was Sarojini Naidu, the first Indian woman president of the Indian National Congress. With her were Imam Saheb, an old comrade of Gandhi from South Africa, and Gandhi’s son Manilal. The British government was ready to block the marchers and the Salt Works was bounded by barbed wire and ranks of policemen armed with rifles and steel-tipped lathis.
This was a welcome the khadi-clad marchers had expected. As they stood facing the police under a scorching sun, they were armed only with their own courage and the determination of their leader. Before they had started Sarojini Naidu had reminded them of Gandhi’s strict instructions—there was to be no violence. ‘You will be beaten, but you must not resist,’ she had said. ‘You must not even raise a hand to ward off a blow.’
The plan was simple. Small groups of marchers would walk up to the police barricades, try to enter the Salt Works peacefully and go on as far as they were able to walk. All through the morning, bands of freedom fighters strode up to break the police cordon and faced a barrage of lathi blows. They were brutally beaten; many, bleeding from head wounds, fell to the ground. Then groups of volunteers ran up to carry them away to the first-aid station at the back where their wounds were bandaged. Meanwhile, another batch of protestors marched valiantly towards the police. The air was filled with the sickening thud of lathis landing on heads and bodies, cries of pain and the running feet of volunteers. By 11 a.m., 320 protestors had been injured and two killed, but not one freedom fighter had picked up a stone or swung a fist at their tormentors.
Among the horrified spectators was an American journalist, Webb Miller, whose report on the Satyagraha at Dharasana was carried in newspapers around the world. He wrote, ‘In eighteen years of my reporting, in twenty countries, during which I have witnessed innumerable civil disturbances, riots, street fights and rebellions, I have never witnessed such harrowing scenes as Dharasana.’
Gandhi’s Satyagraha proved to the world that non-violence was not for the meek or the coward. In fact, it needed more grit and will power than picking up a gun. A non-violent campaign was much more effective in winning the hearts and minds of the people, who after all had only their own courage to draw on. Sarojini Naidu understood this and she made sure the protest at Dharasana stayed peaceful because she knew that such a show of police brutality would not be forgotten—or forgiven. And it wasn’t. It galvanized the nation, as thousands poured out into the streets to join the freedom struggle, while messages of support and sympathy arrived from across the world.
You would think that someone who led a march of thousands and kept it peaceful in spite of great provocation would be this cool, tough, no-nonsense woman. What is amazing is that Naidu was also a sensitive writer of passionate, lyrical verses, a flamboyant personality who could charm anyone with her witty conversation, and a charismatic orator. Sarojini Naidu shone among the galaxy of leaders of the Congress party and was one of its most popular spokespersons.
Sarojini Chattopadhyay was born in Hyderabad on 13 February 1879, the eldest of the eight children of Aghorenath and Baradasundari Chattopadhyay. Her father was a scientist and educationist who set up the Nizam’s College and pioneered education for women. She grew up in an enlightened household where learning and independent thought were encouraged. Poetry was in Sarojini’s genes as both parents wrote verses and later her brother Harindranath would also win fame as a poet.
In her early years it was poetry that absorbed Sarojini. A precocious scholar, she completed her matriculation at twelve. That year she wrote a 1300-line poem titled ‘Lady of the Lake’ in six days and the next year, a poetic drama of 2000 lines! Her writings began to be published and one of them caught the attention of the Nizam who gave her a scholarship for higher studies in Britain. She studied at King’s College, London, and then at Girton College, Cambridge, and impressed many writers and critics with her poetry.
When her first book of poetry The Golden Threshold was published in 1905, it was praised in The London Times and The Manchester Guardian. The Bird of Time (1912) and The Broken Wing (1917) followed. After this, as the hectic years of the freedom movement intervened, the poet and balladeer was silent for many years. Her last collection The Sceptred Flute came out only in 1937.
The damp and cold English weather led to ill health, so Sarojini returned to India and in 1898 she married Govindarajulu Naidu, a military doctor. The marriage created a sensation not only because an Indian girl was marrying a man of her own choice but also because a Bengali Brahmin was marrying a Telugu of a lower caste. Even her liberal father was not happy with her decision.
The Naidus had four children and Sarojini settled down to domestic life. Soon she was one of the most popular hostesses in Hyderabad, legendary for her sparkling parties where guests were welcomed with poetry, music and animated conversation. Family, friends, social success and fame as a poet—for most women of that time such a life would have been enough, but for the restless and gifted Sarojini Naidu, life was just beginning.
Her life took a new turn when she met the Congress leader Gopal Krishna Gokhale who encouraged her to get involved in public service. Despite her busy and happy life there must have been a yearning somewhere to do more because she responded immediately to his suggestion that she should meet Mahatma Gandhi.
She met Gandhi in 1914 and her life changed. After that her every moment became dedicated to the national movement. She later recalled her first sight of Gandhi, this ‘little man’ with a shaven head, sitting on the floor on a black prison blanket eating squashed tomatoes and olive oil out of a wooden bowl. She had laughed at him, instantly creating a bond with the Mahatma, who always enjoyed a joke.
Over the years the Mahatma and Naidu developed an intriguingly colourful relationship where he was leader, guru and also a beloved father figure. She was among the few who could joke and tease him and get away with it, as she knew how to appeal to his sense of humour. She called herself ‘the licensed jester of the Mahatma’s little court’ and had the audacity to call him ‘Our Mickey Mouse of India’ because of his large ears! A story goes about Gandhi’s insistence on travelling in third-class train compartments and staying in Harijan colonies. Nevertheless, the Congress had to make elaborate arrangements for his visits and once Naidu wryly commented, ‘Bapuji, do you know how much it costs to keep you in poverty?’
For a while Naidu joined Gandhi in South Africa, working among Indians fighting the racist apartheid laws of the government. When she returned to India, she formally joined the Congress and was soon mesmerizing audiences with her powerful speeches. She became an indefatigable speaker, travelling like a whirlwind across the land, addressing huge mass rallies and gatherings of students, women and factory workers. People would come from far only to hear the star campaigner of the Congress. Freedom fighter J. Alva described Naidu addressing a rally: ‘A snap of her fingers and the bustle would be over, a slight look around, she would hold hundreds of mouths shut, that was her commanding influence as “master of the platforms”.’ This relentless travelling was not easy for her as her health was fragile and she often fell ill, yet she soldiered on with indomitable spirit, even going on a triumphant lecture tour of the United States in 1928.
Her achievements were remarkable, considering the status of Indian women in the early years of the twentieth century. Most were uneducated, barely able to read and write, they were married as children and spent their lives behind the purdah. Naidu was the finest example of the new Indian woman that Gandhi dreamed about. She was a wife and mother, a poet, and there she stood before a gathering of thousands speaking with passion and confidence. She inspired innumerable women to walk out of their kitchens, join the freedom struggle and hold high the flag of independence.
Sarojini Naidu’s unwavering focus was on national unity, religious tolerance and the emancipation of women. The British government had given her the Kaiser-i-Hind medal for her social work, which she returned after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. She spoke fluent Urdu and also wrote in it. Among her good friends was Mohammed Ali Jinnah when he was a member of the Congress, and she even dedicated a poem to him. She was also a friend and confidant of Jawaharlal and Kamala Nehru. She and Nehru corresponded regularly and their letters to each other after he became Prime Minister, show how much he trusted her advice.
In 1925, Sarojini Naidu was elected the president of the Indian National Congress, the first Indian woman to hold the post. The only other woman president had been Annie Besant. After her election, Gandhi spoke in her praise and she replied with typical understated wit, ‘In electing me to be the chief among your chosen servants, you have not created a novel precedent. You have only reverted to an old tradition and returned to the Indian woman the classic position she once held …’ She was also one of the founders of the All India Women’s Conference and inspired women like Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay, Vijayalakshmi Pandit and Kamala Menon.
Then in 1930 the Civil Disobedience Movement was launched with that amazing, headline-grabbing march to Dandi. Gandhi had asked her to stay away, but she ignored his request and there are photographs of a smiling Naidu triumphantly marching beside him. Then she led the protest in Dharasana that put the government in a very embarrassing position as it faced worldwide condemnation. Meanwhile, India was in turmoil with protests and demonstrations erupting everywhere. The viceroy Lord Irwin, who had so far ignored every communication from Gandhi, was finally forced to meet him. They signed the Gandhi–Irwin Pact to end the agitation. Soon–after, Gandhi left for the Second Round Table Conference in London and Naidu accompanied him.
The final push towards freedom came in 1942 when, at the Bombay session of the Congress, the Party asked the British to quit India. The next day all the leaders were arrested. Gandhi, Kasturba and Naidu were interned in the Aga Khan Palace in Poona. This was a time of great tragedy for Gandhi because both Kasturba and his secretary Mahadev Desai died here. Naidu, herself in bad health, was always by his side, and when Gandhi started a fast, she nursed him with great love and care.
When the long dreamed of Independence finally came in 1947 Naidu watched in horror as the country was divided and millions died in the communal conflagration. She was deeply saddened that all her years of work trying to build unity and religious tolerance had failed so tragically. At the helm of the newly created Pakistan was Jinnah, who had once been her comrade and friend. Nehru as Prime Minister appointed her as the Governor of the largest province in India—Uttar Pradesh. She accepted the post reluctantly, commenting that it made her feel like ‘a wild bird caged’, but with typical discipline began her duties of ‘Governess’ with energy and flair.
However, the tragedies were still not over. On 30 January 1948 Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated. A devastated Sarojini Naidu said in tribute to the man she called ‘friend and master’: ‘This was the only death great enough for him … Time is over for personal sorrow. Time is here and now to stand up and say: We take up the challenge with those who defied Mahatma Gandhi.’
It was Gandhi who had dubbed her ‘Bharat Kokila’, the Nightingale of India, and that vibrant, inspiring voice was quieted on the 2 March 1949 when Sarojini Naidu died at Lucknow and her last rites took place on the banks of the river Gomti. The dreamer of big dreams had once sung:
‘Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken winged bird
That cannot fly.’
At a time when the political scene of India was crowded with many great leaders, Sarojini Naidu created a special space for herself through her vivacious personality, energy and passion for the cause. In a sea of sober khadi, she would stand out in her gorgeous silk saris, with flowers in her hair and glittering jewellery, enjoying every fine thing of life—poetry, music, good food and lively conversation. In 1922 she had given up her exquisite silks for homespun khadi, but the sympathetic poet who dreamed of wiping away ‘the sorrows of life with the sorrows of song’ knew well how to celebrate living.