Sarojini Naidu, one of the prominent figures who came forward in India's struggle for Independence, passed away on March 2, 1949, due to a cardiac arrest. Naidu is popularly known as ‘The nightingale of India’.
Sarojini Naidu born on February 13 1879 in Hyderabad to Aghorenath and Sundara Devi Chattopadhyay. The political activist and poet was garnered with the title 'the Nightingale of India', or 'Bharat Kokila' by Mahatma Gandhi because of colour, imagery, and lyrical quality of her poetry.
Naidu was an inspiring woman who did several things to bring change in society that still inspires many people. A proponent of civil rights, women's emancipation, and anti-imperialistic ideas, she was an important figure in India's struggle for independence from colonial rule.
Remembering the 'Nightingale of India' with some of the lesser-known facts about her
- Born in Hyderabad, Sarojini Naidu belonged to a Bengali Brahmin family with her ancestral roots in Bangladesh. Aghorenath Chattopadhyay was the principal of the Nizam's College with a doctorate of Science from Edinburgh University.
- Her mother, Barada Sundari Devi Chattopadhyay, was a poet and used to write poetry in Bengali. Naidu was the eldest among her eight siblings.
- Sarojini Naidu started her literary career at the age of 12. She gained recognition with her play, 'Maher Muneer'. As a young child, she wrote a 1,300 line-long poem, 'The Lady of the Lake'.
- After finishing her studies, she married Paidipati Govindarajulu Naidu - a physician from Andhra Pradesh. The couple has five children.
- During the plague epidemic in India, the British government awarded her the 'Kaisar-i-Hind' medal for her work. However, after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre she returned the award in protest.
- In 1925, Sarojini Naidu was appointed as the first woman President of the Indian National Congress and later the first woman to be a governor of a state. She was appointed as the governor of the United Provinces, known as Uttar Pradesh today.
- Naidu worked closely with Mahatma Gandhi during the many movements he launched to end the British rule in India.
- She played a pivotal role during the Civil Disobedience Movement. She also faced arrest in 1942 during the "Quit India" movement. Naidu also contributed to the drafting of the Indian constitution.
- She was the first woman governor of the country.
- She remained an active part of Indian politics even after Independence. She was the first woman Governor of the then United Provinces — from 15 August 1947 till her death on 3 March 1949.
- Sarojini Naidu suffered a heart attack and died on March 2, 1949, at Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh.
- In the year 1961, more than a decade after her demise, Naidu's daughter Padma published a collection of poems that were titled, 'The Feather of The Dawn'.
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