Write an essay on Indianness in Sarojini Naidu's poetry.

Write an essay on Indianness in Sarojini Naidu’s poetry.

Write an essay on Nationalism in Sarojini Naidu’s poetry.

Ans.

Depiction of Indian Life in Her Poems

Sarojini’s best poems are a magnificent album of Indian life. She has vividly recreated the multitudinous panorama of Indian life with all its variegated pageants. Her popularity as a poetess rest mainly on her skillful treatment of Indian themes. She sings songs of India, Indian springs and summers, Indian love lore, the pledges of the sons and daughters to the mother to her, Indian streets and bazars, Indian scenes and sights-these she attempts to put into words aglow with the fires of real passion and with a mostly and echo of the English Mase.

Her Knowledge of Hindu Religion

Sarojini Naidu was well versed with Hindu religion and its ancient lore. In her poems-Kali, The Mother, Hymn to Indra, Lord of Rain, The Flute Player of Brindaban, Raksha Bandhan, Suttee, Lakshmi. The Lotus Born, Song of Radha, The Milkmaid and Vasant Panchami. She evinces her knowledge of and insight into Hindu religion. Kali, maidens, brides, mothers, widows, artisans, peasants, victors, vanquished, scholars, priests, poets and patriots bring their humble tributes to the Supreme Mother and implore Her to shower blessings on them.

Her Tremendous Sympathy and Catholicity

As a poetess of India, Sarojini Naidu shows tremendous sympathy and catholicity of outlook. Her country being a land of diverse creeds, Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh and Parsi, she makes her readers conscious of the fraternal co-existence, of unity in diversity, of the fundamental oneness and brotherhood. For example, her poem ‘Call to Prayer’ is confluence of such diversities. Similarly, in a poem entitled Indian Love Song, the poetess eloquently maintains that barriers of caste and creed are swept aside when two hearts meet in love.

Indianness in Her Poems of Nature

Even her poems of Nature are remarkable for their Indianness and are full of references to Indian flowers, birds, dawns, sunsets, and other objects of Nature. The landscape is typically Indian. She draws loving pictures of gulmohurs, golden cassias, nasturtiums, champak blossoms, wild lilies, and the bright pomegranate buds. She offers the fragment odours of henna, sarisha and neem. She gives us a chance to hear the melodies of Indian birds and the buzzing of Indian bees. On several occasions her songs are ablaze with gulmohur and cassia, with the champak and jasmine. We pass through the pomegranate gardens of mellowing down or watch sunsets which are typically Indian, the hot summer sky and the fawns feeding on scented grass and the bees on cactus gold. The Koels invite us to the summer woods. Spring is her favourite season, and flowers are her favourite images. The lotus is quite recurrent.

Pictures of Islam

We have many poems which depict Islam and its life with an unmatched zeal. Wandering Beggars gives a pen picture of Muslim beggars with bowls in their hands, so frequently visible at the steps of Muslims monasteries singing song with the refrain of ‘Y’ Allah”, “Y” Allah”.

The Old Woman presents a touching sight of an old Muslim woman who is lonely and sets out in the street and bears the bright echo of hurrying feet. The Imam Bara and A Song from Shiraz are two other of her poems depicting the Muslim culture.

Depicting Indian Cities in Her Poems

Her poems on Indian cities Nightfall in the City of Hyderabad and Imperial Delhi also reveal her boundless love for India. She spent the major portion of her life in Hyderabad and was familiar with all facts of its life. In the former poem she beautifully describes the spectacle of Hyderabad in Nightfall:

“Round the high Char Minar sounds of gay cavalcades

Blend with the music of cymbals and serenades.”

Portrayal of Radiant Beauty of Spring

Sarojini Naidu has not left any aspect of Indian life untouched. The radiant beauty of spring time when the earth is apparelled in a celestial light especially lures her and she has written many a poem on spring time. Spring, A Song in Spring. The Joy in Spring Time, Vasant Panchami, In A Time of Flowers, The Call of Spring and the Music of Spring are sensuous expressions of the beauties of spring time.

Veritable Picture Gallery of Indian Life

Sarojini’s poetry is a veritable picture gallery of Indian life. She has skillfully presented the complex texture of Indian thought and life, traditions and mythology. Sir Edmund Gosse aptly wrote in his introduction to her poems, “If the poems of Sarojini Naidu be carefully and delicately studied they will be found as luminous in lighting up the dark places of the East as any contribution of servant or historian.”

Thus, Naidu’s contribution to the development of culture and national liberation struggle is invaluable. Her significance and greatness as a poet of India has been acknowledged by all her biographers and critics. Her poems are a class in themselves. They paint India on a wide canvas with broad, bold strokes of vivid colours. The whole wealth of India life and lore, of India’s past and present, has been explored.