Sarojini Naidu, an eminent personality is treasured in the memory of every Indian. As a politician, nationalist leader, poet, activist for women's rights, orator, and celebrity, she was certainly one of the most memorable mighty Indian women.

To Dr Aghorenath and Varada Sundari Chattopadhyay was born an Aquarian baby girl on February 13, 1879 in Hyderabad, India. She was the eldest of eight children born to Chattopadhyays. The baby was named Sarojini - meaning lotus. Sarojini was very lively and pleasant from her very childhood, like a lotus. The only difference between Sarojini and lotus was of their surroundings. A lotus blooms in a puddle whereas baby Sarojini blossomed in an atmosphere of culture and refinement.

Aghorenath was a multifaceted persona - qualities of a philosopher, scientist, poet and teacher rolled into one. He took his degree of Doctor of Science at the University of Edinburgh in 1877, and afterwards studied at Bonn. On his return to India he founded the Nizam College at Hyderabad. He was a great influence on Sarojini. She used to say, "My Father is a dreamer himself, a great dreamer, a great man. I suppose in the whole of India there are few men, whose learning is greater than his." The home of Aghorenath Chattopadhyay was known as the 'Seat of Learning', because there met all men of learning and culture and distinction - moulvis, pundits, European scholars, lawyers, prominent social personalities. Her mother, Varada Sundari was an accomplished cook. Outwardly she seemed self-effacing. But she had a distinct personality of her own. She used to compose lyrics in Bengali and was a good musician. Many languages were spoken in the Chattopadhyay household. The children were raised in a multilingual atmosphere and they could speak and follow all of them. Sarojini's brother Virendranath was fluent in 16 languages. Sarojini herself spoke Urdu, Telgu, English, Persian and Bengali. Curiously enough, she resisted English language for a long time as a child.

Education

The fortunate circumstances of her life cannot be measured in terms of worldly riches but by riches more valuable than gold. Her father, a true academician brought up his children in perfect freedom. She enjoyed unrestricted freedom at home. In a sense, she was brought up in the lap of luxury. Her father employed an English and a French governess with a view to give her an excellent training. She also had a Persian teacher and developed a taste for it. Even as a child she had the luxury of having her own room, her own library, her own furniture and her own wardrobe, of which an average Indian child could not even dream of.

Aghorenath paid special attention to all her requirements. He wanted her to follow his footsteps. But she had distinctly inherited poetical bent from her mother. She wrote, later in one of the letters to Arthur Symons, a literary scholar with whom she had made acquaintance in London, how her inborn poetic instinct struggled to master circumstances, and how it ultimately triumphed : "one day, when I was 11', read the letter, 'I was sighing over a sum in algebra. It wouldn't come right but instead, a whole poem came to me suddenly. I wrote it down. From that day my 'poetic career' began."

At 12, she appeared for her Matriculation examination at Madras. She excelled in the only exam she appeared. She stood first in the entire Presidency.

Poetic Career - The Start

The poetess was all armed and her pen started pouring the pieces, which was not likely of an ordinary child of 13.

After her matriculation, she did not go for a Bachelor's degree. Moreover, her ill health compelled her to discontinue her studies from time to time. From 1892 to 1895 she was back in Hyderabad. She spent time in extensive reading. During this period she developed taste for literature. She had devoured almost all the great English works. Her favorite poet was P B Shelley.

She wrote a long poem a la Lady of the Lake - 1,300 lines in six days. Next year, she wrote an impassioned poetic drama of 2000 lines ! The pen had taken off and did not stop without scripting out a drama. It was a Persian play - Meher Muneer. This play was, probably, influenced by her Persian study. Aghorenath Chattopadhyay, who had always encouraged his daughter's literary activities, got it printed. A few copies of it were distributed among friends. A copy was given to the Nizam of the state in the year 1895. It was Meher Muneer that bagged her a foreign scholarship of £300 a year, with first class passage.

My Joys are not what joys to childhood seem :
Not on unthinking sports my soul was Fed,
But nursed it was on many a brighter them
And high ideas formed my radiant dream.

The lines were written by Sarojini on her 14th birthday. Her outlook on life had matured. When her younger brother died, the sorrow turned into a poem.

Thou cam'st to us two years ago
In June when pink wild roes blow
Beneath the golden skies.
When autumn winds made melody
And yellow leaves fell from the tree
God's angels set their seal on thee
And closed thy lovely eyes.

Love in Life

The grieving period fortunately was balanced by an experience that was joyful and exciting. On a visit to Sholapur, she met a young man named Dr Muthyala Govindrajulu Naidu, who had just passed out of medical college. He was a family friend and treated her while she was ill. Though he was quite senior to her, that never created a barrier between them.

Both Sarojini and Dr Naidu belonged to families with very different cultural backgrounds, and their parents were against this relationship. Sarojini was sent off to England in 1895.