A salute to Sarojini Naidu freedom fighter, poet, women's right activist on her 146th birth anniversary.
Sarojini Naidu was called the 'Nightingale of India'. The name was given to her by Mahatma Gandhi. Her poems have been part of Indian school textbooks for years.
She was born to Bengali parents in Hyderabad and topped the matriculation exam aged 12. Went to King's College, London and Girton College, Cambridge.
On her return, she married Govindaraju Naidu, a doctor she met in England. Their inter-caste marriage defied strict social norms in 1898.
She first met Gandhi in England in 1914 on the eve of the First World War and remained his champion till his end.
Naidu was a brilliant orator and first woman president of the Indian National Congress in 1925. She participated in the Salt March from Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi in 1930.
She was imprisoned several times, the longest was 21 months in the Aga Khan Palace with Gandhi and his wife Kasturba. Ba died during her imprisonment there.
Post-Independence, she was appointed governor of Uttar Pradesh. She is India's first woman governor and died in office in 1949.
Photographs curated by Manisha Kotian/Rediff.com
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com
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