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Sarojini Naidu

Sarojini Naidu
Sarojini Naidu in Bombay 1946.jpg
Born Sarojini Chattopadhyay
(1879-02-13)13 February 1879
Hyderabad, Hyderabad State, British India
(now in Telangana, India)
Died 2 March 1949(1949-03-02) (aged 70)
Lucknow, United Provinces, India
(now in Uttar Pradesh, India)
Nationality Indian
Alma mater University of Madras
King's College London
Girton College, Cambridge
Occupation Political activist, feminist, poet-writer
Title Nightingale of India; Governor of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh
Term 15 August 1947 – 2 March 1949
Predecessor Francis Verner Wylie
Successor Hormasji Peroshaw Mody
Political party Indian National Congress
Movement Indian independence movement
Spouse(s) Govindarajulu Naidu (1898–1949)
Children Padmaja and four others
Parent(s) Aghore Nath Chattopadhyay, Barada Sundari Devi
Relatives Harindranath Chattopadhyay, Virendranath Chattopadhyay, Suhasini Chattopadhyay , Leela Naidu

Sarojini Naidu (née Chattopadhyay, 1879–1949), also known by the sobriquet Nightingale of India, was a poet and politician. Naidu served as the first governor of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh from 1947 to 1949. She was the first woman to become the governor of an Indian state. She was the second woman to become the president of the Indian National Congress in 1925 and the first Indian woman to do so.

Sarojini Naidu was born in Hyderabad to Aghore Nath Chattopadhyay and Barada Sundari Devi on 13 February 1879. Her parental home was at Brahmangaon in Bikrampur (in present-day Bangladesh). Her father, Aghor Nath Chattopadhyaya, with a doctorate of Science from Edinburgh University, settled in Hyderabad, where he founded and administered Hyderabad College, which later became the Nizam's College in Hyderabad. Her mother, Barada Sundari Devi, was a poet and used to write poetry in Bengali.

She was the eldest among the eight siblings. Her brother Virendranath Chattopadhyaya was a revolutionary and her other brother, Harindranath was a poet, a dramatist, and an actor.

Naidu, having passed her matriculation examination from the University of Madras, took a four-year break from her studies. In 1895, the Nizam Scholarship Trust founded by the 6th Nizam, Mir Mahbub Ali Khan, gave her the chance to study in England, first at King's College London and later at Girton College, Cambridge.

Naidu met Govindarajulu Naidu, a physician, and at the age of 19, after finishing her studies, she married him. At that time, Inter-caste marriages were not allowed, but her father approved the marriage.

The couple had five children. Their daughter, Padmaja also joined the freedom struggle, and was part of the Quit India Movement. She was appointed the Governor of the state of West Bengal soon after Indian independence.


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