An Orator in the Grand Style:
Sarojini Naidu was, indeed, an orator in the grand style. She possessed of a rare power of felicitous, colourful and cadenced utterance. On the testimony of her mother, it can be affirmed that no sooner had she learnt to speak she would gather her playmates round her and mounting a chair address them. And she grew up undoubtedly into an orator of the stature of Surendranath Banerjee and Annie Besant. They were pithier, but she among them all was the more enchanting, as of all the three, she alone was a poet.
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| Sarojini Naidu As An Orator |
Her poetry provides warmth and intensity for her thoughts that breathe and words that burn. What we have said of her poetry here is equally and indubitably true of her oratory as well. Her periods (sentences) in poetry and prose both glow with a warmth and intensity of passion, rarely to be found elsewhere. She spoke the language of the poet as she was and thrilled and enchanted her audience. She brought a poetic touch to the otherwise prosaic proceedings of the Parliamentary Joint Select Committee, as its Chairman Lord Selborne, graciously acknowledged after she had addressed it.
Annie Besant and Sarojini Naidu as Orators:
A comparison can be drawn between Sarojini Naidu and Annie Besant as orators, for both were women who belonged to the 20th century and had their sphere activity in India. Annie Besant's utterances were "reason incandescent with passionate conviction". Sarojini Naidu's were "persuasion vivid and iridescent with the play of her imagination and winged with music". The remarks of Anal Home, written some years ago, on recalling a speech of hers from the platform of Indian Social Conference, are relevant to our purpose, hence they need citation here: "As she began a reed-like music of singing voices floated up the vast pandal — it was the venue of the year's session of the Congress—through the hushed silence of the thousands assembled. The cadences of the speech rose and fell like the pearls of a great Church-organ and as she warmed up and spoke of the denial to the Harijans of their human rights and opportunities of life, her voice rose, her frail frame shook, her eyes flashed, and her indignation scorched the arrogance of the priestly clan, which alone she held responsible for the shame of India."
Variety of moods in her speeches:
Her stirring and impassioned periods are adorned with gems of colourful and picturesque phrases, which are piled up, one upon another, and escaped her lips with a voice that seemed to scorn the microphone. But all was not poetry that she spoke. She passed from grave to the gay, from the eloquent to the homely, from the poetic to the playful with an ease and naturalness, which was characteristically her own. She could change the stops deliberately and without an effort on her part to do it. She assumed at one time the role of a dignified Portia addressing the Court of Venice, and, at another time, she played the part of a Pack crowning Bottom with head of an ass. There are thus variegated moods in her speeches which she had the ability to imperceptibly control at will. She could vary her voice and speech in accordance with the mood in which she spoke.
Her speeches are of a patriot and a citizen of the world:
She spoke in her discourses (speeches) with the voice of a poet. They were notwithstanding the speeches of one who was both a patriot and a citizen of the world. Her broadcast from Delhi on the day India became independent, is notably memorable, as there has been none like it since.
"Oh, world of free nations, on this day of our freedom we greet you. Oh, world of nations not yet free, on this day of our freedom we pray for your freedom in the future. Ours has been an epic struggle, covering many years and costing many lives. It has been a struggle, a dramatic struggle. It has been a struggle of heroes chiefly anonymous in their millions. It has been a struggle of women transformed into strength and power like the Kali, the goddess of strength, they worship. It has been a struggle of youth suddenly transformed into power itself, sacrifice and ideals. It has been a struggle of young men and old men, of the rich and poor, the literate and the illiterate, the stricken, the outcast, the leper and the saint."
She went on to speak further— "We are reborn to-day out of the crucible of our sufferings. Nations of the world, I greet you in the name of India, my Mother, my Mother, whose home has a roof of snow, whose walls are of living seas, whose doors are always open to you. Do you seek peace or wisdom, do you seek shelter or succour, do you seek love and understanding, come to us. Come to us in faith, come to us in hope, come to us believing that all gifts are ours to give. Today in the name of India, I give for the whole world the freedom of this India, that has never died in the past, that shall be indestructible in the future, and shall lead the world to ultimate peace."
Eloquence, her greatest contribution to the national struggle:
Her greatest contribution to the national struggle was her eloquence. Men and women, young and old were bewitched, as it were, when she gave to them her clarion-call to rise and build a new India and a new world. No less a person than Jawaharlal Nehru has acknowledged the magic spell she exercised upon him with her eloquence: "What I am to-day is partly due to the inspiration from Sarojini Devi. When I heard her 33 years ago from the platform of the Indian National Congress was greatly thrilled, as I was thrilled later whenever I heard her speak. One who could not be stirred, electrified, and inspired by an eloquence such as hers would, indeed, be dull and impervious to gentle susceptibilities. By dint of her oratorial power, she could move millions to and join in India's struggle for freedom and console the hearts of the poor and the oppressed."