A Tribute to the Brave and Courageous Sons of India:
Wars have often been glorified in literature. However, The Gift of India is quite different. This poem was penned by a pained poet, Sarojini Naidu over the meaningless massacre faced by the Indian soldiers of the British Army. Approximately one million Indians served in the British army in World War I despite the unwillingness of the Indians. Nearly seventy-five thousand Indian soldiers were martyred on foreign fields, never returning home and about seventy thousand were wounded. The poem offers a tribute to those brave sons of the soil who died serving on the Western Front as well as in Mesopotamia and Gallipoli. It also warns the Imperialist forces not to bend India too much lest they should pay a high price for their fascist deeds.
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| Poem The Gift of India: An Anti-War Poem |
In the poem India is personified as a compassionate and grieving mother who has just lost her brave sons due to the lust of imperialist powers. She addresses the fascist countries in a defiant tone and asks them what else she can render them. The poet is alluding to the plunder of the Indian resources by the British forces. Though India is the vanquished country, she proudly asks what else they require of India.
Mother India's soft and tender feelings for her brave soldiers are seen through the words ‘like pearls’. She likens her brave sons to pearls in oysters. Through the simile she compares the dead soldiers lying in graves in foreign lands to beautiful pearls in oysters. The lines also reveal a mother’s sorrow for her sons as well as her pride in them. She plaintively asks the Western powers not to forget the precious Indian blood that was shed in their cause. They must not forget the precious Indian lives lost in a battle that was not theirs.
Relationship between India and Its People:
In Sarojini Naidu's poem The Gift of India, mother India is the speaker. She thinks all the people of the country as her children—her sons and daughters. That is why she says:
"Lo! I have flung to the East and West
Priceless treasures torn from my breast,
And yielded the sons of my stricken womb.”
She feels the sorrow when her sons die in war and the pride when they do well.
"Can ye measure the grief of the tears I weep
Or the pride that thrills thro' my heart's despair.”
Mother India prays for her children and here in the poem, appeals for the recognition of those who contributed to the war and died there.
“Remember the blood of my martyred sons!”
So, the relation between India and its people is that of a lenient mother and her children.
Reminding the Futility of War:
Though Sarojini Naidu's poem The Gift of India cannot be regarded as an anti-war poem in a strict sense, it undoubtedly gives us a reminder about the uselessness of war. This message mainly comes between line five and line fourteen.
"And yielded the sons from my stricken womb
To the drum-beats of the duty and sabres of doom.”
These lines express the lamentation of Mother India who has lost her young sons in the war.
“They lie with pale brows and brave, broken hands.”
This says how the dead soldiers are lying in their graves far from their motherland, scattered in different countries, like carelessly mown down flowers. Though they were brave and could contribute to the nation's growth, they did not get the care they deserved, now lying with 'broken hands'.
"Can ye measure the grief of the tears I weep
Or compass the woe of the watch I keep?”
Once again the wailing of the mother surfaces. She talks about her grief and woe. And all this has been brought by the war—the futility of war. The words 'far sad glorious vision', 'torn red banners of victory', 'the terror and the tumult of hate' – all contain a certain ironical tone suggesting how useless war can be.
Though the poem is apparently a demand of mother India for accounting the contribution of her sons when the war ends, it gives us a subtle reminder that war can cause no good, after all.