'IMAMBARA' by Sarojini Naidu

Sarojini Naidu,Nightingale of India who wrote poem Imambara 



Dr. Mazhar Naqvi

Sarojini Naidu is better known as a great patriot, politician, orator and administrator. Because of her poetry, she is also fondly called as nightingale of India. However her love for Imam Hussain somewhat remains unknown. This is grave injustice to her, for she openly declared her love for Panjatan and never bothered about political repercussions.  

She was born in Hyderabad. Sarojini belonged to a Bengali family of Kulin Brahamins. Her father, Agorenath Chattopadhyaya had settled in Hyderabad after receiving degree from Edinburgh University. He was founder of Hyderabad College, later christened as Nizam's College. Sarojini’s mother Barada Sundari Devi was a poetess and used to write in Bengali. Sarojini was eldest among the eight siblings and her brother Birendranath was a revolutionary and another brother Harindranath was a poet, dramatist and actor.

Sarojini Naidu was a brilliant student. She was proficient in Urdu, Telugu, English, Bengali, and Persian. At the age of twelve, Sarojini Naidu attained national fame by standing first in order of merit in the matriculation examination of Madras University. Once she was working on an algebra problem but failed to find the solution. She took a break and wrote her first poetry on the book of algebra itself. Her father wanted her to become a mathematician or scientist but Sarojini Naidu was interested in poetry. When her father saw that she was more interested in poetry than mathematics or science, he decided to encourage her. With her father's support, she wrote the play "Maher Muneer" in the Persian language. Dr. Chattopadhyaya distributed some copies among his friends and sent one copy to the Nawab of Hyderabad. Reading a beautiful play written by a young girl, the Nizam was very impressed. The college gave her a scholarship to study abroad. At the age of 16 she got admitted to King's College of England.

On her return, she became an Indian independence activist. Sarojini was the first woman to become President of Indian National Congress. After independence, she became again the first woman to be appointed as Governor of Uttar Pradesh. Being born and brought up in Hyderabad, a city famous for its Muharram rituals, she imbibed the best of Hindu and Muslim culture. She was well-acquainted with the tragedy of Karbala and  greatly inspired by the martyrdom of Hazrat Imam Husain. To show her love for Imam, she even composed poetry on Muharram .her poem titled ‘Imambara’ is being produced here. The wordings of the poem bear testimony to the fact that how much in-depth knowledge Sarojini Naidu  had about Imam Hussain and Karbala. The poem reads like :

Out of the sombre shadows,
Over the sunlit grass,
Slow in a sad procession
The shadowy pageants pass
Mournful, majestic, and solemn,
Stricken and pale and dumb,
Crowned in their peerless anguish
The sacred martyrs come.
Hark, from the brooding silence
Breaks the wild cry of pain
Wrung from the heart of the ages
Ali! Hassan! Hussain!


Come from this tomb of shadows,
Come from this tragic shrine
That throbs with the deathless sorrow
Of a long-dead martyr line.
Love! let the living sunlight
Kindle your splendid eyes
Ablaze with the steadfast triumph
Of the spirit that never dies.
So may the hope of new ages
Comfort the mystic pain
That cries from the ancient silence
Ali! Hassan! Hussain!

Since Yazidis never give up their efforts to ‘belittle’ the significance of Aza-E-Hussain and   spread rumors as if imam Hussain only fought for the sake of empire, it is incumbent upon all Imamis to bring to light characters like Sarojini Naidu who rose above religion and eulogized imam as protector of human values .Zakirs can play the most effective role by quoting all such characters while addressing Majalis .Their effort will surely let the younger generation know about Sarojini Naidu’s contribution to Imami Mission.( References available on request)