INDIAN WEAVERS

                      Indian Weavers
                                        - Sarojini Naidu
     


                                 

Sarojini Naidu, poet, playwright, Indian independence activist was the first woman to become the president of Indian National Congress(1925).Her first poetry collection 'The Golden Threshold' was published in 1905.This work as a poet conferred her the sobriquet ''Nightingale of India" or "Bharat Khokila" by Mahatma Gandhi.

The poem 'Indian Weavers' sheds light on the craft and skill of the Indian weavers and the three phases of human life:birth, youth and death.

Stanza-1

Weavers, with the arrival of dawn, start their laborious work.Newborn rays of sun bring the readers' attention to the beginning of a new life.A garment which is of bright blue colour is being woven for a child who is logged into earth recently.This blue garment is compared to the blue wing of a halcyon(Kingfisher).Colour blue is associated with sky and the ocean which alludes to the early stage of human life, that is childhood, free from worldly sorrows and miseries. Thus full of jubilation and liberty.

Stanza-2
The atmosphere of this standza changes from dawn to dusk.During this stage the child has become a young woman and is ready to face the arrows of life.Youth represents halcyon days of human life hence the garment which is being woven is like the plume of a peacock of purple and green colour.The veil of the queen infact opens to a new world.Days of ambitions,responcibilities, marriage, family and prosperity began to sprout. Colours give life to the poem. Colour Purple is often associated with royalty, power, wealth, wisdom, creativity and extravagance that are in turn the characteristic traits youth possess. Green, the colour of nature, represents the pace of life and the seasonal changes as the life moves forward.

Stanza-3
Ashes to Ashes,Dust to Dust, says so bible!Final stanza unveils the concluding chapter, death. Starry night and moonlight have arrived to bid farewell.Night's serenity and cold effectively bring the mood of the end point of life.The impending doom repels in the nighty air! Calm and quiet, weavers are engaged in making the funeral shroud which is as white as a feather is.A single white cloud is floating lonely in the sky in search of an abode!

Death, the end of everything. Human soul and memories,enveloped in a white cloth are making their way to an invisible world. Sobbing and flowers are seen in the backdrop.Colour white represents peace, calm and new beginnings.Beginning of a new life beyond the life!

Rahul. E. P

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