Bangle Sellers by Sarojini Naidu




Bangle Sellers 
By Sarojini Naidu


Bangle sellers are we who bear

Our shining loads to the temple fair...

Who will buy these delicate, bright

Rainbow-tinted circles of light?

Lustrous tokens of radiant lives,

For happy daughters and happy wives.


Some are meet for a maiden's wrist,

Silver and blue as the mountain mist,

Some are flushed like the buds that dream

On the tranquil brow of a woodland stream,

Some are aglow with the bloom that cleaves

To the limpid glory of new born leaves


Some are like fields of sunlit corn,

Meet for a bride on her bridal morn,

Some, like the flame of her marriage fire,

Or, rich with the hue of her heart's desire,

Tinkling, luminous, tender, and clear,

Like her bridal laughter and bridal tear.


Some are purple and gold flecked grey

For she who has journeyed through life midway,

Whose hands have cherished, whose love has blest,

And cradled fair sons on her faithful breast,

And serves her household in fruitful pride,

And worships the gods at her husband's side.


About Sarojini Naidu

Sarojini Naidu was an Indian Political Activist, a poet, a proponent of civil rights and women’s emancipation and an anti-imperialist activist.. Sarojini Chattopadhyaya was born in a Bengali family of repute in Hyderabad on 13 February 1879. Her father Aghorenath Chattopadhyaya was the Principal of Nizam College Hyderabad. She was the eldest of her eight siblings. Her brother Harindranath Chattopadhyaya was a poet, a dramatist and an actor. 

She passed her matriculation examination in 1891 when she was twelve and secured the highest rank. She secured her scholarship from the Nizam of Hyderabad and went abroad. She took her university degree from the King’s College London and Girton College Cambridge. 

She married Govindraju Naidu, a physician, the year she returned from abroad. Theirs was an intercaste marriage. 

She was attracted to Gandhi ji and joined the Indian National Movement. She was the first woman President of Indian National Congress and later she was appointed the Governor of United Provinces. 

Since her school days she has been a popular orator. Her first book of poems “The Golden Threshold” was published in London. Her strong nationalist volume of poems The Bird of Time appeared in 1912 which was followed by The Broken Wing, Songs of Love Death and Spring and The song of Palanquin Bearers. She earned her sobriquet, Bharat Kokila from Mahatma Gandhi for her poems. She died from cardiac arrest on 2 March 1949 at the Government House in Lucknow.

The Summary of Bangle Sellers by Sarojini Naidu

This is a beautiful poem on bangle sellers. It belongs to her collection of poems The Bird of Time published in 1912. It is a very simple and beautiful poem. It uses a simple rhyme scheme AABBCC for each stanza. Bangles are considered as lucky signs of good fortune and happiness. Married women wear it as the lucky sign of their married lives. Bangle sellers bear the load of colourful and shining bangles to the temple fair and happy wives and daughters wear these rainbow coloured lustrous bangles, They are lustrous sign of radiant lives. Some bangles are for the wrist of maidens. Some are silver and blue that look like mountain mists. Some look like woods and some look like stream in a jungle. Some bangles are so transparent that they shine like newborn leaves. Some bangles look like sunlit corn that are suitable to a bride in the morning. Some look like the fire that is lit for nuptial rituals and very faithfully convey the heart’s desire of the bride. Some are very tender, shining, clear and tinkling like the ones showing the bride's laughter or tears. Some bangles are purple or grey with flecks of gold. These bangles are for the woman who has half completed her journey of life and whose love has been blessed with a fair coloured son and who is in the cradle or whose hands are fortunate to hold a beautiful son feeding on her breast and who displays the baby with pride and worships God by sitting at her husbands side. 

Multiple Choice Type Questions

1. The poem "Bangle sellers was written by.............

(a) Rabindranath Tagore

(b) Nissim Ezikeil 

(c) Kamala Das

(d) Sarojini Naidu

Answer: (d) Sarojini Naidu 

2. …………..is known as Bharat Kokila .

(a) Lata Mangeshkar 

(b) Asha Bhosle

(c) Subhadra Kumari Chauhan

(d) Sarojini Naidu

Answer: (d) Sarojini Naidu

3. Sarojini Naidu was born on.........

(a) 13 February 1879

(b) 12 February 1779

(c) 11 February 1879

(d) 14 February 1779

Answer: (a) 13 February 1879

4. Sarojini Naidu secured first rank in.........

(a) Matriculation

(b) Graduation 

(c) USA

(d) London

Answer: (a) Matriculation

5. ......................wears gold flecked purple or grey bangles.

(a) A mother

(b) A maiden

(c) A bride

(d) An old woman

Answer: (a) A mother

6. ………….wears bright rainbow coloured tinted bangles.

(a) A happy daughter 

(b) A happy wife

(c) A happy mother

(d) both (a) and (b)

Answer: (d) both (a) and (b)

7. ………………wears bangles shining like sunlit corn.

(a) A mother

(b) A maiden

(c) A bride

(d) An old woman

Answer: (c) a bride

8. Sarojini Naidu was given scholarship by .............

(a) the government

(b) Mahatma Gandhi

(c) The Nizam of Hyderabad

(d) King’s College

Answer: (c) The Nizam of Hyderabad

9.Sarojuni Naidu died from cardiac arrest   ............

(a) on 2 April 1949.

(b) on 2 March 1949.

(c) on 2 May 1949.

(d) on 2 June 1949.

Answer: (b) on 2 March 1949

10. ………….is the first woman president of Indian National Congress.

(a) Indira Gandhi

(b) Sarojini Naidu

(c) Sonia Gandhi

(d) Annie Besant

Answer: ( b) Sarojini Naidu

 

Short Answer Questions

  1. What does poet mean by “lustrous tokens of radiant lives”?

Answer:- The poet calls bangles “lustrous tokens of radiant lives” because they are full of colours and lustre and they represent radiant lives of girls and happy married lives of women.

  1. Who are the carriers of the shining loads to the temple fair?

Answer:- Bangle sellers are the carriers of the shining loads to the temple fair.

  1. For whom do the bangle sellers carry the lustrous tokens of radiant lives?

Answer:- The bangle sellers carry the lustrous tokens of radiant lives for happy daughters and happy wives.

  1. What type of bangles do the sellers carry for maidens?

Answer: For maidens, the bangle sellers carry blue coloured bangle that look like mountain mist. 

  1. What type of bangles do the sellers carry for brides?

Answer: For brides, the bangle sellers carry bright coloured bangle that look like fields of sunlit corn. 

  1. What type of bangles do the sellers carry for mothers with a baby?

Answer: For mothers with baby, the bangle sellers carry purple and gold flecked grey bangles.

  1. Describe different types of bangles carried by bangle sellers.

Answer: The bangle sellers carry delicate, bright, rainbow-tinted bangles that look like circles of light. Some of the bangles look like lustrous tokens of radiant lives. Some bangles  are Silver and blue coloured the look like the mountain mist. Some shine like the buds of a woodland stream. Some look likes the flowers on newborn leaves. Some look lke sunlit corn while others look like marriage fire. Some are  purple coloured and some other look gold flecked grey. 


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Patriotism Beyond Politics and Religion
Location: Satna, Madhya Pradesh, India

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