Right from the Revolt of 1857, often described as India’s first war of independence, to the country’s independence on August 15, 1947, poets writing in both English and Indian languages have written about important events and figures of the freedom movement. Rahi Masoom Raza wrote 1857, a long poem in Urdu also published as Kranti-Katha in Devanagari, which celebrates the bravery of leaders and ordinary people during the Revolt.
Explaining the reason behind writing this poem, Raza wrote, “after the Revolt only misguided people accepted mental defeat but the really far-sighted people continued the fight against the British in some form.” He also highlighted the role of all sections of Indian society in the Revolt, though their reasons for participation in the fight could have been different.
Lyrical expressions of nationalism and patriotic fervour
Maithilisharan Gupt (1886-1964), one of the pioneers of modern Hindi poetry whose work is known for nationalist themes and patriotic fervour, was given the title of Rashtra Kavi by Mahatma Gandhi. In Bharat Bharti (1912), a book of social awakening, he contrasts India’s greatness in education, art and civilisation in the past with the decline he perceived in his time.
Ramdhari Singh Dinkar (1908-1974), another important poet known for taking up the themes of nationalism and patriotism in his poetry, wrote Vijay Sandesh (1928), a collection of poems inspired by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s Bardoli Satyagraha in Gujarat – the agitation against the excessive taxation imposed on farmers by the colonial government.
The early phase of Indian English poetry shows poets talking about their love of the country and asserting their Indian identity. Toru Dutt (1856-1877) turned to Indian legends and ancient Indian history. Henry Louis Vivian Derozio (1809-1831) clearly expressed his patriotism and love of freedom in his poetry. His famous poem “To India: My Native Land” mourns the loss of India’s ancient glory and laments its ‘chained’ state and misery under British rule.
Sarojini Naidu (1879-1949), a freedom fighter and the first Indian woman president of the Indian National Congress, paid tributes to many national heroes in her poetry. She described Gopal Krishna Gokhale as “steadfast, serene, dauntless, supremely wise” in her poem “In Gokhale’s Garden”, and praised the bravery of Bal Gangadhar Tilak in “Lokmanya Tilak”:
Hail dauntless soldier, hail intrepid sage/Who taught our nation Freedom’s Gayatri!
Immutable from the redeeming flame/Your ashes are our children’s heritage,
And all the epic rhythms of the sea/Chant your triumphant and undying name.
Khooni Vaisakhi: A poem from Jallianwala Bagh Massacre
Many Punjabi poets composed powerful verses of protest against the colonial excesses, which angered the British officials. As critic Harbhajan Singh Bhatia notes, Nanak Singh’s “Khooni Vaisakhi”, Vidhata Singh Teer’s “Teer Tarang” and Firoz Din Sharaf’s “Dukh de Kirne” were all banned by the colonial government.
Nanak Singh (1897-1971), who participated in the protest against the Rowlett Act and miraculously survived the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, wrote a moving account of the tragedy in his long poem Khooni Vaisakhi: A Poem from the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre 1919. This was ably translated from Punjabi into English by his grandson, Navdeep Suri, and published in 2019.
The 900-line poem, divided into stanzas, bears titles that trace the narrative arc and emotional tenor of the poem. Some examples include ‘Rowlatt Act Controversy’, ‘The Dead and Wounded’, ‘ The Gathering in Jallianwala Bagh’, ‘Brig. Gen. Dyer Arrives, Gunfire Begins’, and ‘People Wailing as They Bring the Corpses of Loved Ones’.
In a very poignant tone, Nanak Singh captures the wailing of parents, wives, sisters, and presents the harrowing account of cremation and burial of dead bodies:
Clutching lifeless bodies of precious sons/Parents mourn the abject horrors of the day/ My child, oh! Wake up just once more/What makes you sleep in a place so grey?
He adopts a tone of extreme anger while addressing Gen. Dyer:
Shame on you, you merciless Dyer
What brought you to Punjab, O Dyer?
Not a sign of mercy unleashing such horror
How badly were you drunk, O Dyer?
You came here thirsting for our blood
Will a lake of it fill your greed, O Dyer?
An important feature of Khooni Vaisakhi in its English translation is the addition of an essay titled “The Sins of the Great-Grandfather”, written by Justin Rowlatt, the great-grandson of Sir Sidney Rowlatt, the author of the infamous act. Justin Rowlatt expresses his horror and shock at the massacre, calling the Rowlatt Act “a draconian piece of legislation”. “I feel deeply ashamed of my connection to this appalling episode”, he wrote.
From Hasrat to Bismil: Couplets that exhort the nation
There is also a very strong note of protest against colonial rule in Urdu poetry. Hasrat Mohani (1875-1951) is critical of the oppressive laws that were used to persecute people:
Naam se qaanuun ke hote hain kya kya sitam
Jabr be zere niqab dekhiye kab tak rahe
(How long/will this persecution last/under the garb of law?/Let us see./How long/will this tyranny stay hidden/under cover?/Let us see) (Trans. Surinder Deol)
He exhorts his countrymen to remain optimistic about India’s independence:
Ai k najaat-e hind ki dil se hai tujh ko aarzu
Himmat-e sar buland se yaas ka insidaad kar
(For India’s freedom,/ which is your heart’s desire,/you have to keep your morale high,/and avoid the feeling of despair.) (Trans. Surinder Deol)
Bismil Azimabadi (1901-1978), a freedom fighter and poet, wrote the ghazal “Sarfaroshi ki tamanna” in 1921 after the Jallianwala Bagh tragedy. This ghazal became very popular after Ram Prasad Bismil (1897-1927), a freedom fighter and one of the founders of Hindustan Socialist Republican Association, recited it while facing his execution in 1927 for the Kakori train robbery:
Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai
Dekhna hai zor kitna baazu-e qaatil mein hai
(The desire to sacrifice my life for my land/is supreme in my heart./we have to see how much force/is there in the arms of the murderer.) (Trans. Surinder Deol)
War cry of Progressive Writers
Almost all poets associated with the Progressive Writers’ Movement spoke against colonialism, communalism, and conservatism. Displaying his Marxist leanings, Makhdoom Mohiuddin (1908-1969) wrote “Ye Jung hai Jung-e Azadi” in which he emphasised the battle of workers, labourers, and the persecuted people to achieve independence.
Asrarul Haq Majaz (1911-1955), usually celebrated for his romantic poetry, prefers a flag to the aanchal of his beloved in one poem:
Tere maathe pe ye aanchal to bahut hi khuub hai lekin
Tu is aanchal se ik parcham bana leti to achchha tha
(The corner of your aanchal/ on your forehead looks beautiful,/but it would have been much better/if you had made a flag/out of this material.) (Trans. Surinder Deol)
In his book India’s Freedom Struggle and Urdu Poetry: Awakening (2022), translated by Surinder Deol, famous Urdu critic Gopichand Narang states four reasons for Urdu’s importance during the freedom struggle. First, it was the most popular and most widely used language.
Second, many prominent freedom movement leaders knew Urdu well and used this language to address the masses. Third, several revolutionaries composed verses in Urdu. Fourth, it had many great poets “who composed poems that quickly became songs of freedom”.
The book is divided into two parts. In the second part, Narang “highlights the poetic contributions of four leading poets of the freedom movement: Durga Sahai Suroor Jahanbadi, Josh Malihabadi, Tilok Chand Mehroom, and Firaq Gorakhpuri”.
Post read questions
How did the poetry in various Indian languages amplify the patriotic war cry of revolutionaries during India’s freedom struggle.
In what ways did poetry during the freedom movement appeal to diverse groups of people by blending romantic, religious, and revolutionary imagery?
How do you think the participation in the fateful massacre in Jallianwala Bagh shaped the emotional tone and narrative style of poets like Nanak Singh?
Why was Urdu such a potent medium for mobilising people during the freedom struggle, and how did its popularity intersect with the multilingual character of the movement?
(Mohammad Asim Siddiqui is a Professor in the Department of English at Aligarh Muslim University.)
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From the Revolt of 1857 to the country’s independence on August 15, 1947, Indian poets like Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, Hasrat Mohani, Ramdhari Singh Dinkar, Sarojini Naidu amplified the voice of freedom struggle. 
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