Sarojini Naidu's 'The Bangle Sellers'

Sarojini Naidu (1879-1949), the ‘Nightingale of India’, fiery leader, freedom fighter, social activist, gifted orator, and ambassador of a new India to the world, is loved for her delicate, deep and lyrical poetry drenched in the culture and traditions, the immense beauty and the noblest ideals of India. On Diwali day, 2025, here is a celebrated poem from Sarojini Naidu, capturing the deeply meaningful beauty of an Indian woman, of Indian heritage and festive traditions, of Indian nature, and of the Indian way of life.

The Bangle Sellers

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.

-              Sarojini Naidu