Sarojini Naidu's Personal Artefacts Formally Handed Over to University of Hyderabad
University of Hyderabad receives Sarojini Naidu's artefacts at Golden Threshold, preserving her literary and historical legacy.
The University of Hyderabad (UoH) has formally taken possession of the personal belongings and artefacts of Sarojini Naidu, the freedom fighter and poet known as the 'Nightingale of India'. The handover ceremony, titled 'Preserving the poet's legacy', was held at the historic Golden Threshold building in Abids, which was once Naidu's marital home.
During the event, Naidu's will and the Telangana government order transferring the artefacts to the university were presented to Vice-Chancellor J. Anuradha. In her address, Anuradha spoke of her long association with the Sarojini Naidu School of Arts and Communication, which once operated from the building, and described the occasion as the first step toward revitalising the restored heritage space.
Author and Sarojini Naidu Trust trustee Sheela Reddy recounted how she discovered letters and personal items in an Osmania Hospital building, and later gathered rare correspondence and artefacts linked to the freedom fighter. She noted that Golden Threshold was a gathering place for national leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru.
Naidu was the first woman president of the Indian National Congress and the first woman governor of a state in independent India. The university felicitated individuals involved in the preservation and restoration of Golden Threshold, including Sheela Reddy, Papa Rao, Vinod Pavarala, Shaik Jeelani, and Ch. Hanumantha Rao.
The ceremony concluded with a guided tour of the restored building, where guests viewed the artefacts and the conservation work. Officials said the initiative is expected to strengthen Golden Threshold's role as a centre for showcasing Naidu's literary, cultural, and historical legacy.