Subramania Bharati 1882-1921
Alternate name(s): Bharatiyar
Date
of birth: December 11, 1882(1882-12- 11)
Place of birth: Ettayapuram, Madras
Presidency, [India]
Date of death: September 11, 1921 (aged 38)
Place of
death: Madras, [India]]
Movement: Indian independence movement
Subramania Bharati (Tamil: ààààààààààà ààààà) (December 11, 1882 - September
11, 1921) was a Tamil poet from Tamil Nadu, India, independence fighter and
reformer. Known as Mahakavi Bharati (the laudatory epithet Maha Kavi meaning
Great Poet in Tamil), he is celebrated as one of India's greatest poets. Bharati
was prolific and adept in both the prose and poetry forms, and his rousing
compositions helped rally the masses to support the Indian independence movement
in South India. Bharati lived during an eventful period of Indian history; his
contemporaries included other prominent leaders of the Indian independence
movement such as Mahatma Gandhi, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Sri Aurobindo and
V.V.S.Aiyar.
Early life
The house in Ettayapuram where
Bharati was bornBharati was born to Chinnasami Subramania Iyer and Lakshmi
Ammaal on December 11, 1882 in the Tamil village of Ettayapuram. Bharati was
educated at a local high school called "The M.D.T.Hindu College". He learnt
music from very young age and at 11 was invited to a conference of Ettayapuram
court poets and musicians for composing poems and songs. It was here that he was
conferred the title of "Bharathi" (Goddess of learning). Bharati lost his mother
at the age of 5 and his father at the age of 16. He married his cousin Chellamal
in 1897, at the age of fourteen. After an early marriage, Bharati, curious to
see the outside world, left for Benares in 1898. The next four years of his life
served as a passage of discovery, when Bharathi discovered a country in tumult
outside his small hamlet. Bharati worked as a school teacher in Madurai
Sethupathy High School (Now a Higher Secondary School) and as a journal editor
at various times in his life.
Nationalist
During his stay in Benares, also known as
Kashi and Varanasi, Bharati was exposed to Hindu spirituality and nationalism.
Bharati's enquiring mind began to see beyond the social taboo superstition that
held sway amidst the orthodox South Indians. In December 1905, he attended the
All India Congress Session held in Benaras. On his way back he met Sister
Nivedita, Vivekanandaâs spiritual daughter, and came under her spell. From her
arose another of Bharatiâs iconoclasm, his stand to recognise the privileges of
women. The emancipation of women exercised Bharatiâs mind greatly. He visualised
the ânew womanâ as an emanation of Shakti, a willing helpmate of man to build a
new earth through co-operative endeavour. [1]
During this period, Bharati Understood the need to be well-informed of the
world outside and took avid interest in the world of journalism and the print
media of the West. Bharati joined as Assistant Editor of the Swadeshamitran, a
Tamil daily in 1904. By April 1907, he had started and along with M.P.T.
Acharya, edited the Tamil weekly India and the English newspaper Bala
Bharatham.
These papers not only served the purpose of enlightening the masses on the
affairs of the nation and the world outside, but also were a means of expressing
Bharathi's creativity, which began to peak during this period. Bharathi started
to publish his poems regularly in these editions. From complex religious hymns
to rousing nationalist anthems, from contemplations on the relationship between
God and Man to songs on the Russian and French revolutions, Bharati's subjects
were truly diverse.
He was simultaneously up against personal and social poverty, society for
its mistreatment of the downtrodden people, and the British for occupying India.
Though he lived a life of abject poverty, he was always positive.
Militancy
Bharathi participated in the historic Surat
Congress in 1907, which deepend the divisions within the Indian National
Congress between the militant wing led by Tilak and Aurobindo and the
'moderates'. Subramania Bharati supported Tilak and Aurobindo together with V.
O. Chidambaram Pillai and Kanchi Varathaachariyar. Tilak openly supported armed
resistance against the British.
Bharati immersed himself in writing and in political activity. In Madras,
in 1908, he organised a public meeting to celebrate Swaraj (independence) Day'.
His nationalistic poems Vanthe Matharam, Enthayum Thayum, Jaya Bharath were
printed and distributed free to the audience. He is rightly referred to as the
National Poet of India.
Exile in Pondicherry
In 1908, he gave evidence in the
case which had been instituted by the British against V.O. Chidambaram Pillai.
In the same year, the proprietor of the 'India' was arrested in Madras. Faced
with the prospect of arrest, Bharati escaped to Pondicherry which was under
French rule.
From there Bharati edited and published the weekly journal India, Vijaya, a
Tamil daily, Bala Bharatha, an English monthly, and Suryothayam a local weekly
of Pondicherry. The British tried to suppress Bharathi's output by stopping
remittances and letters to the papers. Both India and Vijaya were banned in
British India in 1909.
During his exile, Bharati had the opportunity to mix with many other
leaders of the militant wing of the Independence movement such as Aurobindo,
Lajpat Rai and V.V.S. Aiyar, who had also sought asylum under the French.
Bharathi met with Aurobindo in Pondicherry and the discussions often turned to
religion and philosophy. He assisted Aurobindo in the Arya journal and later
Karma Yogi in Pondicherry. Bharathy met with Mahatma Gandhi in 1919 in Rajaji's
home.
Bharathi entered British India near Cuddalore in November 1918 and was
promptly arrested. He was imprisoned in the Central prison in Cuddalore in
custody for three weeks - from 20 November to 14 December. In Kashi he met a
sikh and he was inspired to change his attire and started wearing turban.
Literary career
Bharati had an exceptional love and
devotion towards his mother tongue Tamil language, which he considered as the
sweetest of all the languages known to him. He has written in one of his poems,
'Of all the languages I know, I have not heard a sweeter language than Tamil'
(àààààààà ààààààààà ààààààààà àààà àààààààà ààààààà àààààà). He was fluent in
many languages including Bengali, Hindi, Sanskrit, Kutchi, French and English
and frequently translated works from other languages into Tamil. He had a
voracious appetite for learning ancient and contemporary Tamil literature and
derived astonishing insights from the ancient poems. He emphasized that
musicians should not sing songs which they don't understand and should learn
from Hindustani musicians how to train their voices. He was not a simple
propagandist poet, however noble his patriotic and humanist sentiments were. He
was also a seeker of beauty and philosophic wisdom. As a national poet, as a
poet with a universal vision and as a poet of beauty and truth, he is comparable
to some of the great poets of the world. Hence his claim to a lofty place in the
great galaxy of world poetry.
A number of his creations are about nature. Both Bharati and Shelley were
soaring spirits and loved the sparrow and the skylark respectively as symbols of
freedom. But Bharathi is not content with the mindless joy of the sparrow; he
wants to fly in the sky like a bird so that he can see the endless hills,
springs, rivers and the sea. But the human body does not give him full freedom
and he also recognizes that the very growth of human civilization is a hindrance
to experiencing the bliss of the bird. But he never wants to surrender his
humanity. He is alive to the fact that in the world of the bird, there is no
intellectual joy of man. Whereas Shelley is unwilling to return to the earth
because of its sadness (our sincerest laughter with some pain is fraught),
Bharathiâs sparrow asks man to give up not life but desire. Bharathiâs poetry is
not an escape from but into life. [2]
Nationalistic poems
Bharathi is considered a
nationalistic poet due to his number of poems of the patriotic flavour through
which he extolled the people to join the Independence struggle. He wrote "The
glorious Himalayas are ours and there is none to compare with it on this
earthâThe good river Ganges is our river and there is no river to rival its
goodnessâ
ààààààà! ààààààà! ààààààà! àààà àààààààà ààààà ààààà ààààà àààààààà ààààààà
ààà àààà àààààààààààà ààà àààààààà ààààààà! ààààà ààààààààà àààà àààààà àààààààà
ààààààà ààààààà ààààà ààààà ààààà ààààààà àààà àààààààà.
Instead of merely being proud of his country he also outlined his vision
for a free India. He wrote 'When you say Bharat you will lose your fear of your
enemiesâWe will make weapons, produce good paper, we will build big factories
and create great schools. We will never rest, nor sleep; we will be truthful and
excelâ'
Bharathi's strong nationalistic sense may be illustrated by this:
àààààà ààààààààà àààà, ààààà àààààààà ààààà àààààààà àààà!
We may have
thousand of sects; that, however, does not justify a foreign invasion.
Religious and philosophical poems
Bharati produced such
masterpieces as Kannan Paattu (Song of Krishna), in which Bharati sought to
portray God as the source of all of humanity's passions in the most accessible
of forms including in the roles of a love-lorn lover, of a mischievous child, of
an innocent child, and of a wise teacher.
Bharati also published two of his most widely read epics during this
period: Panchali Sapatham (Draupadi's Vow), a poetic semi-political reflection
on greed, pride and righteousness derived from the Indian epic Mahabharata, and
Kuyil Paatu (Song of The Cuckoo), an ode and a tribute to the poet's favourite
Shelley.
Carnatic Music compositions
Bharati composed Carnatic
music kritis in Tamil on love, devotion, etc. He set his songs to music and
could sing them well in a variety of ragas. In Bharata Deviyin Thiru Dasangam he
used ten different ragas. His patriotic songs emphasize nationalism, unity of
India, equality of man and the greatness of the Tamil language, set to folk
tunes. He sang these himself at various political meetings.
Although he was fluent in Sanskrit (and other languages including Bengali,
Hindi, Sanskrit, Kutchi, French and English), he only composed two songs purely
in Sanskrit, with the vast majority being in Tamil.
In an article Sangeeta Vishayam (Issues in Music), Bharatiyar rebukes
musicians for singing songs of the Trinity, Patnam Subramania Iyer and others
without knowing the meaning because the songs are all in Sanskrit or Telugu. He
says, without knowing the meaning, singers are unable to sing with proper
_expression_. He also says songs usually portray devotion and love and not other
emotions like courage, anger, wonder, fear, and hatred. He emphasized that
musicians should not sing songs which they do not understand and should learn
from Hindustani musicians how to train their voices.
Bharati set tunes for a number of his songs, however not all of them have
been recovered. Some of the songs of Bharati that are currently very popular in
the Carnatic music concert circuit include: Theeratha Vilaiyattu Pillai,
Chinnanchiru Kiliye (tuned by him in Raga Bhairavi, but popularised in
Ragamalika), Suttum Vizhi, Thikku Theriyaatha, Senthamizh Nadenum, and
Paarukkule Nalla Naadu.
Journalism
As a journalist, Bharati was the first in
India to introduce caricatures and political cartoons to his newspapers; they
were satirical and angry hand-drawn illustrations of the poet that improvised
heavily on the works of his inspiration Thomas Nast. He published and edited
various journals such as Swadeshamitran, India, Vijaya, and Bala
Bharatham.
Innovation in Tamil poetry
Bharati was a pioneer in
introducing a new style of Tamil poetry. Until then the poems had to follow the
strict syntactic rules set down by the ancient Tamil grammatical treatise
Tolkappiyam. Bharati broke this syntactic bonds and created a prose-poetic style
known as the puthukkavithai (modern poems).
Literary output
Bharati's was a prolific writer and in
his short life he produced numerous poems short and long, essays, prose-poetry
and fiction. He wrote poems in both the conventional as well as his new style of
puthukkavithai. His works may be broadly classified into these heading
Autobiography (ààà ààààà)
Patriotic songs (ààààà àààààààà)
Philosophical songs (ààààààààààààà)
Miscellaneous songs (àààààààà
àààààààà)
Devotional songs (ààààààààà àààààààà)
Commentary on Gita
(ààààà àààà àààààààà)
Kannan song, Kuyil song (àààààà àààààà, àààààà àààààà)
Panchali's Vow (àààààààà ààààà)
Chandrika's story (ààààààààààààà ààà)
(an unfinished novel)
Pappa Pattu (àààààààà àààààà) (Songs for the Children)
Leaders
Social reformer
A statue of Subramania Bharati is unveiled by
President R. Venkataraman (right) with Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi (centre) and
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. G. Ramachandran in attendanceHis poetry expressed a
progressive, reformist ideal. His powerful imagery and the vigour of his verse
has come to symbolise Tamil culture in many respects. Bharathiyaar famously
espoused greater freedom and respect for women:
We will destroy the idiocy
Of denigrating womanhood
In the poem,
Bharati expresses his frustrations at some of the deploring superstitions of his
fellow men which are responsible for their remaining as slaves despite all their
resources and glorious past.
'My blood boils to think of these idiotic men! How many divisions within
us, they are more than a crore!â'
Bharati fought against the caste system in
the Hindu society. Although born into an orthodox Brahmin family, he gave up his
own caste identity. One of his great sayings meant, "There are only two castes
in the world: One who is educated and one who is not". He considered all living
beings as equal and to illustrate this he even performed upanayanam to a young
harijan man and made him a Brahmin. He also scorned the divisive tendencies
being imparted into the younger generations by their elderly tutors during his
time. He openly criticised the preachers for mixing their individual thoughts
while teaching the Vedas and the Gita.
Death
Bharati's health was badly affected by the
imprisonments and by 1920, when a General Amnesty Order finally removed
restrictions on his movements, Bharati was struggling in penury and failing
health resulting in his tragic premature death.
Bharati was struck by an elephant at Parthasarathy temple, Thiruvallikeni,
Chennai. It is an irony of fate that a temple elephant, whom he used to feed
regularly, attacked him one day from which he got very sick. He however survived
the mishap. A few months later his health deteriorated and he died on September
11, 1921, not yet forty years of age. Though Bharati was a people's poet there
were only around fifteen people to attend his funeral. [3]
The last years of his life were spent in a house in Triplicane, Chennai.
This house was bought and renovated by the Government of Tamil Nadu in 1993 and
named 'Bharathiyar Illam' (Home of Bharathiyar) .