Musings on the Life & Times of Chinnaswamy Subramania Bharathi Narasimhan Vijayaraghavan 43
Musings on the Life & Times of Chinnaswamy Subramania Bharathi
Narasimhan Vijayaraghavan
43
Poetry reaffirms our common humanity by revealing to us that individuals, everywhere in the world, share the same questions and feelings. Poetry is the mainstay of oral tradition and, over centuries, can communicate the innermost values of diverse cultures.
In celebrating World Poetry Day,March 21, UNESCO recognises the unique ability of poetry to capture the creative spirit of the human mind. The decision to proclaim 21st March,21 every year as World Poetry Day was
adopted during UNESCO’s 30th session held in Paris in 1999. We are in the hundredth year of death of Chinnaswamy Subramania Bharathi on 21st Dev,2021. As one is musing on Bharathi , one wondered if it may not be appropriate to key in 100 chapters to pay obeisance to the Mahakavi. And timing it to March 21,2022, the next World Poet Day.
Let me make it very clear. Many writers have been asked and continue to be asked – where do you get your ideas from ? Is the work ready to go from day one? Or only the structure is known and you pick and choose the contents as you get along. Some like Michael Lewis, John Grisham, Jeffrey Archer claim and suggest that ‘they have the entire book wrapped up in their minds. It just takes the time to put them on paper or key in. Including the words, punctuations, twists, turns and the end line”. In fact J K Rowling had written the seventh and last of Harry Potter series well into her second or third of them. And tucked it away to reveal when she completed the earlier six. Some like Ernest Hemingway, Henry Melville, George Orwell and Mark Twain wrote many, many drafts and edited the work into place, only when they had played the tough scissors’ men themselves.
This writer is not in their league. That is for sure. Not humility but fact. Not an admission but reality. Yet, every word written down on paper or keyed in, need to be ‘thought’ through. And then formed before delivery. There is a process at work, consciously and sub consciously, as Mind Coach Jim Kwik puts it. And that happens to the likes of poor man’s writers’ as me. Reading helps. Or rather borrowing not plagiarism or stealing helps better or possibly best.
And Bharathi’s works are in public domain. They were nationalised. And mind you A V Meiappa Chettiar paid a princely sum of Rs.400/- to Chellamma & Co for Bharathiyar’s songs and then gave it away free to the Madras State in 1948. So, I intentionally and deliberately refrain from making any claim for copy right over these words. It may not be commercially viable to own it up anyway, you may say, and so I may not be. Truth is that these words are strung together from multiple sources. Authoritative and from
far better qualified. And not all get quoted as several remained unattributed but cross verifiable as true. And from newspapers and magazines and social media forwards and snippets.
The man and poet Bharathi is the content. He was a magician at words. He was a wizard with the gift of Parasakthi. He wrote these chapters himself. The chapters took their own shape, size and stroll, as one went along. Not in any pre designed or determined construct. One anecdote, one date, one character, one comment, or consequence, led to the other and another and so on. I plead guilty if it seems incoherent or not sequential. The work is meant to be anecdotal. Not scholarly. Lovely nuggets and vignettes strewn all over the place and space. And picked up for convenience. Not to fill up pages. It is not possible, for Bharathi’s works are humongous and research papers and scholarly pursuits on them are too numerous.Yes, I play the editor not author, as I please and as my whim and fancy take me. Dec 11,2021- on hundredth anniversary, there was so much shared on Bharathi. And that inexorably leads to this interesting write up on celebrating birth and death anniversaries and contextually of Bharathi himself. It is unhesitatingly borrowed as Bharathi is always meant to be free even if full of substance and value.
Whether to celebrate the birth anniversary of national poet Subramania Bharathiar or observe his death anniversary has always been a subject of debate in Tamil Nadu.
Well known Tamil poet Bharathidasan, a disciple of Bharathiar, had strongly argued in favour of celebrating his birth anniversary. A letter written by him reiterates the point.
“Subramania Bharathi is a world-class poet. His birth anniversary should be celebrated every year and all Tamils should become poets,” he said in a handwritten letter, which has been traced by Tamil writer Kadarkarai.
Subramania Bharathi is a world-class poet. His birth anniversary should be celebrated every year and all Tamils should become poets,” he said in a handwritten letter, which has been traced by Tamil writer Kadarkarai. Bharathidasan, who was living on Raman Street in T. Nagar, had agreed to record his views on the issue when approached by members of the Bharathi Youth Association in 1962.
“The handwritten letter was in the possession of Ramamurthy, president of the Youth Association, for two decades and he published it in Tamil magazine Kalki in 1982, when Bharathiar’s birth centenary was celebrated. I found a copy in the archives,” said Kadarkarai, who writes and lectures on Bharathiar.
Tamil Nadu has always debated the issue. In the 1940s, Congress leader and Tamil scholar Thiru. Vi. Ka. in his magazine Navasakthi supported the idea of observing the death anniversary on the ground that a person’s greatness was not proved on the day of his birth.
Kadarkarai said that in another article Vazhikaatti Yaar? (Who is the guide?), penned by Bharathidasan in another Tamil magazine Kumudham in 1961, he had explained how his meeting with Bharathiar totally changed the subject matter and the style of his poetry.
“I have written thousands of poems. They are not simple when it comes to style. There is no trace of patriotism in them,” Bharathidasan had said in the magazine.
Bharathidasan had met Bharathiar through his physical trainer Venu, who was also a bodyguard of Bharathiar. Bharathidasan presented a vocal performance on the wedding day of Venu and rendered the song Thondu Nikalntha. “It was appreciated by freedom fighters V.V.S. Iyer and Srinivasachari. Even then I had not met Bharathiar. Bharathiar had listened to my song and wanted to make me his friend,” Bharathidasan further explained.
Subsequently he met Bharathiar. “I moved with him. I moved more with what he had written. After that my poems never remained the same. He taught me the art of writing in a simple style,” Bharathidasan recalled.
Kadarkarai said Bharathidasan’s aim was to make a film on Bharathiar, but he died before realising it. “His wife Pazhaniammal had said in an interview to Dinamani Kadir that he spent 60 days for completing the script and it had taken a heavy toll on his health,” Kadarkarai explained.
Perfect segway to touch base with B Dasan. Kanagasabai Subbu Rathinam (29 April 1891 – 21 April 1964), popularly called Bharathidasan, was a 20th-century Tamil poet and writer rationalist whose literary works handled mostly socio-political issues. He was deeply influenced by the Tamil poet Subramania Bharathi and named himself as Bharathidasan.His writings served as a catalyst for the growth of the Dravidian movement in Tamil Nadu. In addition to poetry, his views found expression in other forms such as plays, film scripts, short stories and essays. The Government of Pondicherry a.k.a. Puducherry – union territory has adopted the song of Invocation to Mother Tamil, written by Bharathidasan as the state song of Puducherry.
Bharathidasan was born to Kanagasabai Mudaliar and Lakshmi Ammal in a well-to-do merchant family of Pondicherry. His original name was Subburathinam. He underwent formal education in Tamil literature, Tamil grammar and Saiva siddharth Vedanta under reputed scholars. He also studied at the Collège Calvé in Pondicherry. In 1909, he was introduced to Subramanya Bharathi, and his interactions with the Mahakavi had a major impact on him. He initially worked as a Tamil teacher in the French territory of Karaikal.
He actively participated in the Indian Independence Movement and through his writings, he openly opposed the British and the French Government. He was sentenced and imprisoned by the French Government for voicing views against the French Government that was ruling Pondicherry then. He was a strong supporter of Periyar and an important member of the Suya-Mariyadhai iyyakam(meaning Self-Respect movement) and Dravida Movement, founded by Periyar. Biggest leader Pavalareru Perunchitthiranaar’s friend .
During the Atheist’s conference in Chennai, he signed a document having the words “I am an undying atheist”. Throughout his writing career he was encouraged by political leaders such as Annadurai, M. Karunanidhi and M. G. Ramachandran. In 1954 he was elected to the Pondicherry Legislative Assembly. He remained a prolific writer until he died in 1964 in a hospital in Chennai.
Bharathidasan penned his works under different pseudonyms such as Paavendar,Puduvai Kalaimakal, Desopakari, Desabhaktan, Anantapotini, Swadesamitiran, Tamilarasu, Tupleks, Kirukkan, Kindalkaran and the name by which he is known today – Bharathidasan. As he was a staunch follower of Anti-Brahmanism, many of his works were anti-Brahmin in nature. Often he talked of “Tamil Race” and “Aryan Race” as polar opposites.
Bharathidasan was conferred with the title of “Puratchi Kavingyar” (meaning the “Revolutionary Poet”) by E V Ramasamy Periyar. He won the Golden Parrot Prize in 1946 for his play Amaithi-Oomai (Peace and Dumbness). He was given the Sahitya Academy award posthumously in 1970 for his play Pisiranthaiyar. On 9 October 2001, a commemorative stamp of Bharathidasan was released by the Postal Department in Chennai. The State Government of Tamil Nadu gives the Bharathidasan Award annually to a Tamil poet.
How did Bharathidasan get to meet Bharathi? A lovely story or what appeals to these musings- an anecdote.
(Author is practising advocate in the Madras High Court)
