Musings on the Life & Times of ChSubramania Bharathi Narasimhan Vijayaraghavan 60

Musings on the Life & Times of ChSubramania Bharathi
Narasimhan Vijayaraghavan
60

Time to move to Madras Presidency with Chellamma. Or is it? Not yet. Bharathiyar’s eleven years out of thirty nine years on this planet were spent in Pondicherry and they phase of his life was the most productive, you see. The aborted experiment with the ‘friend’ seeded in Bharathi a firmer belief that it was time to move in. In his exchanges with Aurobindo Ghosh and Iyer, repeatedly, Bharathi expressed his eagerness to get back to his birthplace. Ghosh counselled him that time may not be right. And the fact that the warrant was still out for him meant that welcome to him may be rough and tough. But Bharathi was determined. He said, “ I feel as if I ran away when others like V O C and Subramani Siva faced all the trials and tribulations.

“ They took the British head on and did not flinch from facing incarceration. Am I a coward? May be I am weak in body. But I am not weak in mind. That is not how Parasakthi has nurtured me. The words coming out of me are strong in form and content. They are bold. How could I then be weak in heart and mind to run away into exile. And how long? It is time for me to be as courageous as I am urging my brethren to be. It is all very well to suggest that my writings are far more powerful than me being inside the jail. And each one must contribute to Bharat Mata with their core competence. Mine was the pen. But I feel that it is an apology of an excuse that I have embraced it for my convenience. My conscience tells me that I may be camouflaging my cowardice to be in exile.”

Ghosh said, “ No, you may be wrong. Your thoughts are not misplaced. But just think about the multiple conversations we have had on Vedas, Upanishads and Hindu philosophy. They have mightily contributed to your pen. If you had not come here, I may not have come. And Iyer too. And the works you have accomplished would have been last beyond our time. Can you imagine the loss to our culture, heritage and national cause, if you were in jail and confined. You must strike a balance in life. It may be foolhardiness to blame yourself. It is natural for anyone to feel as if they could have done better. One is one’s own harshest critic. But the criticism to bear fruit, there must be a positive progression. Not a hasty decision to display bravado. So, think not twice but more times, before you decide”.

Iyer joined in and said, “ Subbiah, I have been with you. I have seen you from the closest quarters. If anyone even remotely suggested that you were scared or running away or behaving hypocritically, their tongues would burn. Your words are proof. They are not empty pronouncements. I know they come and came from your inner being. Parasakthi speaks through you. How could she be weak or wrong? Ghosh is right. You came here because you had a role to perform in advancing the Swadeshi cause. And your contribution to society was and could not be to Swadeshi cause alone. You are a poet par excellence. Somasundara Bharathi, your classmate, did a fantastic turn off service by persuading you to pen your verses in common man’s language. And your Kuyil Paattu, Kannamma Paattu, Kili Paattu, Panchali Sabatham, while in exile in Pondicherry, are testimony to your sacrifice to be out of our motherland. These works would have been lost if you had chosen to get yourself arrested. That was no bravery. What you have demonstrated now is true bravery of the highest order. Posterity will judge you. You are too harsh on yourself. Time is a teaser. When it comes, nothing can stop you or hold you back or me or us. It will be unstoppable”.

For sometime, Bharathi was persuaded to stay in exile. It was around 1914- seven years down the line he came to Pondy, Chellamma felt that the tide was turning. It was not all penury and poverty that swamped them. Bharathi received a letter from Swadesamitharan that they were keen and eager to carry his pieces. Any whichever one he was willing to offer. Articles on public issues, verses and short stories, the whole versatile works he was capable of. And Sriman Rangaswami Iyengar, in charge, offered handsome remuneration and on a monthly basis to be of help to the family. Bharathi was keen on writing. The financial benefit was highly incidental or a collateral benefit, but it meant a lot to Chellamma who bore the brunt of the absence of finances.

Bharathi wrote enthusiastically. His writings took on a new gleam. Starved of such class, the readership of Swadesamitharan rose, rose and rose. Rangasamy Iyengar unilaterally enhanced the fee or salary, as you will, and Chellamma and Co felt a huge weight had been lifted off their shoulders and the moral impact on Bharathi could be seen as he ‘grew an inch or two taller with an add on spring in the step’. As providence would have it and changing times heralded, the French administration also eased the prohibition on letters and communications to Bharathi household. And even friends and relatives sensed the ease in pressure and their comings and goings pivoted their bad times to good and pleasurable times. And imagine this. Chellamma ‘worried’ whether it would last?

It was during this fertile and fruitful phase that Bharathi wrote ‘History of Congress’ – Congress Charithiram’ – as a series in 50 chapters in Swadesamitharan. Bharathi’s famous translations of works of Jagadish Chandra Vasu on Plantation Sastra, Rabindranath Tagore’s short stories, and they really lit up the columns of Swadesamitharan. Experts who read these pieces avidly critiqued that these were not ‘ordinary translstions’. They were enhanced. New and novel genre and not translations. They seemed original. Where, the seeds were picked up and made brighter. Bharathi’s works were read as originals, independent of the source material.And his ability as a wordsmith, acquired a new sheen, hitherto unseen in Tamil literature.

And times were really such that there were transformational happenings Pan India. Annie Besant’s Home League had a great run.It gained huge traction embarrassing the Britishers no end. Gandhi’s experiments with Sathyagraha in South Africa were new and the impact was seen and felt throughout the world. Indian yearned for Gandhi and his experiments to oust the colonists. Then there was the Yugoslavia- England-German- France conflict which broke out into a full fledged First World War. Bharathi had too much to write on.

He complained, “ Parasakthi, what is this? I am not a simple journalist. A reporter or a commentator. I have commitments to Tamil and poetry. If I am to engage and indulge in newsworthy outputs on a daily basis 24×7 and 365 days, how would I handle my poetic instincts. I cannot curb them. They are too powerful. When they come, I have to let them out. Parasakthi speaks through me. It is not me. That is why it is so beautiful and immortal. If I thought I was authoring them, they would not last a week. Now I feel tall and my songs are immortal. Parasakthi and Saraswathi are now competing to have my time. Amidst all this, my devotion to my Janmabhoomi cannot be forgotten. I owe it to Bharat Mata to go there. I cannot continue in exile”.

Well, it may be just the time to leave Pondicherry. With Chellamma. No, not yet, Sorry, we still have some unfinished and unexhausted anecdotal business. Why not go there, before we resume our journey with Chellamma back home?

( Author is practising advocate in the Madras High Court)