SUBRAMANIYA BHARATHI, SOUL BORN TOO SOON Justice N. Anand Venkatesh t The name Bharathi evokes admiration, no doubt; But to many, it is more of a veneration. But we ignored him for long. An anguished free verse on Bharathi that goes,
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SUBRAMANIYA BHARATHI, SOUL BORN TOO SOON
Justice N. Anand Venkatesh t
The name Bharathi evokes admiration, no doubt; But to many, it is more of a veneration. But we ignored him for long. An anguished free verse on Bharathi that goes,
“dbQfl(06iT 6T6iT1-JoÄJ6ir
Gl&ÅSJÜ-JGurr6TTÜJLf16ir
I-JUD
(A poet is one who suffers at the hands of life and lives on at the hands of death; And so, our Bharathi lives on.)
must bring in us, a sense of bitterness and shame than of pride and glory.
Bharathi, aka Mahakavi, admired and revered much and acclaimed internationally today, was even ridiculed during his lifetime, with less than twenty persons attending his funeral. Upon self-introspection, I am gnawed with guilt and despair, having no certain answer to whether, hypothetically, if I lived in his times, I might have been one among those few persons who respected him just enough to at the least bid him a final farewell.
Bharathi had unshakeable conviction and confidence. He had realized divinity and sensed its permeating prevalence everywhere and, instead of being mystified or awed, felt close to it like a child to a mother. He addresses Goddess Parasakthi not from the place of a devotee who prays and appeals before the Almighty, but with an absolute sense of entitlement and tone of command, demanding boons then and now. I wonder if that is how Bharathi gained the wisdom that was far beyond the ages, for even the boons that he demands are towards fulfilling his ideals of service and sacrifice. The verse,
Judge, High Coun of Judicature at Madras.
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Colony,
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(Will you not grant ‘hic the strength 10 live a life that is of value to this land?)
stands testament to the noble soul that he is, praying not for the flourishment of his personal self, but to be bequeathed the means to make himself useful for the betterment of his motherland. To be precise, it is quite a self-effacing demand for a boon, but such was his chivalry.
If there was one thing that frightened Bharathi, it was the thought of living a purposeless life, as a burden to the world, as he goes on to question Goddess Parasakthi,
“G)ymoö6VLw, 5T6DlJGuJ6TT OJT1jrÅDL-dJ qrfi(Y6D6ÜCtum?”
(Are you going to let me live as a mere burden over this land?)
Bharathi surpasses King Karna of the Mahabharatham, synonymous to philanthropy, when he seeks happiness to all beings based on his own virtues. He did not expect to be asked, he gave. Born into the Brahmin caste, he gave egalitarianism a new dimension. For him, society was beyond all barriers and the world with all that was animate and inanimate were one society. His outlook was not that of a visionary or a romanticist but one of true enlightenment.
That brings me to the next question. How would we react if Goddess Parasakthi or the Almighty appears before one of us and grants us the boon to live as Bharathi, the Mahakavi? The answer might look simple and straight. Of course, yes; we would consider it a privilege to bask in the glory of being “The Mahakavi”. But, will we be able to live up to the spirit that he was? Living Barathi’s life can never be an easy task. In fact, to claim it a task is to undermine the great man’s life. To me, Bharathi is a state of mind, it is a way of being. It is impossible for a normal human to live as the enlightened and evolved soul that Bharathi was. He was so ahead of his times, not then but now and quite
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possibly even of the future, unbound by any time scale. He could not tolerate the slavery prevalent everywhere. Slavery to the British, slavery to all things material, slavery to class and social divisions and in exasperation, questions Goddess Parasakthi for bestowing him the flame of knowledge that permitted him to see through all the falsehoods.
Among three facets of Bharathi, immediately perceived by us are, of a poet, a political and social revolutionary and one of wisdom. Bharathi was a rishi, a maharishi.
He was a living soul in confluence with the cosmos. It is not easy to read the writings of Bharathi as literary works. I cringe, using the word “work”. They are scriptures, precious legacies gifted to the world. A palpable need is felt to prepare ourselves with penance and austerity before delving into his writings. As the Ganges is believed to purify the body and soul, immersing into the works of Bharathi cleanses our thoughts and emotions and leaves us with tears and a definite want for absolution from our own darkness.
Fire, on contact burns, but to Bharathi it evoked the caress of divinity. Such was the saturation of his consciousness to divinity. It is natural that he did not suffer the constrictions of caste, creed, or class. The outbursts and outpouring of wisdom and enlightenment is not limited to his poetry. In a short story, he portrays Chandrigai, a fouryear-old girl as the protagonist who challenges unfair patriarchal social practices by wanting a remarriage for Visalakshi, a ten-year-old widow. Child marriage, child widows, social ostracization were unbearable evils to Bharathi who lived in times when they vvere the norms of the society. He was unmindful of the mere mortals and their mocking. His mind, thoughts, his outlook, sadness, courage, conviction, anger, explicit in his prose and poetry send tremors of awe and admiration for Bharathi, a soul born too soon.
I might not be brave enough to seek or accept the boon of living as Bharathi himself. But as a believer, I ecstatically trade one thing with my _yearning for
Justice N. ANAND VENKATESHSUKRITI
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salvation from rebirth, and that is to be born a Tamilian and a follower of Bharathi’s writing, irrespective of how many ever birth cycles it may be.
Justice N.ANAND VENKATESH
SUBRAMANIYA BHARATHI, SOUL BORN TOO SOON
Justice N. Anand Venkatesh t
The name Bharathi evokes admiration, no doubt; But to many, it is more of a veneration. But we ignored him for long. An anguished free verse on Bharathi that goes,
SUBRAMANIYA BHARATHI, SOUL BORN TOO SOON
Justice N. Anand Venkatesh t
The name Bharathi evokes admiration, no doubt; But to many, it is more of a veneration. But we ignored him for long. An anguished free verse on Bharathi that goes,
I-JUD
(கவிஞன் என்பது வாழ்வின் கைகளில் துன்பப்பட்டு மரணத்தின் கையிலும் வாழ்பவன்; அதனால், நம் பாரதி வாழ்கிறான். .)
பெருமை மற்றும் பெருமையை விட கசப்பு மற்றும் அவமானத்தின் உணர்வை நமக்குள் கொண்டு வர வேண்டும்.
மகாகவி என்றழைக்கப்படும் பாரதி, இன்று சர்வதேச அளவில் மிகவும் போற்றப்படுபவர் மற்றும் போற்றப்படுகிறார், அவர் வாழ்ந்த காலத்தில் அவரது இறுதிச் சடங்கில் இருபதுக்கும் குறைவான நபர்களே கலந்து கொண்டு கேலி செய்யப்பட்டார். சுய சுயபரிசோதனையின் போது, நான் குற்ற உணர்வு மற்றும் விரக்தியால் வாடினேன், அனுமானமாக, நான் அவர் காலத்தில் வாழ்ந்திருந்தால், அவரை மதிக்கும் ஒரு சில நபர்களில் நானும் ஒருவராக இருந்திருக்கலாம். இறுதி பிரியாவிடை.
பாரதியிடம் அசைக்க முடியாத நம்பிக்கையும் நம்பிக்கையும் இருந்தது. அவர் தெய்வீகத்தை உணர்ந்து, எல்லா இடங்களிலும் அதன் ஊடுருவலை உணர்ந்தார், மேலும் மர்மம் அல்லது பிரமிப்புக்கு பதிலாக, ஒரு தாய்க்கு ஒரு குழந்தையைப் போல அதனுடன் நெருக்கமாக உணர்ந்தார். அவர் பராசக்தி தேவியை வணங்கும் மற்றும் எல்லாம் வல்ல இறைவனிடம் முறையிடும் ஒரு பக்தரின் இடத்திலிருந்து அல்ல, ஆனால் ஒரு முழுமையான உரிமை மற்றும் கட்டளையின் தொனியுடன், அன்றும் இன்றும் வரங்களைக் கோருகிறார். பாரதி கேட்கும் வரங்கள் கூட தனது சேவை மற்றும் தியாகத்தை நிறைவேற்றுவதற்காகவே, யுகங்களைக் கடந்த ஞானத்தை அப்படித்தான் பெற்றாரோ என்று எனக்கு ஆச்சரியமாக இருக்கிறது. வசனம்,
நீதிபதி, சென்னை உயர் நீதி மன்றம்.
