N.Nandhivarman
The 83 rd anniversary of Mahakavi Subramania
Bharathiar falls on September 11 of 2004
The Bharathiar Memorial Museum was set up by the Government of
Pondicherry in 1972. In 1984 it was converted into a research center to which
from all over the world people have come. The Government of Pondicherry headed
by then Chief Minister D.Ramachandiran had brought out a beautiful book in
French in 1982, which contains translations of Bharathiar’s poems, prose and
English articles. Such laudable exercises must be continued by successive
governments to foster French and Tamil cultural exchanges by translating
literatures belonging to both languages. But during his lifetime Bharathiar had
struggled to bring out his works in print.
The ordeals of Poets in the colonial era
to see their masterpieces in print could be easily understood by a letter
through which Mahakavi Bharathiar sought financial support from his well
wishers. In an open appeal written in 1921, the Great Bard of Tamil Renaissance
states, “All of my manuscripts, accumulated labour of my 12 year exile have
arrived here from Pondicherry. They are to be divided into 40 separate books.
Most of my works which I have selected for publication are prose, stories,
sensational at the same time classical, very easy, lucid, clear, luminous and
all but too popular in style and diction and at the same time chaste, pure,
correct, epic and time defying.” By this appeal the Poet not only exudes
confidence in his creative literature and its contents but also is convinced
that he is standing at the cross roads of critical times and is destined to
play a crucial role. His words further down in the same appeal will be enough
to portray the missionary zeal that burnt in him. “The historic necessity of my
works for the uplift of the Tamil Land which again is a sheer necessity of the
inevitable, imminent and heaven-ordained revival of the East”, says Mahakavi.
These words firmly reflects the inner
feelings of the most enlightened Tamil mind of our times, which was destined to
leave an everlasting impact on the Tamil society.
Stands Apart
The Poet’s
vision was clear and he pursued his life’s mission with all his inherent
strength, doing what was destined to be done. He wrote a satirical story “ The
Fox with a Golden Tail”, which was published in 1914. It should also be
mentioned that Aurobindo Ghosh lauded the flowery language of Bharathiar in
that story. Dr.Nanjunda Rao of Chennai who was immensely pleased ordered for
500 copies and many letters of appreciation poured in from all quarters.
Kuvalai Kannan read those letters to Bharathiar hoping he would be pleased. But
Bharathiar stated as follows: “ Using my brain to its fullest capacity while I
write in my mother tongue Panchali Sabadam, you alone read it, whereas if it is
in English our men who are slaves to English colonial culture order for copies
after copies”, the poet retorted with contempt records R.A.Padmanabhan in
Chitra Bharathi, a compilations of pictures and historical notes on Bharathiar.
Tamil Medium
At that point of
time when all men of letters under colonial rule were crazy over the
proficiency in the tongue of the ruling classes, Bharathiar stands apart as a
champion of the Tamil cause. In his book Essays and Other Prose Fragments
published in 1937 writing under the title “ Vernaculars” Bharathiar extends
support to the Tamil medium of instruction in the schools of Education.
Let me reproduce his views in
verbatim: “ I do not blame the Madras
Council of Indian education for their anxiety to have Professor Geddes’ views
on the subject of employing Indian languages as media of instruction in Indian
schools. For I am aware those men’s thoughts are ordinarily moulded by their
environments. Nor do I blame the good and learned Professor Geddes for his
innocent comparison of the revival of Indian languages with the Gaelic revival
in Wales and in Ireland. I do not know if Gaelic has any extensive and living
literature. But I feel it is high time to remind all parties concerned, in the
discussions like this, that most of the Indian languages have great, historic
and living literatures. Of course their luster has been slightly dimmed by
economic conditions during these later days. The English educated minority in
this country can be pardoned for being frightfully ignorant of the higher
phases of our national literatures, but they will well do to drop that annoying
attitude of patronage and condescension when writing and talking about our
languages. The Tamil language for instance has a living philosophical and
poetical literature that is far grander, to my mind, than that of the
vernacular of England. For the matter of that, I do not think that any modern
vernacular of Europe can boast of works like Kural of Valluvar…” so goes on the
Great Bard. This quality and courage of conviction is rare among the educated
of his times and even today the ignorance of the educated towards the grandeur
of the Tamil language and their wild goose chase of the foreign language
continues unabated even after the wise counsel by Bharathiar.
The themes
His book Essays
and Prose Fragments contains the following topics 1) To the being of the
Universe 2) The Service of God 3) The Siddha and the Superman 4) Immortality 5)
Fatalism 6) The Dawn 7) Rasa- The Keyword of Indian Culture 8) Blunting the
Imagination 9) The Crime of Caste 10) The Place of Women 11) Women’s Freedom
12) Love and Marriage 13) Patriotism and Religious Differences 14) The National
Congress 15) New Birth 16) Matri Puja 17) India and the World 18) In Memoriam
19) The Coming Age 20) Reflections 21) Some Political Maxims 22) Free Speech
23) India and war 24) Nammalvar 25) Andal 26) Rights and Duties 27) Vernaculars
28) The occult element in Tamil speech. The list of the essays will reveal the
subjects that were near and dear to his heart.
Feminism
Of particular
mention is his voice for the cause of feminism. Speaking about the greatness of
womanhood the Poet stands apart with no sign of male chauvinism, a
characteristic flaw that causes even today gender bias and female infanticide.
Let me quote him “ But if woman has always been the civiliser and, therefore,
the spiritual superior of man, why did she get enslaved at all? For it is not
only among Indians but also among the European and the Chinese and the Japanese
and the Hottentots as, indeed all brutes and birds and insects, that the female
has been content, till now, to occupy an enslaved, or if you please, a
subordinate place to the male.” There cannot be a champion of the cause of
feminism than Mahakavi Bharathiar in that point of time in the history of
Tamils. A forerunner for the cause of feminism he had left his imprint by way
of many articles and poems.
Crusader against Caste Bharathi describes caste as a crime against humanity and let us know his feelings well expressed in his own style “ You sometimes quote ethnology, eugenics, hydrostatics and what not, to support these four thousand castes! But, alas, the ignorant masses of our country have been made to believe that this caste chaos is a special divine gift to our country and whoever transgresses it has to go to Hell. It is this belief more than anything else that makes people insensible to the injurious results of caste. If you really have your justification in ethnology or hydrostatics, then you have been cheating people during all these centuries by telling them a different story. No science can justify cheating”. The scientific temper, which the poet possesses, is what anyone who cares for fellow beings will want to inculcate in a caste- ridden society. The Poets are conscience keepers of their culture and the society in which they hail, and in unmistaken terms Bharathiar registers his voice of protest against the caste-infected society.
Spreading his message globally
Bharathiar’s
Tamil poems translated in many languages have established his greatness beyond
an iota of doubt, at the same time very few attention is shown towards his
writings in English, and it is high time his scholarly opinion on contemporary
issues be understood. The Hindu in its sub-editorial dated 12 th September 1921
records the demise of this great poet thus: “ We regret to learn the death of
Varakavi Subramanya Bharathi at his residence in Triplicane last night. The
deceased was an ardent nationalist, a great thinker, a shining speaker and a
powerful writer. He is the author of number of Tamil works including National
songs. His recitation of the national songs infused genuine patriotism in the
hearts of his listeners. He, like many other patriots of India, was an exile in
Pondicherry for some years, because his patriotic speeches did not please the
Gods in power. He has for some time past been ailing and by his premature death
the country has lost a born poet and a sincere patriot. Swadesamithran too paid
tributes in its editorial. But it is a sad fact that only handfuls were present
when his body was cremated. Let us learn to respect great men when they are
alive and be grateful for the great bards who uphold our culture universally.
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