THE
GREATEST BARD OF TAMIL BHARATHIAR
N.Nandhivarman
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.
