Tribute to Subramania Bharati on his Death Anniversary: A Great Personality of India

A great human being , Subramania Bharati ( full name Chinnaswami Subramania Bharati), (11 December 1882 – 11 September 1921),at the age of 39 years left for heavenly abode exactly hundred years ago on this day of 11 September 1921. He was born in Tirunelveli district (present day Thoothukudi) of Tamil Nadu. I had the opportunity to visit the district a couple of times. I am really fascinated to observe the beauty of the place and amicable people. I was told ‘Tirunelveli is an ancient city, more than 2,000 years old’.

Subramania Bharati's contribution in Tamil literature is undoubtedly praiseworthy. I feel if you would have survived at least 70 years, his contribution would have been enormous. Anyway now things cannot be assessed. No Indians can forget what he has given us within 39 years of age. He was a great writer, poet, journalist, Indian independence activist, social reformer and multilingual. He was well-versed in Sanskrit, Hindi, Telugu, English and French. While he was in Varanasi, he was exposed to Hindu spirituality and nationalism (wikipedia.org/wiki/Subramania_Bharati).

In Tamil Nadu he was popularly known as "Mahakavi Bharati" ("Great Poet Bharati") and he was a pioneer of modern Tamil poetry and is considered one of the greatest Tamil literary figures of all times.

Bharati became a Tamil scholar at an early age. He moved to Madras (now Chennai) in 1904. There he translated from English to Tamil for several magazines and later on joined the Tamil daily newspaper Swadesamitran. He was involved in the extremist wing of the Indian National Congress, and, as sequel, he was forced to flee to Pondicherry (now Puduchery), a French colony of that time, where he lived from 1910 to 1919. During this time Bharati’s patriotic poems and essays were popular among the youths and others. He returned in 1919 in Tamil Nadu and was briefly imprisoned and later on re-joined Swadesamitran. Bharati’s best-known works inter alia include Kaṇṇan pāṭṭu (1917; Songs to Krishna), Panchali sapatham (1912; Panchali’s Vow), Kuyil pāṭṭu (1912; Kuyil’s Song) etc.. (britannica.com/biography/Subramania-Bharati).

He was a great human being as his contribution was not only in the field of literature but he was against child marriage, caste system, advocated women’s right etc. By reading his activities, I have observed his idea was ‘inclusive growth’ means development of all persons of the society irrespective of caste, creed and religion. All rational human beings believe by caste or by religion one cannot be great, greatness is proved only by activities.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 11 September 2021 announced the setting up of a Chair in memory of Subramania Bharati at Banaras Hindu University (BHU) for Tamil studies. The Chair will be established in the faculty of arts at the BHU, (.hindustantimes.com, 11/9/21

The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu announced "September 11, the death anniversary of Mahakavi Bharati, will be observed annually as "Mahakavi Day" on behalf of the Government. A State-level poetry competition will be conducted for school and college students and the "Bharati young poet Award" with a purse of ₹ one lakh will be given", (ndtv.com/india-news, 11/9/21).

I offer my Pronam to Subramania Bharati on his Punya tithi (Death anniversary).

Dr Shankar Chatterjee, Hyderabad.

Dt 11 September 2021