Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Miscellaneous topics on Carnatic music
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arunk
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Joined: 07 Feb 2010, 21:41

Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by arunk »

Arasi,

I finally got around to reading this. I have only read the first 3 and it is riveting stuff. Thanks for the translation!

Arun

arasi
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Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by arasi »

Arun,
Thanks!

vasanthakokilam
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Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by vasanthakokilam »

I have created thread called 'Bharati' http://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=17055 and moved most of non Yadugiri translation related posts there without affecting the flow( hopefully). PBala, you can post in this new thread any material you have taken out from this thread there. I am keeping the stub posts here so they act as a cue to what you had there. Once you are done, I will delete them from here.

kssr
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Joined: 30 Nov 2009, 15:28

Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by kssr »

PUNARVASU wrote:"Bharathi: BhalE! You have swallowed every word of what Iyer said in his speech! As for me, I don't mind losing an argument to a child. It's a matter of pride for a guru to lose an argument to his student. There are many instances of it in our history."

I am reminded of the following subhASita:

युक्तियुक्तं वचो ग्राह्यं बालादपि शुकादपि ।
युक्तिहीनं वचस्त्याज्यं वृद्धादपि शुकादपि ॥
Whatever is consistent with right objective reasoning should be accepted even if it comes from a boy or a parrot, and whatever is not, should be rejected even if it comes from an old man or the great sage Śrī Śuka himself.
EpporuL yaar yaar vaai ketpinum apporuL
meypporuL kaaNbathu arivu-

Wisdom (intelligence) is to find the true meaning of what is being said, irrespective of who said it.

( I have started reading this thread just a few days back. No words to express my pleasure and gratitude to Smt.Arasi. She herself may not be aware of the great service she is doing to the cause of Tamil literature. I will try to soon catch up with the rest and comment more!)

kvchellappa
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Joined: 04 Aug 2011, 13:54

Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by kvchellappa »

tamilbooksonline have said that Bharathiyar Ninaivugal is out of print.
K V Chellappa

kvchellappa
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Joined: 04 Aug 2011, 13:54

Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by kvchellappa »

Are there no episodes after the eleventh?
K V Chellappa

Nick H
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Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 02:03

Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by Nick H »

Arasi has explained... she needs to take some time off for family and stuff.

Don't worry: she has promised to continue :)

arasi
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Joined: 22 Jun 2006, 09:30

Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by arasi »

Nick,
Thanks!

kvchellapa,
I will be back in a week's time. Meanwhile, Chapter 12 is already there, which you have missed reading, I think.

arasi
Posts: 16774
Joined: 22 Jun 2006, 09:30

Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by arasi »

THIRTEEN



Sakti ViLakkam
(The Meaning of Sakti)



Murugesam Pillai's family had held on to old traditions. On new moon and full moon days, on Fridays and whenever eclipses occured, the family gifted grains and things to swAmis, paNDArams, ANDis and all kinds of mendicants. It was called paDi aLattal (literally, 'giving' by measures--Arasi). The alms included rice, lentils, brown sugar, coconuts and so on. Bharathi was not keen on this custom."Blind faith!", he would say. "These ANDis and paNDArams are lazy men and cheats. Don't encourage them. Give alms only to the physically impaired and to the elderly!"
Yet, Bharathi came under the spell of a sAmiAr--kuLLach chAmiAr. He came to know him because KuLLach chAmi frequented Murugesam Pillai's house. The poet who had a thirst for new ideas, found a guide in him. From then on, whether it did him any good or not, Bharathi started seeking the company of some mendicants.
After DIpAvaLi, it is a custom in our part of the country to light two earthen lamps in front of our homes every evening until the beginning of kArtigai. At Murugesam Pillai's house, they started with two lamps and added two each day until the festival came to an end--when the TiruvaNNAmalai dIpam (flame) was put out.
On a Friday evening, I went with Meena, Padmavati and my sisters to Murugesam Pillai's house which was four doors away from where Bharathi's family lived. I saw Chellamma in front of her house.She was angry with the vANichi (woman who sold oil).

The oil woman: Amma! The man at the oil press was too busy today. I will bring you the oil tomorrow.

Chellamma: It's Friday evening and there's no oil in the house to light the lamps! I was sure you would bring it. Otherwise I would have asked ANNiammA. It's getting dark now, and you know we are not supposed to borrow anything after sunset!

Bharathi was listening to this conversation.

The oil woman: Amma, what could I do? I waited and waited at the press to no avail!

Bharathi: No big deal, Chellamma. It's not her fault. Just light a couple of candles.

Chellamma: When everyone else lights oil lamps, you want me to light candles? How weird! Candles are made of fish fat and are taboo! Would Lakshmi ever want to enter such a house?
(To the servant maid) Go girl! Run to the shop and get a mAgANi measure (a tiny amount) of oil!

Bharathi: Why do we need oil lamps when the electric lamps brighten the street? Lakshmi will surely visit us. Don't send the girl out now. It might rain.

Chellamma: Do you have to interfere in all this? She won't get wet, going to the nearby shop!

Bharathi: Just put this hurricane lamp out, Chellamma!

Chellamma: maN eNNai (kerosene) is from the bowels of the earth and is not acceptable! Oil lamps are traditional and there's no smoke from them. They look pretty and they burn evenly. If you bug me like this, I don't think I'm going to light any lamps at all this evening!
Little girl, run along home! Otherwise Iyer here might get a chill if you get drenched in the rain!

Bharathi (to the girls): Why does Chellamma get angry with me when I'm just being sensible?

Yadugiri: Women believe in traditions.You suggested candles and the hurricane lamp. No wonder Chellamma got upset!

Chellamma: You tell him, Yadugiri! Shouldn't we go along with the community? ANNiammA has lighted twenty lamps today. Shouldn't we light at least two?

Bharathi: Let's pretend that this argument took place just for the sake of our whiling away our time! Now, tell me--why do you think we light the lamps?

Chellamma: Shakti, AmbAL, Lakshmi and GangA come in a procession on these special evenings. They will stay in the houses which are clean and welcoming--and where traditions are kept.

Meena: In TiruvaNNAmalai, starting from DIpAvaLi, they light lamps in front of every house until the light goes off on the hill. Even those who cannot afford to buy the oil, continue lighting them until kArtigai. My grandmother says, that's the way we welcome Parvathi and GangA into our homes.

Bharathi: There is yet another reason for it. While concentrating on traditions and SAstrAs, we tend to overlook some other reasons. In olden times, they did not have a row of electric street lamps as we do now.
In the rainy season, the sky gets very dark. If there were lit lamps in front of every house, there was light for those who had to walk in the street at night.These days, we have no need for glimmering lamps with the street lights giving us light.
My grandfather grew up in darkness. Do we also have to live like that, thinking that it's tradition? By the way, Lakshmi is not happy just with earthen lamps. Dirt, out-moded ways, devious thinking, faith without any depth and our being hypocritical are things which drive her away. She prefers love, truth and devotion. She is happy when you sing of her with conviction. She's not one bit impressed with pomp and circumstances.
Chellamma, the children are all here. Let them sing the songs they know. I will join in later. Light a couple of candles and put them outside. Lakshmi will surely come! We will put her picture upon the chair and sing to her!

Chellamma half-heartedly did what Bharathi asked her to. We all started singing. Bharathi sang vandE mAtaram (We worship our Motherland!) and then he said: I will sing a new song today. I will pause after each line, so that you all can repeat after me, as in a bhajanai.

That song is known as Sakti viLakkam. It starts with the line: Adi param poruLin Ukkam.

Listening to nine voices singing in unison, the women from the surrounding houses started coming in. ANNiammAL thought we were dancing the kummi and joined us.
ChellammaL spread the mats for all of them to sit on.

Our singing went on for two hours.

Bharathi: Chellamma! Lakshmi has truly come to our house! Let's celebrate it by giving turmeric and kungumam to all!

When the women left, Chellamma joked: You said it would rain today. After listening to your bhajanai , it was scared away, I think!

Bharathi: It will certainly rain tonight. Send the children home soon!

The minute we reached our homes, it came down in torrents.

True to Bharathi's words, Lakshmi did visit his house, but she did not take permanent residence there. She kept coming and going...


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Last edited by arasi on 14 Aug 2011, 06:33, edited 2 times in total.

rshankar
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Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 22:26

Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by rshankar »

Welcome back Arasi, hope you had a very rejuvenating time with your family!

I am amazed at your fantastic timing (yours and Yadugiri's) - the perfect story on this ADi veLLi, the day of varalakshmi vRtam!

cmlover
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Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 22:36

Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by cmlover »

Weicome back!
Perfect timing and appropriate story for the Varalakshmi festival (as Shankar points out)!
Trust you had a relaxing break with your family...

smala
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Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 00:55

Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by smala »

Sri MahaLashmi is venerated in the Bharathiyar-Iyer tradition where conviction overrules blind belief. Auspicious.

kvchellappa
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Joined: 04 Aug 2011, 13:54

Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by kvchellappa »

Thousand thanks for resuming. It is indeed edifying to read the account.
K V chellappa

arasi
Posts: 16774
Joined: 22 Jun 2006, 09:30

Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by arasi »

FOURTEEN



bhArata samudAyam vAzhgavE!
( Long live this land called India!)



Before the festival of Pongal, there were mounds of grains at Ponnu Murugesam Pillai's place. Iyer and Bharathi got their annual provisions from him. Because they both were svadESis, Murugesam Pillai marked down the prices for them.
I was going to Bharathi's house when I met them both on my way.They asked me to go to Pillai's house with them. Welcoming them, the host unrolled a spread and placed a tray of betel leaves before them. After pleasantries, Pillai said: I still don't know what the prices are going to be like this year. As soon as I know, I will supply all that you need--for a lesser price, of course. After providing their shares to muRaikkArargaL, I will let you know.

We left for Bharathi's house and I asked what the word muRaikkArargaL meant. Bharathi explained the village tradition to me.

Bharathi: We are an agricultural country where ideally, no one should go hungry. People tend to spend their money rather quickly and in its place, if they are given portions from the harvest as wages, that can last them the whole year to live by. So, the tradition was that when landowners brought home the harvest, they shared it with farm workers, washermen, scavengers, brahmins who performed pUjAs, teachers at the tiNNaip paLLiIkkUDam-s (tiNNai=the raised platforms on either sides of the front door of a house; paLLikkUDam=school. So, schools conducted on tiNNais--Arasi), pujAris at the temple, the barbers and so on. Each of them got a specific amount of share for rendering services to the landowners all through the year. If each gave them, say five measures of rice, the workers got enough rice which lasted them to the end of the year. Giving sesame and lentils was considered a good thing, so they got them too, as part of this tradition of paDi aLattal (literally means, given in measures--Arasi)--these added nutritive value to the health of the poor (sesame yielded oil too).
So, the well-to-do in the village gave portions of their harvest for the services they received, in place of money. This is what is meant by giving to muRaikkArargaL (those who 'deserve' to be recipients. MuRai is also the way, hence, the way it is done--Arasi). This is what Murugesam Pillai meant. His family has not given up this tradition of its ancestors.

Yadugiri: How about giving money as a gift for pongal?

Bharathi: Of course, money comes in handy during the festival. They do need ten or fifteen rupees along with the gifts of the harvest. We find that the conch blower, servants and others ask for new clothes. The washerman, barber and scavenger too. If one has the money, it's a great gift to give. If you don't have it, you feel bad, sending them away empty-handed. Still, when you think about it, money isn't a great idea after all, because money is spent in no time. Then, all year long, their women complain about the empty larder. By getting paid in kind, they have grains at home which last for a while.
For people like us who do not own any land to cultivate, this is a good system devised by the villagers. If there are only a few in the village who have cultivable land, others are glad to render their services to get their wages in kind--to feed their families.

Yadugiri: It's our custom on Kanu--the day after pongal--to make four different kinds of rice and place them by the pond. Why do we do that?

Bharathi: Yadugiri, I don't know. Ask that bearded Iyer! He would have done his research in the SastrAs and would have found some explanation for it. I don't go near SastrAs and purANAs.You asked me about muRaikkArargaL and I knew something about them.

Iyer: Yadugiri, I can explain that. Birds and fish aid a great deal in helping the farmers against insects which may ruin their crops. When new harvest comes in, the farmers want to share their bounty with them. They first give the rice to the temple where it's cooked and is given to the birds and fish. The idea is that it's as if the goddess of the temple herself feeds them first! On the day of kanu, the girls who are given manjaL kANi come to the home of their parents (manjaL kANi='token share' of the family's land which the female child gets when she gets married. manjaL= turmeric--essential for cooking, symbol of prosperity and 'sumangali'hood (life with a long-living husband). kANi is a small measure of land. Remember bharathi's song kANi nilam vENDum!--Arasi). At the kanu festival, the daughters of the house are asked to feed the cattle, fish, birds and frogs. They are given gifts of grains, clothes and rupees, according to the ability of their parents. This is a very old custom in southern India.
Things are very different now. How would the poor man who earns ten rupees a month find joy in a festival like this? Every day is the same to him. Unless he's the kind who even in poverty has the ability to set aside a paisA here and there--because all that he earns ends up at the provision store!

Bharathi: IyerE! When he buys the grains from the shop, where has he got the room to store it all, in a rented, one rupee-a-month dwelling, keeping them away from mice and rats?

Iyer: True, but a man works hard to keep himself and his family fed. Yet, if he happens to be as generous as you are Bharathi, that would be impossible! Only a man who even in penury has the good sense to build a store of grains manages to feed his family. He knows that suffering lies ahead if he's not careful in his spending. Even if he gets fortunate and starts earning more, such a man is mindful about his spending--unlike those who are not careful about saving for the future.

Bharathi: Chellamma says that instead of buying the prepared lentils, if we buy it whole, we can get it ready for cooking by preparing it ourselves at home. I'm not keen on it because it's all a big fuss. Mixing them with wet earth, drying them, and then splitting them too! The whole house fills with dust and it's a mess. If we get it from outside, we don't have to go through all this.

Iyer: Do you think that the cheTTichi (the woman who gets it ready) renders her services for free? Instead of getting the lentils from her every year for ten rupees, you can get it all done at home by spending five or six rupees on the whole tuvarai. We save about four rupees!

Bharathi: Isn't it a good thing that the woman who labors over it gets the money?

Iyer: Bharathi, if we have money enough, what you say is right. Without it, my point is, what's wrong about doing it all ourselves? We can also save by buying in bulk tuvarai, tamarind, paddy, chillies and uLundu.The rest of the provisions, we can buy in small amounts.

Bharathi: Our women don't even have the energy to cook the prepared rice, and you list all this work for them!

Iyer: Bharathi, It's all because we haven't kept up with the good old ways. Still, they can ask the servant-maid to help them.

Bharathi: It isn't as simple as all that. If the work doesn't turn out to be satisfactory, our women are going to complain about it all year! IyerE! What you say is ideal for those who stay comfortably in their villages all their lives in their own homes and have a piece of land to cultivate. It's not easy for folks like us.

Iyer: It's only proper that we honor good traditions. Even if we can't appreciate or follow them, we can at least refrain from criticizing them!

Bharathi: I don't think it's practical at all, at least for me. I've asked Chellamma to throw out the stone pots, cast-iron vANali (wok) and like the white folks, use china and glass. She says they are not traditional. Glass and china break easily and they are poisonous. She makes up all these stories.

Iyer: She has a point. I was crazier than you once, about new fads. When I lived alone in Rangoon, instead of using the metal pot, I boiled some water in a glass on the spirit stove and went to fetch the tea leaves. When I was back, the glass had broken into a hundred pieces. The spirit lamp was ruined as well. I had to buy a brand new one! Research indicates that china dishes may contain tuberculosis-causing poison. Our old ways are fine. We don't need fancy things, just for show.

Bharathi: Well, you make a fine lawyer for Chellamma! Keep singing the refrain 'Traditions', IyerE !
Now, how about my singing a new song?

Bharathi sang to us:
bhArata samudAyam vAzhgavE!

Iyer was so moved by the song. All the way home, he explained the meaning of it to me, line by line. "Bharathi sings, 'tani oruvanukkuNavillaiyenil jagattinai azhittiDuvOm!' (Even if a single soul is left without food in the land, we will destroy this world!). A praiseworthy line, indeed!"


* * * * *

rshankar
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Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by rshankar »

A kANi may be a 'small' measure of land for some, but by my reckoning, it is some 24 'grounds'....not exactly small! The mahAkavi's request for kANi nilam is as deceptive as Sri OVK's request to be born as a 'small' stone (Siru kallu) in bRndAvan -a stone that is big enough for not just kRshNa to rest on it, but rAdhA as well!

gobilalitha
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Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by gobilalitha »

Ravi, marvellous

arasi
Posts: 16774
Joined: 22 Jun 2006, 09:30

Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by arasi »

Ravi,
:)
An urban kANi is a huge piece of property, but how much could it yield as harvest in old rural India? manjaL kANi indeed was a token gift to the daughters of the house. That was why the SIr (gifting) to daughters at festivals evolved, I think, the parents (and the in-laws!) wanted the daughters to get a piece of what the parents had. The sons got the lion's share, any way.
Last edited by arasi on 14 Aug 2011, 20:39, edited 1 time in total.

cmlover
Posts: 11498
Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 22:36

Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by cmlover »

A moving introduction to the song
bhArata samudAyam vAzhgavE!
'tani oruvanukkuNavillaiyenil jagattinai azhittiDuvOm!' is the all time favourite quote from Bharathy...

arasi
Posts: 16774
Joined: 22 Jun 2006, 09:30

Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by arasi »

FIFTEEN



PeN kalvi
(Educating Women)

Around the year 1914, the question of education for women generated quite a bit of interest and controversy. So too, the idea of freedom for women which was vehemently argued against by some. The popular opinion was that women did not need any education but the number of supporters of uplift for women increased. Among them were some highly-placed professionals who ignored the old orthodox ways and started sending their daughters to schools to be taught in English. Child-widows were enrolled in schools which the conservatives thought was outrageous.
Many complained that because of all this breach in tradition, a hundred appaLams which you could get for four annas in VaikuNDa VAdyAr Street, were now being sold for eight annas!
Others who were for educating women but were afraid of the conservative society they lived in, engaged white women to tutor their daughters at home.
Changes did occur in the mandyam community as well. Even those who were against the idea, changed their minds, it seemed. From Ananda varusham onwards (1914-1915), friends and relatives from our extended family started sending their daughters to schools.
My father narrated stories to me and to my brother after dinner--of of Alexandre Dumas, Shakespeare and Moliere's plays, and Alain Rene Le Sage's Gil Blas , parts of which he translated into Tamizh. We listened to those stories eagerly.
Bharathi who readily got inspired by new thoughts and ideas, decried child marriages and championed remarriages for child-widows. He felt that though women did not have to vie with men in pursuing higher education, they certainly needed to be educated to be well-equipped with self-confidence, cultural values and lessons in hygiene. For his part, he praised the greatness and dignity of womanhood in his poetry.

I was keen on going to school with my peers. I argued with my mother that she should let me go to school. She objected to it by saying that I was learning from my father at home, and that was enough. I cried all day and kicked up a big fuss about it.
In the evening, as usual, Bharathi and Chellamma came by, and we went to the beach together. I was wearing a dour expression due to all the unhappy exchanges with my mother that day.

Bharathi: Yadugiri, you seem upset! Was your mother cross with you for something?

I did not answer him. I just sobbed. Chellamma gathered me in her arms and put my head on her lap and tried to console me. When I calmed down, I said: Chellamma! All the girls that I know go to school now but my mother won't let me go!

Chellamma: Is that all? Silly girl! Don't you see? Though they are of your age, they perhaps haven't started menstruating. It's not a good idea to send girls who have matured to schools. Moreover, did you think of your in-laws? They might not approve of it at all!

Bharathi: Just because your peers go to school, it doesn't make them any better than you, Yadugiri. Why should it matter if you don't get to know the names of the rivers and lakes in the english countryside? Study Tamizh even more eagerly! Going to those schools sometimes tend to introduce girls to unwanted trends in fashions which are worthless. Honestly, I don't see much benefit in your learning English.

Yadugiri: Do you mean to say that other parents want to send their girls to school because it's useless to do so? I mean, is it because they're foolish--and we are smart?

Chellamma: Yadugiri, you don't need to go to work! Then, why do you need an English education? My father says, girls need to be literate only to the extent of being able to write a letter, and for keeping household accounts. Nowadays, we women read epics, poetry and stories. To learn the languages of our own land is important. We can learn Sanskrit, Telugu, KannaDam and Hindi. Only men need English for their work, to read letters, the newspapers and meaningless stories!

Yadugiri: The problem is, most things are written in English! Not that I do not love Tamizh. When my grandmother says: telugu tETa, KannaDa kastUri, aravam advAnam (Telugu is honey, KannaDa precious and Tamizh is useless), I fight with her by saying that literary works in Tamizh are the best!

Bharathi: Your grandmother has a point. No need to get upset with what she says. Just as you seem to want to get an English education, many in tamizh nADu are crazy about the English language. I see new works of translations in Kannada and Telugu from other languages. Tamizh used to ride high once. Now it is at its nadir. That's why we are being teased.

Yadugiri: Why has this happened to Tamizh?

Bharathi: The Tamizh people are not as resolute. After reading works in English, they develop a disrespect for Tamizh literature. There is very little patronage for our language among the public.The Bengalis are prepared to give generously for the betterment of their language whereas our people, even the wealthy ones, do not like to spend a paisa for the good of our language. The poor also want to spend whatever they can on giving an English education to their sons hoping that they can get a good job to support the extended family. When the sons do get a job, they don't have enough to support their own families! How can they help their parents and siblings? In all this, where do they have the care or means to see if their language is alive or dead? If a few among us speak up about it, we get to be the enemies and traitors of this deprived society!

Chellamma: We are in the Age of Kali. Everything is upside down. It's all mayhem!

Bharathi: No, Chellamma! It's the age of the VEdAs! In the VedAs, you find mostly entreaties: destroy the rAkshasAs! Keep diseases away and give us good health! Please protect our children! Grant us our wishes! Make this land prosperous! varuNA! IndrA! Keep our crops from being destroyed by the rAkshasAs! Wind! You are our favored god! and so on. They are a compilation of all these pleas. It's the same with the Koran of the Muslims: make our children walk the righteous path! Make them good warriors! Provide them with food and clothing, make them live with sufficient means so that they can keep their heads high among their fellowmen, let good air and water be theirs like nectar!
The same is true of the Bible. They all ask for the same favors. It's just that they are in different languages!

Chellamma: Do you mean to say that peria purANam and the stories of SankarAchAryA are false?

Bharathi: No. Long ago, it was the time of the Upanishads. After having lived with Nature for a long time, they got tired of it and started saying, 'all this is an illusion, God alone is the truth'.To negate everything was in vogue then. Amid all this, they could not give up the Saiva-vaishNava conflict! They all taught lessons in 'giving up' but did not abide by it.
YugAs change.That's the way it's supposed to be. Then, when we started getting to know the ways of the west, our desires and wants increased. Even children seem to get influenced by it.Fashions are fleeting. If you get drawn to them, soon you will tire of them too. No wonder, people are eager for a new career and to follow new modes but they realize later that there is no substance to all these vanities.

Chellamma: How was it, when the Muslims ruled our country?

Bharathi: Akbar was the only one who treated the Hindus with sensitivity. Babar too, perhaps. Akbar had said in his final days: my descendants will try to treat the Hindus cruelly and will try to convert them toI islam. By doing so, they will not be able to achieve even the little that I have, but end up as the very axes which bring down our religion--and sure enough, it happened.
The Christians on the other hand, used kind words to convert the Hindus. When in DhAtu varusham the famine came, they boiled gruel in huge cauldrons and fed the nearly-dying and converted them to Christianity. Priests of the missions promised money and good jobs to them for their conversion, but left many of the poor families in the lurch.

Chellamma: Then, why do you often say that all religions are equal?

Bharathi: I do, but it does not mean that you have to be without your manjaL and kungumam like women from other religions! We are all the same, whatever our religion--when it comes to goodness. At the same time, whatever goes with our culture need not be be forgotten. Now, Yadugiri wants to study in an English school and you all do not want her to.

Yadugiri: BhArathiyArE, how about you? Are you for it?

Bharathi: Not really. If all youngsters work for the good of Tamizh, the whole world would get to know of its glory. Instead of grumbling about Tamizh being ridiculed as an useless language by others, it's better for us to do our bit for Tamizh with renewed enthusiasm for the language. Instead of bossing around with the knowledge of a bit of English, it's better to venerate Tamizh. It means, studying anew important old books in context with the present times, making old verses more understandable by splitting the words and explaining the meanings, translating great works from the literature of other languages into Tamizh and doing the same with books on natural and modern sciences, astronomy, and other works. Doing all this will benefit us no end.

Yadugiri: My father told us of a story which appeared in The Modern Review with the title Kshutita PAshAN. How do you say it in Tamizh? Had I known the language, I would have read it myself!

Bharathi: It means, hungry stones (Bharathi has translated and published this story and calls it ASA Bhangam--The publisher's note). It's Ravindranath's story. it's a good thing to translate such meaningful short fiction into Tamizh.

Chellammal: The other day, you told me the story of mAna Bhangam or Giri bAlA's Story (this has also been translated by Bharathi--publisher). I don't think the beginning or the end of the story is right. It was like a puzzle. The story ends with this line: GopinAthan jumped up and down and said, 'I will kill him!'. The curtain falls...We don't understand this at all!

BharathI: Chellamma, normally, our way of starting a story is, 'once up on a time, there was a king--then we end the story with, 'he lived happily ever after.' In this new way of writing, a story comes in as a storm, gives us a glimpse of a scene, and disappears. If we ponder about the story, we will find the meaning of it all by ourselves. This is good for sharpening our wits. If you too start reading stories like this, you will get to understand them easily.

Yadugiri: We neither know Bengali nor English to read them. We rely on the menfolk to tell us about them!

Chellamma: Yadugiri! On top of it, we have to wait until they are in a mood to tell us the stories!

Bharathi: More than the made-up stories, a true story can be appealing. Chellamma, yesterday, you were telling the children the story about what happened during your trip to the falls. I've written it all down just as you narrated it. Do you know how humorous it is! I'm sending it to svadESa Mitran. When you described your uncle, how the children fell out laughing! There is wonderment even in our mundane lives. If you write such incidents down regularly, there can't be any better stories. Even if you made up such a story, it will do Tamizh some good. Srinivasachari wrote to Tagore asking for permission to translate his stories into Tamizh. To publish them in Tamizh is a very good idea.

Bharathi sent that story told by Chellamma to svadESa Mitran and it was published in its annual December special issue in 1917. It was called Aruvi or VaLLi VANa tIrthamADiya kadai (The Falls or When VaLLi Bathed in vANa tIrtham).




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Last edited by arasi on 18 Aug 2011, 06:34, edited 3 times in total.

smala
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Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by smala »

This chapter Fifteen is one of the very best in this memoir. I loved every line in it. So many memorable statements to ponder on from Bharathi, Chellamal and Yaduri - but this one, particularly, is the most innocent repercussion given the spreading turbulence of women's education and upliftment at the time.

..."Many complained that because of all this breach in tradition, a hundred appaLams which you could get for four annas in VaikuNDa VAdyAr Street, were now being sold for eight annas!"

Seems like even the cosmic forces were alarmed : VaikuNDA could not quite spare the breach in tradition and exacted its price! :)

rshankar
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Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by rshankar »

Arasi - this is fabulous! That Chellamma was his muse was evident, but, in this chapter, we have the mahAkavi himself state that he took her idea and ran with it! Thank you! This is service indeed - you are performing the very thing that bhArati wanted people to do for his tamizh (albiet in the opposite direction!)
Last edited by rshankar on 17 Aug 2011, 03:09, edited 1 time in total.

arasi
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Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by arasi »

Ravi,
Don't you see? Here at Rasikas, I'm not the only one. You have translated hundreds of Tamizh songs--many of them Bharathi's, and our Lakshman, like AnjanEyA, though Tamizh is not his mother tongue, has brought to rasikAs Tamizh songs that they ask the lyrics for, with tireless efforts in collecting and in making them available! Let's not forget Rajani, Punarvasu and others.
Last edited by arasi on 18 Aug 2011, 06:17, edited 1 time in total.

cmlover
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Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by cmlover »

Well said arasi
The contribution of Shankar to the Tamil translations of lyrics is immense as also of others. Those of Bharathi are just gems and I hope more non-tamils will take interest and sing those songs in concerts. Your contribution in presenting the context of some of these compositions through the translation of Yadugiri is invaluable and undoubtedly you have captured the spirit of the writer.

Bharathi is a pioneer with progressive views in the battle for women's liberation though the TN Govts steeped in the 'dravida maaya' have failed to recognize his contributions in that area.

arasi
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Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by arasi »

SIXTEEN


EngaL vELvik kUDamIdil
(In Our Place of Sacrifice)



Ananda varusham was not a year of joy at all as its name suggests. It brought a lot of unhappiness with it. The World War and many other ills were in store for us in the so-called happy year.
My life changed too. I was in Chennai now. After a while, I went to Puduvai for a week with my mother to see my father. When the schools closed, my husband came, and I went with him to Puduvai again. He went back to Mysore after a week. I stayed on. The World War which had started in Ananda varusham went on and it was RAkshasa varusham now.

A french scholar called Paul Richard had come to Puduvai to spend some time with Aravinda Ghosh to study the vEdAs with him. He also became a friend of BharathiyAr, Iyer and my father.
I don't know why, but because he had seven children, he had to fight in the war (Bharathi told us), and Richard was going back to Paris because of that.
A farewell tea party was arranged for him. We were there. Richard, Madame Richard (later, The Mother!), her two daughters and friends were sitting at a round table which had chairs all around it. The table was piled with china plates and cups. That was the first time I had been to a tea party. But for my mother and Bhagyalakshmi Ammal, we partook of the tea and tiffin, while they chewed on betel leaves. After the party, we walked in the beach.

Bharathi: Listen to this! It's interesting. Richard and Madame Richard have no children and yet, because he's the father of seven children, he has to fight in the war! Why is it so? Can anyone guess?

Chellamma: It's beyond me! Who knows? His brothers may have children. What strange laws!

Bharathi: Chellama, I agree it's puzzling but it's true. Richard has three children by his previous wife and Madame has four who were born to her first husband and his former wife. Since these two married, they are counted as their children.

Chellamma: Siva SivA! Enough about the way they live! To have four children with one, and marry again!

Bharathi: That's their way. I mentioned Ravindranathar's story called Giribala or mAna Bhangam to you. It's a very good story. In it, he says that more than when we humans are still like sculptures, it's in the walking, the movements of our hands, our smiling and in our looking in all four directions that we can truly see beauty in the human form. Anyway, in this story, the husband controls his wife at first. Eventually, the wife does the same to him! This is the new way. What do you think of it?

Chellamma: I don't like it. If a cow or oxen gets old, you get a new one. It's fine when it comes to animals. It is not the same with us humans (I do not understand why she says this, or why Yadugiri writes so! Or, was there more by way of conversation in the manuscript and this reference is not about Tagore's story at all but was about Richard? Were some lines omitted and got mixed up while printing it?--Arasi).

Bharathi: What do you say to this, Yadugiri?

Yadugiri: It's difficult to argue with you. I'd say it's not easy for a woman to live with such a husband in the first place, and I agree. Yet, what follows is unacceptable. Just because foreigners do anything they wish, is it a civilized thing for us to copy it? (You see what I mean about the mix-up--Arasi).

Bharathi: You are saying exactly what Chellamma has said, but in a different way. Never mind! Did you notice that your mother and Iyer's wife didn't drink any tea at all? Madame Richard and I noticed their putting the tea cups under the table. Why did they do that?

Yadugiri: My mother would not drink from anything else but a silver tumbler. She does not like tea or coffee either. Do you expect her to drink from the same cup which had been sipped from by others? Bhagyalakshmi Ammal is the same. She might not like tea either.

Bharathi: They had their own cups--not something others had sipped from!

Yadugiri: And then there was a single tablecloth touching everyone. They don't like it either. Chellamma didn't protest because of you. No one can persuade BhayathammaL.

Bharathi: I thought the svadESi families are open to new ways! Doesn't seem to be so! We may have to wait a bit longer, perhaps.

Yadugiri: When my mother had a severe stomach problem, Dr. Ambeau said that drinking coffee was good for her. We asked her to drink it as if it were medicine. She refused.

Chellamma: Our ways are the best. You are the one who gets excited about all that is new!

Bharathi: It's eight o' clock! Let's head back home.

I stayed in Puduvai for a month. A marriage in Bangalore in my in-law's family meant that I had to go back. I went to Bharathi and Iyer's house to say goodbye. Bharathi had just finished writing a poem called agni dhOmam. He sang it to us: engaL vELVik kUDamIdil. He sang one line with vigor and majesty. The next one, tragically, alternating his tone to the end of the song. The crying out of the asurAs melted our hearts. There were tears in Chellamma's eyes.

Bharathi: Great! Are you crying because all the diseases perish! My, my!

Chellamma: When you sing with such feeling, I can't help crying!

Yadugiri: May I have that piece of paper, BhArathiyArE? Last time, the police in Vizhuppuram took away the song you had given me.They are a load of trouble. I hope they don't do it this time!

Bharathi: Write on it in block letters--agni dhOmam, and they won' touch it!

Chellamma: If they see your name on it, they will seize it. Yadugiri, write this song down in your note book. Don't take it with you.

Yadugiri: I've written down 'pudumaip peN' already. I don't have the time now. Let me just keep this paper in my notebook and take it. As BharathiyAr said, I will write on it in block letters--agni dhOmam.

Bharathi: Do that. If they still take it away, I will send you another copy, don't worry. Have a good journey.

I then went to Iyer's house. He had recently written Mangaiyarkkarasiyin kAdal and KuLattangarai arasa maram. Both were tragic stories. I cursed Nagarajan (hero of the second story--publisher). Iyer said, we have plenty of happy stories, but tragic stories have their own charm.

I left that very night. As Bharathi had said, they did not bother to snatch away his song from me this time!



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rshankar
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Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by rshankar »

I agree with you about feeling that something has been left out. I have one more question - you, or PB with his extensive knowledge of the mahAkavi can explain if it was routine for the police (were the police from the French govenrment in Pondicherry, or from the English one in neighboring India) to serach the belongings of people traveling out of Pondy? Why was Yadugiri's copy of a piece of paper with bhArati's writing confiscated or liable to be confiscated?

arasi
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Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by arasi »

Ravi,
Others can tell you, especially CML, but I'm pretty sure it was the British. The French kept an eye on the svadESis, I bet, but for other reasons. They did not mind their living in their territory, but the World War might have changed it somewhat. Revolutionaries are capable of stirring the emotions of the populace and what if they repeated their action against the French government too? I really don't know.
As for the British, anything that Bharathi wrote would have been flagrant in their eyes, and for a good reason. He was raising national consciousness with his patriotic poems.So, the Vizuppuram check point. My aunt once said that her father smuggled (her word) some poems of Bharathi on his trips to Puduvai, and that's how she got to sing them. I wish I had remembered, which ones exactly!
What struck me most in this chapter was the appearance of the Mother, in her former life!

rshankar
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Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by rshankar »

Thanks Arasi. Did the Brit police serach the belongings of everyone traveling from Pondy, or just a few? And how did they select whom to search? In this day and age of facebook, and facebook-aided regime changes, I am sure the Brits would have lasted nary a week....
The appearance of the 'Mother' wasn't so out of the way for me, since I had come to know about her history when I lived in Pondy.

arasi
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Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by arasi »

I mean, that Yadugiri met her in her pUrvASramam...

As for whether all passengers were searched, I don't guess so. Being a young (and married) child, she would not have traveled alone. If her father had accompanied her, they would have checked without fail!

arasi
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Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by arasi »

SEVENTEEN




dEvar varugavenRu
(Welcoming the Celestials)



After a family wedding in Bangalore, I went back to Mysore to my in-laws. Four months later, my grandmother took me to Chennai. My mother went to Puduvai soon after. She took with her the two silver images of Krishna I had brought for Sakunthala and Subhadra (Iyer's daughter). I heard that Sakunthala played with her Krishna all day long, bathed him and sang to him at bed time. Bhayalakshmi Ammal put Subhadra's Krishna in a box lined with red silk and put it in her pUjA nook.

My friend Meena and I had been corresponding regularly. In one of her letters, she had said that Sakunthala had lost her Krishna and that very same day, she got high fever. "She is still very ill. Bharathi asked me to write to you to ask you if you could send another one for her. Please do, without fail." I sent another idol of Krishna through my mother.

In naLa varusham, in the month of aippasi, I went to Puduvai. Sakunthala was well now.
Iyer and Bharathi came to see me. I had heard that Bharathi was not his cheerful old self. My mother used to say: BharathiAr is always surrounded by people. It's because of his greatness as a poet.
It was not so now. It would have taken Bharathi some time to get used to the absence of his admiring crowd, I thought.

I was not that well myself. I could not go out freely as I used to. Still, after a few days, I went to Bharathi's house with my baby. He had just broken his vow of silence.
The baby was playing on the mat. Bharathi was very happy to see the way it was kicking its legs and gurgling. He was thrilled to see its play that he sang 'chinnanjiru kiLiyE kaNNammA' to it.
He said, "Look, Chellamma! The baby is playing divinely! "

Chellamma: Yadugiri, he hasn't seen a baby play in a long while. That's why he's so excited!

Bharathi: When a child plays happily, we are so happy. If it gets sick, we cannot bear it!

Chellamma: Yadugiri, I'm scared even now, to think of what we went through last year! This man who tells us forever to be brave, was squirming like a worm in grief. AmbAL saved Sakunthala. Even though he sang out most of the time, he couldn't calm down.

Bharathi: Chellmma spouts all this about me. You should have seen her! She wouldn't stay in a place for a moment, She would go about the place with a long face. "God, give me the fever and spare the child!," she would keep mumbling. I had to take care of her along with the child!

Chellamma: As if he did! He wouldn't let me go near her without my washing my hands in that horrible-smelling medicine! Whatever I touched, reeked of that stuff!I If I refused, he would fight with me. The child kept calling out 'Chellamma, Chellamma!'. I got fed up with his fussing. It's all like a nightmare now, when I think about it.

Bharathi: How would the germs die if we don't wash our hands? The doctor had warned us about it a hundred times. It was a dangerous kind of fever!

Chellamma: She suffered that burning fever, and the second week, he stuck the thermometer into her mouth and saw that she had very high fever. He shook it to check the temperature again, but it fell and broke because he was afraid and his hand was shaking! What could I do? I sent the servant maid to fetch the doctor. He said, "We have to wait until tomorrow to see how she does. Don't worry, though."
He gave her an injection. "I shouldn't have given you that thermometer," he added.
The child didn't seem conscious. She didn't utter a word, but we could see that she was suffering. I sat by her side without moving. Bharathi was wailing. "PApA!, I thought you were going to orate in big gatherings! That you would be a scholar! You can't even utter a word now!" He hit his head against the wall. I had to console him. All night, he kept crying out: Sakti, Sakti!
The fever came down the next morning. We had no money. How could we put up with all this?

Bharathi: Truly, those two months were hell. When Thangamma had the pneumonia, it wasn't that bad. Nanjunda Rao (in Chennai) looked after her as his own daughter. Swarnam (?) was there.

Chellamma: Appadurai (Chellmma's brother--publisher) was also there. You didn't have to be around. You were happy, being with your friends at work. Who's there for us here, though?

Yadugiri: Meena had written to me about Sakunthala. My father had written later that she was feeling much better.
BharathiyArE! How many new songs have you written?

Chellamma: Nowadays, it's all about the stupid vow of silence. More of those than verses! Yadugiri, I can't bear it. He used to sing or speak all the time. Now, it's all silence. He only communicates with signs and by writing things down. What weirdness is this!

Bharathi: Chellamma, you try to be silent too. There is happiness in it.

Chellamma: Yes, It's happiness I'm seeking! Who's to take care of the milkwoman, oil woman and the rest? I don't know which worthless (Chellamma uses the expression--maNNAIp pOgiRa=one who turns to dust) fellow led him to this!

Bharathi: No one had to. I tried it one day and it was bliss. So, I'm continuing it. If I do not utter a word for three days in a week, my writing flows unimpeded. Then, SvadESa mitran sends us the money regularly. Does it bother you?

Chellamma: The rainy season is here. The tiles on the roof are broken. The owner of the house has said that we have to get the roof repaired ourselves. ANNiammA told me that the house at the end of the street, a two-storied one, is vacant and the rent is reasonable. The owner had come to see us yesterday. Bharathi was observing silence. So, I had to tell him that Bharathi would see him in his house tomorrow. SAmiArs and paNDArams can indulge in vows of silence, not a householder! Where is it written that you can't write unless you observe silence? Everything at home comes to a standstill when he does this. I've gone through all kinds of drama with him. This is one of them! I don't know how many more I have to endure!

Bharathi: Chellamma, You don't have to go that far! You sound so bitter. I've spoken to the man and we are moving there on the next auspicious day. I will observe silence only for a few days in a month. How about that? Yadugiri, I do this because I want to find a new word in Tamizh, an equivalent for the word Aum.

Bharathi then sang dEvar varugavenRu.He also gave me copies of some other verses. Saktikku Atma samarppaNam, jayamuNDu bayamillai manamE, iyaRkai enRunai uraippAr, ulagattu nAyagiyE engaL muttumAri, kAlamAm vanattil, pozhudu pularndadu, manamEvu tiruvE and a part of kuyil pATTu were all there. I took them home with me.


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smala
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Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by smala »

Thanks Arasi, I feel vindicated now, re. the song 'chinnanjiru kiLiyE kaNNammA' t

Yadugiri's memoirs give us the valuable and specific context in which select powerful songs were composed - that this song full of intimate tender love was composed and sung in the company of Yadugiri and as a tribute to her newborn, is as poignant and meaningful as it is reflective of a love that he had for the child-women around him. That he suffered during Sakuntala's prolonged illness is equally salient. The presence of the newborn, his dear Yadugiri, his own Sakuntala well again after that worrisome illness...relief let his Muse finally break his silence releasing his pent-up emotions as it gushed through the exquisite lyrics.

rajeshnat
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Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by rajeshnat »

smala wrote:Thanks Arasi, I feel vindicated now, re. the song 'chinnanjiru kiLiyE kaNNammA' to it. Yadugiri's memoirs give us the valuable and specific context in which select songs were composed - that this song full of intimate tender love was composed and sung in the company of Yadugiri and as a direct tribute to her newborn, is poignant and meaningful. That he suffered during Sakuntala's prolonged illness is equally salient.
smala,
Arasi mentioned as :

The baby was playing on the mat. Bharathi was very happy to see the way it was kicking its legs and gurgling. He was thrilled to see its play that he sang 'chinnanjiru kiLiyE kaNNammA' to it.

That does not mean that he composed the song and sang for the first time before yAdugiri's kid. He may have composed much before and perhaps sang that for the 100th time.

Arasi,
What I like about yadugiri in general , she just casually mentions that she put her baby in the mat , a new born baby is a big think to talk and write.Yadugiri mentions casually as though she put a handkerchief , all her focus in the write up is all about workings of Mahakavi's mind . Kudos to yadugiri's focus .

smala
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Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by smala »

"....That does not mean that he composed the song and sang for the first time before yAdugiri's kid. He may have composed much before and perhaps sang that for the 100th time."


Rajesh, since you say "may have composed" - does anyone know for certain, from any of the other writings -- WHEN the song could have been composed ? Or that he could have sung "that for the 100th time ?" This latter statement seems to be too casual, almost irreverent, to such a deep intimate song...

Even though Arasi's translation does not explicitly state anything about the time for this kiLiyE composition, the memoirs have, till now, mostly provided -- contexts and the time -- during which some of the songs were composed.

I would like to believe that the song "may", if you like, have been composed when Yadugiri's baby was present, or maybe, for Yadugiri, or Sakuntala...A belief is that this composition was for parAsakti, imagined as a child! If Yadugiri had passed on the pieces of paper that Bharathi gave her with his songs written on them to her descendants and they still have those treasures -- we may know! Until then, the "may" could work either way - do we know for certain otherwise?

arasi
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Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by arasi »

smala and Rajesh,
I am 'living' with Yadugiri, Bharathi, Chellamma and others now, and in a way, shuttling back and forth (seeing the story as you all do and going further into it for my translation. Add to it an aging mind--which makes me unfit for pinning things down. However, I feel that it was not composed at that moment. Otherwise, Y certainly would have exclaimed saying: on seeing my baby play, Bharathi burst into song. Of course, she would have asked for the written down song--more so because it was about her baby. No. I do' think so. Kannan pATTugaL came earlier, is my guess. Of course, I wait for the experts to chime in.

Rajesh, I don't think the child was a new-born to have been so engaging in its play.

cmlover
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Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by cmlover »

Though the book says that Bharathi composed the song visualizing parasakthi as a child, it is quite possible that he composed it on the spur of the moment (as an ASu kavi) with Yadugiri's baby. He may have added a few stanzas and polished it later. It appears Bhairvi is a natural raga for the song as has appeared in print
Why should a parasakthi song appear in the Kannan pATTukaL collections? That is an oxymoron!

arasi
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Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by arasi »

BharathiyAr's fascination with the tiruvAi mozhi is one reason for his using the word kaNNammA in his poetry. The AzhvArs use it while addressing kaNNan (Ar uLargaLE kaNNammA, aranga mA nagaruLAnE in UrilEn kANi illai is a verse many of us are familiar with).
We do know that Divinity and Nature inspired him. Humanity too. He loved people--and individuals. It's not possible to know the who, how, in which song and so on! Is it written that the inspiration of a song cannot flow into another? The poetic process does not necessarily limit you to one emotional context. It's a sum total of your experiences which it springs from. It's like saying: the violinist was superb, that's what made the vocalist give an inspired tODi. True to some extent, but that's a trigger, but the singer's total experience of the rAgam also comes into play. He or she cannot shut it off.
Another example: we engage in instant, impromptu poetry in the KavidaigaL thread. Even though in that trivial pursuit we come up with a response with a few lines, triggered by the words in the previous verse, we we do not isolate ourselves from the totality of our own poetic instincts and the experiences which happen to be our own. With Bharathi--it would have been impossible for him to create in such a compartmentalized way. Had he been that way, he would have stayed on happily at the ETTayapuram samasthAnam, writing about his employer, leading a comfortable life with Chellamma.
Last edited by arasi on 21 Aug 2011, 06:35, edited 1 time in total.

smala
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Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by smala »

"...Otherwise, Y certainly would have exclaimed saying: on seeing my baby play, Bharathi burst into song."

Arasi -

FIVE things I get from these Yadugiri memoirs via your translation :

1) Yadugiri comes across as a *very* modest person in these memoirs - not even her own baby was uppermost for her when she visited Bharathi with her first-born. [Not her marriage, not her reaching puberty, not her conceiving or the birth of her first child!]
2) Further, she lived life loving Bharathi, always holding Bharathi, his ideals, his notions, his thinking, his inspirational songs in much higher esteem than her own self, more than the personal happenings to her.
3) She writes in an impassioned way, never too excited or too agitated or taken in by the moment, regardless of the happenings or how profound the impact may have been!
4) Bharathi, with his regard for Divinity and Nature, but more particularly his deep caring for Humanity, - specifically for those immediately around him - was a man deeply present in his moment so the composition is very very likely to relate to such moments, as we have seen with his other songs! Why discount or deny the context for this kiLiyE song is beyond me!
5) If there was a parAsakti bent/fascination, with songs composed earlier than Yadugiri's recognition, they would still have found mention in her memoirs at some point, even if casually. [I firmly believe parAsakti is a concocted notion and attribution - by folks who compiled his songs, somewhat ill-at-ease with his passionate, intimate compositions vis-a-vis his other compositions, lofty, full of ideals and fervor of a non-personal kind. That he put that same fervor into some personal, intimate songs, is too hard to bear for some folks.]

Given this, I feel she has downplayed Bharathi's singing to her baby, mentioning it casually, and she has not talked of this particular song or its import : -
a) because, while it is a beautiful, intimately worded deeply expressive song to us, in our alienated ways these days ! - to her was just one expressing common-in-those-days sweetness to a child;
b) because, to her, it was not particularly a song expressing svadEsi or women's progressive, or other higher notions from him that seemed to have triggered her imagination to have been so savored - to put it in expressive language! [however, these were memories that lasted long enough to write with contexts in the memoirs, much much later.]

I still feel the way I do re. the birth of the kiLiyE composition. No parAsakti anywhere close !

arasi
Posts: 16774
Joined: 22 Jun 2006, 09:30

Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by arasi »

smala,
We all are entitled to our viewpoints, and some of what you say rings true to me, but I may not see everything the way you do. It's similar to the way we look at Bharathi's works. How many different interpretations can be given to one particular line!
As you say, Yadugiri was self-effacing perhaps, but from everything that I've read so far, I feel that she was vry expressive and got excited about every new song and it showed! Any mother, however cruel a mother she is (which Y certainly was not!)--even a woman who did not know anything at all about Bharathi's worth as a poet would have said: he made a song specially for my child!
While I don't want to be like the men of his times who went to the trouble of making it all sound kosher--after all, Bharathi was in love with romantic poetry, yet another influence, to the extent that one of his pen names was Shelley dAsan! I do not want to go to the other extreme either to seek clues in everything said or not said by her. Something akin to what modern journalism does--even the papers known for their integrity, at times sinking to the level of the tabloids. To show wart and all--is fine by me, so long as the wart doesn't become the focus and the inspiring subject matter recedes to the background. While I like openness in expression, dealings and in writing (Bharathi was all that!), I am not that keen on digging to the point that the essence of all I seek eludes me in such efforts.
Again, nothing personal, and before anyone else does (aha!) let me put the blame on my not being a spring chicken, if they think I sound 'proper'. Those who have read my poems (not the impromptu jottings on the forum;)) know that I'm not an old-fashioned, conservative old woman!

vasanthakokilam
Posts: 10956
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 00:01

Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by vasanthakokilam »

Those who have read my poems (not the impromptu jottings on the forum;)) know that I'm not an old-fashioned, conservative old woman!
I can vouch for that!!

smala
Posts: 3223
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 00:55

Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by smala »

Wish I was fascile with Tamil to get into all of the writings on and by Bharathi. I have only tried to go by what seems plausible from my very limited understanding of the man and his works.

Not delving into the why and wherefores for each song and losing the feel or the flow though I'm keenly interested in Bharathi's love poems - I'd say this :

By the same token that Yadugiri might have been more enthusiastic if a song was written for her first-born, my premise holds that had Bharathi been so involved with his imaginative parAsakti as lover or child, we would have heard from Yadugiri. Obliquely, laterally, directly, some way!...there's not as much as a whisper on this trait, on a rather significant set of love poems from Bharathi. In fact he was not even a particularly religious poosari type of man nor a strict adherent to convention himself - one who threw away his brahmin thread!

No more distractions, looking forward to the next segment, Arasi.
Last edited by smala on 21 Aug 2011, 10:22, edited 1 time in total.

Pratyaksham Bala
Posts: 4164
Joined: 21 May 2010, 16:57

Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by Pratyaksham Bala »

FIFTEEN
When my grandmother says: telugu tETa, KannaDa kastUri, aravam advAnam (Telugu is honey, KannaDa precious and Tamizh is useless) ...
என் பாட்டி சொல்லுவார்: 'தெலுகு தேளு, கன்னட கஸ்தூரி, அரவு அத்வானம்' என்று.
It is clear that 'aravu' refers to Tamil language. Is 'aravu' a Kannada word or Telugu word? And what is the meaning of that word?

Pratyaksham Bala
Posts: 4164
Joined: 21 May 2010, 16:57

Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by Pratyaksham Bala »

Bharati started moving very closely with 'sAmiyArs' and 'panDArams' at Pondicherry, and spent lot of time singing old 'Sithar' songs and dancing with them at Siddhananda Swami Matam. Bharati was deeply moved and inspired by the traditional 'Sithar' songs. The use of 'அடி' (aDi) and 'கண்ணம்மா' (kaNNammA) by Bharati was the result of the following song, where these expressions are repeatedly used in every stanza.

அழுகணிச் சித்தர் பாடல்

கலித்தாழிசை

மூலப் பதியடியோ மூவிரண்டு வீடதிலே
கோலப் பதியடியோ குதர்க்கத் தெருநடுவே
பாலப் பதிதனிலே தணலாய் வளர்த்தகம்பம்
மேலப் பதிதனிலே --
என் கண்ணம்மா!
விளையாட்டைப் பாரேனோ! 1

எண்சாண் உடம்படியோ ஏழிரண்டு வாயிலடி
பஞ்சாயக் காரர்ஐவர் பட்டணமுந் தானிரண்டு
அஞ்சாமற் பேசுகின்றாய் ஆக்கினைக்குத் தான்பயந்து
நெஞ்சார நில்லாமல் --
என் கண்ணம்மா!
நிலைகடந்து வாடுறண்டி! 2

முத்து முகப்படியோ முச்சந்தி வீதியிலே
பத்தாம் இதழ்பரப்பிப் பஞ்சணையின் மேலிருத்தி
அத்தை யடக்கிநிலை ஆருமில்லா வேளையிலே
குத்து விளக்கேற்றி --
என் கண்ணம்மா!
கோலமிட்டுப் பாரேனோ! 3

சம்பா அரிசியடி சாதம் சமைத்திருக்க!
உண்பாய் நீயென்று சொல்லி உழக்குழக்கு நெய்வார்த்து
முத்துப் போலன்னமிட்டு முப்பழமும் சர்க்கரையும்
தித்திக்குந் தேனாமிர்தம் --
என் கண்ணம்மா!
தின்றுகளைப் பாரேனோ! 4

பைம்பொற் சிலம்பணிந்து பாடகக்கால் மேல்தூக்கிச்
செம்பொற் கலையுடுத்திச் சேல்விழிக்கு மையெழுதி
அம்பொற் பணிபூண் டறுகோண வீதியிலே
கம்பத்தின் மேலிருந்தே --
என் கண்ணம்மா!
கண்குளிரப் பாரேனோ! 5

எட்டாப் புரவியடி யீராறு காலடியோ
விட்டாலும் பாரமடி வீதியிலே தான்மறித்துக்
கட்டக் கயிறெடுத்துக் கால்நாலும் சேர்த்திறுக்கி
அட்டாள தேசமெல்லாம் --
என் கண்ணம்மா!
ஆண்டிருந்தா லாகாதோ! 6

கொல்லன் உலைபோலக் கொதிக்குதடி யென்வயிறு
நில்லென்று சொன்னால் நிலைநிறுத்தக் கூடுதில்லை
நில்லென்று சொல்லியல்லோ நிலைநிறுத்த வல்லார்க்குக்
கொல்லென்று வந்தநமன் --
என் கண்ணம்மா!
குடியோடிப் போகானோ! 7

ஊற்றைச் சடலமடி உப்பிருந்த பாண்டமடி
மாற்றிப் பிறக்க மருந்தெனக்குக் கிட்டுதில்லை
மாற்றிப் பிறக்க மருந்தெனக்கு கிட்டுமென்றால்
ஊற்றைச் சடலம் விட்டே --
என் கண்ணம்மா!
உன்பாதஞ் சேரேனோ! 8

வாழைப் பழந்தின்றால் வாய்நோகு மென்றுசொல்லித்
தாழைப் பழத்தின்று சாவெனக்கு வந்ததடி
தாழைப் பழத்தைவிட்டுச் சாகாமற் சாகவல்லோ
வாழைப் பழந்தின்றால் --
என் கண்ணம்மா!
வாழ்வெனக்கு வாராதோ! 9

பையூரி லேயிருந்து பாழூரிலே பிறந்து
மெய்யூரில் போவதற்கு வேதாந்த வீடறியேன்,
மெய்யூரிற் போவதற்கு வேதாந்த வீடறிந்தால்
பையூரும் மெய்யூரும் --
என் கண்ணம்மா!
பாழாய் முடியாவோ! 10

மாமன் மகளடியோ மச்சினியோ நானறியேன்
காமன் கணையெனக்குக் கனலாக வேகுதடி
மாமன் மகளாகி மச்சினியும் நீயானால்
காமன் கணைகளெல்லாம் --
என் கண்ணம்மா!
கண்விழிக்க வேகாவோ! 11

அந்தரத்தை வில்லாக்கி ஐந்தெழுத்தை யம்பாக்கி
மந்திரத்தே ரேறியல்லோ மான்வேட்டை யாடுதற்குச்
சந்திரரும் சூரியரும் தாம்போந்த காவனத்தே
வந்துவிளை யாடியல்லோ --
என் கண்ணம்மா!
மனமகிழ்ந்து பார்ப்பதென்றோ! 12

காட்டானை மேலேறிக் கடைத்தெருவே போகையிலே
நாட்டார் நமைமறித்து நகைபுரியப் பார்ப்பதென்றோ
நாட்டார் நமைமறித்து நகைபுரியப் பார்த்தாலும்
காட்டானை மேலேறி --
என் கண்ணம்மா!
கண்குளிரக் காண்பேனோ! 13

உச்சிக்குக் கீழடியோ ஊசிமுனை வாசலுக்குள்
மச்சுக்கு மேலேறி வானுதிரம் தானேடுத்துக்
கச்சை வடம்புரியக் காயலூர்ப் பாதையிலே
வச்சு மறந்தல்லோ --
என் கண்ணம்மா!
வகைமோச மானேண்டி! 14

மூக்கால் அரும்பெடுத்து மூவிரண்டாய்த் தான்தூக்கி
நாக்கால் வளைபரப்பி நாற்சதுர வீடுகட்டி
நாக்கால் வலைபரப்பி நாற்சதுர வீட்டினுள்ளே
மூக்காலைக் காணாமல் --
என் கண்ணம்மா!
முழுதும் தவிக்கிறண்டி! 15

காமமலர் தூவக் கருத்தெனக்கு வந்ததடி
பாமவலி தொலைக்கப் பாசவலி கிட்டுதில்லை
பாமவலி தொலைக்கப் பாசவலி நிற்குமென்றால்
காமமலர் மூன்றும் --
என் கண்ணம்மா!
கண்ணெதிரே நில்லாவோ! 16

தங்காயம் தோன்றாமல் சாண்கலக் கொல்லைகட்டி
வெங்காய நாற்றுவிட்டு வெகுநாளாய்க் காத்திருந்தேன்
வெங்காயந் தின்னாமல் மேற்றொல்லைத் தின்றலவோ
தங்காயந் தோணாமல் --
என் கண்ணம்மா!
சாகிறண்டி சாகாமல்! 17

பற்றற்ற நீரதிலே பாசி படர்ந்ததுபோல்
உற்றுற்றுப் பார்த்தாலும் உன்மயக்கம் தீரவில்லை
உற்றுற்றுப் பார்த்தாலும் உன்மயக்கந் தீர்ந்தக்கால்
பற்றற்ற நீராகும் --
என் கண்ணம்மா!
பாசியது வேறாமோ! 18

கற்றாரும் மற்றாருந் தொண்ணூற்றோ டாறதிலே
உற்றாரும் பெற்றாரும் ஒன்றென்றே யானிருந்தேன்
உற்றாரும் பெற்றாரும் ஊரைவிட்டுப் போகையிலே
சுற்றாரு மில்லாமல் --
என் கண்ணம்மா!
துணையிழந்து நின்றதென்ன ? 19

கண்ணுக்கு மூக்கடியோ காதோர மத்திமத்தில்
உண்ணாக்கு மேலேறி உன்புதுமை மெத்தவுண்டு
உண்ணாக்கு மேலேறி உன்புதுமை கண்டவர்க்கும்
கண்ணுக்கு மூக்கடியோ --
என் கண்ணம்மா!
காரணங்கள் மெத்தவுண்டே! 20

சாயச் சரக்கெடுத்தே சாதிலிங்கம் தான்சேர்த்து
மாயப் பொடிகலந்து வாலுழுவை நெய்யூற்றிப்
பொட்டென்று பொட்டுமிட்டாள் புருவத்திடை நடுவே
இட்ட மருந்தாலே --
என் கண்ணம்மா!
இவ்வேட மானேண்டி! 21

பாதாள மூலியடி பாடாணம் தான்சேர்த்து
வேதாளங் கூட்டியல்லோ வெண்டாரை நெய்யூற்றிச்
செந்தூர மையடியோ செகமெல்லாம் தான்மிரட்டித்
தந்த மருந்தாலே --
என் கண்ணம்மா!
தணலாக வேகுறண்டி! 22

கள்ளர் பயமெனக்குக் கால்தூக்க வொட்டாமல்
பிள்ளை யழுதுநின்றால பெற்றவட்குப் பாரமடி
பிள்ளை யழுவாமல் பெற்றமனம் நோகாமல்
கள்ளர் பயமெனக்கே --
என் கண்ணம்மா!
கடுகளவு காணாதோ! 23

பட்டணத்தை யாளுகின்ற பஞ்சவர்கள் ராசாக்கள்
விட்டுப் பிரியாமல் வீரியங்கள் தாம்பேசி
விட்டுப் பிரிந்தவரே வேறு படுங்காலம்
பட்டணமும் தான்பறிபோய் --
என் கண்ணம்மா!
படைமன்னர் மாண்டதென்ன ? 24

ஆகாப் புலையனடி அஞ்ஞானந் தான்பேசிச்
சாகாத் தலையறியேன் தன்னறிவு தானறியேன்
வேகாத காலறியேன் விதிமோச மானேனடி
நோகாமல் நொந்தல்லோ --
என் கண்ணம்மா!
நொடியில்மெழு கானேனடி! 25

தாயைச் சதமென்றே தந்தையரை ஒப்பென்றே
மாயக் கலவிவந்து மதிமயக்க மானேனடி
மாயக் கலவிவிட்டு மதிமயக்கம் தீர்ந்தக்கால்
தாயுஞ் சதமாமோ --
என் கண்னம்மா!
தந்தையரு மொப்பாமோ ? 26

அஞ்சாத கள்ளனடி ஆருமற்ற பாவியடி
நெஞ்சாரப் போய்சொல்லும் நேயமில்லா நிட்டூரன்
கஞ்சா வெறியனடி கைசேத மாகுமுன்னே
அஞ்சாதே யென்றுசொல்லி --
என் கண்ணம்மா!
ஆண்டிருந்தா லாகாதோ! 27

உன்னை மறந்தல்லோ உளுத்த மரமானேன்
தன்னை மறந்தார்க்குத் தாய்தந்தை யில்லையடி
தன்னை மறக்காமற் றாயாரு முண்டானால்
உன்னை மறக்காமல் --
என் கண்னம்மா!
ஒத்திருந்து வாழேனோ ? 28

காயப் பதிதனிலே கந்தமூலம் வாங்கி
மாயப் பணிபூண்டு வாழுஞ் சரக்கெடுத்தே
ஆயத் துறைதனிலே ஆராய்ந்து பார்க்குமுன்னே
மாயச் சுருளோலை --
என் கண்ணம்மா!
மடிமேல் விழுந்ததென்ன ? 29

சித்திரத்தை குத்தியல்லோ சிலையை எழுதிவைத்து
உத்திரத்தைக் காட்டாமல் ஊரம்ப லமானேன்
உத்திரத்தைக் காட்டியல்லோ ஊரம்ப லமானால்
சித்திரமும் வேறாமோ --
என் கண்னம்மா!
சிலையுங் குலையாதோ! 30

புல்ல ரிடத்திற்போய்ப் பொருள்தனக்குக் கையேந்திப்
பல்லை மிகக்காட்டிப் பரக்க விழிக்கிறண்டி
பல்லை மிகக்காட்டமல் பரக்க விழிக்காமல்
புல்லரிடம் போகமல் --
என் கண்ணம்மா!
பொருளெனக்குத் தாராயோ ? 31

வெட்டுண்ட சக்கரத்தால் வேண தனமளித்துக்
குட்டுண்டு நின்றேண்டி கோடிமனு முன்னாலே
குட்டுண்டு நில்லாமற் கோடிமனு முன்னாக
வெட்டுண்டு பிணிநீங்கி --
என் கண்ணம்மா!
விழித்துவெளி காட்டாயோ! 32
Last edited by Pratyaksham Bala on 20 Aug 2011, 20:59, edited 1 time in total.

rshankar
Posts: 13754
Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 22:26

Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by rshankar »

PB, not sure about kannaDA, but IIRC, aravam is the Telugu word for tamizh.

cmlover
Posts: 11498
Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 22:36

Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by cmlover »

As I understand the word 'aravam' means 'raucous sound' (கர்ணகடூரம்}
It was coined by the Telugus who were called GULT (derogatory) by the Tamils in the silicon valley during the Y2K days!

kvchellappa
Posts: 3597
Joined: 04 Aug 2011, 13:54

Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by kvchellappa »

The old pontiff of Kanchi Mutt, Paramacharya, has written that Aravam is the name of a border place between Tamilnadu and Andhra and that the language spoken those south of that place was called "aravam' by Telugu speaking people. The 'derogatory' connotation seems imagined.

rshankar
Posts: 13754
Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 22:26

Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by rshankar »

cmlover wrote:It was coined by the Telugus who were called GULT (derogatory) by the Tamils in the silicon valley during the Y2K days!
CML y2k is way too late for this coinage. aravam was in use way back when, even before Silicon Valley.

arasi
Posts: 16774
Joined: 22 Jun 2006, 09:30

Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by arasi »

Ravi,
He did not say aravam was. GULT(?) was the word the Silicone valley guys were guilty of!

Chellappa,
Thanks. The word has no prejudice at all (coming from the highest authority). However, advAnam has! Also means barren in usage. example: EdO oru advAnak kATTiRku transfer paNNAdirundAl sari!
Last edited by arasi on 21 Aug 2011, 06:37, edited 1 time in total.

arasi
Posts: 16774
Joined: 22 Jun 2006, 09:30

Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by arasi »

EIGHTEEN


kANi nilam VENDum
(A Piece of Land!)


In naLa varusham, in the month of Aippasi, on the eighth (16-11-16), a wednesday, an auspicious day, Bharathi's family moved house.
We were waiting for the rains, and on that day, a storm came, bringing with it the rain. In the afternoon, dark clouds gathered ominously.

Our house was a haven in summer but not so in the rainy season. But for the sunken room in the middle of the two stories, the road-side room and the room with a cradle in it--all other parts of the house got soaked if it rained hard.

We finished dinner at seven and went upstairs. My father, my two sisters and I, with the baby on my lap, sat on two benches. My mother was still downstairs in the kitchen.Heavy rains started in about an hour. We had read in the bhAgavatam of such a rain--the one IndrA had brought about. Now, we saw it with our own eyes. With every thunderbolt, the house shook. The lightening blinded our eyes.

Finger-thick strands of rain came down ceaselessly. One side of our house had a high wall. There was a law against building a wall that high.The owners had obviously ignored it when they built the house. It was an old house and the owner was no more. His wife was keen on collecting the rent but had not kept the house in good repair.

Whenever it thundered, the house shook violently. Around midnight, the wall on the eastern side with glass-paned windows came crumbling down. We were sheltered against the western wall. We were concerned that it might tumble down too. My father said, "If it does, we will all get crushed under it, but I don't think it will come to that, with God's grace."

We were petrified about how my mother was faring downstairs, all alone. There was no way to reach her. The wind blew mercilessly and we couldn't even hear each other in its fury, though we were huddled together. We realized that the back wall of the house was down too. It was horrendous all night.

At dawn, things calmed down and we stirred, and looked around us. On the floor, we saw pictures and the clock crashed to pieces. We hurried downstairs to look for my mother, hoping nothing had happened to her. She was fine and was relieved to see that the storm had spared us all.

After an hour, we opened the front door and saw that a river was flowing in it. About a furlong from us was a big drain and it had flooded. Wherever we looked, we saw fallen trees. Tree limbs were floating in it. Coconut and pUvarasu trees were uprooted. Electric posts and wires were in a sorry state.

Bharathi and Iyer came by and were relieved to see that our family was safe. "Who cares about house and belongings at this hour!", they said.

Iyer: Yadugiri, clean up as much as you can and try to get some food together. The poor are in a pathetic state. We are helping them as much as we can. Please ask your mother not to go the pond to take her customary bath. Corpses are floating around. After things get better, you can go out. Stay indoors!

We stayed in, but my mother went out to bathe. She would not listen to us. Those who were outside, asked her to go back home--"In such chaos, you won't be able to find the pond", they said. It didn't stop her. She did take her dip in the pond and came back home at noon!

The svadESis pooled together all the money they had and then sent Nagaswamy and others to collect more money to relieve the distressed. They gathered all the homeless in one place, treated the injured and took care of the dead. They arranged to cook gruel at Dharamarajan temple to feed them. Other good-hearted townsmen joined the volunteers. They gathered the fallen coconut tree fronds and started weaving panels for roofs. Workmen were herded to build walls for the huts. They made sure that all this work was done without any delay. They allotted work for themselves and helped the workmen.
Even in this calamity, Bharathi's love for Nature did not abate.

The next day, he told us a story: There was an old lady who came to me when I was learning the art of making a roof panel. She said, 'AppEn! My son! My house crumbled, melted in the rain and floated away. Will you rebuild it for me? I can't see very well and I have no one to call my own. Will you build my home up for me? God will bless you!". I asked her where her hut stood. She showed me a mere door frame with no trace of a door, windows or a roof and I laughed out when I saw this 'house'.
She said, "Had you seen my house before the rain and the wind, you would not have laughed but would have said what a beautiful place it was.You laugh now. These bodies of ours have the same fate in store. This wind came as yamA too!
My heart went out to her. She was right. After death, all you see is the skeletal frames of us. I said: Yes, AyA! You will get your house back.
Then we all worked together to build a hut for her.
This incident was published as an essay by Bharathi in the svadESa Mitran the next day.

I saw the meaning of SankarAchAryA's saying all around me--"When mAyA leaves us, then it's the state of nirvANA".

That afternoon, beating their drums, the town criers announced that it would take a month to restore water and electricity. For a week, women and children had to stay indoors. We had to get alternative sources for lights.

The town which was lush with coconut and pUvarasu trees looked like sandy terrain. It took the municipality a month to clear the debris and clean up the streets.

Kalavai Sankara Chettiar moaned: Had they made saplings out of the fallen pUVarasu, they would have grown into trees in four or five years. The municipality wants to plant new trees! What craziness!

After building the huts up, the volunteers found jobs for the poor. The liquor shops had been leveled in the storm and the drunkards of the town looked like normal people.

For nearly a month, gruel was made twice a day at the temple and the poor were well-fed. The svadESis worked as coolies for a month.

Our house was not repaired until after three months. Masons were hard to come by. It was the same with all others. We knew what vana vAsam (forest dwelling) would have been like, during those months of living without the facilities of a town.

In all this, Bharathi was as spirited as joyful as ever. He would do abhinayA to eTTU dikkum SidaRi and mimic the mammoth rain.

After the storm, he went to see all his favorite haunts--the beach, ponds and groves. A small coconut grove with not more than a hundred trees, but for a few fallen trees looked as if the storm hadn't touched it. Seeing that made him thank parASakti for saving a poor man's grove. This song is called pizhaitta tennandOppu. "Even the wind has been kind to a poor man", he exclaimed. We went to see that grove the next day. After Bharathi sang about it, it became the place of a miracle as it were, and crowds of people went to see it and were happy.

At this time, Japan had brought about a new law in their country. Cultivable land was divided equally among its people, to do away with beggars and lazy people. On learning about it, the svadeSis figured out how much land a small Indian family needed to live by. Bharathi sang about it in kANi nilam vENDum.

He also felt that after the age of twenty, the young should live independently and take care of themselves--without being a burden to their parents.



* * * * *

smala
Posts: 3223
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 00:55

Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by smala »

Finally, mention of parAsakti.

cmlover
Posts: 11498
Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 22:36

Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by cmlover »

What is the first line of the song 'pizhaitta tennan thOppu'?

arasi
Posts: 16774
Joined: 22 Jun 2006, 09:30

Re: Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

Post by arasi »

NINETEEN




VENDumaDi viDudalai
(Yes, Freedom!)


Bharathi and Chellamma thanked parASakti with a celebration for saving us all from the storm. Meena, her sister-in-law, her mother, Padmavathi, her baby Raji, vAdyAr's wife and Bhagyalakshmi Ammal were also invited. After the pUjA, Bharathi sang vandE mAtaram as usual, and then his new poem 'peNmai vAzhgenRu' (victory to womanhood) in an english meTTu (tune). He then asked each of us to sing a song. Meena's mother was reluctant at first about her girls singing.

Bharathi: Let them sing, Amma. You know that there are no strange men in this gathering--just us, who are like your brothers.

Then, Meena's mother asked her daughter and daughter-in-law to sing.

Meena's mother: I didn't realize until now how genuine and open you are! I'm old-fashioned. Men in my younger days, if they asked us to sing, like you did, would gossip behind our backs later. Don't misunderstand me for my refusing at first!

Bharathi: We are not such hypocrites, AmmA. In fact, we want to do away with the enslaving of women. We detest gossiping about them!

Meena's mother: I understand. Oh, are you looking for a match for Thangamma?

Bharathi: Not yet.

Meena's mother: In our days, they would get busy when the girls were eight. Nowadays, even when they're sixteen, people don't seem to bother! Chellamma, don't delay. Find a match for Thangam.

Chellamma: Don't we need money for it, AmmAmi?

Meena's mother: The important thing is to find a boy. Money, you can somehow manage. Don't take me wrong for telling you this.

Chellamma: There's nothing wrong in what you say. My sister is coming from kASi this year. Thangamma is more her daughter than mine. She will not return to kASi without seeing Thangamma married.

It looked to me as though Chellamma was suffering a lot inwardly. BharathiyAr did not seem to be happy either. I could not figure out as to what was ailing them.

My mother was away. I wasn't well-versed in giving the baby an oil bath. I would keep everything ready for Chellamma who came to our house every day at four to give the baby a bath. Then we freshened up and went to the beach. Bharathi came with us sometimes, but it wasn't like old times. He barely sat down with us. Even if he did, they both started arguing. He would walk away and sit alone by the sea but he joined us when we returned home.

The Sivan Temple asked for a bhajanai song for SivarAtri from him. He wrote the song murugA murugA and gave it to them. "If six of you sing it together, it will put you all in a trance", he said.

He was very fond of chanting nammAzhvAr's ten verses at that time, acting it all out that God dwells in every particle of us. He did this by gestures, pointing to the top of his head, his tongue, his chest, shoulders and so on. I did not understand NammAzhvAr's verses very well then. All I could think then was that Bharathi proclaimed that God lived in him, but in reality, he was helpless when it came to driving away the problems he and Chellamma had to cope with.


ivaiyum avaiyum uvaiyum, ivarum avarum uvarum
evaiyum yAvaiyum tannuLLE Agiyum Akkiyum kAkkum
tani mudal emmAn, kaNNapirAn en amudam
Suvaiyan, tiruvin maNALan ennuDai SUzhaluLAnE

(The following is A. K. Ramanujan's translation--Arasi)

The Paradigm

We here and that man, this man, and that other in-between,
And that woman, this woman, and that other, whoever--

Those people and these, and these others in-between,
This thing, that thing, and this other in-between--whichever,

All things dying, these things,
those things, those others in-between,
good things, bad things,
things that were, that will be--

Being all of them, He stands there.


Bharathi was not the same anymore, but my devotion, affection and esteem for him remained the same.
I knew he had changed and that the changes came in rapid succession. It looked as though he was drawn to unwelcome influences. No one could stop him, it seemed. I could see that he was mindless of Chellamma's pleas. When I was a child, I could question him boldly, but I was a mother of a child now. I also realized that I couldn't communicate as freely with him as I did with Chellamma.

Bharathi had a way of looking at everything intently, without batting an eyelid. The glow and the beauty of his eyes were gone now. Chellamma said that it was because he was now given to staring at the sun a lot.

When Bharathi came to our house, he sang vENDumaDi viDudalai in the kIRtanai mode .

Yadugiri: Why have you set the music for this song as in a kIrtanai?

Bharathi: Thangamma says she's not keen on my old tunes any more. She wanted it sung like a traditional kIrtanai. That's why. Do you like it?

Yadugiri: I do.

Bharathi: I'm searching for something new.

Yadugiri: What is it?

Bharathi: I don't want to die. I'm going to find a way to live forever.

Yadugiri: They say miracles are possible, but not this. If you can, that would be the wonder of wonders.

Bharathi: I'm searching and I will find it.

My father happened to hear this. He said, "Bharathi, what's the need for a young woman to get into the realms of vEdAntA? kuruvi talai panangAi pOla (like placing a burden of a palmyra palm fruit on the head of a sparrow to carry around). She can wait until she gets older to ponder over such things."

Bharathi did not answer him. Without saying a word, he got up and went away.

As for me, I kept singing the song 'vENDumaDi viDudalai with the help of the notes* he gave me.



*Yadugiri uses the word kuRippugaL sometimes when she speaks of the copies of the songs that Bharathi gives her. I wonder now if they are notations--Arasi.


* * * * *

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