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

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

Post by arasi »

How many personalities are brought to light in this work!

Sridhar,
I am sure many are reading your impressive translation of the chapters from Chitra Bharathi and are appreciating it. You and KVC (with the earlier chapters and now with his thread on the prose writings of Bharathi) are to be commended for taking up the task of translating. I wish several other readers respond, other than a handful of us who usually do.

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

Post by sridhar_ranga »

Left: The diary page on Va. Ve. Su. Iyer. The informer mentions that all the mails that arrive are in the name of Bhagyalakshmi.
RIght: The spy's notes on Nagaswamy Ayyar and Kannu Pillai. The remark on Kannu Pillai says he 'helps the V. V. S. party"

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

Post by cmlover »

Yes indeed. A great wealth of information. All these contemporaries who knew Bharathy very closely must have reported about his life and activitities. Since they survived into the movies/Tv era the TN Govt had the opportunity of recording their views. What a missed opportunity!

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

Post by rshankar »

Sridhar - these are really intricate details of the lives of these great men - thank you for a) bringing them to light on this forum, and b) translating them excellently so that they can be appreciated by all of us.

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

Post by sridhar_ranga »

Thanks a lot Arasi, CML and Ravi...I am indeed happy to be part of this project for which we should all thank Arasi & her magnificent obsession to share with the rasikas community the treasures that Bharathy's life & works hold for us

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

Post by maduraimini »

Sridhar-rang,
Thanks to you and KVChellappa we continue to enjoy this treasure trove, dug up by Arasi. You do a wonderful job and I love to see the old black and white pictures of the patriots and the houses they lived. Fantastic to see the real letters they wrote in Tamil and English.

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

Post by sridhar_ranga »

Vanchinathan

Right from 1908, the British rulers employed many repressive measures to put down extremist nationalism in India. Angered by this, many young men started taking up terror tactics.

M.P. T. Acharya, the Indian freedom fighter who was in Paris, wrote a letter to Mandayam Srinivasacharya in 1910. He urged that certain “assignments” be taken up to coincide with the coronation of King George V in London, and if it was not possible to carry them out in Puduvai, perhaps these could be executed a safe distance away in a different location.

The repressive actions of Robert William d'Escourt Ashe, a young diehard colonialist who had been promoted as the district collector of Tirunelveli in 1910, had kindled among the revolutionaries a burning desire to eliminate him.

Nilakanta Brahmachari alias Erukkur Nilakantan was a young man who travelled to many towns across South India from 1908 onwards, preparing a lot of people for a pan-Indian rebellion on the lines of the uprising of 1857.

In June 1910, Nilakanta Brahmachari travelled to Punalur, a border town in Travancore state, along with Sankara Krishnan who was his right-hand man. It was the hometown of the latter’s father in law. There, Nilakantan met Vanchinathan, an energetic young man who was the husband of Sankara Krishnan’s sister Ponnammal, and recruited him into his underground revolutionary movement.

Vanchi was working for the Travancore Forest Department. He and Ponnammal had a baby daughter.

When Parali Su Nellaiappan, a family friend went from Puduvai to meet VO Chidambaram Pillai in the Coimbatore prison in the middle of 1909, VOC lamented to him that he had to face many troubles even inside the jail due to instigation from collector Ashe. He expressed his anguish with the words “Won’t there be an end to Ashe’s atrocities?”

In the second half of 1910, Vanchinathan came to Puduvai to meet Nilakantan. The latter was out of town. Vanchi stayed on for a week waiting for Nilakantan’s arrival. There he came in contact with VVS Aiyar the revolutionary from London who had reached Puduvai in October 1910. Aiyar who had been planning to orchestrate extremist activities in British India from his base in Puduvai found in Vanchi the perfect person to carry out Ashe’s murder, and enticed him to join his team.

Vanchi went back home and returned to Puduvai by December 1910. Aiyar gave Vanchi firearms training through his colleagues Nagaswamy and Kannu Pillai (a) Muthukumarasamy Pillai at a place known as Karuvadikuppam or Karadikuppam in Puduvai. When Vanchi left Puduvai, they equipped him with a French-made ‘La Etienne’ mark Browning revolver no. 250 with a five-bullet chamber on the mission of killing Ashe.

Vanchi was monitoring the movements of Ashe durai, and he got a perfect opportunity on the very day of King George’s coronation in London on the 17th of July 1911. Ashe came along with his wife to Maniyachi Railway Junction on his way to Kodaikanal. Vanchi who was following him, entered the train coach as soon as the train stopped at Maniyachi’s platform and shot Ashe dead.

It was eleven in the morning on a bright day. After confirming that Ashe was dead, Vanchi ran along the platform. A few policemen gave him chase. Vanchi entered a toilet at the end of the platform and bolted the door from inside. A gunshot was heard. After hesitating for some time, the policemen broke the door and entered the toilet only to find the headless body of Vanchi who had shot himself through the mouth with his revolver, attaining a martyr’s death.

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

Post by sridhar_ranga »

Vanchinathan and a few of his trainers: Picture taken at the time of Shencottah Vanchinathan's rifle and revolver training in Puduvai's Karadikuppam in 1910.

From L to R: Dr. Menon, Kannu Pillai (a) Muthukumarasamy Pillai, Unknown, Jayaram Pillai, A Bengali Youth.

Shencottah Vanchinathan is at bottom - the young man with an intense look sporting a thick tuft who shot Ashe dead and killed himself.


Image

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

Post by cmlover »

...A very historic piece.
Nice to see the picture of vanchinathan.

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

Post by sridhar_ranga »

Madasamy

When Nilakanta Brahmachari conducted a clandestine meeting in April 1910 at Tenkāsi in the house of Maḍathukkaḍai Chidamabaram Pillai, one of the persons who took the secret oath of association by gashing out blood was S.M. Māḍasāmy Pillai. He was a relative of Madathukkadai Chidambaram Pillai and an ardent devotee of VO Chidamabaram Pillai. The members of the group used noms de guerre & code phrases to communicate among themselves. Nilakanta Brahmachari took the name of Kamalanayaki. Madasamy Pillai was given the name Ramamurthi.

Some years earlier, when a poverty-stricken Madasamy Pillai was facing a court case, lawyer V.O. Chidamabaram Pillai had represented him and won the case arguing against his own father. Since then Madasamy Pillai worked tirelessly for both the Swadeshi movement and the shipping company. Once their enemies tried to destroy a ship of the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company by fixing a bomb under the ship. Madasamy risked his life to deactivate the bomb. During the Tirunelveli riots that erupted following the arrest of VOC and Subramania Siva, Madasamy was among the accused. He went underground and started living in secret in Puduchery in Arumugam Chettiyar’s house. One day the French police came to conduct a search of Chettiyar’s home. Madasamy escaped by hiding behind sacks of paddy stored in the upper floor of Chettiyar’s house.

Letters written by Vanchi’s friends were recovered from his house in Shencottah, when it came under search soon after Ashe was shot dead. The police announced a bounty of one thousand rupees for information leading to Madasamy’s whereabouts.

Madasamy then escaped to Ceylon and vanished without a trace. One more version was that he had gone to Malaya. Having absconded, he tonsured his head and became a renunciate. (Parali Su) Nellaiyappar has said that he was once seen in Chidambaram.

It became know that a swamiji who once came to claim a holdall bedding sent to him at a George Town goods transport company was none other than Madasamy. He in fact volunteered details about himself including his name and background. The old memories brought tears to the swamiji’s eyes. However he chose to do the vanishing act again, after saying he would return.

In 1968, when Madasamy’s son who had retired from the Excise department was hospitalized, the unconscious man was visited by an unknown swamiji.

Madasamy Pillai was never seen after that.

One of the revolutionaries from South India, patriot and a gutsy character albeit a mystery man – this perhaps sums up Madasamy. His picture, hitherto unavailable, adorns this page.

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

Post by sridhar_ranga »

Clockwise from top left:

Nagaswamy and wife Kamalabai. Their inter-caste marriage was solemnized by Shri Aurobindo in Brahmo Samaj fashion.

Kannu Pillai (a) Muthukumarasamy Pillai. Picture taken by the author (rA. a. Padmanabhan) in 1936 when he met Pillai.

Dharmalayam, the 'the den of revolution' in Puduvai's Eswaran Dharmaraja Koil Street operated by (VVS) Aiyar and Nagaswamy

Nagaswamy, a 1957 picture

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

Post by cmlover »

Thanks especially for the rare picture of Madaswamy who was immortalized by BR Pantulu in the movie "kappalOTTiya Thamizhan"
(acting Gemini Ganesan).

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

Post by sridhar_ranga »

Nilakanta Brahmachari

Nilakanṭa Brahmachari was a revolutionary who gave nightmares to the law enforcement agencies in the south fifty years ago.

Whilst Bharati and VOC followed Tilak and adopted lawful means to work for freedom, Nilakanta Brahmachari trod a unique path by employing revolutionary methods to win self rule, by raising a secret army to wage war.

Nilakantan was born in a wealthy orthodox Brahmin family in the village Erukkur, near Sirkazhi in Tanjore district.

Attracted by the fiery speeches of Bipin Chandra Pal in Madras in 1907, he jumped into politics, established contacts with the revolutionaries in Bengal and became an insurgent himself.

That was a time when, instigated by the German Kaiser, Baroda’s Sayaji and a few other heads of princely states got together with Bengali freedom fighters such as Aurobindo to procure German arms and assembled secret armies. Their plan was to capture power by instigating a country-wide rebellion against the British along the lines of what happened in 1857. Nilakanta Brahmachari acted as the southern representative of this group.

Nilakantan spearheaded the campaign for revolution in the south and inspired 20,000 Kambalattaars (descendents of Katta Bommu) and 6,000 maravars to join the cause of freedom.

The details of this underground movement of Tamil Nadu became public in 1911 when Brahmachari’s disciple Vanchinathan defected to Va. Ve. Su. Aiyar’s camp and shot dead Ashe durai. Nilakantan, who had no role whatsoever in the Ashe murder, became the prime accused in that case and received seven years’ rigorous imprisonment for sedition.

Germany started the First World War in 1914. Nilakantan managed to escape from prison but unfortunately was captured within three days. His sentence was increased by six months. In the end, after spending eight years in jail, he came out in 1919 but no one wanted to have any truck with him. His poverty became overpowering. In 1921 he went to Bharati’s house and walked out with the two annas given by Pappa, Bharati’s daughter to quell his hunger of three days. Bharati was overcome with righteous anger when he came to know of Nilakantan’s destitution, and the song ‘bhArata samudAyam vAzhgavE’ was born. The line ‘tani oruvanukku uNavillai enil jagattinai azhittiDuvOm’ (literally: may this world be destroyed if even a single man goes without food) arose from the indignation caused by Nilakantan’s starvation.

Nilakantan was among those who spent the entire night by Bharati's side in 1921 on the last day of Bharati’s life.

After Bharati passed into the ages, Nilakantan joined hands with Comrade M. Singaravelu Chettiyar and took up the communist cause. Arrested once again, he had to spend ten more years in prison.

The hardships he faced this time in jail turned him towards self enquiry. All the rumblings in his heart came to an end. Coming out of the Rangoon jail in 1930, he lived for a year in Madras, writing articles for news journals to survive. In 1931 he became an itinerant saadhu.

Though a mendicant, he received the patronage of influential royal families. In the end he gave up that as well and wandered from town to town. Finally, he began living in solitude in an Ashram he built on the slopes of Nandi Hills in Kolar District. The river South Pennar (tenpeNNai) originates in his Ashram. Coming to be known as Sadguru Onkar, the Saadhu Revolutionaire passed away in March 1978 at the age of 88. Sadguru has written three excellent books.
Last edited by sridhar_ranga on 24 Oct 2012, 21:24, edited 1 time in total.

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

Post by sridhar_ranga »

Nilakanta Brahmachari in his many moods: Revolutionary turned itinerant still retaining a stern visage in 1936, a ripe old Saadhu Onkar in 1974, in a casual mood and focused in veeraasana.


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

Post by sridhar_ranga »

Sadguru Onkar (Nilakanta Brahmachari): Free spirit, (freedom fighter) who spent nineteen years in person. A tyAgi (someone who made sacrifices as a freedom fighter) who was not even awarded the copper scroll. His greatness is evident from this harsh letter he wrote to his younger brother when the latter approached Kamaraj with a request that he be duly recognized:

To Sriman Narayana Sastry, Blessings. I went through your letter at leisure once again. I feel it is a matter of shame for me that you went to Shri kamaraj with a recommendation. I do not need anyone’s support. My fame and my good deeds already form an important part of the history of our country. When viewed against that, your recommendation is of little value. You better take care of your own affairs. There is no need to make any kind of recommendations on my behalf. If you do any such thing again, I will stop all correspondence with you. Please keep this in mind.

Even now, after 65 years, my past story is still being published in Telugu and Hindi journals in the north. The name and fame I have earned is enough. I do not at all need you to put in a good word. So please do not make recommendations to anyone about me.
(In the monthly ‘Indian Review’ also the story of my life is being published)

Blessings,
Onkar

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

Post by cmlover »

It is great injustice that the TN Govt did not recogize Tyagi Nilakanta Brahmacari.
Even Vanchinathan was not adequatrely recognized. All due to the continual caste discrimination propaganda of the DK clan against brahmins!

மஞ்சரி wrote a poignant article on him after an interview in the 60's.
Shows how virulent casteism is rampant in TN!
(some of us expatriates were also the victims :(

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

Post by maduraimini »

It was sad to read about Madasamy and Nilakanta Brahmachari. After all the troubles he went through, Madasamy was penniless and so was Nilakanta Brahmachari. It is sad that the people forgot about them and the Government did not do anything to honor them. I did not know that the swami lived until 1978. Thanks to this site , people like me who read this can appreciate all that the heroes did for this country. Thank you all for the wonderful service of translation and all the tidbits I didn't know.

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

Post by nri »

Vanchinathan belonged to a very orthodox family and his younger brother was alive until the 90's. Maniyachi junction is an obscure station with two criss cross lines and forms a transit point between Tirunelveli and Tuticorin commuters. We quite often board or alight at Maniyachi, now renamed as Vanchi Maniyachi junction ( station code : MEJ ). The brief or the non-brief times spent at MEJ, there has always been a strange melancholy inside me. The family members that we leave behind and the travel woes do not occupy my mind there. The mind is occupied by one young Vanchinathan and his courageous deed. The feeling is akin to being inside the sanctum sanctorum of a temple.
Thanks for the pictures and the several posts.

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

Post by cmlover »

For a similar act of bravery Bagat singh is celebrated as a National Hero but how many know of Vanchinathan?

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

Post by arasi »

Nri,
Thanks for your post which speaks so well of the way you are affected by memories of one of the not so well-known heroes of the freedom movement.
How I wish Vanchinathan's brother, in his life time had been interviewed by the press! Or, was he? If so, do any of the family members have a clipping?

Sridhar,
Can't thank you enough for the admirable job you are doing! I'm relieved that my being busy over life's demands does not stop the story of Bharathi and his world from unfolding.

KVC,
Indebted to you for continuing Bharathi's prose in the other thread.

Vkailasam,
Thanks for your ever-flowing enthusiasm for not only bringing all the music to us but also for your keen interest and talent which bring Bharathi's creations to us (along with his songs as well!). Thanks also for bringing Natarajan Subramanian's blog to our attention.

I also wish more folks respond. We do know that many rasikas read these threads. CML is always there, commenting on these fascinating snippets and photographs. Hope others join in too.

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

Post by ninjathegreat »

arasi,

You are right, there are probably more that read the forums than meets the eye :). I would just love to take a step back and enjoy the posts, as I am far too ignorant of the latest topics at hand! it is fascinating to read all the snippets being posted.

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

Post by arasi »

Ninja,
Happy to hear from you. How's the family?

sridhar_ranga
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Translations of Bharathy's Prose Writings

Post by sridhar_ranga »

Young Devotees

Like iron particles attracted to a magnet, a number of young men in Puduvai were fascinated by Bharati’s genius. Bharati found great joy in conversing with them.

One such young man was Tiruppayanam Va. Ramaswamy Iyengar (Va. Raa). He had been sent to Puduchery by Kodiyalam Rangaswamy Iyengar, political leader from Trichy, to confirm Aurobindo’s arrival in Puduvai. In Puduvai he met Bharati and through him, Aurobindo. One could not tell whether he had more devotion towards Bharati or Aurobindo.

Parali Su. Nellaiappar who went to Puduvai specifically to meet Bharati and stayed with him for a while says that Va. Raa. used to be like a bearded Swamiji back then, and that he had seen him just once in Aurobindo’s Ashram.

Va. Raa. was adept at mobilizing money for the patriots. To facilitate this, he engaged in trading of ghee and books. Tins of ghee would be shipped from Chennai to one Arumugham Chettiyar of Puduvai, but if one stuck a hand inside the tin and stirred the ghee, many Rupee-Coins could be found. Similarly, there would be currency notes hidden inside the covers of books received by ordinary book-post.

There was another young man called Krishnasamy Chetty from the weaving community who came from Muthialpet area near Puduvai. A short & stout man 20 years of age, he never seemed to get tired. Bharati gave him a nick name of vellacchu (Jaggery Mould). Bharati found special joy in reading aloud his poems to him. The friends used to gather at Bharati’s house in the evenings. But there would be no money to entertain them. If Chettiyar was also in the gathering, Bharati would start narrating the story of a Chetti who lay down in a forest like a log of wood, to escape from robbers. When one of the robbers trips on the man and calls him a log, the Chetti in the story would get very angry and shout: where you come from, do logs carry ten rupees on them? As soon as this scene is reached in the story, Vellacchu Chettiyar would remove ten rupees from his waist folds and hand it over to Bharati, leading Bharati to exult: the character in the story was a petty thief; I am a daylight robber.

One of the early disciples of Aurobindo who is now in a responsible position in the Ashram, Amrita (a) Aravamuda Iyengar was another young man who was charmed by Bharati. “When you observe the many dimensions of Bharati, the most important aspects that strike you are that firstly he was a born poet, later he realized that he was the son of Bharata Devi, and finally came to believe that he was Shakti Putra” says Amrita.

Bharati Dasan (a) Kanaka Subbu Rattinam is another Bharati devotee. He has written in detail about his first meeting with Bharati. India had stopped publication. Suryodayam, the magazine Bharati started along with Chinnaiah Naidu also had ceased to exist. Subbu Rattinam used to teach Tamil in one of the government schools back then. He had read the issues of India. He had listened to (Kuvalai) Kannan sing Swadesa Geetangal in his loud, unattractive voice. Eventually he managed to get a copy of the book and practiced singing the songs himself.

Subbu Rattinam sang the song ‘veera sutantiram vendi ninrar’ at the wedding of Venu Naicker, whom Bharati used to refer to as ‘Valluru Naicker’ (‘Falcon’ Naik). He observed that when he sang, instead of looking at him, everyone had turned their gaze towards someone who looked like Lord Shiva straight out of a Ravi Varma painting. When he finished singing, the Paramasivan-come-alive-from-Ravivarma-painting blessed Subburattinam saying ‘ you sing with the right feeling’. Subburattinam became sheepish on coming to know that the other person was none other than Subramania Bharati, the poet who authored the song he just sang.

With Bharati’s encouragement, Subburattinam discovered his own ability to write poems and went on to become Bharati Dasan. In later years Bharati Dasan ran a wonderful magazine called ‘Bharati Kavita Mandalam’ which had its entire contents in verse.
Last edited by sridhar_ranga on 30 Oct 2012, 21:36, edited 1 time in total.

sridhar_ranga
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Re: Translations of Bharathy's Prose Writings

Post by sridhar_ranga »

Va. Raa in his younger days, and (Right) as the experienced writer.
(Bottom) Patron of Bharati and Aurobindo: Kodiyalam (K.V.) Rangaswamy Iyengar, who rendered material assistance to Bharati and Aurobindo. Member of the Union Legislative Assembly, he is seen here with Lala Lajpat Rai and Pundit Madan Mohan Malviya.

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arasi
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Re: Translations of Bharathy's Prose Writings

Post by arasi »

Sridhar,
Thanks for continuing your translation of Chitra Bharathi. I wonder if your work belongs here since it's not Bharathi's own writing but is 'about' him--a precious work with rare photographs.
Then again, it continued earlier under Oy bhArathiyArE--a work by Yadugiri Ammal!
If the moderators don't mind the trouble, it will really make more sense if they open a separate thread for Chithra Bharathi by rA. Padmanabhan,taking it out of Yadugiri Ammal's book. They can add this new post of yours to that. You can then continue your good work in the new thread.
Thanks in advance, mods ;)

cmlover
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Re: Translations of Bharathy's Prose Writings

Post by cmlover »

Nice informative episodes. Va Raa apparently followed Bharathy to Chennai. He has narrated the episode of Bharathy meeting with Gandhiji. When he cam to meet Gandhiji first he was denied access but later Gandhi spotted him and asked Rajaji as to who he was since he saw a spark of energy in his eyes. Rajaji mentioned that he was one of those poets non chalantly but Gandhi said that he was vital for the freedom struggle. Va Raa had reported it later in a magazine (kalki?).

Bharathy dasan is extolled by the DK clan who totally ignore Bharathy. The only criteria was that he admired EVR and has nothing to do with his scholarship in Tamil! That is politics :D

cmlover
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Re: Translations of Bharathy's Prose Writings

Post by cmlover »

Arasi
Let us not multiply Bharathy threads. If there is going to be more translations from chitra bharathy it makes sense to isolate them.
If this is an isolate posting then we can wait. Pl advise...

sridhar_ranga
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Re: Translations of Bharathy's Prose Writings

Post by sridhar_ranga »

Oops I seem to have posted 119 and 120 above by mistake here, thanks Arasi for pointing it out.

CML, these belong in the 'Oy Bharathiyare' thread as part of the chitra bharathi series, kindly move them there including your comment above on va raa....thanks and sorry for the trouble.

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

Post by ninjathegreat »

Fascinating! I only wish we could take a historical documentary on this subject; the likes of the BBC documentaries that can keep us riveted for hours!!!

arasi - Family is going great. I see my daughter about every 2 weeks - but she get her earful of carnatic music then :P!!

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

Post by Govindaswamy »

#573 to #578 are given the wrong heading Translations of Bharathy's Prose Writings

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

Post by cmlover »

That cannot be helped. They were posted by mistake in the other thread and moved over here!

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

Post by arasi »

Thanks for moving Sridhar's posts here, CML!
This way, Chithra Bharathi translations continue here, where they belong.

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

Post by sridhar_ranga »

The wealthy family that supported Bharati: Ponnu Murugesam Pillai who helped Bharati in many ways, along with his wife Soundarammal; their son Kanaka Raja (below); Raja Bahadur, the elder son (bottom). The two sons were Bharati devotees.

Image

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

Post by sridhar_ranga »

Service of an affluent family

After Vanchi Iyer shot dead Collector Ashe and killed himself in 1911, the Swadeshi leaders and all their acquaintances in Puduchery came under police watch. It was impossible for anyone in Puduvai who was not courageous to even get near Bharati.

Under such trying times, three close friends who remained as pillars of support to Bharati were Sundaresayyar, Ponnu Murugesam PIllai and Kalavai Sankaran Chettiyar, according to Va. Raa.

Ponnu Murugesam Pillai was a wealthy man who lived two or three houses away from Bharati. He had good knowledge of French. He was an atheist, who used to argue that there was no God. He used to tease Bharati about his belief in God and loved to start arguments with him. He did not provide any monetary assistance to Bharati, but sold the grains from his farms to the likes of Bharati and Aiyar at cheaper prices than he could get in the market.

Even though he never gave any money, Pillai gave away his entire house & dedicated his family to Bharati’s service. More often Bharati would stay at Pillai’s house, in an exclusive room on the first floor. It had become Bharati’s room. Sometimes Bharati even stayed back overnight.

Murugesam Pillai’s wife Anniyammal (a) Soundarammal was a virtuous Hindu grihalakshmi. She would feed Bharati in a timely manner with food and light snacks. Just like their mother, her sons Raja Bahadur and Kanaka Raja too started being of service to Bharati. It can even be said that they became Bharati’s bodyguards.

Bharati was like a spoilt brat, out of control. All of a sudden a poem would ‘come’ to him, and he would sing in a loud voice. He would spit on the floor right from where he was sitting. There would be nary a whisper in the Pillai household about such behaviour of Bharati.

Before the start of the First Great War, Raja Bahadur the elder son of Pillai went to Paris to study engineering. The war started about the time he was to have returned to Puduvai after completing his studies. Pillai had made grand arrangements to receive his beloved son, but instead of Bahadur only a telegram arrived. The telegram stated that the ship in which Raja Bhadur was travelling was bombed to smithereens by the Germans .

Reading the telegram, Murugesam Pillai fell unconscious. After regaining consciousness, he kept wailing uncontrollably. Nothing anyone said could comfort him. Anniyammal too cried.

Bharati tried his best to comfort the couple. He recited in a pathos-filled voice verses from Kamba Ramayanam describing Mandodari’s cries at the death of Indrajit, Dasaratha’s wails in the Kulasekara Azhwar verse ‘van tALin iNai vanangi’*, and Devaki’s lament in the song ‘Alai neeL karumbannavan tAlElO’** to comfort them.

Nothing anyone did helped improve Murugesam Pillai’s health. He remained bedridden even after Aurobindo arranged to send a telegram announcing Raja Bahadur’s well-being, or even after someone who physically resembled Raja Bhadur was paraded in front of him in an attempt to convince him that his son had returned. When he was shown the ‘duplicate’ Raja Bahadur, his expression was one of doubt and dissatisfaction, and he simply turned around in his bed. Within a short time, he passed away.

On the 27th day following his father’s death, Raja Bahadur returned hale and hearty. Bharati said that the father had given his life for the son’s safe return.

Raja Bahadur later became the secretary of the Puduchery Assembly and lived till 1951. He named his son Murugesa Bharati.

After Bharati had returned to Chennai, he wanted Kulla Chami the Yogi from Puduvai to come to Chennai. It was Kanaka Raja who made arrangements to send the Swamiji to Madras. (The letter sent by Bharati to Kanaka Raja can be found elsewhere in this book).

Kanaka Raja met an untimely death at a young age.


Notes:
*. வன் தாளின் இணை வணங்கி வளநகரம் தொழுது ஏத்த மன்னன் ஆவான்
நின்றாயை அரியணை மேல் இருந்தாயை நெடுங் கானம் படரப் போகு
என்றாள் எம் இராமாவோ உனைப் பயந்த கைகேசி தன் சொற் கேட்டு
நன்றாக நானிலத்தை ஆள்வித்தேன் நன்மகனே உன்னை நானே

Van tALin iNai vaNangi vaLanagaram tozhudu Etta mannan AvAn
ninRAyai ariyaNai mEl irundAyai neDungAnam paDarap pOgu
enRAL em irAmAvO unaip payanda kaikESi tan SoR kETTu
nanRAga nAnilattai ALvittEn nanmaganE unnai nAnE

Dasaratha’s lament (Roughly): ‘O Rama, you were about to be crowned a King such that the entire country came to worship your strong feet seeing you on the throne; alas, you have to go to the forest now; is this how I make you ruler of this world, my son, by heeding to Kaikeyi’s request?’

**. ஆலை நீள் கரும்பன்னவன் தாலோ, அம்புயத் தடங்கண்ணினன் தாலோ
வேலை நிறத்தன்னவன் தாலொ,வேழப் போதகம் அன்னவன் தாலோ
ஏலவார்குழல் என்மகன் தாலோ என்றூன்னை என் வாயிடை நிறையத்
தாலொலித்திடும் திருவினையில்லாத் தாயரிற் கடையாயின தாயே

Alai nIL karumbannavan tAlO, ambuyat taDankaNNinan tAlo,
vElai niRattannavan tAlO, vEzhap pOdagam annavan tAlO
ElavAr kuzhal en magan tAlo enRunnai en vAyiDai niRaiyat
tAlolittiDum tiruvinai illAt tAyariR kaDaiyAyina tAyE

Devaki, imprisoned by Kamsa, laments her misfortune that she can’t even have the joy of singing aloud a lullaby to her darling son Kannan, who had so many qualities that can be sung about: he was like sweet sugarcane, lotus eyed, ocean hued, elephant-calf like in appearance and had tresses with the fragrance of cardamom. Am I not the lowliest of all mothers, bewails she.

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

Post by Govindaswamy »

Murugesam Pillai's elder son's name is given as Raja Bahadur in English and rAjA bAdar (ராஜாபாதர்) in Tamizh in the photo

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

Post by cmlover »

Those are very powerful touching verses!
Where is the second one from?
What is the meaning of ஆலை ?

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

Post by sridhar_ranga »

CML, this verse (Alai nIL...) is also from Kulasekara Azhwar's Perumal Tirumozhi. Alai here refers to the mill/press where jaggery is made. My guess is that not all 'karumbu' is fit enough to be pressed for making sugar/jaggery, it has to be ripe (?) enough!

Shri Govindaswamy, 'Raja Badar' on that picture is a typo. The text portion of Chitra Bharati page consistently names him as Raja Bahadur (ராஜா பகதூர்)...here are some more references in Tamil:

Please see captions under pictures 49, 50 and 51 in this link: http://www.mahakavibharathiyar.info/photos4.htm

More references to Raja Bahadur in this biography of Bharathiyar by va. raa here: http://www.mahakavibharathiyar.info/varalaru_vara14.htm

One more page from Dinamalar's archives: http://www.dinamalar.com/Supplementary_ ... 088&ncat=2

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

Post by cmlover »

Thx for the explanation. It ties in with 'sweetness' of the sugarcane...

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

Post by arasi »

Folks,
Quickly scanning and reserving 'the mulling over them' for later. At present, no time to spend time at Rasikas.org and other pleasant pastimes with life's demands :(

Sridhar,
Thanks for bringing this book to the non-thamizh readers.

The pictures in 'Chithra' Bharathi' are riveting. RA. Padmanabhan collected them with such devotion.

Remember that dramatic chapter in Yadugiri's book on Rajabahadur's return to Puduvai?

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

Post by sridhar_ranga »

Arasi, I searched and read once again that poignant story in your most eloquent translation of Yadugiri's book Oy Bharathiyare. It is post #242 right in this thread.

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

Post by sridhar_ranga »

A few friends in Vedapuram

There is a high school known as Calve College in Puduchery. Prof N. Subramania Aiyar was an English Teacher there. He lived in Eswaran Dharmaraja Koil Street, as did Bharati and V.V.S. Aiyar. Bharati, in his series of articles set in Puduvai which he called as Vedapuram, refers to Subramania Aiyar as ‘Brahmarayar’ or ‘Brahmaraya Aiyar’. Says Bharati in his article entitled ‘Pen’ (woman):

“In Vedapuram’s Dharmaraja Street lives a Brahmin by name Brahmaraya Aiyar. He follows the Saakta religion. He is a scholar in both English and French languages and knows Samskrutam too. He is well versed in Vedantic concepts. He never misses any kathaa kaalakshepam or upanyaasam that takes place in town. More often than not, he returns dissatisfied after listening to the discourses. The aforementioned Brahmarayar also has a good knowledge of Tamil. He has translated in Tamil many of the European Shaastras. At times he even writes poetry.

“When he starts speaking (at his home), it can be heard three streets away. In the evenings he is usually found conversing i.e. roaring with friends on the pyol (‘tinnai’) of his house. The neighbours have named his pyol ‘iDip paLLikkUDam’ (The Thunder Classroom). As I am on friendly terms with this Professor, I too join in to listen to the conversations in iDi paLLikkUDam from time to time.”

Kalavai Sankaran Chettiyar was a wealthy man and a philanthropist. He gave a place to stay for Aurobindo in the upper portion of his house. He had great affection for the Swadeshi leaders.

In 1911-12 an attempt was made to expel Bharati, Aurobindo, Aiyar et al from Puduchery. A law was made to evict non-French citizens from Puduvai unless they had registered themselves with the police and carried with them the attestation of five honorary magistrates. When Sankaran Chettiyar came to know of this, he arranged to get signatures from five magistrates before 3 P.M. on the same day.

Another friend was Arumugam Chettiyar, an influential merchant. He was very polite and politically naive. He had a weak voice. He was raising a few white mice as pets in his home; Bharati refers to him as ‘elik kunju chettiyar’ (baby-mice chettiyar) in his Vedapuram articles.

Va. Raa. used many clever ways to route money from India to Chettiyar’s address, often without the latter’s knowledge.

Madasamy Pillai, a suspect in the Ashe murder case in Maniyachi who went underground and vanished without a trace, was said to have lived in the first floor of Arumugam Chettiyar’s house in Puduvai, unknown to anyone. When the police came to search his home, Chettiyar took them upstairs, showed them stacked up sacks of paddy and made them go back.

One day a small crowd was assembled in Bharati’s house. A ritual fire had been raised and surrounding it were people chanting Vedic hymns. Sitting around the fire were Va. Ve. Su. Aiyar, Mandayam Srinivasachari, Brahmaraya Aiyar, Kuvalai Kannan, Nagaswamy Iyer, a friend by name Govindarajulu Naidu, and many others. Bharati was seated on a plank (Palagai). Sitting on another plank was Kanaka Lingam. Bharati performed brahmopadesam to Kanakalingam, and made him wear a sacred thread (poonool). He advised Kanakalingam thus: “From today onwards you are a Brahmin. If anyone asks you who adorned you with a thread, say with all authority that it was done by Bharati.”

Since three sections of society wore the thread, there was a prevailing belief among many that equality can be brought about by making the two remaining sections wear it too. Bharati must have turned Kanakalingam a Brahmin with this same belief.

Kanakalingam has written a very good book on Bharati entitled “En Gurunathar Bharati” (My Guru Bharati). This was published in 1947.

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

Post by sridhar_ranga »

Clockwise from top left:

-- Prof Subramania Aiyar aka Brahmaraaya Aiyar, Friend of Bharati
-- Kalavai Sankara Chettiyar, one of Bharati's close friends
-- The Kalavai Bungalow used by Bharati and others
-- Raa. Kanakalingam, a Dalit disciple whose initiation as a Brahmin was conducted by Bharati


Image

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

Post by rshankar »

'brahmarAyar' - Wonder if Kalki Sri Krishnamurthy was inspired by this to name the minister in 'ponniyin selvan' as aniruddha brahmarAyar!

Sridhar - awesome tidbits..keep them coming.

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

Post by sridhar_ranga »

Ravi, I understand Brahmaraayar and Brahmaadiraayar were actual titles given to Brahmins in the Chola Period, and Anbil Aniruddha Brahmaraayar is not a fictional character!

That said, I have often wondered how much of Kalki's writing style is influenced by Bharati. I think the influence is very high. Some of the humour-laced writings of Bharatiyaar in his essays and short stories very much remind me of Kalki's prose (I had read Kalki much before I read Bharati :-))

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

Post by cmlover »

Unquestionably Kalki was a great fan of Bharathy. But his Tamil style was more chatty in relation to Bharathy's. I believe Bharathy never wrote any Novels?

I am fascinated by the kanakalingam iyer story? It was nothing new since Ramanuja had done it eight centuries earlier! I wonder why there were no follow up?

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

Post by kvchellappa »

It is true. In fact, Kalki formed a style of his own, using more words of Tamizh and a conversational form. Bharathi's prose is often difficult to follow and contains many Samskritham words, not in common parlance, at least as of now.
Bharathi has written 'Chandrikaiyin Kathai', an unfinished novel. It is interesting as far as it goes. It will be in Bhaarathi blogspot.

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

Post by rshankar »

Sridhar, thanks for the clarification..what does 'anbil' mean?

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

Post by kvchellappa »

Anbil is the name of a place in Tiruchi district. several copper plates were discovered there re. the Chola period. (Source: Ponniyin Selvan by Kalki)

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

Post by sridhar_ranga »

Left: Arumugam Chettiyar
Top Right: The **'taraasu kaDai' bench in Arumugam Chettiyar's house. (1938).... Bharati and his friends used to meet there.
Bottom: (L to R) Bharati Dasan, Vijaya Bharati, Sakuntala Bharati, Raa. A. Padmanabhan (author of this book), Raa. Kanakalingam - seated in the 'taraasu kaDai' in this 1957 picture

** Unable to come up with an apt translation for this. (taraasu= balance/scale & kaDai=shop)

Image
Last edited by sridhar_ranga on 13 Nov 2012, 00:08, edited 1 time in total.

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

Post by sridhar_ranga »

With ‘Untouchables’

Bharathy was a bold & extreme social reformer. One day in 1913, he performed the sacred thread ceremony of an “untouchable” young man Kanakalingam, accompanied by a ritual fire and initiation of Gayatri Mantra, in the presence of friends like V.V.S. Aiyar and Prof. Subramania Iyer. Said the Mahakavi to the youth: “From now on you are a Brahmin. You can boldly proclaim yourself a Brahmin if anyone questions you. Tell them with conviction that it is Bharati (who made you a Brahmin)”

Like Kanakalingam, Bharati also initiated into Brahminhood another Harijan youth C. Nagalinga Pandaram who was a priest in the Desamuthu Mari temple in a ‘chEri’ (quarters of the untouchables) called Uppalam.

Nagalingam used to meet Bharati every Sunday, and on one such occasion, Bharati sang to him one of his recent poems “tEDi unnai Saran aDaindEn dESa muttu maari’ (I sought & took your refuge, goddess Mari) which at first had a different starting line ‘tEDinum kiDaikkAL engaL dESa muttu mAri’ (She is hard to find, our goddess Mari).

Bharati was friends with many more Dalit youth. He became a friend of Adaikkalanathan Arlok, officer in charge of the Telescope at the Puduvai Port; he would watch the skies with joy through the telescope, accompanied by his and V.V.S. Aiyar’s family members.

In 1912, Bharati spoke on the topic ‘There is no such thing as caste’ at the annual day of a Cricket Club run by Adaikkalanathn, Kanakalingam, Vedachalam Saker (?), et al. The youth were fined by the court for not obtaining prior permission.

Pictures:- top: Adaikkalanathan Arlok (picture from a later period) & bottom: Raa. Kanakalingam and Vedachalam Saker in 1957

Image

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