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

[sridhar_ranga]

Clockwise from top left:

1. The old light house of Pondicherry
2. The palace of the Governor of French India - the beautiful sculpture of Lord Varaha, brought by the French from Chenji (Gingee) is in the forefront
3. Many tall granite pillars with ornate carvings brought from Chenji have been put up along Puduchery's beach. One such pillar with a relief of Venugopala.
4. Platform on granite pillars: Governor Dupleix's statue had been installed on a raised platform supported by the ornate granite pillars from Chenji. These pillars are now in a nearby park. The Dupleix statue is in a museum; in its place stands a statue of Nehruji.
5. Iron Pier: Now rusted and almost destroyed, this iron pier stretched for half a mile into the sea opposite to the present Gandhi statue's location. People used to go for an evening stroll on the pier and have relaxed chats sitting on the benches there.

[sridhar_ranga]

1. Kuvalai Kannan - the great man who helped Bharati in Puduchery in 1908 and later rescued him from under the elephant's feet in Triplicane in 1921
2. Swaminatha Dikshitar with sons V.S. Kunchitapaadam and V.S. Mahadevan. A family of scholars who became Bharati's friends in Puduvai
3. A few important streets in Puduchery (English version follows in next post)

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A rough re-work of the Pondicherry map in the above post, with English text:

[sridhar_ranga]

First day in Puduchery

It was an unfamiliar place; the circumstances dictated that he couldn’t reveal his identity; it was not in his nature to go around asking for help. The anguish Bharati went through on his first day in Puduchery cannot be described.

Staying awake all night in the train which reached Puduvai before dawn, Bharati waited in the station until day break and reached Chitti Kuppuswamy Iyengar’s residence on Perumal Temple Street in the morning. He was carrying a letter addressed to Kuppuswamy Iyengar.

Iyengar welcomed Bharati with courtesy and offered him breakfast. A tired Bharati went to sleep on the pyol ('tinnai') of the house, without waiting for lunch.

Two days went by in Iyengar’s home. By now, the Madras Police, having come to know that Bharati was not in the city, mounted a search for him. In another couple of days, they got to know about his presence in Puduchery. That was a defining moment; from then on he came under the firm watch of the police, which was to continue till the end of his life.

Chitti Kuppuswamy Iyengar was not a person of great influence. He was just a man of ordinary means and a small time trader. The henchmen of the British Police, through fear or favour, tried to get Iyengar to expel Bharati from his home. Since Puduchery was a French territory, they could not take any direct action. But in the days before the first world war, Puduchery was in many ways dependent on the British. This was very useful to the British agents: they tried brain washing Iyengar through his relatives that Bharati was a political miscreant and it was a great danger to keep him as a guest.

Iyengar, being a man of honour, could not ask his guest to leave the house. At the same time, he was getting worried that Bharati’s continued stay in his house would invite trouble.

Bharati, realizing the situation, was growing perturbed. He started feeling a great deal of agitation over causing trouble to an innocent man.
It was then that Kuvalai Kannan arrived on the scene as a god-send, ‘coming out of nowhere’ (‘engirundO vandAn’).

KuvaLai KaNNan was the nick name of a young man called KuvaLaiyUr Krishnamachari. He was from Puduchery and a relative of Kuppuswamy Iyengar. He had studied in Calve College for ten years.

Kuvalai Kannan has written describing the scene of his first meeting with Bharatiyar in Puduvai.

Kuvalai Kannan used to visit often the home of V.S. Swaminatha Dikshitar, the principal of Calve College. Even in those days of popular craze for English, Dikshitar used to read India without fail, and used to praise it as the best among the Tamil journals. Hearing this, Kuvalai started to borrow & read copies of India.

After some days, Dikshitar mentioned to Kuvali that he was not himself the subscriber of India, and that the copies were subscribed to by one Sundaresa Iyer. So Kuvalai had to befriend Sundaresayyar. Now let us read in Kuvalai’s own words the story of how he met Bharati, without realizing his true identity at the time:

“My father in law’s residence used to be in Perumal Koil street in Puduvai. Next door to the west of it was the home of my sister in law. As I was walking along the pyol-edge of that house one day, I saw a stranger sitting on the pyol and asked him to introduce himself. Without revealing that he was Bharati, he said that he was from Chennai and was new in Puduchery; we conversed for at least an hour.

“In the middle of our conversation he asked if I knew anyone in town who subscribed to the India magazine. I told him that I knew a person who subscribed to India. Bharati asked if I could introduce him to me.

“I told him ‘if you come with me, I will show you the person’. He came along with me right away, with great excitement. We went to Sundaresa Iyer’s place.”

[rajeshnat]

... ... Besides, a red house situated opposite Kapaliswarar tank in Mylapore was the doctor’s house.

The first time I visited the house was in 1963 when I was staying in a lodge at East Mada Street. Fifteen years after that I was lucky to live in a similar house at Nungambakkam for a few years. May be, that was one of the prestigeous house designs a hundred years back.

PB
May I know what house are you talking about in Nungambakkam. Is that still there?

[cmlover]

It is not just History but lessons in Geography too!
Folks! Keep up the Good Work....
... and THANKS!

[sridhar_ranga]

Two Comrades

Sndaresa Iyer was not home. He was a clerk in the warehouse of a groundnut merchant, S. Kuppusami Iyer. Bharati and Kuvalai Kannan went to the warehouse. Making Bharati wait outside the godown, Kuvalai went inside and informed Sundaresa Iyer that there was someone from Chennai to see him. Sundaresa Iyer came out.

“The two of them walked off and were engaged in a secret conversation some distance away. I took their leave that night and went home. When I bumped into Sundaresayyar two or three days later, I asked him ‘where is the gentleman I brought over to you?’ to which he replied that he had put him up in a house and was taking care of him. It was a whole year after our friendship began that I came to know that the gentleman was Sri Subramania Bharati.”

All through his Puduchery days, Kuvalai Kannan and Sundaresa Iyer were two pillars of support to Bharati. Kuvalai passed away in Madras in September of 1939.

Kuvalai was not a scholar; but he had enduring devotion to Bharati. Even in 1939 he had a remarkable memory. Bharati had assigned Kuvalai the task of making copies of his poems and memorizing them. (In his song ‘Kannan en SIDan’ or ‘Kannan my Disciple’, Bharati has shared this fact). Even in 1939, Kuvalai could recite without a mistake the songs he had memorized three decades earlier.

Kuvalai was a very capable person. Bharati has sung his praise in the song ‘Kuvalai Kannan Pugazh’ (Euloogy to Kuvalai Kannan) as part of the compilation ‘Bharati Sixty Six’. Some of Bharati’s praise-laden references to Kuvalai include: ‘ganatta pugazhk kuvaLaiyUrk kaNNan enbAn’ (Kuvalaiyur Kannan worthy of great praise), ‘pArppArak kulattinilE piRandAn kaNNan; paRaiyaraiyum maRavaraiyum nigarAk koNDAn, tIrppAna suruti vazhic cErndAn kaNNan’ (kaNNan was born a Brahmin, yet treated dalits and maRavars as equals, he followed the path of the vEdas), ‘migat tAnum uyarnda tunivuDaiya nenjin vIrar pirAn kuvaLaiyUrk kaNNan enbAn’ (kuvalaiyur kannan the brave heart, of high valour). It was this great man, so much the object of Bharati’s approval, who later in 1921 jumped in without a second thought to rescue Bharati from under the elephant’s feet in Triplicane and carried him to safety.

Sundaresa Iyer was also of humble means. He later lost his clerk’s job of 20 years, because of providing help to Bharati. Police agents managed to scare his employer and caused him to be thrown out of the job. In spite of all this, even when reduced to poverty, Sundaresa Iyer kept up his support to Bharati, such was his nobleness.

Compared to Kuvalai, Sundaresa Iyer was a more learned person. He had a better appreciation of Bharati’s political and linguistic skills. The friendship of these two persons came as a breath of fresh air in Bharati’s new life in Puduvai.

In his later days in Puduvai, Bharati started an association called ‘Tamil vaLarppu sangham’ (Tamil Development Association). Sundaresa Iyer was among those who stood in support of this initiative. Those who joined the association had to pay three rupees in 3 equal instalments over a 2 month period. The plan was to deliver books worth five rupees to the enrolled subscribers, books in simple Tamil on such topics as science, literary works from other languages, works of prose, books that helped inculcate good behaviour and affinity to the nation, etc.

To advertise this scheme, Bharati wanted to print handbills. Those were the days of world war and anything to be printed needed government approval. Sundaresa Iyer sent in a request on behalf of the association. The government denied permission for this ‘dangerous pursuit’.

Once Sundaresa Iyer and Bharati had some misunderstanding and were not on talking terms for four months. Eventually Bharati started yearning for his friendship. When they met after this, it is said that Bharati wrote a poem ‘enganam SenRirundIr’ (எங்ஙனம் சென்றிருந்தீர் - How could you stay away?)**. Kuvalai Kannan has pointed out that this was mistakenly published under the title ‘Saraswati stotram’.

Sudaresa Iyer passed away in 1955.


** - enganam SenRirundIr is indeed a poignant apology in poem, with phrases like 'mAdamOr nAngAy nIr anbu vaRumaiyilE ennai vIzhtti viTTIr' (for four months you left me suffer from poverty of friendship), 'aNmaiyil irundiDuvIr, ini aDiyanaip pirindiDal ARRuvanO' (stay close; will I be able to bear the indifference any further?), 'mAyaiyil aRivizhandE ummai madippadu maRandanan' (I lost my mind due to mAyA and stopped according you respect), etc.

[sridhar_ranga]

Top Right: Sundaresa Iyer, the clerk who worked for a peanut merchant who in spite of his own poverty helped Bharati extensively, at times even by pledging his wife's jewellery

Left: Cover page & cartoon of India's Puduchery edition, issue 31 dated 15th May, 1909 (Sowmya, Vaikasi 2nd). The cartoon is titled "Grahana Vimochanam" and is in celebration of Aurobindo's acquittal in the Alipore bombing case. It is interesting to note the motto of France on the masthead: Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite along with its Tamil translation 'swatantiram, samattuvam, sahodarattuvam'.

Bottom Right: India issue 46 dated 4th Sep 1909 (Sowmya, Avani 20) with a front page cartoon celebrating the 84th birthday of Dadabhai Naoroji (b. 4th Sep 1825 in Bombay). The write-up states that 'Sriyuta Dadabhai Naoroji' presided over three Indian National Congress sessions, and coined the divine slogan on 'Swarajya' when he was presiding over the Calcutta Congress in 1908. Long Live our Dada. Dadabhai Naoroji Jai! Jai!! Jai!!!.

[rshankar]

Sridhar - thank you for the translation of these poignant vignettes - they bring us a visual picture of the great man, as well as the amazing people he inspired, who stood with him in eternal friendship.

[sridhar_ranga]

Puduchery “India”

Sonn after Bharati set foot on Puduvai, things started moving fast. Mandayam Srinivasachariyar and S.N. Tirumalachariyar came to Puduchery as well.
Within a month of Bharati’s reaching Puduvai, the India printing press had secretly been carted away to Puduvai. This, in those days, was no mean achievement. India was published from Chennai until 5th September, 1908. It started roaring again from Puduchery from 10th October.

As per law, only a French citizen was allowed to be in charge of any journal published from Puduvai. So they arranged for one S. Lakshmi Narayana Iyer to get the necessary permission in his name to start the journal. Saraswati Printing Press was born at 58, Etranger Street, Puduchery. Within two weeks, India once again started breathing fire.

In its Puduvai version, India at first came out in small size, like its original version. From its second year (October 1909) onwards, once again it was published in large format until its final edition dated 19 March, 1910.

As was the case in Chennai, the front and a few inside pages contained political cartoons. Besides, India also carried the portraits of many nationalists and patriots.

Bharati’s ‘gnaana ratham’ continued to find a place in the Puduvai India. A few poems were also featured. The famous poem ‘Vazhiya Sentamizh’ had pride of place in the first anniversary edition of Puduvai India on 16-10-1909, under the title ‘New Year’.

The activities of many nationalists were covered in large measure. Even though Bharati did not believe in ‘bomb culture’, there was a regular feature under the section heading ‘Agitation in India’ which covered news of bomb blasts and killings of political/ official figures. Even news from other countries was covered under ‘Reuters News’. Events such as Turkey’s independence and the independence of Persia were covered, evoking patriotic fervor. There was also coverage of the shooting of a British officer by Madanlal Dhingra, a follower of the Savarkar-Dr. Rajan-V.V.S Iyer faction, and the protests organized by Mohandas Gandhi in Southern Africa.

A few other news items covered in India include: the case of sedition against VO Chidambaram Pillai and Subramania Siva for organizing self-rule day celebrations; the attempts to keep the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company running; the appeal for funds by Pillai’s wife to enable filing an appeal in the Privy Council against her husband’s sentence; the news of VOC being met in the Coimbatore prison by his father and another close friend, Parali Su. Nellaiyappar; the suicide attempt by Surendranath Arya, unable to bear the cruelties he faced in jail; translations of the superb speeches by Aurobindo Ghosh; and Swami Vivekananda’s words of wisdom.

Each of the editorials was an excellent essay with an appeal to the patriotic spirit. Many editorials under the headings, Freedom, Equality and Brotherhood, and a few more under headings such as 'The People of India', 'Poetry and Sculpture' were published.

The last 4 or 5 pages of the news magazine were filled with advertisements India’s worth was well known even to manufacturers and sellers of gold laced garments (pitambaram) made of Benaras silk, many types of books, novelty goods, and virility supplements. Even in Puduchery, India did not struggle to get advertisements. This is a matter of great surprise even today.

In another first-of-its kind move not seen until today, India offered payment to readers sending in briefs, in simple Tamil, of happenings around them and news from small towns and villages.

[sridhar_ranga]

A few India editorials. The second editorial page from the issue dated Sep 4, 1908 includes an excellent editorial under the heading 'The People of India' and a sub-editorial with Bharati's opinion on bombings, entitled 'Sriman Madan Lal Dhingra'

The image I have is not very clear, with a few undecipherable paragraphs; I can attempt a translation once I get hold of a clearer copy.

[sridhar_ranga]

Tribute to Gandhi – in 1909!

Bharatiyar was among the few who realized early the greatness of Mahatma Gandhi as a leader of Indian people. Our Mahakavi has heaped praise on Barrister Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi when he organized protests in South Africa in 1909, seeking improvement of the Indians’ lot. He collected and sent money for the Indian struggle in South Africa, including a personal contribution of five rupees.

In his wonderful foresight, Bharati could see that Gandhi’s Satyagraha Movement was based on dharma and steeped in Indian values, and that he was a great leader for the future.

The South African government arrested Gandhiji in 1909, when he returned from a mission in London representing South African Indians. Bharati published a cartoon and an accompanying explanation of this event.

The picture on the facing page was published in India edition of 18-12-1909. The notes below the picture said: “Shri Gandhi the cow returned from England after negotiating for the welfare of its calves viz. other Indians, only to be imprisoned in Transvaal. The tigers i.e. South African officialdom put him in jail without realizing his eminence.”

A further explanation was provided: “many of us know this old happening, chronicled in our Hindu Puranas. A cow, which was caught by a tiger in a forest, having realized that it had not yet fed milk to its calf, made an appeal thus: ‘He Prabhu! Today I have not yet discharged my duty, I have not fed my calf. So if you allow me, I will now go feed my calf and return pronto to be eaten by you. You must show mercy.’

“The tiger thought for a while and decided to test the honesty of the cow, and told it to go but insisted that the cow should return as soon as it was finished with the job.

“The cow then went back to feed its calf, handed it over to another cow who was her friend, returned to the tiger and said, ‘I salute you for letting me carry out my dharma. You may prey on me now’

“The tiger, so surprised at this, refused to eat the cow and fasted to its death, saying ‘oh goddess of righteousness, what lowly fate awaits me if I were to eat you! enough of my bad deeds’

“See what the South African tigers are doing to our righteous cow, Sriman Gandhi? We saw that in Hindustan, even an unlettered tiger could not stop the flow of dharma and kindness. But only in this age of kali do we see such savage animals in human form, supposedly noble Englishmen, who treat the Indians (who indeed helped them) worse than even a tiger.”

Much later, Bharati sang the praise of Gandhi in his famous poem ‘vaazhga nI emmAn...puvikkuLLE mudanmai petRAi’ (Long live oh father! You are supreme among men). But Bharati’s vision was such that even in 1909, when people were not at all aware of Gandhi in India, he published this picture and the write-up.

Mandayam Srinivasachar says, ‘Even swami Vivekananda in his final days was highly worried about the nation’s future. But it is a great wonder that Bharati had the clear foresight of India’s good fortune which forces of nature revealed to him, and he could predict that the whole world would one day be elevated by the Gandhian way’.

[sridhar_ranga]

The picture published by Bharati along with the story in the above post

[arasi]

Great work, Sridhar! Your workload did not deter you from finding precious time in bringing to us the flame that Bharathi was, in his India days. Thanks...
I loved the cartoon when I first looked at it. How the young Gandhi is captured there!

[cmlover]

Very touching!
The face on the cow is appropriate for that time as arasi points out!
Thaks sridhar_rang
for not only capturing the words but also the spirit!

[sridhar_ranga]

Vijaya – a Daily from Puduchery

Towards the end of his first year in Puduvai, Bharati found his energy levels growing. This in turn excited him to venture into many new initiatives.
India grew even more in popularity after starting the Puduvai edition, once its voice had been choked in Madras. It was easier to attack the British rule from the French-Indian sanctuary of Puduchery. Within a year of bringing India to Puduvai, Bharati and his friends planned to bring one more publication connected with Bharati to Puduvai from Chennai.

Vijaya the Tamil daily was being brought out from Triplicane High Road in Chennai. It featured fiery write-ups in support of the ‘New Tenets’ of the Congress i.e. the radical faction. Even when it was being published from Chennai, there were advertisements about Vijaya in the Puduvai India. Finally, it was announced in India that Vijaya will be published from Puduvai from the Krishna Jayanti issue of 7-9-1909.

Vijaya was in fact started by Tirumalachar, older brother of Mandayam Srinivasachar, to make up for the absence of India in Chennai. Since even the new journal could not escape the British Government’s interference in its functioning, it too moved to Puduvai. It came out again from the Krishna Jayanti day of 1909.

Bharati never showed any mercy to anyone, even his own kith and kin, when it came to the national cause. He did not hesitate to criticise V. Krishnaswamy Iyer, the philanthropist who helped print Bharati’s poems at first, when they ended up in opposing camps.

By the end of 1909, V. Krishnaswamy Iyer accepted a position as judge and faced a barrage of questions from his own friends as to how a nationalist like him could accept such a position. Bharati went as far as saying that accepting a job in the judiciary was tantamount to treachery against the motherland. The editorial he wrote at the time in Vijaya is an excellent example of his debating skills and forceful writing.

Bharati chastises Iyer thus: “Oy Krishnaswamy IyerE! You say that you people (moderates) are in no way less patriotic than Tilak’s faction. Tomorrow, if one of your extremist comrades is brought to court by the police, you will be forced to show your mercy and kindness by sentencing him to rigorous imprisonment; will that be an act of patriotism too?”

By the end of 1909, Bharati and his friends started bringing out many more publications. ‘Karma Yogi’, a Tamil version of Aurobindo Ghosh’s new English monthly ‘Karma Yogin’ was planned to be brought out from Krishna Jayanti day 1909, and was actually published from January 1910. We can guess that there was an opportunity to sell several thousand copies of these journals, from the advance notice that “only a thousand copies” of Karma Yogi would be printed.

There was an advertisement on 4th December 1909 to the effect that another monthly, Chitravali, would be published from the India office. It was announced that this would be full of pictures and cartoons, and the notes under the pictures would be in both Tamil and English. But it is not known if this monthly saw the light of day. Had it been brought out, it would have been the first full-feature cartoon journal in India. Bharati has thus been a pioneer in more ways than one, being a perfect role model to Indian journalism.

Apart from these, ‘Bala Bharata’, another Chennai based English weekly, was sought to be published from Puduchery.

[sridhar_ranga]

Left: Advertisement in India issue dated 4-9-1909 that Vijaya, nationalist Tamil daily, would be published from Puduchery from 7-9-1909 onwards.

Right: Front Page of Vijaya...the tag line says 'published daily, in the evening'

[cmlover]

Bharathy must have had prodigious energy with all these Journalistic activities in the midst of his poetic efforts.
Truly he was a 'dashaavadhani'!

[sridhar_ranga]

(Today, Sep 11, marks the 91st anniversary of the passing away of our Mahakavi)

Why Bharati started Karma Yogi

Though Bharati was connected with many journals, Karma Yogi the monthly has a special significance, since it was something he ran entirely on his own.

Thanks to a crisis situation that emerged towards the end of his first year’s stay in Puduchery, Bharati seriously considered starting a magazine of his own that would provide an opportunity to showcase his deep insights and journalistic skills.

Mandayam Srinivasachar, who ran India in Puduchery, was a cultured and affable gentleman. Coming from a family of staunch patriots, he worked as a Professor of French in Rajamahendrapuram in Andhra, before leaving that to take up publishing journals as a profession. Krishnamachar, his father, even when he once had to live in Puduchery for family reasons, ran an English daily called ‘Indian Republic’ which campaigned for India becoming a republic. We saw that Tirumalachar, the elder brother of Srinivasachar, started the daily Vijaya in Puduchery to make up for the loss of India, which ceased to exist in Chennai. Parthasarathy, the younger brother, travelled the length and breadth of India and even went to Nepal, to raise additional share capital to run the floundering Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company, after its founder VO Chidambaram Pillai went to jail.

Srinivasachar was an extremist in his political views. Otherwise he was a staunch believer in Vedic principles. Bharati and he had a fundamental difference of opinion: Srinivasachar supported armed struggle for freedom, alongside other methods; Bharati, from the beginning, was opposed to assassinations, guerrilla war methods, and armed resistance. It was his firm belief that assassination of individuals did not fit the Indian culture.

When Madanlal Dhingra, an Indian youth, shot dead a British official by name Curzon Wyllie in 1909, Bharati condemned this culture of killings in an India editorial. A crisis erupted in the India office in Puduchery due to the differing viewpoints of editor Bharati and publisher Srinivasachar. But the close affection the two had for each other helped them overcome the difficulty.

In the same year, Srinivasachar had to go to Chennai for a few months and he appointed R.A. Srirangachariyar, the husband of his sister-in-law, as in charge of the India office in Puduvai. The disciplinarian Srirangachar insisted that Bharati should spend time in the office as per the daily working hours. A heated debate ensued. Bharati argued harshly that he was only a contributor of editorial subject matter, and his payment was in line with that; if he had to stay in the office throughout the day, the salary had to be increased proportionately. Words flew thick and fast. Srirangachar almost ended up physically assaulting Bharati. Thankfully, the two of them were separated by N. Nagasamy, an India employee, who took Bharati out of the office.

Nagasamy arranged for Bharati to become the editor of a local Tamil weekly ‘Suryodayam’ on the same day. The person who ran this weekly was a famous printing press owner in Pondicherry called Saigon Chinnaiah Naidu. (Full details of this can be seen in Nagasamy’s article in the book, “Patriots in Puduchery”)

Srinivasachar returned to Puduvai after a few months and managed to pacify Bharati. He brought back Bharati as India’s editor.

These experiences led Bharati to seriously consider starting a journal of his own.

[sridhar_ranga]

Cover of the second issue of Karma Yogi, dated February 1910. The picture on the cover was printed using a hand-carved block.

[sridhar_ranga]

Karma Yogi – A High Class Monthly

Karma Yogi the monthly was superior in print quality and editorial content.

While Bharati planned to bring out his own magazine from Krishna Jayanti day 1909, it did not materialize. Instead of Avani (Aug-Sep), it was finally published around Pongal in the month of tai, in January 1910. Those who read it thought very high of it. Bharati was a happy man.

Karma Yogi was a cultural periodical. The material published in it belonged to a higher plane. The printing was superior as well. The objective of the monthly was clearly enunciated in the tag line as “a monthly Tamil journal expounding Arya Dharma, and Hindustan’s Arts and Craft, Literature, Sastras and Political Happenings.”

The writing style was clear and appealing in a novel way, with overall aesthetics that carried Bharati’s stamp. It mentioned C. Subramania Bharati as editor.

On the front cover, the name of the magazine was typecast in attractive large font. But what captures our attention on the cover is the beautiful illustration of gItOpadESam (Lord Krishna’s sermon to Arjuna on the battle field). It is difficult to believe that this illustration, which shows Krishna and Arjuna in the battlefield, with minute details of chariots and soldiers in the background, was made from a carved block of wood or lead. It was not common in those days for photographic blocks to be used in printing in the south.

Inside the illustration was a box, containing a quotation from the Gita: ‘so the self-realized person must do his duty for the common good, with detachment' - a proof of Bharati’s refined mindset.

On top of the front page are the words, “Regn No 862’ and the date. At the bottom are subscription details, below the illustration of Krishna and Arjuna.

Subscription was two rupees for a year, 1-1/4 rupees for half-year, while overseas subscription was fixed at 3 rupees. A single issue cost one quarter of a rupee.

Advertisement tariff was five rupees for a full page, with concessions for multiple insertions over a long term, details of which were provided on written request.

The front inside cover contained the index. The bottom half of the inside cover had two advertisements. One was an ad for wrist watches from the M.A. Gadala Company in Chittoor, then in North Arcot district. For a sum of three rupees, it promised a watch and a beautiful chain with a 10 year guarantee, 100 post cards in multiple colours, delivered home free of postage. ‘Satisfaction guaranteed or you get your money back’ – wow!

The other one was an in-house advertisement for the book ‘Janma Bhoomi - Price: 2 annas’ from Karma Yogi itself. This was the second anthology of Bharati’s poems in the series ‘Swadesa Gitangal’. The advertisement carried an endorsement from the proprietor of ‘Sentamizh’ magazine in Madurai that he had goose pimples reading the enthralling poems. Another ad was for VOC’s book ‘manam pola vazhvu’.

Thirty pages of Karma Yogi were allotted for editorial matter. The first editorial page had a Bharati poem in eight lines, ‘Maha Saktikku Vinnappam’ (an appeal to Maha Sakti) beginning with the lines ‘eNNiya muDidal vENDum’ (‘may our wishes be fulfilled’).

In the second issue of Karma Yogi we read about, there were many articles and poems on such topics as ‘Arya Sambandhi’, ‘an intimate conversation between Krishna and our reader’, ,bhagawad gita’, ‘things a present day Hindu must know’, ‘bhakti’, ‘verse section’, ‘a letter on self enquiry’, ‘homeland’, ‘national anthem’, ‘the ancient temples of Ajanta’, ‘unity is strength’, picture of ‘corridor of Bethesda(?) cave temple’, etc.

Some of these articles were reproduced in the book ‘Bharati Pudaiyal PeruntiraTTu’ (A collection of Bharati Treasures). ‘Conversation between Krishna and our reader’ was a tastefully written imaginary letter to the reader from Lord Krishna. 'Sudesam' (homeland) was an essay written by VO Chidambaram Pillai. It may be noted that VOC was in jail at that time.

[sridhar_ranga]

Inside cover and first page of the second issue of Karma Yogi. Bharati's poem 'eNNiya muDidal vENDum' is on the first page.

[cmlover]

Thanks
Will we get to see the article?
‘Conversation between Krishna and our reader’

[sridhar_ranga]

Will we get to see the article?
‘Conversation between Krishna and our reader’

if the article is available in public domain, KVC can bring it to us in the Bharathy prose translation thread.

[rshankar]

(Today, Sep 11, marks the 91st anniversary of the passing away of our Mahakavi)

I did not realize that the two-minute silence we observed today (in memory of the 9/11 anniversary) was also on behalf of the kaviarasar. I am not likely to forget - thank you Sridhar!

[arasi]

I have often wondered--why don't we celebrate his birthday? Marking the birth of great men seems like a better thing to do. It puts us in a celebratory mood when we sing their praises and pay them homage.

[venkatakailasam]

This is a song I have come across for the first time..

ஊழிக்கூத்து

ஊழிக்கூத்து

வெடிபடு மண்டத் திடிபல தாளம் போட - வெறும்
வெளியி லிரத்தக் களியொடு பூதம்பாடப் - பாட்டின்
அடிபடு பொருளுன் அடிபடு மொலியிற் கூடக் - களித்
தாடுங் காளீ, சாமுண்டி, கங்காளீ!

அன்னை அன்னை,
ஆடுங் கூத்தை நாடச் செய்தா யென்னை.

ஐந்துறு பூதம் சிந்திப்போ யொன்றாகப் - பின்னர்
அதுவும் சக்திக் கதியில் மூழ்கிப் போக - அங்கே
முந்துறு மொளியிற் சிந்தை நழுவும் வேகத் - தோடே
முடியா நடனம் புரிவாய், அடு தீ சொரிவாய்!

அன்னை, அன்னை
ஆடுங் கூத்தை நாடச் செய்தா யென்னை.

பாழாம் வெளியும் பதறிப் போய் மெய் குலையச் - சலனம்
பயிலும் சக்திக் குலமும் வழிகள் கலைய - அங்கே
ஊழாம் பேய்தான் "ஓஹோ ஹோ" வென்றலைய - வெறித்
துறுமித் திரிவாய், செறுவெங் கூத்தே புரிவாய்!

அன்னை, அன்னை
ஆடுங் கூத்தை நாடச் செய்தா யென்னை.

சத்திப் பேய்தாந் தலையொடு தலைகள் முட்டிச் - சட்டச்
சடசட சட்டென் றுடைபடு தாளங் கொட்டி - அங்கே
எத்திக் கினிலும் நின்விழி யனல் போயெட்டித் - தானே
எரியுங் கோலங் கண்டே சாகுங் காலம்!

அன்னை, அன்னை
ஆடுங் கூத்தை நாடச் செய்தா யென்னை.

காலத் தொடு நிர்மூலம் படுமூ வுலகும் - அங்கே
கடவுள் மோனத் தொளியே தனியா யிலகும் - சிவன்
கோலங் கண்டுன் கனல்செய் சினமும் விலகும் - கையைக்
கொஞ்சித் தொடுவாய், ஆநந்தக் கூத்திடுவாய்!

அன்னை, அன்னை
ஆடுங் கூத்தை நாடச் செய்தா யென்னை....

http://ilakkiyapayilagam.blogspot.in/20 ... -post.html

Has any body rendered this song??

Sorry for the digression ...

[arasi]

Thanks, VKailasam. A fantastic essay by R.K. Kannan on this poem.

I'm afraid not many vocalists will take it up for singing. Can they cope with all the flood of words of fury which Bharathi unleashes here? Can they successfully contain the emotional sense of the verses in their singing? Have to wait and see...

[Pratyaksham Bala]

Bharati passed away, not on the 11th, but on the 12th September, in the early hours.

[Govindaswamy]

The posting numbers do not appear in this and all other topics. This makes it difficult to refer to earlier postings.

[cmlover]

Thanks for pointing it out..
I have alerted the admin who will look into it.

[srkris]

Thanks Govindaswamy, this is fixed now.

[sridhar_ranga]

Aeroplane – Made in Chennai

After Bharati came to Puduvai, British Indian spies pitched permanent tents there. Suspecting clandestine plots by Bharati and others, informers started shadowing them all the time. Khan Bhadur G.S. Abdul Karim, a British Indian police officer, was given this special assignment. Another such spy was Papa Rao Naidu from the British Indian police force, whom Bharati knew even when he was in Madras.

The French Indian postal service was under British control, which came in handy for the spies. They intercepted and censored all mail destined for Bharati and India. Even the money orders were stopped. People sending money orders from British India were tracked down and intimidated. In spite of such pressures, India was doing well. It had grown to a larger print size and often came out with special supplements.

In one such supplement published in 1910, there was an article about an aircraft made in Chennai along with a picture. This aeroplane was assembled in the Simpson workshop in Madras by Tamil workers, under the sponsorship of D ‘Angelis, the French proprietor of the D ‘Angelis Hotel. Bharati stresses that it was built by “Tamil workers”. Shrewd writer that he was, Bharati never lost an opportunity to highlight national pride and instill confidence among people about the achievements of their fellow natives.

The news item mentions that this plane did take flight with its (homemade?) engine. Isn’t it a matter of pride that within six-and-a-quarter years of the Wright brothers demonstrating the first flight of an aircraft, there was a successful flight by a plane entirely assembled in Chennai?

*** *** ***

Meanwhile several attempts were made to get Bharati to return to British India. Prompted by Collector Ashe of Tinnevelly, the Zamindar of Ettayapuram arranged for Bharati’s maternal grandfather to visit Puduchery. The Zamindar gave his assurance that Bharati would be given a job at Ettayapuram and asked the grandfather to bring him back.

Bharati was very fond of Ramaswamy Iyer, his grandfather. His happiness knew no bounds when grandpa, grandma and uncle Sadasivam arrived in Puduvai. That his grandfather, who till then had not travelled beyond Sattur, came all the way to Puduvai for his sake caused great cheer to Bharati. But once he learnt the purpose of their trip, his face grew dark. Twirling his moustache Bharati told them, “Does the Zamindar think he can betray me for reward, just like they earlier betrayed Panchalankurichi**? Let him beware”

Later he roared “Oh, what great compassion the Englishman has for me! He has helped my grandparents visit me. How am I ever going to repay his kindness?”

Bharati arranged for thatha, paatti and maama to stay in Puduvai for a month and a half. On grandpa’s insistence, he wrote a non-committal letter to the Maharaja of Ettayapuram. But he did not give a serious thought to it afterwards.

What else could Bharati have done, the Mahakavi who wrote such lines as “kaNNiraNDum viRRu chittiram vAnginAl kaikoTTi chiriyArO” (Does it make sense to sell one’s eyes to buy a painting?) and “padam tiru iraNDum mARip pazhi migundu izhivuRRAlum, sudandira dEvi nin pAdam tozhudiDal marakkilEnE” (I will never stop worshipping freedom, even if great misfortune befalls me)?



** Panchalankurichi was the seat of power of Veerapandia Kattabomman, the Polygar ('Palayakkarar') who rebelled against the British. The Polygar of Ettayauram, later given the title of Raja by the British, was accused of betraying Kattabomman.

[sridhar_ranga]

Top: India Puduchery edition 19-2-1910, in larger print size with eight pages, priced at one anna. A special supplement with a story on an aeroplane assembled by 'Tamil workers' in the Simpsons company in Chennai along with a picture of the aircraft. Other features in this issue include a cartoon criticizing The Press Act of 1910, an editorial on arts, subscription details (based on individual capability), a short story, etc.

Bottom: Picture of the aircraft (biplane) assembled at the Simpsons workshop for D 'Angelis

[Pratyaksham Bala]

'The centenary of a Madras airplane' in The Hindu:-
http://www.hindu.com/mp/2010/08/23/stor ... 730500.htm
and, for more information:-
http://www.navhindtimes.in/panorama/ind ... t-aircraft

[sridhar_ranga]

India, Vijaya cease publication

India, with its many novel features experienced a healthy growth. Readers wrote letters suggesting a higher subscription price and requesting two issues a week. The editor finally announced that if at least 1500 readers showed interest, the frequency could be increased to biweekly. The issue of 24 Jan, 1910 announced that starting from Ugadi (April 1910), the magazine would be published twice a week.

This must have angered the British establishment no end. The more they tried to suppress Bharati’s defiant writing, the stronger grew his popular support. Somehow they wanted to shackle India.

So they promulgated a law to suppress the press. Using this law, they banned the entry of India in British territory.

The reason cited by the government for the ban was strange indeed. Five months earlier, India had carried a cartoon and an article. The government cited those as the flimsy reason for the ban. The article had been written by Bharati, who had attacked the British Government for exporting wheat from India while the people remained hungry; the cartoon showed hungry, emaciated people in the backdrop of a ship sailing with Indian wheat on board.

The daily Vijaya was banned at the same time as India and both of them ceased publication. The two magazines had their maximum readership in British India. The subscribers and advertisers were also predominantly based in British India. There was no other go except to stop the magazines.

It was not that this scenario was not foreseen - in fact, to trick the authorities into believing that Bharati no longer wrote for India and Vijaya, he was made editor of a new magazine Suryodayam, run by the printing press owner Chinnaiah Ratnasamy Naidu.

Two young men, V. Harihara Sarma and Nagaswamy worked as Bharati’s assistants in India. Sarma wrote the sub-editorials while Nagaswamy took care of book keeping. An experienced journalist, Venkata Arya, was nominated the editor of India when Bharati was away looking after Suryodayam.

Like the last flicker of a dying lamp, India shone bright in all aspects before its demise. A cartoonist was specially brought over from Madras. The carved lead blocks made by this artist perfectly reflected the editor’s voice.

Bharati himself had mentioned about an unsuccessful effort by an informer to hand him over to the British Indian Police, in the editorial of the issue dated Feb 26, 1910.
In the March 5, 1910 issue, writing an editorial on “Sculpture and Poetry”, Bharati makes fun of the government with the words “If we write about these, the Press Act cannot touch us. So let us at least share such things with the people”.

Puduvai India which appeared first in October 1908, stopped its publication with the 12 March, 1910 edition, a year-and-a-half after it came into existence. In these eighteen months, Bharati accomplished many other feats: you may recall that he published the second collection of his nationalistic poems (Swadesa Geetangal) under the title ‘Janma Bhumi’.

India’s fate soon spread to other publications. By the end of 1910, Bharati had been reduced to a sad plight of not having a newspaper or magazine to work on.

[sridhar_ranga]

The editorial page of India issue dated 27 Nov, 1909 published from Puduvai. The editorial on 'Equality-2, the feeling of Indianness', was part of a series of editorials under the topics Freedom, Equality, Fraternity. The cartoon is on the topic 'victory of Swadesiyam'. The last column reports on the victorious appeal in Aurobindo's case.

[cmlover]

Thanks for a great wealth of materials. Bharathy should be celeberated as a Journalist par excellence in addition to being a great poet!
I miss the substance of the cartoon above?
Is BhArata mAtA chopping the heads of Ravana?

Thx PB for the refs..

[sridhar_ranga]

Till yesterday it was our abode

When Bharati left Chennai all of a sudden for Puduchery, he reached there all alone. His pregnant wife Chellammal had been sent away to her parents’ home in Kadayam, along with daughter Thangammal.

Before Bharati left for Puduvai, he had made a grand plan along with the India proprietor S.N. Tirumalachariar and the latter’s relative and Bharati’s steadfast supporter, Mandayam Srinivasachariar. The plan was that the three of them would go on a tour of Europe after handing over the administration of India to M.P. Tirumalachariar, cousin of S.N. Tirumalachar, who had proved himself as a competent manager of the journal. But this plan kept facing hurdles for various reasons.

One of the reasons was of course Bharati’s forced move to Puduvai. Bharati’s relative Lakshmayyar, who also pitched in with financial help now and then, came to see Bharati to discuss this plan. Besides Bharati’s physical presence in Puduvai, the need to wait for Chellammal’s delivery was another factor that caused a delay of the European sojourn.

Meanwhile, in a most unexpected turn of event, M.P. Tirumalachar had made arrangements for his own visit to England. He arrived suddenly in Puduvai one day and announced that he was on a voyage via Colombo, and had made a stopover to visit friends. This came as a huge disappointment for Bharati. Since they were left with no one fit enough to look after India, the three friends had to abandon their European tour. They began focusing their attention to strengthening the newspaper.

Bharati’s desire to travel to Europe remained intact for a long time. It has been reported that he would eagerly watch every ship that sailed along Puduvai’s coast during the days of the First World War. The fact that French people and many Western scholars lauded him for his works even while Tamil Nadu remained ignorant of him, and the West’s recognition of a comparable personality (litterateur) in Rabindranath including the Nobel Prize awarded to him, intensified Bharati’s desire to visit Europe. Alas, Europe was not lucky enough to come face to face with him.

*** *** ***

After some time, Chellammal delivered. Bharati was reading Kalidasa’s Sakuntalam when he received news of the child birth. He wrote back suggesting to name the baby as Sakuntala.

After India had established firm roots in Puduvai, Bharati arranged for his family to join him. At first he moved into a south facing house in Eswaran Dharamaraja Koil street. This house remains intact to this day. It is understood that a Bharati Sangham is being run from this house these days. But the building is in a state of disrepair and getting weakened.

After a few years in this house, Bharati shifted to a larger double storey house on the opposite side. The day he moved, Puduvai was hit by a cyclone of unprecedented severity. Innumerable trees were felled in the nonstop rain accompanied by gale force winds, turning “forests to firewood”. Many houses were damaged. The rear portion of the house Bharati had stayed in until the previous day caved in. Had Bharati and family not moved …?

Bharati and Chellammal asked themselves the above question. A song was born as a result.

With the title “Cyclonic Storm: the night of Wednesday, the 8th of Kartikai in the year Nala – a husband and wife”, the poem starts with a stanza in the words of the wife: “kARRu aDikkudu, kaDal kumuRudu, kaNNai vizhippAi nAyaganE” (The wind is howling, the sea is rough, wake up my beloved)

This is how Bharati ends the poem:

“nERRirundOm anda vITTinilE, inda
-- nEram irundAl en paDuvOm?
kARRena vandadu kURRamingE, nammai
-- kAttadu deiva valimai anRO?”

(Till yesterday it was our abode
-- Had we not moved, imagine our fate?
Atop a Tempest Yama Strode
-- We’ve been saved, God is great)

[sridhar_ranga]

The house Bharati stayed in. Now restored by the Puduchery government, it includes an exhibits room and is functioning as a library and a reading room since 1972. Below: a 1938 picture of the same building in dilapidated state.

[sridhar_ranga]

I miss the substance of the cartoon above?
Is BhArata mAtA chopping the heads of Ravana?

The goddess is Madras Presidency (Chennai mAdEvi), and the Lankasura is Lancashire/ Manchester. In 1908, textile imports to Madras presidency from Lancashire had reduced by half already. The Chennai-dEvi is telling Lanca(shire) asura, "I have already cut off half of your heads, just a few more to go".

[cmlover]

Thanks! very apt cartoon...
Thanks for the pictures of Bharathy illam...

I also feel the pain that Bharathy was not recognized by the West vis-a vis Tagore
Is it too late to award a Nobel Prize for Bharathy posthumously?
Amma can lobby on his behalf if there is sufficient pressure from the people...

[kvchellappa]

Is Nobel prize given posthumously?

[cmlover]

The posthumous rules changed in 1974. Before 1974, a person could be awarded a prize posthumously if he or she had already been nominated, which was the case with Erik Axel Karlfeldt (Nobel Prize in Literature 1931) and Dag Hammarskjöld (Nobel Peace Prize, 1961). Under the 1974 Staute changes, the prize may only go to a deceased person if the recipient dies between the time the award is announced and the date the prize is awarded (December 10)

Ref: http://nobelprizewatch.wordpress.com/20 ... explained/

Too bad!
Still I guess Bharata Ratna can be awarded!

[kvchellappa]

I fully agree. Somebody should bell the cat (CM of T.Nadu).

[sridhar_ranga]

The next chapter I am about to translate has its title from Bharati's pudiya aatticchooDi, but I am unable to think of an apt translation for 'peridinum peridu kEL'.

The options that crossed my mind are:

1. 'Think Big'? Somehow this feels inadequate....'Think and act big' may be?
2. 'Wish Big'?; But this may sound like 'make a big wish' which isn't exactly what it is
3. Demand the best? Not as poetic as the Tamil original.

Your opinions / suggestions most welcome. Thanks!

[cmlover]

Challenging indeed!
I can say in sanskrit
विपुलॆ विपुलत्वं इच्छतु।
but that does not capture the spirit of what he meant.
Desire for the sky? (but not avaricious!
Let us hear from others...

[arasi]

Ask for the loftiest of all of the Almighty?
Big, meaning a higher state of living, thinking and creating, I suppose.
There will be better interpretations.

Sridhar, you are doing great! Please continue until I'm able to find quiet time to take this up again.

KVChellappa is doing the translation of Bharathi's prose with dedication.
What more do we want?
bhArathi enRum vAzhga!

[kvchellappa]

Literally "Ask for bigger than the big".

[Ponbhairavi]

I would propose: Ask for nothing less than the greatest
I feel that "" big "has a connotation of massive , bulky, common heavy
great has a connotation of quality ,nobility.