Bharatiyar Discussions

srkris · Post by **srkris** » 17 Jul 2011, 07:10

If anyone wants to catch our National Poet in action, after reading this much here about him, this litte video of just over 3 minutes might help: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vvI7-BFpq8

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 17 Jul 2011, 08:07

srkris,
This is absolutely delightful!

mozhi vENDAm,
pADA vazhi vENDAm
pachchaik kuzhandaiyum
pADi inbuRumE--
bhArati pATTinaiyE!

cienu · Post by **cienu** » 17 Jul 2011, 08:22

Thank you Srkris.
Am viewing it for the 3rd time !

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 17 Jul 2011, 19:22

Super srkris..
Bharathy should have lived to see this! This is his highest compliment....

srkris · Post by **srkris** » 18 Jul 2011, 14:47

Arasi, Cienu & CML, I have watched this video tens of times in a single day, and after repeating it 100+ times cumulatively I haven't got tired of it yet. Arasi, please continue, I didn't mean to interrupt you.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 18 Jul 2011, 19:05

srkris,
Not an interruption at all!
She is delightful. Watching as many times as you did, makes me think of two things: you were so taken by her that the 'language' in which she sang (with her fantastic expressions) did not elicit even a single comment from 'you' ! The other reason--I needn't elaborate on!
Another guess is that the mother and father are very keen on music and on Bharathi--the mother is calm and low key on the screen(she sings very well) The father too (who is recording this). Otherwise, we would have heard a lot of asides--'pADummA!' 'Great!' and so on--a lot of prodding. Let me not leave out the grandparents in all this

Bless them all!

smala · Post by **smala** » 18 Jul 2011, 23:23

Not to add to the clutter some more but this rendition from a humble father on his daughter's birthday is sincere and melodious - the real feel shows at the very end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kA-obJ8Q4wc&NR=1

srkris · Post by **srkris** » 19 Jul 2011, 01:35

Yeah this one was great too.. listened this too many times.

Arasi, I just like to repeat songs that I like until the law of "diminishing marginal satisfaction" stops me.

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 20 Jul 2011, 18:49

Yes Arasi!
Have a break as we will too! The intermission will whet our appetite.
Discussions however can go on, on whatever has been written so far.
I would love to hear pros and cons on whether Bharati's kannamma songs are collectively women oriented or parasakti oriented..

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 20 Jul 2011, 19:46

CML,
Our cultural and religious ways of seeing Gods AS children and seeing God in children come in handy here. What my verse (post # 148) says is how I think a kavi's mind and imagination go to work. If mortals help in nourishing his imagination and inspiration, so be it. Yet, these are just aspects of what surrounds him in his life--things which help him with his work. I don't think a poet as great as Bharathi could have reached such heights in his imaginative and spiritual thoughts, merely fueled by his love for human beings. It's like saying, it was hallucinating substances which made him write great poetry! Might have egged his imagination on with 'tangerine trees and marmalade skies', but on the other hand, is it possible for all substance using poets to write like him?
This is how I see it. I look forward to reading other views, but do not want to argue my point out. Being a creative person of sorts myself, I am looking at Bharathi this way. I don't want to insist that my personal view is the right one

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 20 Jul 2011, 21:02

Are you getting Coleridge mixed up with Lennon, arasi?

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 20 Jul 2011, 21:22

Not really, but I just used the first word which came to mind in the context (have to admit, too many words in my head lately!). Let me edit it. Thanks

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 20 Jul 2011, 22:02

No problem! Your words make your point perfectly. Only an ex-hippie would want to be pedantic about the substances. ...Who on earth could that possibly be?

smala · Post by **smala** » 20 Jul 2011, 23:07

"...I don't think a poet as great as Bharathi could have reached such heights in his imaginative and spiritual thoughts, merely fueled by his love for human beings..."

That, precisely, IS the crux of the matter. A deep LOVE - for humans - people all around him, an intimate one for those immediately present, that moves his soul, guides his spirit and lets his imagination soar - parts of which he anchors through expression : poetry.

You underrate the power of love.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 21 Jul 2011, 00:01

Nick,
Please take back your word about my making my point perfectly

My words were ineffective in expressing my thoughts clearly.

smala is right. I should have worded my post better. I did not mean to say 'human beings' in the sense of 'humanity' at all! Obviously, that's how it can also be interpreted, I see now. Bharathi's humaneness and his love for humanity were very much the reason for his greatness. We know it from his works and from what we know of him--and from Yadugiri's recollections too. It's obvious.
That heightened spiritual sense in him came from many sources and that was what I was perhaps driving at.

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 21 Jul 2011, 01:10

Let me change it, then, to --- you made the point beautifully between you.

smala · Post by **smala** » 21 Jul 2011, 01:27

A "heightened spiritual sense" is always closely intertwined with love - Love that is neither amorphous nor abstract. It starts from the level of the tangible, perceivable and translates into cogent thoughts that have everyday meaning. In Bharathi's case his innate deep love, which includes his spirit and spiritual self, gave birth to lofty thoughts. The same heightened spiritual awareness does not, therefore, need to find an abstract medium of parAshakti to make its expressions valid - although given the prudery of the times - one might have to couch it under the cover of a parAshakti, to gain general acceptance. Bharathi was a man ahead of his time and yet, situated firmly in an awareness of his time, happenings and surrounds. A quick reference is Dikshitar and his love/attachment to parAshakti/devi which also resulted in beautiful poetry. Quite different from the profound love felt for fellow humans and the spirituality intrinsic to Bharathi.

veeyens3 · Post by **veeyens3** » 21 Jul 2011, 03:29

It is the very same "Abstract Medium" that helps humanity to retain its sanity. Burke did not say in vain "If there is no God, then we have to invent one " total acceptance in it is neccessary for its own sake and not for public consumption

smala · Post by **smala** » 21 Jul 2011, 03:44

veeyens3 wrote:It is the very same "Abstract Medium" that helps humanity to retain its sanity. Burke did not say in vain "If there is no God, then we have to invent one " total acceptance in it is neccessary for its own sake and not for public consumption

you are speaking generally - In Bharathi's case, I have already stated my views on why the parAshakti may have been attributed, wrt some of his poems that depict a deeply personal element, a notion of the "other" who touched his emotional chords, intensity and love. My views are reinforced through Yadugiri's memoirs, expertly translated by Arasi.

smala · Post by **smala** » 21 Jul 2011, 04:27

It is hard for me to believe that Chellamal - whom he talks about so fondly, aware of the dimension of his own love and closeness with her, "his treasure", or the chinanciru kiLiyE who kannathil muthamitAl... and whose tears he could not bear - did not feature in his poems of love ! And that the poems were all composed just imagining parAshakti as a lover or as child.

Bharathiyar, a sensitive, intelligent man with deep feelings was a romantic poetic soul. His romance had an uplifting spiritual edge, no doubt, wore several forms - that of friend in a very very close association with Srinivasachariar and Iyer, in particular; a deep love for children Yadugiri, Thangamma, Sakuntala; a gentle, passionate yet unencumbering love for Chellamal (who he allowed to stay for months with her own father); his love for ordinary people - fisher-folk, paddy-threshers, his love for his native Tamil people, his people who were shipped away as indentured laborers, his motherland...

He felt strongly about being enslaved, oppressed, without rights and opportunities - that is love of yet another kind.

I am aching to know more of the personal side of this immensely appealing man through the memoirs of Chellamal (who pined away in his absence) and his daughter Thangamma, who was raised partly by her aunt...hope P.Bala or Arasi herself will translate and give us more precious insights...

veeyens3 · Post by **veeyens3** » 21 Jul 2011, 06:31

I pesonnally feel that Bharathi's special love to others is only another manifestation of his leaning towards the Advaithic concept of one all pervading Atma and not a different one We may differ in our perceptions :Ekam Sat.viprAH bahudA vadanti"

smala · Post by **smala** » 21 Jul 2011, 12:33

This post, like an earlier one may be moved to a new thread by moderators.

On the subject of women in Bharathi's life :

Remembering Chellammal Bharati

By S. Vijaya Bharati
[grand-daughter of Bharathi and Chellammal)
From The Hindu, Sunday, Sep 21, 2003

What kind of life fell to the lot of Chellamma as the wife of Mahakavi C. Subramania Bharati. She married him at the age of seven when he was 15 and still in school. Chellamma came from a south Indian middleclass Brahmin family, their financial status bordering on the affluent, and the social status certainly in the upper rungs of society in Kadayam. As a young girl, she enjoyed life as a passing spectacle of religious and social festivals, entertainment of musical and theatrical events, and the numerous celebrations in a large joint family, of birthdays of children, `upanayanams', weddings and more weddings, and even the passing of the old, a cause for sadness, nevertheless full of ritual-bound celebration. Chellamma's life with the poet-husband seems to have started innocuously enough — Bharati was young and handsome, in good health, well-educated and employable with a decent reputation as a poet and writer and as a person who had opted for an intellectual life. Wives of course did not participate in the intellectual lives of their husbands in the Tamil Nadu of the early 1900s, although this was not to be Chellamma's destiny as she grew up as the poet's spouse. Bharati went through a succession of jobs as the Ettayapuram Zamindar's companion, as Tamil teacher in the Madurai Setupati High School and as writer and sub-editor on the staff of the Swadesamithran, until he settled to his life's work as poet, editor and political activist. Bharati had steady employment, and Chellamma and her household were well-provided for.

Chellamma's financial comfort and security were destroyed when Bharati left British India for the French territory of Pondicherry in order to continue his struggle for an Independent India. Thus began a life of privation and severe financial hardship. How Bharati related to this situation has been widely written about, and a lot of it is speculation! It is reasonable to agree — because we really do not understand what makes a poet poet — that Bharati's mind was continuously in a stream of ecstasy, and took little notice of the demands of a household of a wife and two daughters. It became Chellamma's sole responsibility to manage the household, to feed and clothe the family, the start of a struggle that did not end till her death in Kadayam in 1955.

Joyce biographers talk about the "great poverty" in which James Joyce lived towards the end of his life.

What is "great poverty" for the author of Ulysses in 20th century Britain is hard to estimate from this distance in time. Although I lived with my grandmother till I turned 16, I have very little comprehension of what it was to be a "have-not". How does one reconcile the life of great poverty and material deprivation with the privilege of living the life of the mind and the spirit?

The latter, I think, provided Chellamma, by now "Chellammal Bharati"; of the 1950s India, her immortality.At her death, the Tamil population felt as though it had lost a family member. And commiserating at the death of this woman were celebrated names in the annals of Tamil Nadu and India. No less a person than C. Rajagopalachari ("Rajaji"), wrote to my mother: "At a time when the whole nation is celebrating Bharati's birthday, your letter conveying the sad news arrived. She fed me on day in Puducheri - me and R.V. Krishnayyar. When the meal was done, Bharati danced and danced and dancing, sang a song too for us. Look: what a very fortunate woman she was! How many women in this country have such a celebrated husband? There is no grief in reaching the feet of Narayana."

I think that the "great poverty" in which Chellammal Bharati lived and died becomes irrelevant; the hardship is a small price to pay for immortality!

(The writer is a granddaughter of Bharati and Chellammal.)

smala · Post by **smala** » 21 Jul 2011, 12:45

Has anyone seen any films on Bharathi? Particularly this one mentioned in the link below :

.....
Gnana Rajasekaran's Bharati (The Story of a Poet), produced by Media Dreams.....Powerful performances by Marathi actor Sayaji Shinde as Bharati and Devayani as Bharati's tradition-bound wife Chellammal are among the assets of the film. Ten songs, eight of them Bharati's, tuned to music by Ilayaraja, and Thangar Bachaan's cinematography are its other strong points....

http://www.hindu.com/fline/fl1722/17220890.htm

smala · Post by **smala** » 21 Jul 2011, 13:00

Vijaya Bharathi - on her mother Thangammal and her own work on Bharathi.

From The Hindu, 2003/03/05/

"THE HOUSE permeated with the spirit of Subramania Bharati, poet, spiritualist, nationalist and much more. At every relevant opportunity, Amma spoke the writings of her father. Amma Thangammal's conversations were always intellectual. Amma's younger sister's name was Sakuntala. The two girls, Chellamma patti often said, were an integral part of thatha's life. He made sure that they learnt Sanskrit." Vijaya Bharati reminisces thus about her famous grandfather.

She continues, "In fact, she said that thatha always presented his new songs to his family first. It was common knowledge that Chellammal's personality was moulded by her husband. She had got married to him when she was just seven. Such was the mental strength that she derived from her husband that she actually led his funeral! Patti often regaled visitors with little known facts about Bharati thatha."

Sometimes, the grand daughter also got to listen to some exclusive bedtime stories on Bharati. As age advanced, Chellammal spent almost all her time reading the poems of Bharati. Vijaya never saw her grandfather as he had died young. Move to Canada, 2002. Vijaya Bharati was at her desk. She had just completed a novel attempt at writing the biography of her grandfather. It ran to 544 pages. It was now time to choose a caption. It had to suit the stature of the protagonist of her work. She picked up her pen and wrote decisively "Amaran Kathai".

Back home in Chennai, Vijaya Bharati talks about her writings. "For that matter, many years ago, my biography of Bharati in English was published by the Government of India. This book has since been translated into Tamil and Hindi. But this time I have adopted a totally different approach to present his story in the form of a novel."

Is there an element of fiction in it? "Oh, most certainly," replies Vijaya Bharati, "but facts are facts and they have been scrupulously scrutinized for accuracy. Other than the scores of people whom I interviewed, I relied heavily on Bharati's own writings to understand the man and his contribution."

"Bharati is not my surname, I was named Vijaya Bharati at birth by Chellamma patti's elder brother, Appadurai." However, Vijaya Bharati has much more to her credit than just being the grand daughter of Subramania Bharati and Chellamma. She is the first woman to acquire a doctorate in Tamil Studies. Her next research work, titled "Bharati and his contemporaries," was completed under the auspices of the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.

Says Vijaya Bharati, "I was initially apprehensive about how my work would turn out. But, when I started writing it was a great experience. I honestly felt that somebody else was writing and I was just moving my pen." But, being Bharatiyar's granddaughter, weren't her misgivings unfounded? "No," she protests, "It is absolutely absurd to compare me with Bharati. A person of his calibre is born very rarely on this earth."

Vijaya Bharati's reservations about her ability to bring out a satisfying book may well have been unfounded as her publications reveal. She has written 10 books on Bharati in both English and Tamil. She has also presented research papers at the Tamil Research Conference held at Malaysia and Chennai. She has delivered lectures on Bharatiyar in several countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, England, France, Canada and Australia. At the invitation of the Mauritius Government in 1988, she visited the country and presented a talk on her grandfather. Several have been her experiences relating to the legendary Bharati. On a train, a four-year old candidly owned up that she had not heard the song "Odi villayadu papa", but when shown a picture of Bharati, surprisingly she recognised him. However, Vijaya Bharati feels that the younger generation has not understood Bharati in his entirety.

Vijaya Bharati and her husband plan to produce a film on Bharati. In the offing are also plans to start a publishing house to publish books by Bharati and on Bharati. Is this a classic case of justice pronounced by the Providence? For the poet during his lifetime had tapped several sources unsuccessfully, requesting for an interest attached loan, to publish his works. The amount he expected — a princely sum of Rs.100!

LAKSHMI DEVNATH

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 21 Jul 2011, 19:47

I loved these links....

srkris wrote:If anyone wants to catch our National Poet in action, after reading this much here about him, this litte video of just over 3 minutes might help: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vvI7-BFpq8

smala wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kA-obJ8Q4wc&NR=1

The timelessness of the mahAkavi's words come alive in this contemporary choreography by Ms. Jyoti Raghavan - the second part has been unfortunately removed - it was the more poignant part - the beautiful moments in this segment include the third birthday celebrations, and the use of 'twinkle twinkle little star' to highlight 'piLLai kani amudE', and the beautiful 'hide-and-seek' segment before 'ODi varugaiyilE'...

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 21 Jul 2011, 20:25

Ravi,
I loved this pint-sized kaNNammA who comes alive in Jyoti's depiction--with the balloons, cake and candles to celebrate her birthday!

kaNDa iDamellAm kaNNammA!
kuzhandai engu SirittAlum-adu
kaNNammA! evar nOkkilum
adu kaNNammA--agam toDum
adan azhagum azhugaiyum--anda
naDaiyum uyir tuDippum-nam
uLLam koLLai koLLum naDippum--

ellAmE kaNNammA
engum kaNNammA!

srkris · Post by **srkris** » 21 Jul 2011, 23:03

Sorry for the digression, but as far as I know, Kannamma (literally feminine form of Kanhayya; Kanha being the prakrit form of the word Krishna) is the goddess Parvati, as she is identified as Kanha's sister.

These words "என்னைக் கலி தீர்த்தே, உலகில் ஏற்றம் புரிய வந்தாய்!" sounds like a thanksgiving prayer.

Pratyaksham Bala · Post by **Pratyaksham Bala** » 22 Jul 2011, 20:22

"My Husband", a radio talk (in Tamil) delivered by Mrs. Chellamma Bharati in 1951 at AIR, Tiruchirapalli:-
http://bhaarathi.blogspot.com/2010/01/blog-post_23.html

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 22 Jul 2011, 20:35

PB you are amazing! Thanks.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 22 Jul 2011, 20:40

Amazing find, PBala!
Even as late as in 1951, you can hear Chellamma's inner voice spelling out her unbelievable adoration for her husband along with the plaintive voice of a desperate life mate!

smala · Post by **smala** » 22 Jul 2011, 21:03

"My Husband", a radio talk (in Tamil) delivered by Mrs. Chellamma Bharati in 1951 at AIR, Tiruchirapalli:-
http://bhaarathi.blogspot.com/2010/01/blog-post_23.html

She died in 1955! Please, post a translation!

Pratyaksham Bala · Post by **Pratyaksham Bala** » 22 Jul 2011, 21:12

Translation?
arasi! Please help!

smala · Post by **smala** » 22 Jul 2011, 21:13

A blogger, Saraswati Mukai, who visited Puducheri in 2009 wrote this :
http://smukkai.wordpress.com/2009/06/24 ... ndicherry/

Pondicherry is a city of rich history. Bharathiar is one of them who makes it all the more interesting.

He moved to Pondicherry in the year 1908 to escape his arrest. He took a house in Pondicherry which has been turned into The Bharathiar Museum now. I visited this museum last Sunday.

What an experience it has been!! Feels like I have been transported to a new land with new thoughts.

The house address is: No. 20, Easwaran Koil Street, Puducherry – 3

I could not believe that this museum is like a 15 minute walk from my house. I imagined Bharathiar walking on the same streets as I was. I wish I could know his thoughts when he was walking in the city.

The museum has a collection of his letters, family photographs and lot of books. I felt the museum could have been much better. Perhaps a guide who could explain things to us.

The sad part is the museum does not sell any items like his books or memoirs. I was really disappointed with that. They do have a great library which is open on Sundays from 10:00am to 5:00pm. The museum is closed on Mondays. The timings for the other days are 10:00am to 1:00pm and 2:00pm to 5:00pm.

I read some of his letters and observed two things:

1. He starts off a letter with the words “Om Shakthi“

2. He usually signed off the letter saying “May you gain immortality“

There was a postage stamp released on Barathiar which is framed in the museum.

There are around 20 photographs collected of his family, friends and relatives. Some names that I can recollect are his wife Chellama, two daughters (one is Thangamma, I can’t recollect the name of the other), V.V.S Iyer, Sri Aurobindo and many others.

While in Pondicherry he was involved with the following journals/magazines: India, Vijaya, Chakravarthini etc.

I especiall liked the front cover of the magazine Chakravarthini (the 1906 edition was displayed) which reads “A Tamil Monthly Devoted mainly to the Elevation of India Ladies” — I felt wow!!

The topics for that edition were interesting as well:

1. Women in Buddhism

2. Figures regarding female education in the Madras Presidency

3. Tulsi Rai

4. Infant marriage and female education

I think we indeed have come a long way since 1906.

When I stood inside the house and looked up to the sky, a tear dropped down my cheeks for no reason. A house where Bharathiar had spent his time. The front hall with an open roof. Wonder how many thoughts he must have had sitting there? It felt very nice. It was mentioned that he composed the poem “Crows and Birds are our clan” in this house.

Bharathiar was an expert in many languages: Tamil, Sanskrit, English, Telugu and French. They had mentioned that he wrote very beautifully in English.

I also found the Tamil version of the phrase “Liberty, Equality and Fraternity” – “Swathanthiram, Sammathuvam, Sahotharathuvam“

I was reading a book there where it mentioned when Bharathiar, V.V.S Iyer and Sri Aurobindo used to talk and discuss it was a conversation filled with great patriotism, energy and out of the world. It is unfortunate that nobody could record these conversations.

I would like to end my visit with a paragraph from the book written by Dr. S. Ramakrishnan on Bharathiar which I truly agree and felt after the visit to his home:

Many of Bharathi’s lyrics are chicks of fire. They burn up the whole jungle of our vices – our apathy, our fear, our pettiness, our casteism, our religious sectarianism, our greed and all that.

Thus, purged of our ills, we become pure-hearted and fearless and consequently strong, nay, invincible

smala · Post by **smala** » 22 Jul 2011, 21:16

Bharati’s life and times
By
V.Isvarmurti
– March 1, 2007Posted in: Books
[P. K. Sundara Rajan, husband of Vijaya Bharathi, grandaughter of Bharathi has responded to this post. See link at the end.]
*****

His daughter’s writings reveal unknown facts!

Thangammal Bharati Padaipukal Centenary publication, Amudhasurabi, Chennai,2004 pages 472, Price Rs.200.
[How I wish someone would send Arasi a copy/photocopy of this book and she would translate!]

Mahakavi Bharati’s poetry is well-established. Not only in Tamil but at the all India level. Quoted and written about in all Indian languages. He lived only 39 years. He also wrote much that was traditional. What makes Bharati stand out, in the all Indian context, is the fact that he and he alone, even apart from other greats like Tagore, who sang of the Indian people’s yearning for freedom, their nationalism, their awakening for fighting for freedom. He was also a political activist and the role he played in the 1907 Surat Congress is still to be written about in historic context. A poet of his genius in any other country would have got much more recognition and much written literature. Not so in his land of birth.

The revolutionary poet Subramanya Bharati had lived at the dawn of Indian nationalism and he, born with poetical gifts of unusual kind, started off as a traditional poetical creator of unsuspected talents and yet soon transformed himself as a poet of genius with foresight and vision. So, when he was still in his teens he started composing poems that showed lots of inventive use of words and phrases and once there was the Swadeshi movement he jumped into it with full vigour. This book is a compilation of the writings of his daughter who,after the poet passed away, started writing first her mother’s reminiscences which are also published by the same publishers. Now, the daughter’s writings are collected in a single volume, edited and introduced by her own daughter, the editor being Dr.Vijaya Bharati who along with her husband are Canadian citizens and engaged in bringing out a standard edition of Bharati’s poetical works.

This book is divided into four sections. First, One dramatic piece penned by the daughter of the poet, as she herself says in her preface, contains episodes involving the poet and the same didn’t find place in what she wrote in her own mother’s reminiscences. The piece even now makes interesting reading and the language quite lively, as the poet’s own and given in the hands of competent choreographers must be turned into a theatrical production. The next hundred odd pages give various incidents in the poet’s life and the memorable song and compositions he made. For a true lover of the poet and his writings, researchers in particular this section is an indispensable source material. For those who would read the texts of the poems, the context is given here only. The poets various moods, he as the poet, as the husband and the father of two young daughters, the various individuals, Aurobindo and the Mother, other well-known friends and acquaintances are all here.

The close friendship that existed between Aurobindo and the poet is well brought out. The daughter had watched how much Aurobindo too sought the company of the poet, rather than the poet sought after the company of the great yogi and seer. There was a violent storm and heavy rain and Pondicherry was devastated. The next day Bharati and the 12 year old daughter went to visit Aurobindo. “Babuji welcomed father with much affection. The two conversed together for long. Babuji did japa the whole night without bothering about what happened around him. While all the other things were intact, the photograph of his wife Srimathi Mrinalini Devi was smashed. That pained Aurobindo much. After two days, there came news from Bengal the dear lady passed away” (page 74) The editor of the volume says no one who wrote of Aurobindo so far had bought out the close association of the yogi and poet as the 12 year old girl who often accompanied her father to the ashram had done. Very true! There were many nights when the poet would visit the yogi and both would spend almost the whole nights together reading the Vedas and discussing such high matters.

The Mother, formerly Mira Richard along with her husband once visited Bharati in his home. This anecdote is also interesting. It was Bharati who taught the mother not to shake hands of strangers and he showed her the Indian way of saying namaskar and from that day onwards the Mother adopted the practice (page 203). More interesting is her observation on Aurobindo and Bharati. Says she: “It is difficult to write on the sort of relationship that existed between the two. It is impossible. Mahakavi Bharati imagined himself as Arjuna, nay, he had the mental resolve and mental faculty to imagine himself as Lord Krishna. Aurobindo understood this side of the poet’s character and he admired his friendship with the poet” (page 203). Only an innocent and at the same time an intelligent young girl of just 12 could make such observations!

There is also a mention of the meeting of the poet with Sister Nivedita at Dumdum in Kolkatta. I felt it is a pity the dates or the probable dates of these historical meets have been researched and add for the benefit of future generations of readers. Even now, it is not too late. There is another unknown episode about Bharati’s friend and disciple, Bharatidasn. There is a poem given here on Bharatidasan’s composition of Parasakthi! Says Thangammal” This song is not added in Bharatidasan’s poems nowadays” (page 204) Pages 135 to page 197 is an autobiography of Thangammal. This covers as she herself says in the preface her memories from age 5 to age 15 (written in 1947), these 60 odd pages are the heart of this archival material. Here we see a child sent to Benares for study and stay with her relations. She attends Annie Besant’s College, learns Sanskrit and Hindi and her observations of girls in North India and her comparison with South Indian girls, her descpritions of the travel both ways make engrossing reading. I would put as the piece de resistance as the last pages (196-197) the most moving and the most heart-rending. When the father, the poet, sees his daughter after such a long gap and he finds it difficult to recognise the daughter and for her part she finds it difficult to recognise her father! “My words fail, my eyes fill with tears, my hands fail to proceed…. “A piece of Joycean prose Tamil could inherit as its own. For times to come!

The 12 pages (223-237) deal with one of the memorable phases of the life of the poet and his dear wife. The marriage of the poet, her mother’s family background, the honeymoon, the young couple’s life at Ettayapuram, the birth of the first daughter , the poet engaged an Anglo-Indian lady to teach his wife English and one day the poet disappears to Pondicherry. These pages carry so much detail and a close observation of life at home and they make for immortal literature. While this book contains valuable material that helps readers to know more about how the poet lived and composed many of his immortal lyrics, there are some terribly missing gaps and some agonising questions for intelligent readers.

Since I know the Bharatis (Dr.Vijaya Bharati and her husband Prof.P.K. Sundarrajan) for quite a long time since the days of their life in Coimbatore in the late Sixties, I have to add here some more thoughts and comments for the larger benefit of Tamil society. First,Tangammal was a gifted writer and she had lived,I guess, all the time of 12 years with her father in Pondicherry till she was married at age 15 (1920) and later she lived in Singapore why she didnt think of writing her father’s last years? May be she was away. Even after she had come back and lived till 1961 she could have written and filled up lots of gaps in our knowledge of the poet’s many-sided personality. A great loss indeed! Either the manuscript is lost or she didn’t write?

Second, why she hadn’t written of her life or the life of her mother and her own thoughts after the father passed away?

Third, why Bharati’s numerous dedicated friends didnt press her to do so? Or did they try or what happened? One more thought: what were her father’s innermost thoughts after he came out of jail and lived in Kadyam? And later in Chennai? Finally,why Dr.Bharati herself, as a scholar and a writer didnt ask her mother to write more on her father and mother? Even now, I fee that Dr.Bharati should write her own memories of her mother and ask several questions like the above and answer so that Bharati scholars would benefit immensely. One more thought:Tamil universities, more so the ones like Madras and Bharati university in Coimbatore must open Bharati research wings and even acquire and exhibit Bharati writings and manuscripts.

One friend told me the other day he possesses one rare manuscript of Bharati, the “cheettukavi” Bharati wrote to the Ettayapuram zamindar! These are national treasures. Universities in UK and USA have purchased at great costs such manuscripts and established formidable research centres. For instance, Yale university had bought the papers of James Boswell and as a result there has come out a definite new biography of the author of the Life of Johnson!

I hope Tamiluniversities undertake some genuine long-term Tamil development projects. TamilNadu government must entrust Dr.Vijaya Bharati to undertake organising a Bharati archieve and also write a comprehensive biography of her mother and whatever she can by way of new insights and new interpretations of Bharati works. It is also a great pity we don’t have a complete, reliable edition of Bharati’s poetical works that can be comparable with other great poet’s similar editions.

http://www.isvarmurti.com/2007/03/01/bh ... and-times/

Pratyaksham Bala · Post by **Pratyaksham Bala** » 22 Jul 2011, 23:08

Of the hundreds of books on Bharati, the following are the best ones.

SELECT BOOKS ON BHARATI
(All in Tamil, except the one by C. Viswanathan, Bharati's brother, which is in English):-

CHELLAMMA
Wife of Subramania Bharati
1941 tavap pudalvar - bhAratiyAr carittiram

THANGAMMA
Daughter of Bharati
1946 amaran kadai
1947 bhAratiyum kavidaiyum
1947 piLLaip pirayattilE
1978 endaiyum tAyum

SHAKUNTALA
Daughter of Bharati
1974 en tandai

C. VISWANATHAN
Brother of Bharati
1929 Bharati & His Works (English)

NAGASAMI IYER
Bharati's close friend, Editor of Dharmam, & the one who trained Vanchi Iyer
By far, the best book which throws more light on Bharati.

YADUGIRI
Daughter of Mandayam Srinivasachari
1954 bhArati ninaivugaL

V.O. CHIDAMBARAM
One of the close friends of Bharati
1946 VOC kaNDa bhArati

SOMASUNDARA BHARATI
Ettayapuram school friend of Bharati
V. SAKKARAI CHETTIAR
Labour Leader & friend of Bharati
PARALI SU. NELLAIYAPPAR
One of the close friends of Bharati
1928 bhAratiyAr carittiram

SUDDHANANDA BHARATI
Member, Aurobindo ashram
1932 subramaNia bhAratiyar (or) tamizh nATTin dEshiya kavi
1946 kavik kuyil bhAratiyar

VaRA
Friend of Bharati
1944 mahAkavi bhAratiyar

-------

R.A. PADMANABHAN
Journalist
1957 (Reprinted in 1982, 2009) chittira bhArati
(a wonderful collection of articles by RAP with lots of photographs)
1982 bhAratiyaip paTRi naNbarkaL (a collection of articles written by Bhrati’s friends, including an article by Mandayam Srinivasachariar)

SRINI VISWANATHAN
- tamizhagam tanda mahAkavi
- 10 volumes - kAla varishaip paDuttappaTTa bhArati paDaippukaL (high quality production)

Pratyaksham Bala · Post by **Pratyaksham Bala** » 22 Jul 2011, 23:27

Post 186:-

... no one who wrote of Aurobindo so far had bought out the close association of the yogi and poet as the 12 year old girl who often accompanied her father to the ashram ...

There was no ashram at that time! The Ashram was founded only on 24 November 1926, five years after Bharati passed away.

... It is also a great pity we don’t have a complete, reliable edition of Bharati’s poetical works ...

Srini Viswanathan has already published most of the works of Bharati in 10 volumes. Two more volumes are due for publication.

smala · Post by **smala** » 23 Jul 2011, 00:24

P. Bala :

maybe "ashram" was used loosely, in the sense of Auriobindo's spartan residence, not the formal one you say was established in 1926 - that Bharathi interacted closely with Aurobindo and the Mother is the key and *that* seems to be the main point!

Similarly, to skris : kannamma is a term of endearment - used so often in several poems that is most gracious in spelling feelings, I feel Bharathi intended it to reflect that.

Pratyaksham Bala · Post by **Pratyaksham Bala** » 23 Jul 2011, 00:35

Post #185
He took a house in Pondicherry which has been turned into The Bharathiar Museum now.

Bharati had stayed in five different places in Pondicherry. In one of those houses, Bharati Memorial Museum is located.

Pratyaksham Bala · Post by **Pratyaksham Bala** » 23 Jul 2011, 00:43

Postage Stamp issued on 11th September 1960:-

smala · Post by **smala** » 23 Jul 2011, 01:16

Pratyaksham Bala wrote:Post #185
He took a house in Pondicherry which has been turned into The Bharathiar Museum now.

Bharati had stayed in five different places in Pondicherry. In one of those houses, Bharati Memorial Museum is located.

I don't get it. He may have taken 5 different places in Pondicherry - so what ?- post 185 which quotes a blog - it says... The house address is: No. 20, Easwaran Koil Street, Puducherry – 3 - which is where the blogger visited, a museum now!

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 23 Jul 2011, 02:43

smala: I think PB's clarification is to provide the context/additional info that 'one of the houses' is turned in to a museum and not to invalidate what you quoted.

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 23 Jul 2011, 02:46

SMALA - I took the blogger's statement (He took a house in Pondicherry which has been turned into The Bharathiar Museum now.) at face value - i.e., the house in which he lived in Pondy is now a museum. I guess PB is clarifying for people like me that bhAratiyAr lived in 5 different houses, and one of them happens to house the museum now.

smala · Post by **smala** » 23 Jul 2011, 05:20

OK, thanks VK and rshankar - thanks for the clarification.

I'm taking a break for some days - had a fender bender, a mishap with some strange types, all in one day... a bit too much.

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 23 Jul 2011, 05:56

Thank God you are OK smala!
Take it easy

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 23 Jul 2011, 06:50

Hope you feel better soon. Fender benders can be very nasty...glad you are ok.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 23 Jul 2011, 07:49

Sorry to hear of all the mishaps. Rest up as much as you can. The weather is brutally hot. Keep cool.

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 24 Jul 2011, 01:42

Sorry to hear about that, smala. Glad you are OK.

PUNARVASU · Post by **PUNARVASU** » 24 Jul 2011, 06:16

smala, sorry to hear about it. Take care.

gobilalitha · Post by **gobilalitha** » 24 Jul 2011, 07:33

Smala i am sure you will get better very soon and start your valuable , interesting,informative posts

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 24 Jul 2011, 14:54

Wishing you the same and hoping to see you soon, smala