This is how he sang of Mother Bharat at the dawn of the independence movement: "She has thirty crores of faces, but her heart is one; she speaks eighteen languages, yet her mind is one"; he is considered to be the father of modern style in Tamil literature so much so that creative writing in Tamil during the last seven decades owes its existence to his revolutionary style of transforming spoken rhythms to a written format; he was one of the foremost poets to compose and sing songs on India as one entity; his powerful prose and poetry emphasized the urgent need for national integration and shun parochial mentality; he envisioned a glorious future for India, a nation united on the common grounds of shared culture and history; and his vision marks the dawn of India's national unity movement during [the] freedom struggle, and was aptly referred to as the national poet - Subramanya Bharati (1882-1921).
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Subramania Bharati entered the national scene as an inspirational poet on patriotism. With a simple and yet fabulous technique of combining the rhythm of spoken language in a ceaseless flow of prose and poetry, Bharati captured the imagination of the Tamil people. His collection of songs on national unity, Swadesha Geetangal (meaning songs on Indian nationalism), was first published in 1908 which was followed by Janma Bhoomi (meaning motherland), published in 1909.
For the first time Bharati introduced a spiritual dimension to the freedom movement and deliberated on three aspects in a marvelous literary combination of prose-poetry. First, his compositions reveled on the physical and spiritual greatness of India. Although Bharati was deeply religious and an ardent devote of Shakti - the primordial power than makes and unmakes the whole universe, his poetry sang the glory of the universal nature of the Supreme Being and repeatedly shunned the mindless religious rituals and unrealistic traditional practices of the Hindu Society.
Second, Bharati's compositions uniquely emphasized the fundamental quality of freedom of an individual and nation, and the need to banish fear as the path to attain it. Bharati was inspired by Shelley's poetry on individual liberty, which served as a model for his patriotic poetry with a unique emphasis on the need for individual freedom. Bharati also was greatly influenced by Vande Mataram, a powerful poetry composed by Bankim Chandra and the Kali worship he witnessed at Banaras and his meeting Sister Nivedita, during a visit to Bengal. Perhaps these early experience enabled Bharati to inculcate fearlessness as a repeat them in his powerful poetry deriving its inspiration from what he considered as a spiritual source. He effectively unleashed this force in his revolutionary compositions on freedom and national unity.
Third, Bharati highlighted the lives of great persons as living examples for emulation. For example, Sister Nivedita was an influential figure in the life of Bharati who blessed him to participate in the freedom movement and his literary work calling for the emancipation of women. Bharati dedicated Swadesha Geetangal and Janma Bhoomi to Sister Nivedita and described her as the living example of service in the cause of suffering and emancipation of women and the downtrodden communities.
Social reform is a repeat theme in Bharati's works. For instance, Puthia Athisoodi (meaning "new beginnings"), a compilation of prose and poetry for children, espouses ideas such as 'curse astrology,' 'learn astronomy' and 'modernize ancient scriptures.' Many of his poems dealt with education, nature, and dignity of labor.
And emancipation of women was the major theme in Vachana Kavithai (meaning folklore poetry). Bharati visualized 'new women' as an embodiment of Shakti, a full-fledged partner of man to build a new social order through mutual respect and cooperation. Although in this day and age we take most of these ideas for granted, it was almost inconceivable for even the progressive minded artists and intellectuals of the early 1900s to propose social reforms of the magnitude that Bharati called for.
As the son of a Brahmin scholar, Bharati demonstrated great proficiency in Tamil at a very young age. After a brief stint at the Allahabad University, he returned to Madras and joined the Tamil daily Swadesha Mitram (meaning Indian Friend). Interestingly, Subramania Bharati was awarded the title "Bharati" for successfully participating in a literary contest sponsored by the Raja of Ettayapuram, in Tirunelveli District of Tamil Nadu.
In 1908, after a brief anti-British demonstration in Madras, Bharati took protection Pondicherry, a French enclave with the British India, and started writing a brilliant assortment of poetry for nearly a decade. His compositions fall under four categories: (a) patriotic poems, ( devotional songs, three great poems, and (d) miscellaneous poems.
Among the three great poems written by Bharati, Panchali Sapatham (meaning the vow of Panchali, that is, Draupadi) is architecturally the most important poem. The first part of Panchali Sapatham was published in 1912 and the second part in 1924. In this magnificent composition, Bharati demonstrates the power of written language as he unfolds the intensity of the tragic drama played out by Pachali, Dushasana, and Pandavas in Kuru Court.
Bharati appeared on the national scene at a time when the freedom movement was catching fire from all quarters of Indian society and demonstrated a sort of synergy with similar outpour of nationalist fervour elsewhere. For instance, "Mother India," a Bengali discovery of Hindu revival during this period usurped a new wave of songs, slogans and patriotic literature. Swami Dayananda's Arya Samaj paved the way in Punjab for cultural revival at grassroots level. Towering contemporary personalities such as Bankim Chandra, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Swami Vivekananda, and Rabindranath Tagore in Bengal were setting new standards in literature, cultural and national identity. It was indeed a cultural renaissance in India and the freedom movement was the sole inspiration for this renewed confluence in cultural and national identity. Bharati belonged to this illustrious class of national poets and patriots.
From a broader global perspective, it is also relevant to note that the early 1900s marked the beginning of a new era in literature all other the world. Virginia Woolf, a noted English novelist, wrote "human nature underwent a fundamental change on or about December 1910." Her remark underscored the yearning of modern writers to break with the past, rejecting the conventions of classical literature, and identifying more closely with the achievements of the industrial era, and greater awareness of human brutality and suffering under colonial and repressive regimes.
As human spirit soared to new heights, on or about 1910, with the invention of [the] automobile and airplane, and the revolutionary ideas of Einstein transforming our perception of the universe, there was an explosion of innovation and creative energy that shook every field of artistic endeavor. This period marked the dawn of revolutionary artistic expressions such as cubism, constructivism, futurisms, and imageries; it was during this time that T.S. Elliott wrote "The Wasteland" using a revolutionary technique of composition; and it was during this time that Ezra Pound, a great American poet, declared his battle cry "Make it New."
Bharati's composition are considered as the starting point of a new course in modern Tamil literature. He broke from the conventions of classical Tamil literary styles and introduced for the first time the widely prevalent prose-poetry style in modern Tamil literature. Moreover, his brilliant compositions closely associated with the socioeconomic and political realities of the British India, and delivered a simple and yet powerful message that national unity is the one and only course for national emancipation. Bharati's songs on national unity [are] relevant even to this day as they were seven decades ago.
(Source: from May 30, 1997 issue of Express India.)
