Celebrating birth anniversary of Mahakavi Subrahmanya Bharathiyar

11th Dec 2012 is a day to remember ~ it marks the 130th  anniversary of the greatest poet, a great son of India – Mahakavi Subrahmanya Barathiyar.

The man who was to become an iconoclastic freedom fighter was born in a small village called Ettayapuram on Dec 11, 1882. Named as Subbayya, his parents were  Chinnasami Subramanya Iyer and Lakhsmiammaal.  From a very young age he learnt music and at 11th, he learnt songs; he was conferred the title of "Bharathi" (one blessed by Saraswati, the goddess of learning).

By his songs and concerted actions, he reached to the masses making the aware of the need for freedom struggle and could make a great movement in Southern part of the Nation.  He was a fiery leader with progressive leader and great vision, clearly a man who lived much beyond his age and foresaw things clearly.  Bharathi supported Tilak and Aurobindo together with V. O. Chidambaram Pillai and Kanchi Varathaachariyar. Tilak openly supported armed resistance against the British. In 1908, he gave evidence in the case which had been instituted by the British against V.O. Chidambaram Pillai. In the same year, the proprietor of the journal Indiawas arrested in Madras. Faced with the prospect of arrest, Bharathi escaped to Pondicherrywhich was under French rule. From there he edited and published the weekly journal India, Vijaya, a Tamil daily, Bala Bharatha, an English monthly, and Suryothayam, a local weekly ofPondicherry. The British tried to suppress Bharathi's output by stopping remittances and letters to the papers. Both India and Vijaya were banned in British India in 1909.

His poetry stands out for many facets of his love for his motherland. He berates his countrymen for many social evils. He chastises them for a fearful and pusillanimous attitude towards the rulers. He gave a clarion call for national unity, removal of casteism and the removal of oppression of women. He calls for the British to leave the motherland in forceful ways at one point saying "Even if Indians are divided, they are children of One Mother, where is the need for foreigners to interfere?".

The land of Pondicherry bears connection to this great revolutionary.  Apart from running journals and magazines from here, he sung about the famous deity of Pondy ~ “Manakula Vinayagar” in his Vinayagar Nanmani Maalai [விநாயகர் நான்மணி மாலை] – by some accounts this was published out of handwritten manuscripts in 1929 posthomously. 

An Organisation ~ “Vaanavil Panpattu Maiyam” of which Sri M Murali is the patron and run actively by group of people including Mr K Ravi, Dr Va Ve Su, Kumari Chezhiyan, Mr Subbu and Mr MMuralitharan have been celebrating the birth anniversary of Mahakavi every year, by organizing various programmes at Triplicane at the house where Bharatiyar resided. 

Grand 3 day programme is being organized.  The whole of today (9.12.12) is to be Music Festival; culminating with a Bharathi Quizz @ 0600pm.  Tomorrow in the evening there would be talkshow [patti mandram] where eminent talkers would speak on Bharathi thoughts.  On his birth anniversary day ~ 11th Dec 2012, there would a ‘Jathi Pallakku’ starting from Sri Parthasarathi Swami temple to the Bharathiyar Memorial house.

In the words of Bharathi, those who are truly devoted would not be impatient and would not do things in a hurry for they know how life grows out steadily out of seed; and for those who are given to understanding the divine power is everything ~ also know that all they need to do is to work with esteem rest being taken by Divine shakthi.

பக்தி யுடையார் காரியத்திற் பதறார், மிகுந்த பொறுமையுடன்

வித்து முளைக்குந் தன்மைபோல் மெல்லச் செய்து பயனடைவார்,

சக்தி தொழிலே அனைத்துமெனிற் சார்ந்த நமக்குச் சஞ்சலமேன்?

வித்தைக் கிறைவா, கணநாதா, மேன்மைத் தொழிலிற் பணியெனையே.

This morning, the programme started with group of sprightly people rendering “Vinayagar Nanmani Maalai’ ~ which has Venba, Kalithurai, Vrutham, and Agaval pieced together brilliantly.  It was a group recitation and SYMA had a small role with its participation in the group rendering.

Fortunate to live in the land where great people like Bharathiyar lived and happy to be participating in such events.

With great regards to the poet – S. Sampathkumar.

9^th Dec 2012.