Subramaniya Bharathi

Subramaniya Bharathi

News: Recently, the Vice-President paid tributes to MahakaviSubramania Bharati on his 100th death centenary.

About Subramaniya Bharathi:
• Born on 11th December 1882, in Ettayapuram village of Tirunelveli District in Tamil Nadu. He was a poet, freedom fighter and social reformer from Tamil Nadu. He was known as Mahakavi Bharathiyar.
• His songs on nationalism and freedom of India helped to rally the masses to support the Indian Independence Movement in Tamil Nadu.
• His literary works include “Kannan Pattu” “NilavumVanminumKatrum” “PanchaliSabatam” “KuyilPattu”.He published the sensational “SudesaGeethangal” in 1908.
• Sometime in mid-1908, Bharati began to serialise Gnanaratham in his political weekly, India. In 1949, he became the first poet whose works were nationalised by the state government.
• After 1904, he joined the Tamil daily newspaper Swadesamitran. This exposure to political affairs led to his involvement in the extremist wing of the Indian National Congress (INC) party.
• In order to proclaim its revolutionary ardour, Bharathi had the weekly newspaper named ‘India’ printed in red paper. It was the first paper in Tamil Nadu to publish political cartoons.
• He also published and edited a few other journals like “Vijaya”. Attended the annual sessions of INC and discussed national issues with extremist leaders like Bipin Chandra Pal, B.G. Tilak and V.V.S. Iyer.
• His participation and activities in Benaras Session (1905) and Surat Session (1907) of the INC impressed many national leaders for his patriotic fervour.
• Bharati’s reaction to the Russian Revolutions of 1917, in a poem entitled “Pudiya Russia” (“The New Russia”), offers a fascinating example of the poet’s political philosophy.
• He was forced to flee to Pondicherry (now Puducherry), a French colony, where he lived in exile from 1910 to 1919.During this time, Bharati’s nationalistic poems and essays were popular successes.