Subramania Bharati: Poet, Patriot, Seer

PROF. K. N. VASWANI
Vice-President, Vivekananda Kendra, Kanyakumari

Poets learn in suffering, what they teach in song. The life of Subramania Bharati is a saga of suffering, for throughout his life he was persecuted by poverty, troubles by ill-health, and oppressed by authority, had to live for 10 years (1908-1918) in exile in Pondicherry where Sri Aurobindo too went in 1910 in a similar self-exile. The two were co-exiles and comrades as poets, patriots, lovers of the Motherland and humanity. Seers both, for they foresaw a bright future for the Motherland and value supreme of the spiritual path, for the progress and happiness of humanity. Bharati wrote also in the periodical “Arya” of Sri Aurobindo and edited the Tamil monthly “Karmayogi” on the pattern of “Karmayogin” in English of Sri Aurobindo. Both were suspects in the eyes of alien authorities and beloved in the eyes of their own compatriots.

Bharati’s Life: An Epic

The life of Subramania Bharati is also an epic in heroism for he valiantly withstood all the odds against him, and won through them, as a poet of patriotism, as a patriot, as a seer, as a devotee, ever fighting, ever cheerful, optimistic, victorious, unconquered and unconquerable, for, with faith in God, faith in himself and faith in the future of India and the future of humanity, undimmed faith, unshakable faith. He died early, on September 11, 1921, even before completing 39 years, having been born on December 11, 1882, but in the midst of economic poverty, and poor health, what a rich life in beauty, love and in creativity! And what acclamation, popularity and recognition since, as we now celebrate his birth centenary!

Poet of Freedom and Equality

Subramania Bharati, like Sarojini Naidu, the “Nightingale of India,” was a poet of patriotism, a champion of freedom. Freedom or Swatantra is a sacred word for Subrarnania Bharati. He has sung:

“Although divorced from the joys of the hearth
And consigned to dungeons dark;
Although forced to exchange
A time of cheer for days of gloom;
Although ten million troubles raged
To consume me entire;
Freedom! My Mother! I shall not cease
To worship Thee.”
“A nation unlit by freedom,
Can it be a nation indeed?
Can it harbour a soul? Can knowledge
prosper? Can industry thrive?
What hope for poetry,
The learned arts, or scripture?
Aren’t they verily sinners all
That haven’t tasted Thy milk, O Mother?”

And he wanted equal freedom for all without distinction of caste or class, sex or creed, as in his poem “Freedom”, translated by C. Rajagopalachari thus:

“Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!
To the Pariahs, to the Tiyas, to the Pulayas,
Freedom!
Come, let us labour, all,
Sparing naught and hurting none,
Walking in the way of Truth and Light.
There shall be none of low degree.
And none shall be oppressed.
Born in India,
All are of noble birth.”

Singer of Unity and Integration

Subramania Bharati is a poet singing of unity, universal and national. He is a poet of national integration, the crying need of the nation today, in his birth centenary year. He had beautifully sung:

“She has thirty crores of faces
But her heart is one
She speaks eighteen languages
But her mind is one.”

Thirty crores have risen to seventy and may become a hundred, and eighteen languages may become twenty-eight or more, but her heart will remain one, her mind will remain one. She will remain the beneficent Mother of all, blessing all. This was Subramania Bharati’s proud, prayerful song. Egypt is gone, Babylon is gone, but India lives on.

I. RELEVANCE OF BHARATI TODAY

Subramania Bharati! Thou shouldst be living at this hour! India, your Motherland, hath need of thee!
You sang of Freedom, Equality and Integration!
Today, these, more than ever before, are the need of the Nation!

A Born Poet with a Mission

To Bharati, poetry was life and his life was poetry. For him all experiences of life–emotional, intellectual and spiritual–were desirable, enjoyable, enriching and rewarding. He has classified experiences into nine categories of Rasas all emerging from one Shakti or joy. And in one of his essays he has written:

“This world is sweet; sweet is the skyand the wind.
The fire, the water and the land are sweet.
Youth and senility are sweet.
Saving is sweet; and so is being saved.
Destruction is sweet; and so is being destroyed.
Consumption is good; and so is being consumed.
Rasa is well; Life is well...well...well.”

“We sing because we must, it has been said of true poets. Poetry is the call for fulfilment, the call Divine, the call of compulsion by the spirit within, which makes the true poets. Poetry to Bharati, was self-expression, self-fulfilment, self-realisation and also the national need, the compelling call of the times, to generate, to evokeand express the impulse, the urge for freedom, for Bharat was in bondage and needed to be free for its growth, its fulfilment, its mission, its destiny, its true role in history.

Today, when the nation is confronted with dangers of external attack and division and disintegration from within, due to foreign machinations and internal, selfish squabbles, and the people are assailed by doubt and fear, we need a voice of courage and faith, faith in ourselves, faith in our future, thefuture of our Motherland. Subramania Bharati’s voice rings true and clear and courageous, cheering and inspiring us. How beautifully he as sung:

“Fear not, heart! Victory is sure!
Freedom is ours, here and now!
The mighty Mother lodges in my heart,
And Bhakti shall bear nectarean fruit.
High are the shoulders, mountain-like,
And they carry the Mother’s golden feet;
Hers are all thoughts, passions and deeds,
And Dharma is here, and Shakti too.”

This was Subramania Bharati, the seer, sure of victory, for singer of Shakti, emerging from Bhakti–total dedication to the freedom, unity and service of the Motherland, and fearlessly singing the Mantra of fearlessness, rooted in Dharma, the true searching of our Dharma!

II. SUBRAMANIA BHARATI: LIFE AND MESSAGE

Birth and Parentage

Born on December 11, 1882, at Ettayapuram, in Tirunelveli District in Madras State, to mother Lakshmi and father Chinnaswami Iyer, a Brahmin, well versed in Tamil, English, Mathematics, Logic and Western Technology. Subramania Bharati recalls Rabindranath Tagore to mind, for like him, he played truant from school, being more interested in the book of Nature and life. He himself has written: “My father ordered me to acquire “Foreign” knowledge. As if feeding a lion cub with grass”, for he was even as a child of 8 years, given to composing, impromptu verses in Tamil, rather than attending lessons at the Hindu College School, consequently failing to get selected for the Matriculation Examination, to the concern of his father. He had lost his mother when hardly 5 years and this made him feel lonely, despite the affection of his aunt and his step-mother and maternal grand father Ramaswami Iyer, who appreciated more than his father his interest in Tamil.

Marriage, Education, Early years of Struggle

1897 is an important year for two reasons. Subia’s marriage at 15 years to Chellamal just 7 years, and conferment on Subramania, of the new name “Bharati” for his intelligence and brilliance, proved in the presence of the Raja of Ettayapuram. 1898 brought a big blow by the death of Bharati’s father, and, with it also came the conflict between love and duty–love for creation of poetry and duty of earning for the family. He has sung: “I had twin masters: Love and Duty.” On his father’s dying in poverty due to losses suffered by the closure of the Textile Mill, pioneered by him, aunt Kuppammal invited Bharati to Benares for stay and completion of his studies there and he agreed and joined the Central Hindu College. Allahabad, and passed the Entrance Examination in First Division; learnt two new languages–Sanskrit and Hindi; also cut his hair, grew moustaches and wore a turban in the northern style, though somewhat to the displeasure of Kuppammal’s husband Shivan, who looked after a mutt, with Nataraja installed therein. But he pleased Shivan by singing Bhajans for Nataraj. Here he did a job as a teacher on Rs. 20 a month, until he went to his village for two years, at the Raja’s call there and then to Madura again as a teacher of Tamil on Rs. 17½  per month, on 1st August 1904, having tired of the stay at the Raja’s.

Into Journalism and Politics

In November 1904, Subramania Bharati joined Swadesamitron in Madras as Assistant Editor, on a monthly salary of rupees twenty only. His main work was translation into Tamil of news from English, which was a difficult job. But he enriched the Tamil language through his translation; and also translated in English, the speeches of Swami Vivekananda, Sri Aurobindo, apart from the Presidential Addresses at various sessions of the Indian National Congress. Subramania Bharati’s first poem “Hail Bengal” was published in Swadesamitran on 15 September 1905. He also joined some friends in publishing an English weekly “Radical Social Reform.”He was for equality of women, against caste barriers and for equal opportunities to the poor.

The Partition of Bengal on 28th September 1905 brought Bharati, like many others, more actively in the public and political life through movements of Boycott and Swadeshi. He attended the Congress session at Benares in 1905, with Gokhale as President, and also the next session at Calcutta, with Dadabhai as President.

Bharati, as we know, became a champion of women’s freedom, equality and welfare as an essential part of national renaissance and emancipation. He has written: “Nations are made of homes. And so long you do not have justice and equality fully practised at home, you cannot expect to see them practised in your public life. Because it is the home life that is the basis of public life.”

Meeting with Nivedita: The Turning Point

The turning point in Subramania Bharati’s life came in 1906 with his meeting Sister Nivedita, disciple of Swami Vivekananda, the first nun of the Ramakrishna Mission, an English woman, who had made India her home and taken up social work and social service as her mission and specially work for and among women, including their education. He bowed to her and recognised in her Mother Shakti. And she said to him, “My son, remove all your mental reservations, forget uncivilized differentiations such as caste, creed and birth. Enthrone love in your heart. You will become a divine being enshrined in the pages of history.” These words of Sister Nivedita have proved to be a prophecy as we see, while we celebrate the birth centenary of Subramania Bharati. She made personal inquiries from him and learning that he had a wife and a daughter, asked why he had not brought them. On being told this was not their custom, she said: “How can one half of a society win freedom, when it enslaves the other half? Let the past be forgotten. Henceforth hold her as your left hand and praise her in your heart as an angel.”

Sister Nivedita told Bharati to think of Bharatmata as a sorrowing mother, in chains, which had to be broken. He resolved to join those, devoted to this task and become an extremist in politics, joining Bal, Pal and Lal–Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bepin Chandra Pal and Lala Lajapat Rai, the “Lion of Punjab,” in preference to the Moderates like Gokhale and Dadabhai!

Tributes to Nivedita

Bharati has acknowledged Sister Nivedita as his Guru and his inspiration and woven his worship of her in beautiful words thus:

“Nivedita ! Mother!
Thou, Temple consecrated to Love!
Thou, Sun dispelling my soul’s darkness!
Thou, Rain to the parched land of our Lives!
Thou, Helper of the helpless and lost!
Thou, Divine spark of Truth!
My salutations to Thee!

What a welcome and richly deserved tribute this to Nivedita, whom Swami Vivekananda himself, on her birthday, in his poem, “Benediction” blessed in these prophetic words:

“Be thou, to India’s future son,
The mistress, servant, friend in one.”

And Bharati has dedicated two of his poetical works to Sister Nivedita. The dedication to Suvadesa Gitangal reads: “I place this slim volume at the Teacher’s feet who showed me the vision of Mother Bharat and instilled in me patriotism, even as Sri Krishna revealed to Arjuna His Viswarupa and taught him the true nature of the Self.” A year later, in 1909, he dedicated Janmabhoomi also to Sister Nivedita: “I dedicate this book to Srimati Nivedita Devi, the Dharmaputri of Bhagavan Vivekananda, who without words, in a split second, taught me the nature of true service to the Mother, and the greatness of sacrifice.”

Birth of the Journal’ India’ and Tributes to Bal, Pal and Lal

Inspired by Nivedita, Bharati returned from Calcutta to Madras, a transformed being to use his powerful pen as a liberating sword, to break asunder the fetters of Bharatmata. Swadesamitran would not afford him the freedom required. A fearless rich Brahmin, Mandayam Tirumalachariar, who was editing an English monthly Brahmavadin, became an instrument for the Tamilpaper, India, being inaugurated in April 1906, with Bharati in charge of editorials, political articles, poems, skits and even ideas for cartoons. Bharati also became editor of an English weekly “Bal Bharata.” With some friends he also started a Bharat Bhandar, to sell Swadeshi goods. During Bepin Chandra Pal’s tour, Bharati took him round from Bezwada to Madras and got definitely identified with the Extremist trio–Bal, Pal, Lal–and Sri Aurobindo. And then came, at the Surat Congress in 1907, a show-down and the Schism between Moderates and the Extremists, Bharati among the latter. He paid poetic tributes to them hailing Tilak as a leader and seer and on Lala Lajapat Rai, referring to his exile, he wrote:

“In a foreign dungeon,
You are neat our heart
Lajapati, how can they prevent
You, growing in us?”

In Pondicherry: Patriot and Seer

During the time of repression by the British, while Lala Lajapat Rai got transportation to Mandalay, in Burma, Bharati, de facto Editorof India, voice of the Extremists in the South, exiled himself on the persuasion of friends to Pondicherry in 1908 to voice vigorous protest from there, through his journals which were shifted and issued from there to escape the ire and interference of the angry authorities and their suppression. “India” reappeared weekly, from Pondicherry on 20 October 1908, having discontinued at Madras in the last week of September. It carried the motto “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity.” Bharati also issued from September 7, 1909 the daily “Vijaya” from Pondicherry, earlier issued from Madras. In 1910, the British Government imposed a law on journals, as a consequence of which Bharati’s journals came to a stop.

In 1910, Bharati met Sri Aurobindo, another fateful meeting. During his Pondicherry stay, it is said Bharati turned from a fierypatriot into a Vedantin, a seer, due to his friendship with Sri Aurobindo who had experienced this transformation, and also due to his devotion to Gita and Upanishads, his devoted reading of Swami Vivekananda, and according to some his poverty and its difficulties, which also turned him more and more inwards, to the self within. His songs became hymns.

Message of Fearlessness, Love, Shakti and Duty

Fearlessness and love became his panacea for the ills of life. He has sung:

“No fear, no death by water;
No shame, no body’s trembling;
No sin, no hiding;
We shall nothing fear.
Let the earth quake, yet fear not!
Let the sea boil and rise, be not afraid!
We shall fear none and nothing,
Fear nor place nor time.”

And of love, he has sung:

“High above the worlds of our seeing
You have reared the Temple of Bliss;
And you have taught us too the way to scale it
Learning on Love Divine.”

“There is no penance
More potent than Love;
Those who love are by nature
Filled with joy eternal.”

Bharati became the devotee of Shakti and sang:

“In the flood of Shakti the Sun is a bubble
In the lake of Shakti, the Sun is a blossom
Shakti is all-pervading, limitless, endless
It brings movement to immobility.”

And again, speaking of her, he has sung:

She said: “Serve me and thrive
And mind not the fruits of action
She has chased away all sorrows
And wedded me to joy.”
“You are joy, O Kali,
You have entered me
Then without you, O Kali,
How can I be?

So the poet has become a seer. It is reported that Rajaji said that on his return from Pondicherry Bharati looked like a Vedantin. Outwardly he may have looked ill, poverty-stricken, not properly dressed. But he was wearing the seer’s vision and wisdom and had gained the glimpse of the Beyond and could think of Krishna as a friend. Of the hood verses planned by him only 66 came and they ended thus:

“It is the blanket of ignorance
That says you are not this earth’s God.
You are God; Remove that Ignorant veil,
And say ‘I am Siva’ ever and always.”

Bharati’s Significant Works

Among the important works of Bharati is “Kannanpattu” which consists of twenty-three lyrics of great beauty. Subramania Bharati sings of Krishna as a friend, mother, father, servant, king, student, teacher, child, boy, lover, lady love and deity. A fine sample is:

“Thou to me the flowing Light,
And I to thee, discerning sight;
Honied blossom thou to me,
Bee enchanted I to thee:
O Heavenly Lamp with shining ray,
O Krishna, Love, O nectar-spray,
With falt’ring tongue and words that pant
Thy glories, here, I strive to chant.”

Another of Subramania Bharati’s remarkable work is “Panchali Sapatham” which deals with some episodes from the Mahabharata, chiefly “the insult to Droupadi” in a new, original, epic way. A moving sample is Droupadi’s appeal to Krishna thus:

“Thou sky within sky, thou element
Of the elements, earth, air, water, fire;
Thou who lightest the hearts
Of sages in deep meditation;
Thou the first of all beginnings,
Share and centre of all knowledge,
Thou light of all lights,
Krishna, thou flame of truth,
Thou rich immaculate grace,
Hear me, save me!

And Droupadi’ is saved.

Bharati: The Last Phase (1918-’21)

In November 1918, on his return from Pondicherry with his wife, Bharati was arrested near Cuddalore, but later released by the efforts of Mrs. Annie Besant, C. P. Ramaswami Aiyar and others and recuperated at Kadayam, his wife’s place. On one of his visits to Madras he met Gandhiji for the first and last time in March 1919 at Rajaji’s house.

Rajaji has said of Bharati: “The body of thought that he wove into song was that which preceded Gandhiji. It was Vivekananda’s and Dadabhai Naoroji’s and Tilak’s.” This is true he passed away in 1921 on 11 September and Gandhiji’s main Satyagraha Movements were still to come.

Bharati on the Gandhi Way

Bharati nevertheless, with a poet’s intuition, had hailed Gandhi and welcomed his way:

“Today
Bharat shows the other countries
A new way.
The world-famous Rabindra,
King of poets,
Says ringingly:
‘In this wide world
The leader of all men
Is Mahatma Gandhi
The image of Dharma.”
“With Gandhi as our leader
We to prove are prepared
That Dharma alone succeeds
In politics, as in all things.”

Or again:

“You shunned the path of war and murder,
Realising the true worth
Of the Dharmic way to freedom
Preached by great men and humble devotees.”

Among these great men and humble devotees, we can count also our Subramania Bharati whose worship of Bharatmata was his own, not a gift from Gandhi or inspired by contact with Gandhi.

Bharati: Great and Humble

A great man is he, who greets the glory of the Motherland in such soulful songs! And yet how very humble was he, while presenting the gems of his poems to the Mother! Regarding ‘Swadesa Gitangal’ (1908), his collection of songs, Subramania Bharati wrote:

“I offer these flowers at the feet of Mother Bharat who is a symbol of unity and youthfulness. I will know that my flowers have no scent. Did not Lord Siva accept the stones thrown by a low-born person? Even so, may Mother Bharat accept my flowers with kindness!”

The great humble are often not recognised by their contemporaries. Bharati’s plans for publication of his works found little response from those who could provide funds. In November 1920, he returned to “Swadesamitran” in Madras as an Assistant Editor, on a meagre salary of Rs. 75. In August 1921, he delivered a lecture on “Man has no Death” and on 11 September 1921, he departed to his Heavenly Abode, having sometime been hit by the temple elephant, close to his house, in Triplicane, Madras. Though he recovered from the accident, he was too frail in body to last long. He had lived and laboured for the love of the Muse of Poetry and the Worship of the Motherland.

Bharati Lives

Subramania Bharati lives in his poems, his songs, his patriotic fervour, his Vedantic vision, and will continue to live as long as we value sincerity, poetry, patriotism, creativity and nobility, the sense of mission and the devotion to divinity. Poets are born to confer immortality on the life-experience of their nationality and of humanity. Such a one was Subramania Bharati.