Musings on the Life & Times of Chinnaswamy Subramania Bharathi 13

Musings on the Life & Times of Chinnaswamy Subramania Bharathi
13

Let us get to the nub of the musings’ debate. The Bengalis adore nay revere their Tagore. Can we say the same thing about Bharathi? That itself can trigger a huge debate? Is it a cultural or communal construct? Bengalis always claim what they think first, India and the world think later. Tamilians claim no such faculty. But on the history and heritage of the languages, possibly Tamil may pip any other Indian language save Sanskrit. And that also can lead to a even more of a parochial debate with communal contours though everything is not ‘religious’ about Sanskrit. Let us leave those debates aside for obvious reasons .These are Musings on Bharathi and this writer is least qualified even to dance around the fringes of those cultural constricts.

Ashokamitran (22 September 1931 – 23 March 2017) was the pen name of Jagadisa Thyagarajan, an Indian writer regarded as one of the most influential figures in post-independent tamil literature. He began his prolific literary career with the prize winning play “Anbin Parisu” and went on to author more than two hundred short stories, and a dozen novellas and novels.A distinguished essayist and critic, he was the editor of the literary journal “Kanaiyaazhi”. He has written over 200 short stories, eight novels, some 15 novellas besides other prose writings. Most of his works have also been translated into English and other Indian languages, including Hindi, Malayalam, and Telegu.

Ashokamitran poked at us- Amid much seemingly casual chatter on private Indian TV channels, a piece of truth is revealed. It is from the low-key regional language quiz shows. “Who is the first Indian to win the Nobel Prize?” Gandhi, Nehru, Abdul Kalam feature in the answers. A feeble voice says C.V. Raman. “Can you tell us for what he won the prize?” No answer. It is possible that they haven’t even heard of Rabindranath Tagore. In a matter of 60 years, the name of the creator of Gitanjali and scores of other works of great literary and humanitarian value did not even occur to the contestants, who are a representative cross-section of 21st century Indians.

Ashokamitran was not finished. Students from southern India, studying for competitive examinations, memorise the names Rabindranath Tagore and Gitanjali.
For most, their curiosity ends here. But has it been so always? No. Thirty years ago, my eldest son Ravi, then studying in class VI, needed a story to narrate in his class. I told him of a great man in Bengal, who in the guise of addressing grown ups, wrote stories that any child would cherish. Then I told him the story of ‘Kabuliwalla’. By the time I finished, he was sobbing. Next day, after narrating it in class, he told me, “When I finished the story, I couldn’t control my tears. Many students were in tears too.”

This took Ashokamitran farther back to the 1940s when he was a school student- Our English text-book was a selection of prose and poetry pieces, mostly of British origin but there were a few like ‘The Hero’ of Rabindranath Tagore and ‘Transcience’ by Sarojini Naidu. ‘The Hero’ was my first conscious experience of Tagore. I had seen the bearded face of Tagore a couple of years ago in a Tamil book called Kumudhini. Almost on the same day I saw another photograph of the face in the Tamil weekly. It was in August 1941. Tagore passed away on August 7, 1941. Three years later was the year of ‘The Hero’. It took me a few more years to be able to penetrate into the world of Rabindranath Tagore. His plays were a little puzzling but there was no barrier between us and his prose pieces. Gora gave us a glimpse of the spiritual movements taking place in Bengal in the second half of the 19th century.

Asokamitran, on 3rd Aug,2013 wrote, “ When I became a resident of Madras (which is now Chennai), in 1952, I found quite a number of people familiar with Tagore’s writings. Not only Tagore but Bankimchandra Chatterjee, Sarat Chandra Chatterjee, Tarashankar Banerjee and an odd writer by name Rakhaldas Bandhopadhyay. Many of Tagore’s works were then available freely in Tamil Nadu as translations. For the few avid readers of serious writing, translations from Bengali authors were among their first choices.
Later I learnt that two brothers, T.N. Kumaraswamy and T.N. Senapathi, lived in Bengal and learnt the language to be able to read Tagore’s work in the original and then translate them into Tamil.

Another dedicated translator from other Indian languages to Tamil was Shanmugasundaram.
There was a spell of artistic rivalry between Tagore and the great luminary of Tamil literary renaissance, Subramania Bharati. The two poets resembled each other in their poetic fervour and their love for the land. In affirming the glory of the heritage, in giving form to visions of the future, Bharati and Tagore were so alike. Each was passionately attached to his own language. Both drew immense sustenance from the realm of spirituality. Tagore’s was tenderness, equanimity and a silent tear here and there. Bharati’s was turbulent, indignant and demanding. Despite its magnificence, Tamil did not have the national and international recognition and exposure as Bengali. Bharati may have felt that circumstances conspired to restrict his luminosity to his own region and language yet, to him, Tagore was a precious aspect of India’s genius. He translated stories of Tagore’s into Tamil lovingly. Not many today know that he also translated Bankim’s ‘Vande Mataram’.

There was an underlying grouse in Ashokamitran’s exposition. One could detect that he was convinced that Bharathi bore a ‘grudge’. Was it true? Was Bharathi not above the mundane world of Nobel? Did Bharathi ever crave for recognition for himself? Or Bharathi always angled for primacy to his tamil and his works. Bharathi was never self-centre’s. That is a given.”He always spoke of ‘30 crore Indians’ even when Bengali poets mused on ‘3 crore persons’ viz. Bengalis if undivided Bengal’ as a critic put it.

Not much is recorded for a fact. Despite the age difference, ‘they were contemporaries. They knew each other’s presence and works. Yet they never met each other. Neither in 1906 when Bharathi went to Calcutta for the Congress session and met Nivedita. Nor in 1919 when Tagore cross crossed chennai and was in Madurai when he had a successful tour of regions we call Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. No one appears to have made any effort to get the two to meet. And not much is known what Tagore thought of Bharathi.

But, who ever has spoken of Bharathi or a Tagore, has spoken of Bharathi and Tagore in the same breath, that of breath of Bharat Mata. The two were incomparable. Incomparable from others. And between themselves too. Yet, we indulge. Just to quote Vice President – Venkaiah Naidu- a ‘sundara teleguvadu’ in Bharathi lingo , on the anniversary of Bharathi, he said this.

Quoting from Bharathi’s Essay in New India,
“The English educated minority in this country can be pardoned for being frightfully ignorant of the higher phases of our national literatures. But they will do well to drop that annoying attitude of patronage and condescension when writing and talking about our languages. The Tamil language, for instance, has a living philosophical and poetical literature that is far grander, to my mind than that of the vernacular of England”, the Vice President said, Bharathi wanted Indians to be proud of their rich heritage. Language and literature was an integral part of this heritage. He celebrated India’s diversity and loved all languages and described Telugu as ‘Sundara Telungu’.

Bharathi was against the colonial rule and the British domination but not against all foreigners. if they loved Bharath, he was even willing to revere them as his preceptor. Margaret E. Noble, an Irish woman, who was renamed by Swami Vivekananda as Sister Nivedita, is a classic example.She opened a girls’ school in Calcutta and tried to educate her students with the nationalist spirit. She introduced singing of ‘Vande Màtaram’ in her school as a prayer. On her memorial these words are mentioned, “Here reposes Sister Nivedita who gave her all to India”.

To Bharathi, Sister Nivedita was Bharat Mata. In his dedicatory lines of his first anthology of poems, Bharathi writes, “ I dedicate this slender volume at the flowery feet of my guru. I dedicate this book to Srimathi Nivedita Devi, the spiritual offspring of Bhagawan Vivekananda, the most excellent of all spiritual teachers. She taught me the nature of true service to the Mother, and the greatness of asceticism-all this through unspoken wisdom”.

Bharathi saw our country as ‘Bharata Devi’, Mother India. Quite naturally serving the motherland became his life’s mission and Vande Mataram became the theme song that inspired him as it did Sister Nivedita who introduced it as the prayer song her school. Bharathi spread the spirit of Vande Mataram through his songs.

The completeness of this vision had earned for his national poems the reputed title, “ Desopanishad ”, comparing the poems with the Upanishadic wisdom of ancient India.

He urges us to take pride in being Bharatiyas and belonging to a land blessed with ancient wisdom, a land which is

“The glorious symbol (tilak) of the world
Is the Land of Bharat”

பாரத பூமி பழம்பெரும் பூமி;
நீரதன் புதல்வர்; இந் நினைவகற்றாதீர்!
பாரத நாடு பார்க்கெலாம் திலகம்
நீரதன் புதல்வர்;இந் நினைவகற்றாதீர்!

Bharathi’s patriotism is not a blind reverence.

He had a very modern outlook. He was aspiring for the liberated India to be an enlightened India, a skilled India, a scientifically advanced India. He wrote:

We shall master scriptures and learn the skills of work
We shall explore the sky, the and its life
We shall seek the insights on the nature of moon

மந்திரம்கற்போம் வினைத் தந்திரம் கற்போம்;
வானை அளப்போம் கடல் மீனைஅளப்போம்;
சந்திரமண்டலத்து இயல் கண்டு தெளிவோம்;

But Bharathi was no idle dreamer. He was a pragmatist as well. He reminded our countrymen that the real glory lies in keeping our streets clean, echoing Gandhiji’s saying that “cleanliness is next to godliness”. This rings so true more than ever today as we see the renewal of this focus on cleanliness in the Swatch Bharath programme.

He had said:

“We shall seek the insights on the nature of moon
And we shall learn the means of keeping our streets clean”
சந்திரமண்டலத்து இயல் கண்டு தெளிவோம்;
சந்தி தெருப்பெருக்கும் சாத்திரம்கற்போம

Bharathi, like Guru Dev Rabindranath Tagore, wanted India to break the narrow domestic walls.

Bharathi wanted India to break free from the caste system. He considered all living beings as equal and to illustrate this he performed the upanayanam for a young Dalit man and made him a Brahmi . In one of his poems Bharathi says:

“There is no caste system.

It is a sin to divide people on caste basis.

Which means a well educated person knows to treat them same and not by their caste.”

This is exactly what the ancient sages had said: “Pandithah sama darshinaha”.

Truth to tell, Bharathi and Tagore are spoken on the same metre and scale. And the voice of Ashokamitran sounded a ‘rare dissent’ as Justice Krishna Iyer said in a different context. Did it go unanswered? Did no one respond? Yes, an eminent historian and a Bharathi officianado did, as we shall see.

(Author is practising advocate in the Madras High Court)