Musings on the Life & Times of Chinnaswamy             Subramania Bharathi                Narasimhan Vijayaraghavan                                     8

Musings on the Life & Times of Chinnaswamy             Subramania Bharathi

 

Narasimhan Vijayaraghavan

8

 

 

 

 

 

Chellammal was a ‘simpleton’, as Subramania Bharathi saw her. She was brought up in an orthodox environment. She was basically shy and dreadful of even those ‘who raised their voices’ as a writer put it .

 

Surely, ‘she was not angling for intellectual company, when she married her Subbiah. She was looking forward  “to an ordinary, normal ‘that community’  household where she could serve her husband with love and care”, as she said. But the breathtaking pace of developments upon Bharathi being taken away to Kashi @ Varanasi, by his paternal aunt Kuppammal and her husband Krishna Sivan, overtook everything else.

 

Bharathi’s paternal uncle Krishna Sivan was a devotee of Lord Siva and shifted base to Varanasi,  as  a call from above. In fact, he wanted his wife Kuppammal to stay behind. But, she refused and followed him. And in Kalahasti, he met a munificent benefactor fell for his Sivanakthi And the Good Samaritan insisted and compelled Krishna Sivan to enjoy the hospitality offered, but also accept the offer to be ferried to Varanasi and be parked in  a comfortable Ashram. Krishna Sivan was convinced it was all ‘ Siva Thandalam’ that was showering him with such unexpected blessings. Krishna Sivan was overwhelmed.

 

And Krishna Sivan was safely taken to Varanasi, with his wife Kuppammal and a welcoming Ashram was identified for their stay. It do happened that the Guru was ailing and he concluded it was Kasi Viswanathan’s benediction that brought Krishna Sivan when it most mattered. A ‘ happenstance’ as Justice R F Nariman was fond of saying.Krishna Sivan was given the powers to ‘run the Ashram’ and Kuppammal and he loved it.

 

Later, when Guru moved on, Krishna Sivan was literally bequeathed an Ashram, and became its sole Trustee of sorts . Krishna Sivan brought in Bharathi in such circumstances. He wanted Bharathi to be trained in their footsteps . And was shocked to see Bharathi not even  sport a tuft but have a cropped hair and then move on to ‘Mundas’ which the under privileged class wore with a black coat as well. But  Krishna Sivan could not persuade Bharathi otherwise.

 

When Viswanathan Sivan- brother in law of Bharathi- came visiting Kadayam,  he scared the wits out of Chellammal. “ Amma, you are very young. And inexperienced. But you may have to steel your heart and mind and be ready to lead a disrupted family life. It may  be full of uncertainties,  as your Bharathi is leading an unusual life. He is anything but normal. He is always staring at space. He does not  seem fit to take  a job and earn and make a living, to sustain a family like most of us do. You are likely to face serious adversities,  as he is  constantly taunting the ruling British dispensation, by  challenging  their authority and always talking of freedom from foreign yoke. He has been taken note of and  is marked for ‘treatment’.

 

Bharathi though aware  of it, is demonstrably disdainful of ‘any consequence in  the service of  his Bharat Mata’. Our family has no political inclinations and if he  is jailed and deported to far off territory, you will be  left to fend for yourself.Krishna Sivan, myself and Kuppammal and a few other well wishers, have tried our utmost in dissuading him from indulging in this path. He is unmindful of the repercussions and is dismissive of them . So, the only alternative for you is to be ready and  be prepared for the worst and so that if it turns out even a little better, you can feel comforted. I have done my bit as I am interested in you as sister of my wife”.

 

This added fuel  to fire. Chellammal was in tears. She felt that ‘even if the good lord had gifted her a talented husband, it seemed as if she was not  destined  to enjoy a normal family life ’.

 

‘Years later, almost coinciding with his demise in 1921, I realised that he was born not to be my husband. But had a higher calling and purpose. For the sake of the nation. It was no comforting or consoling  thought for me, contemporaneously then,  to his peculiar ways as a divine poet in continuous trance’, recorded Chellammal.

 

Chellammal was devastated. She did not know how to go about ‘weaning  her husband from these pernicious  practices’. She kept her counsel as she ‘felt ashamed to share it’, until she could tolerate no more. She confessed to her brother and sought a way out. It was decided that Chellammal should pen a loving and endearing prayerful letter to Bharathi. Pleading with him to ‘change his ways and lead a normal life’.

 

“To be honest, I am aware now,  that the world is praising me sky high for my quiet, unassuming and suffering ways. But I was then  fuming inside , yearning like any other young married bride with many a dream. I performed as a quiet and patient wife, always afraid of the public criticism , as he was ever  in the news. My suffering was double, so to say”. Amazing confession by the ‘strong lady who stood by her mad husband’.

 

That she was a simple woman from ‘a community’ and did not seek for herself any more than an ordinary life as a housewife or homemaker is now well recorded. And that her husband  was Bharathi the poet was a gift. But Bharathi was a ‘character’. She  did not bargain for ‘this’ husband. And no matter she reconciled herself and matured into a loving mother of two girls and brought them up well , ‘at that time’, she was a disappointed, despondent  and devastated housewife with an ‘errant husband’ . In fact, Chellammal strongly felt that  ‘it was the  public response on Bharathi’s ways that crucified her  and exacerbated her feelings in the inside’. Sad, bad, yet true,in hindsight.

 

Back to the POA to send a letter to Bharathi. Though she could not recollect the words verbatim, she did well to recall the crux of it and  a typical Bharathi response. How one wished that those letters were preserved and now available to posterity? We just do not have such historical instincts and care very little for such things. Unlike in the USA, where the letters of Thomas Jefferson – 17000 of them- and James Madison Notes- and of other founders and leaders are always preserved in the Library of US Congress, housing all such documents from all over the world. It has proved  a huge bonus for historians, academicians and researchers. And ‘patriotic philanthtophists’ like David Rubinstein have parted with 50% of their assets in accumulating such memorabilia including Magna Carta of 1215 vintage. Of course, our Vijay Mallya ( where is he now?) bought the Tipu Sultan sword in Sotheby’s auction. Yet, we are different. For, we are like that only.

 

Gist of the recalled letters of Chellamnal to Bharathi and his crisp response,  make alluring reading.

 

Kshemam (Well)                        Kadayam

 

My respectful Namaskaram. Everyone at Kadayam is doing well. Avar ( Krishna Sivan is thus addressed) told me something. He said you are now deeply engaged in freedom movement related activities. And you are ceaselessly writing in support of it. If the Britishers find it unlawful, they may tag you as a terrorist, I gather. I am scared stiff to hear all this. Kindly therefore give credence and heed my humble and prayerful plea , and come back home immediately, on receipt of this letter. I beg you with all  the strength and humility at my command. What can I say beyond this? If  you do love me as you always say,  please come back at once. I am living in a furnace not knowing when misfortune will befall on you and our family. I am constantly praying to Swami that nothing even remotely bad should happen to you.

Chellamma

 

Srikasi

Hanumanthakattam

 

My dear lover Chellammal. Blessings. I received your loving letter. I do not think there is any basis for your  desperation and fears. I am not engaged  in any activity here to trigger such avoidable fears. Viswanathan appears to have planted unwanted thoughts in you,  on my supposed bad acts. I never walk the wrong or unlawful path. You know me too well, I assume,  for you to fall for such fear mongering. When I meet you in person,  I will share with you all my thoughts and experiences and you will then appreciate that your fears were unfounded. Instead of unnecessarily worrying like this, if you devote the available time to study my dear Tamil I would be immensely pleased.

Your friend

C Subramania Bharathi

 

What a relationship they shared! A simple, shy, village girl from ‘a community’, marrying a child prodigy who went on to become a Mahakavi viz. great poet,  and suffering  in silence,  despite the penury and strange ways of her husband. The world saw it differently. Today, we may talk of the feminist and women empowerment poems of Bharathi, but the times were such that his ‘ Chellamma’ poems morphed into ‘Kannamma’ poems, for the ‘ society may  otherwise talk’. Bharathi did not care. But Chellamma had to ‘endure’ it and not ‘live’. We can continue with Chellammal. For there is do more.

 

Yet, one is inclined to pivot to the Bharathi-Tagore connect or lack thereof, before we resume our journey on the Chellamma plane. For, it is my space with Bharathi. And Bharathi would approve of it.

 

A mouth watering feast , one is unwilling to wait, even a little whit more, to have.

 

( Author is practising advocate in the Madras High Court)

 

 

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