Narasiah
spoke about காலம் கொன்ற விருந்து “A Feast that Defied Time”, a line in a poem by Subramania
Bharati. It was organized by Swarnamalya Ganesh for Ranga Mandira, August 21,
as part of their Madras Week activities and a set of programs whose theme was “Annihilation
of Caste.”
“The Bharathi who added Beatuty to Prose”, (இயலுக்கு
அழகூட்டிய பாரதி) waxed Narasiah
talking of the poet’s lesser known short stories and English essays. Even
Bharathi’s career as a Tamil journalist, for magainzes like Swadesamitran and a
pioneer in the field, is barely known outside literary circles, for such is his
towering reputation as a poet.
Satire
Annie Besant, who came to Madras attracted by the Theosophical
Society in Madras, later joined the Indian National Congress and called upon
Indians to rebel against British rule. In this instance, she called J
Krishnamurthy a reincarnation of Krishna. This appalled Bharati and prodded
him to write the satire about Besant, titled "The Fox with the Golden Tail,"
wherein he mocked her as a fox from the Land of the Bees and Ants (a pun on
Besant) who introduced the Cult of FoxoBeesAntism. It was a huge hit and there
was demand all over India and for a second edition. Ironically, this deeply saddened
Bharati, because his Tamil epic poem Paanchali Sabatham (பாஞ்சாலி
சபதம்) evoked no such popularity
or acclaim. “I've been minting my
hearts blood in Tamil poetry and no one to read it and here are these numskulls
asking for a second edition of Fox essay,” lamented Bharati.
Editorial Courage
Another incident was the Ashe murder case, when an ardent
nationalist and admirer of Bharathi, Vanchinathan killed Collector Ashe on June
17, 1911 at the Maniyachi railway station, and then committed shot himself.
While others wept for Vanchinathan, Bharati condemned the assassination of Ashe
: "An outrage to the Hindu religion. For the murdered had his wife by the
side."
The police came to arrest Bharathi on suspicion of
sedition, after the Ashe assassination, with a warrant against the Editor of the
Swadesamitran magazine. But Bharathi was officially Assistant Editor, though he
wrote fierce anti-British editorials, so the editor the police arrested was
Mandyam Srinivasachar, also the publisher.
Bharathi fled to Puduchery, which
was held by the French (and so out of British jurisdictin) in 1908 on the
advice of his friends. He stayed there until 1918 and this was the most
productive period of his literary life, said Narasiah. He wrote letters in
English to The Hindu newspaper, published out of Madras, which printed several
of them.
Bharathi was not a blind Patriot but a nationalist was Bharati
says Narasiah. The difference is that a blind patriot is an ideologue who supports
his country, right or wrong, but a nationalist is someone who wants to build a
nation, and shape its thoughts and culture, and is not afraid to voice his
opinion even if its unpopular.
One of Bharathi’s letters to the Hindu published during the
First world war, said: "We criticize England in peacetime but stand by her
in trouble. We are lovers of Humanity."
Bharati's Short stories
He wrote 18 short stories in Tamil. He introduced a new form, he
was very experimental. He used short crisp sentences. In a story Kaanthaamani (காந்தாமணி), characters uttered English phrases
like “Never mind” (நெவர் மைண்ட்)
- an avant-garde style. He was a strong critique of astrology and hypocrisy and
domestic cruelty, and several of his stories reflected that.
Another short story, Railway Sthaanam (ரயில்வே
ஸ்தானம்) spoke of the dilemma
of a Muslim man who's in love with three women and would like to figure out
whom he loves most. Quite an unusual plot.
His biographer Va Ra. In 1910, Va Ramaswami Iyengar, who later wrote
a life of Bharati, met him. He went to meet Aurobindo in Puducherry and incidentally
met Bharati. Bharati was shocked when Va Ra spoke in English. The episode as
narrated in Va Ra’s book, is hilarious, and should be read in the original Tami.
Bharathi then wrote Maravan Paattu மறவன் பாட்டு, lambasting Brahmins for forsaking Tamil
and adopting English language and customs.
But Va Ra’s 1944 book is not a proper biography, said Narasiah.
There are no dates or years, more a story. Mahadevan's book is a more proper
biography of Bharati.
The Mahakavi Controversy
SS Vasan bought Ananda Vikatan from Bhuthi Vaidyanatha Iyer for
Rs 200 in 1927. Kalki was introduced to Vasan by Parali Su Nellaiappar, and he joined
Vikatan. The magazine which had struggled to sell under its previous owner, sold
15,915 copies in 1930, a testament to the managerial talent of Vasan. Kalki was
a commercialy successful writer with outstanding marketing skills.
Other magazines like Manikodi, Gandhi, Sudandira Changu,
Dinamani also came out at this period. Va Ra became editor of Manikodi, a landmark Tamil magazine, which
developed Tamil literature in that early period. Manikodi was the nursery of several
stalwart writers, like Chitti Sundararajan, CS Chellappa, Puthumaipiththan, Na Pichamurthy,
Ku Pa Rajagoplan.
 |
| Manikkodi Stalwarts |
In October 1934 Va Ra became editor of Veerakesari in Colombo. "Tamil
grammar is a perfect example of tail wagging the dog," was a memorable epigram
coined by Va Ra. Va Ra wrote that others' writings (such as those of Shelley
and Shakespeare and Tagore ) were not equal to even one line of Bharati. Nellai
Nesan, (a pseudonym of PC Acharya), opposing this, wrote that Bharati was a
Kavi but not Mahakavi.
Kalki rebutted this, in an Ananda Vikatan editorial, that
Valmiki Kamban Shakespeare Tagore etc who could be called Mahakavis (Great
Poets) were writers crossing national boundaries. And that it was not fair to
compare Bharati with them. Poets like Bharati and Shelley were National Poets of
their time only. Kalki used a phrase “nirakshara kukshi” which means “illiterate”
to describe Va Ra, which worsened the controversy.
But Kalki and Va Ra were much in admiration of each other and it
was Kalki who collected funds for the Manimandapam for Bharati and a purse to
help Va Ra, when the latter was in financial dire straits. There was no
personal animosity between them.
Narasiah covered so many topics I couldn't keep up, I rather
chose to enjoy the lecture.
In attendance were stalwarts like author
Siddharthan, Nagupoliyan Balasubramanian
Natarajan, Narasiah’s cousin Venu Sundar (son of
Manikodi stalward Chitti Sundarrajan), the silent
dynamo Mr Kannan, epigrapher Ramachandran, Gandhi Rajan, Santhanam, and Narasiah's
wife and son.
PostScript I’ve had the pleasure of listening
to "Nagupoliyan" Balasubramanian reading aloud several of Bharathi’s English essays and also brilliant short stories like
Kudirai Kombu and the autobiographical Chinna Sankaran Kathai. His rendition of
Paanchaali Sabatham is unparalleled.
Narasiah’s lecture evinced these aspects
of Bharathi in a proper historical context.
___________
If you liked this, you may also like
these other essays in my blog
- Narasiah on Siddharthan’s book “Asoka”
- ரா அ பத்மநாபன் அஞ்சலி
- Tagore's poem on UVe Swaminatha Iyer
- கோயிலும் கல்கியும் 1 - அறிமுகம்
- கோயிலும் கல்கியும் 2 - சிவகாமியின் சபதம்
- செக்கு இழுத்தவர்
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