BHARATI- POET AS PATRIOT

 -Sadhu Prof. V.Rangarajan 

Poet Laureate or Exile in Pondicherry "Sir, late Subramania Bharati was a man on whose tongue the Goddess Saraswati can honestly be believed to have danced the dance of patriotism. If he had been born in any free country, why in any country of the world except India, that man would have been made the Poet Laureate of the country, would have been given the honours and titles by a Government which knows how to respond to the feelings of the people and would have lived and died among the most honoured of the nation. But, Sir, being the slave country that we are, he had to live as an exile in Pondicherry, enjoying the hospitality of the French Government, and die a broken wreck, because he found no use for himself under the auspices of this Government. But, Sir, Martyrs and patriots before him have gone to the same fate. Subramania Bharati lived and died a patriot", said late Sri Satyamurthy, who was moving an adjournment motion in the Madras Legislative Council, in 1928, regarding the seizure of copies of Bharati's songs by the Police. Such was the power of Bharati's songs that even after his life-time, British imperialism had to continue its war against his works. 

Education in Benaras 

Bharati was born in a poor Brahmin family in Ettayapuram in Tirunelveli district of Tamilnadu on 11th December, 1882. His father, Chinnaswami Iyer, was court-poet of the Zamindar of the hamlet. Even as a small boy, Bharati started showing his genius as a poet and when he was eleven, the brilliance of his Tamil compositions earned him the title 'Bharati'. Bharati had lost his mother before he was five and his father died when he was sixteen. Though he was married by then, Bharati had to leave his wife and go to Benaras where he stayed with his aunt. There he passed his entrance examination and also learnt Sanskrit and Hindi languages in which he acquired proficiency. 

Teacher and Editor 

At the age of twenty, Bharati returned to Ettyapuram. For a short while he was court-poet in Ettyapuram and later took to teaching profession, but soon gave up that job also and came to Madras in 1904. He became the Assistant Editor of Swadeshamitran, one of the earliest Tamil dailies, which was then owned by G. Subramania Iyer, one of the founders of the Indian National Congress. 

With Lokamanya Tilak and Sister Nivedita 

The Partition of Bengal in 1905 turned many a youth in the country into extreme revolutionaries. Bharati also entered the political arena with his inspiring poem, "Long Live Bengal", published in the Swadeshamitran. He led a team of young men to attend the Benaras Session of the Indian National Congress in 1906. Inspired by Lokamanya Tilak's views, Bharati turned into a staunch extremist. On his way back, he also called on Sister Nivedita at Dum dum and recognized in her his spiritual mother. 

Role in National Activities 

Bharati's extremist views forced him to give up his connection with Swadeshamitran and he joined as Editor-in-charge of a revolutionary weekly, India, launched by a youth organization formed by Bharati, Mandayam Srinivasachari, and other extremists who considered Tilak as their leader. India was very bold in its attack on the British Government. Through its columns, Bharati strongly supported the idea of Swaraj and boycott of foreign goods. His articles were eagerly awaited and widely read. Bharati took the initiative and organized the visit of Bepin Chandra Pal to Madras in 1906 and for first time on the Marina Beach of Madras, a bonfire of foreign cloth was made by the audience whose passions were roused by the fiery speech of Bepin Pal and the inspiring songs of Bharati. 

At the Surat Congress 

In 1907, at the time of Surat Congress, Bharati again led a batch of patriots from Tamilnadu, among whom was the great patriot, V.O. Chidambaram Pillai. Bharati came into closer contact with Aurobindo Ghosh, Tilak and Lala Lajpat Rai. 

Efforts for Swadeshi Movement 

V.O. Chidambaram Pillai started the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company in 1906, with a view to break the monopoly of the British Steam Navigation Company. Bharati helped Pillai in the collection of funds for the company and with the help of Lokamanya Tilak, two ships were purchased by the company for traffic between Tuticorin and Colombo. With a view to throttle the efforts of Chidambaram Pillai, the British government leveled against him and Subramania Siva, a powerful orator and a young Sannyasin who joined the extremists, charges of sedition and sentenced Pillai to forty years of deportation and Siva to ten years. These sentences were reduced to six years‘ rigorous imprisonment on appeal to the High Court. A.F. Pinhey, the District Judge who examined, in connection with the sedition case, several witnesses among whom Bharati presented himself as a witness for Chidambaram Pillai, could not but make a remark of recognition of the power and influence of Pillai and Bharati—"Pillai's speeches and Bharati's songs can arouse to life even a corpse. A slave nation will attain freedom in five hours. Revolution will rise up", said he in his judgement. 

Flight to and Exile in Pondicherry 

In the wake of Chidambaram Pillai's arrest and imprisonment, there were violent disturbances in Tirunelveli district. The then Deputy Collector, Ashe, opened fire on extremists killing four and seriously wounding three. Chidambaram Pillai was subjected to inhuman cruelty in the jail by making him work in the place of the bull for the oil mill. Bharati's rage could keep no bounds and he burst into poems and writings which carried the fire of revolution to every nook and corner of the State. The attack on the British Government by India became so fierce that the authorities laid their hands on it and arrested the publisher of the journal. On the advice of close friends and admirers, Bharati, who was also expected to be arrested, escaped to live in exile at Pondicherry. 

Birth of Vijaya, Daily and Suryodaya, Weekly 

Bharati soon started gathering around him a batch of young and dedicated disciples who included Neelakanta Brahmachari, Sankara Krishna Iyer, M.P. Tirumalachariar and other members of the secret revolutionary organization, Abhinav Bharat. Though India was transferred to Pondicherry, Bharati could not run it for long as the British Government proscribed the weekly in British India. After some time, Bharati started Vijaya, a daily and Suryodaya, a weekly also. 

With Aurobindo and Revolutionaries 

Aurobindo, who was acquitted in the Alipore Bomb Case, took refuge in Pondicherry in 1910. Early in December 1910, V.V.S. Iyer, who was the right hand man of Veer Savarkar in the India House, haven of revolutionaries in London, and subsequently had gone away to Paris and associated with Madame Cama, reached Pondicherry, with the revolutionary leader, Shyamji Krishna Varma. Bharati, V.V.S. Iyer, Aurobindo and other revolutionaries used to meet every day for Vedic studies. The British police were very much disturbed by the combination of all revolutionary and extremist forces in Pondicherry. Once they hired a batch of hundred goondas and sent them to attack the house of V.V.S. Iyer. Bharati, who came to know about this, rushed up in time to the help of V.V.S. Iyer and with a batch of about fifteen disciples, the lean and slim poet faced the goondas and made them flee. 

Martyrdom of Vanchi Iyer 

The revolutionaries in Pondicherry soon hatched a plot to create a violent upsurge in the South. V.V.S. Iyer trained up a young member of the revolutionary group, Vanchi Iyer, in the art of revolver shooting. On June 18, 1911, the English Collector, Ashe, who was responsible for the inhuman atrocities perpetrated on the extremists in Tirunelveli district, immediately after the arrest and imprisonment of V.O. Chidambaram Pillai, was shot dead by Vanchi Iyer at Maniyachi Railway Junction near Tirunelveli. Though Vanchi Iyer made a vain attempt to conceal his own identity by shooting himself on his head and shattering it to pieces, the British hounds identified him and with the help of some papers found in his pocket, rounded up Neelakanta Brahmachari and Sankara Krishna Iyer. The British Government turned its attention to the exiles in Pondicherry, The murder case brought to light a revolutionary society operating from Pondicherry. Copies of Bharati's journals. India and Vijaya were seized as seditious material. During the trial, Bharati was widely quoted as having inspired such secret societies. The Judge of the High Court, Justice Sir Sankaran Nair, while delivering the judgement, quoted as illustration of the inflammatory matter, Bharati's famous song, "When will subside this thirst for freedom?" Neelakanta Brahmachari and Sankara Krishna Iyer were sentenced to seven years' and four years' rigorous imprisonment respectively. 

Return to British India 

The period of ten years of self-imposed exile proved too long for Bharati and he crossed the border to return to British India on November 20, 1918. Though the vigilant British administration in India forth-with put him under arrest, it could do no great harm or damage to him, for within nearly a month after the arrest, the case against him had to be withdrawn for want of proof of the crime he was alleged to have committed. 

Bharati remained for two years at his wife's place, Kadayam. He visited Madras in March, 1919 and met Mahatma Gandhi at Rajaji's house. Again in December 1920, he came to Madras and once again took over the Assistant Editorship of Swadeshamitran. Continuing his patriotic life, he had a large circle of admirers around him. 

Death through the Temple Elephant 

True to the nature of a Universal Poet, Bharati learned to love every one and see God everywhere. He had the noble heart to see the sparks of divinity in all beings. It was in July 1921, that one day he approached as usual an elephant belonging to the Parthasarathy Temple at Triplicane, Madras, addressing it as dear friend, in spite of the warning that it was wild at that time. The elephant seized him with its trunk and cast him on the ground and rendered him unconscious. It appeared he was recovering from the shock. But broken down as he was by other ailments as well, his condition grew worse and his untimely end came on September 11, 1921. 

Sarojini Naidu's Tribute Bharati was indeed an ardent patriot. By his words he exalted India to the highest position, as also her literature. He spread the message of India's greatness through his inspiring verses. In the words of Sarojini Naidu: "Poet Bharati has fulfilled the true mission of a poet. He has created beauty not only through the medium of glowing and lovely words, but has kindled the souls of men and women by the million to a more passionate love of freedom, and a richer dedication to the service of the country. Poets like Bharati cannot be counted as treasure of any province. He is entitled by his genius and his work, to rank among those who have transcended all limitation of race, language and continent and have become the universal possession of mankind” 

[From SAGA OF PATRIOTISM by Sadhu Prof. V. Rangarajan & R. Vivekanandan]

Courtesy: TATTVA DARSANA Jan-June 2021 (Special Issue)