(The Gist of PIB) Subramanya Bharathi

(THE GIST OF PIB) Subramanya Bharathi

[September-2021]

Subramanya Bharathi

Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu paid floral tributes to Mahakavi Subramania Bharati to mark the death centenary of the poet and freedom fighter.

About Subramania Bharati

C. Subramaniya Bharathi (also known as Mahakavi Bharathiyar) was born in the Tamil Nadu district of Tirunelveli.
He was a Tamil Nadu poet, freedom warrior, and social reformer. He advocated for women’s rights and opposed the caste system.
Poems by him: Kannan Pattu, Nilavum Vanminum Katrum, Panchali Sabatam and Kuyil Pattu, Achamillai Achamillai, Suttum Vizhi Chudar, Agni Homam.
In 1908, he wrote the astounding “Sudesa Geethangal.”
He was a polyglot who translated Aurobindo’s, Swami Vivekananda’s, and Tilak’s talks into Tamil.
Bharathi started the weekly newspaper ‘India’. It was Tamil Nadu’s first newspaper to feature political cartoons. He also edited and published a few additional publications, including “Vijaya.”
He edited and published the magazines India, Vijaya, Bala Bharatham, and Suryodayam in Pondicherry. The British authorities outlawed the words “India” and “Vijaya” in India in 1909.
He attended the Indian National Congress sessions in Benaras (1905) and Surat (1907) and met with radical leaders such as Bipin Chandra Pal, B.G. Tilak, and V.V.S. Iyer to address national issues.
While in Pondicherry, Bharathi met great leaders such as Aurobindo, Lala Lajpat Rai, and V V S Aiyar. Here is where he began studying Vedic literature. He translated Vedic hymns, the Bhagavad Gita, and Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra into Tamil.
He met Mahatma Gandhi in 1919. He returned to become the editor of Swadeshamitran in Chennai a year later, in 1920.
In 1949, Subramanya Bharathi became the first poet whose writings were nationalised by the state government.