LIFE HISTORY AND WORKS OF SUBRAMANIYA BHARATIYAR
PERSONAL:
#Born :11 Dec 1882 in Ettayapuram, Tirunelveli Dt, in Saiva Brahmin family
#Parents: Chinnasami Aiyar and Lakshmi Ammal (mother died in 1889)
#Personal name: Chinnasami Subramania Aiyar. The title "Bharathi" (tamil bharathi = goddess saraswathi ) conferred to him in 1893 in the Sabha of court-poets in recognition of his poetic #talent - later it became his pen-name
#1894-1897: studied in Hindu college, Trinelveli
#15 June 897 married Chellamma, aged 7; 1898 father dies
#1898-1902 stay at Benares with his aunt, learns Sanskrit, Hindi etc, entrance exam to Allahabad Univ
#1902-1904 - court poet at Ettayapuram;Aug-Nov 1904 tamil teacher at Sethupathi High school, Madurai; Nov 1904 on the staff of CudEcamiththiran, well known tamil daily of Madras;
#1905 active political life starts; 1906 contact with Chithambaram Pillai, on the staff of radical daily Inthia; Attends Congress session in Calcutta, meets sister Nivedita
#1907 Editor of Inthiya and Bala Bharatha; meets Tilak, Aurobindo Ghosh, Lajpath Ray,...
#Composes patriotic songs publishes his first book "SvathEca keethangkaL" in 1908 #1908 Inthiya newspaper comes under govt surveilance, takes refuge in POndicherry
#1909 2nd volume of poetry -janmmpUmi
#1908-1910 Inthiya paper published from Pondicherry; 1910 Aurobindo and VVS Aiyar come to Pondicheery
#1912-1918 stays in Pondi to avoid arrest by the british, writes political and other essays,...; composes poetry - Kannan pAttu, kuyil pAttu, pAncAli capatham,.... 1917 first editionof KannanpAttu released
#nov. 1918 returns to India, got arrested and released after 34 days
#1918-19 levaes for kilkattiyam and ettayapuram, lives in poverty; 1919 goes to Madras meets Gandhi in Rajaji's house; 1920 joins CuthEcamiththrin in Triplicane
#12.9.1921 dies at the age of 39
WORKS:
#Theciya keethangal - 57 poems
#TpAdalkal - devotional songs, 66 pieces
#Vinayakar nanmanimaalai, kannanpattu -23 pieces
#Pirapadalkal - 30 pieces
#Autobiography in verse form: svacarithai (49 st.), bharathi arupathu (66 st), cinnacankaran kathai
#Puthiya aaththiccudi, paappapattu (1914, 16 quatrains)
#Pancali capatham - narrative poem in 1548 lines
#Prose - gnana ratham, 1910

MAGAKAVI SUBRAMANIYA BHARATHIYAR

Subramania Bharati entered the national scene as an inspirational poet on patriotism. With a simple and yet fabulous technique of combining the rhythm of spoken language in a ceaseless flow of prose and poetry, Bharati captured the imagination of the Tamil people. .. For the first time Bharati introduced a spiritual dimension to the freedom movement and deliberated on three aspects in a marvelous literary combination of prose-poetry.
First, his compositions reveled on the physical and spiritual greatness of India. Although Bharati was deeply religious and an ardent devote of Shakti - the primordial power than makes and unmakes the whole universe, his poetry sang the glory of the universal nature of the Supreme Being and repeatedly shunned the mindless religious rituals and unrealistic traditional practices of the Hindu Society.
Second, Bharati's compositions uniquely emphasized the fundamental quality of freedom of an individual and nation, and the need to banish fear as the path to attain it. Bharati was inspired by Shelley's poetry on individual liberty, which served as a model for his patriotic poetry with a unique emphasis on the need for individual freedom. Bharati also was greatly influenced by Vande Mataram, a powerful poetry composed by Bankim Chandra and the Kali worship he witnessed at Banaras and his meeting Sister Nivedita, during a visit to Bengal. Perhaps these early experience enabled Bharati to inculcate fearlessness as a repeat them in his powerful poetry deriving its inspiration from what he considered as a spiritual source. He effectively unleashed this force in his revolutionary compositions on freedom and national unity. Third, Bharati highlighted the lives of great persons as living examples for emulation. For example, Sister Nivedita was an influential figure in the life of Bharati who blessed him to participate in the freedom movement and his literary work calling for the emancipation of women. Bharati dedicated Swadesha Geetangal and Janma Bhoomi to Sister Nivedita and described her as the living example of service in the cause of suffering and emancipation of women and the downtrodden communities...