Subramania Bharati
Subramania Bharari was born in Ettayapuram, Tamilnadu. From his childhood, he was intelligent composed poems and won the admiration of the people of his village. He was given the title of Sherri in recognition of his poetic talents.
He joined the Benares Hindu University and learnt Sanskrit and Hindi. Afterwards he became the court poet at Ettayapuram. He did not want to eke out his living by singing the praise of the local Zamindars all the time. He left the court and went to Madurai to work as a Tamil Pandit in the Sethupathi High School.
After three months, he left the job end became a subeditor of Swadesamithran, a daily newspaper. He joined the Indian National Congress and came in contact with eminent leaders lake, Sister Nivedita, Lala Lajpet Rai, V 0. Chidambaram Pillai, Subramania Siva and the dynamic youth Vanchinathan.
Bharati migrated to Pondicherry which was then under the French rule where he met Sri Aurobindo who was a great spiritual leader.
Bharati wrote most of his patriotic songs during this period and his poems earned a name for him. His national songs were full of devotion and patriotism.
His ‘Panchali sabathami and ‘Kuyil Pattu’ have earned for him a lasting piece in Tamil literature. He was a fierce fighter for the human rights.
To him, India was one and indivisible. His desire for national Integration is best seen in these lines.
Let us exchange the wheat of the Gangetic plain for the betels of Cauvery basin;
Let us honour the lion hearted Marathi poets with presents of intricate works in Ivory from Kerala.
Let us row in a moonlit night in a boat across the waters of Sind.
Accompanied by a wench from Kerala singing in beauteous Telugu and be happy anon and on.
Bharati wanted the people all over the world to forget their differences and live in harmony and friendship. He was dead against differences of caste, colour or creed. His mother Bharat had forty crores of heads, spoke eighteen languages but was united in a single mind.
‘By languages we’ are’ many but by nation we are one’ was the cardinal theme harped by this National poet,
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