By P King Mahakavi Subramania Bharati’s living in Pondicherry for a decade from 1908 to 1918 turned out to be the most creative period in his life.
Bharati arrived at Pondicherry, to avoid the net of British government tightening and discover peace and patronage at admirers.
Iyari kuppusamy cared for new political refugees in Pondicherry for a while.
Immediately the brother of Patriotic Mandayam, Tirumalalachariar and Srinivasanchariar, who launched a new Tamil Weekgy, ‘India’ in 1906 with the aim of providing free outlets for Flaming Bharati’s words, too shifting to Pondicherry from Madras and continuing the publication of ‘India’ from here.
The house of Subramania Bharati in Puducherry is now a museum with a library that moved to Pondicherry, Bharati felt that she was no deeper in shackles and that her pen could flow freely.
Every part he wrote in its weekly is a satire on the core.
In every problem that actually takes the cake is a cartoon on the cover page.
In the history of Tamil journalism, ‘India’, published every Saturday, is the first to remove cartoons.
It is said that every cartoon is taken under capable Bharati guidance.
‘India’ becomes a household name.
The public really likes cartoons so they cut the page, attach it to the cardboard and display it in front of their house.
England took several steps to stop the journal printing.
But all such efforts only publish journals.
The French government at Pondicherry refused requests by the UK to ban journals.
The best of his poetic works like ‘Panchali Sabatham’, ‘Kuyil Pattu’ and ‘Kannan Pawatu’ are all posts inspired by Pondicherry.
Friendship Bharati with a political refugees who think the same, Sri Aurobindo, made him write the essays in English for a monthly journal, ‘Arya’, edited by the last.
Sri Aurobindo studied Tamil and translated quotes from the Tamil classic literature with the help of his poet friends.
Both are experienced in Sanskrit, join the head for the study of Vedas and Upanishads.
The result is the birth of ‘Vachana Kavithaigal’.
This prose poetry from Bharati frees the Tamil literature from Tyranny Prosody.
The influence of Walt Whitman’s poetry made him enrich the tamil literature with poetry full of feeling.
His prose poetry throbs with life and is a real party for meditation readers.
Bharati found the soulmate in Aurobindo.
Aurobindo named Bharati as ‘BA’ and Bharati called Aurobindo as ‘Ghosh’.
That’s their intimacy.
Will be right to record here an interesting episode that happens at Aurobindo’s house.
One night, when everyone left, Aurobindo found his shoes lost.
It took a little time for him to guess who went with them.
Smiling, he pulled out a letter and pen and began writing letters to his brother Barin in Calcutta: “I need a pair of shoes very urgently, because Bharati has walked away with what you sent a few days.
Then.
The need is bigger than mine.” Pondicherry Not only gives Mahakavi a new life but also encourages his career to have customers, friends, and admirers in many.
He also made several small students.
Kanaka subburethinam, who later became famous when Bharatidasan was the head of his students.
Bharati also found a teacher.
After leading Aurobindo, Bharati became a student of Kullasamy (a Saint Dwarf).
In his long poem ‘Bharati Arupatharu’ (Bharati sixty-six), he showed an encomium on four of his friends – Kullasamy, Govindasamy, Yazhpanathusamy and Kuvali Kannan – during his forced exile.
In this poem Bharati claimed that he had Darshan about Kullasamy at Rajarama Iyer’s house in Easwaran Dharmaraja Koil Street and became a soul that was realized after listening to ‘Gnanopadesh’.
During his last days in Pondicherry, Bharati’s life was not smooth and she had to face a series of family problems.
Overwhelmed by the situation, Bharati took medicine.
And poet friends v v S Iyer and Parali Su Nellalappan always said that addicted to Bharati to drugs was the result of his friendship with Kullasamy.
Just like coastal cities affecting poets, the trace of Bharati in Pondicherry is undeniable.
The Puducherry government did not only respect Bharati with the statue and named the government park after him, but was also preserved as a national monument to his house on Jalan Easwararan Dharmaraja Koil, where he lived and preached the religion of love.
(The author is a historian of literature from Puducherry)