Revision as of 07:07, 17 January 2017

Connections with Gandhi: 1919

B Kolappan, Jan 17, 2017: The Hindu

A photograph of Mahakavi Subramania Bharati in 1919; B Kolappan, Jan 17, 2017: The Hindu

A new photo of 1919 of an intense Bharati is revealed: Please see picture

Mahakavi Subramania Bharati’s turbaned visage and intense gaze come back to life in a little-known photograph that was discovered, making it only one of six available images of the patriot-poet.

The photograph, discovered in New Delhi by Y. Manikandan, Professor at the Department of Tamil language of Madras University, was released at The Hindu Lit For Life fest.

It was taken at the Ratna Company, a photo studio situated in Chennai’s Broadway, apparently to promote English lectures on “The Cult of the Eternal — Being a scientific exposition of the art of conquering death” by Bharatiyar at the Victoria Public Hall on March 2, 1919. The advertisement for the lectures was published in Annie Besant’s New India in the first week of March, and the meeting was presided over by Justice S. Subramania Iyer. Admission was priced, with tickets costing a rupee.

Meeting with Gandhi

Speaking at the event, Mr. Manikandan said Bharati met Mahatma Gandhi at the residence of Kasturi Ranga Iyengar, the Editor of The Hindu, on Cathedral Road in March 1919.

Also, Rajaji, who came to Chennai from Salem at Kasturi Ranga Iyengar’s invitation, was residing at the same house. Gandhiji stayed in the city between March 19 and 23 and there is a record of the meetings he attended. “So Bharati would have met him on March 21,” said Mr. Manikandan at an interaction with Professor A.R. Venkatachalapathy of the MIDS and writer Pazha Adhiyaman.

“Bharati is said to have liked the photograph very much. But scholar R.A. Padmanabhan had expressed disappointment that he could not trace it,” Mr. Venkatachalapathy said. His lectures were published in full in New India and The Hindu.

Rajaji, who was present during Bharati’s meeting with Gandhiji, is said to have described the poet’s appearance as similar to ‘a pitha sanyasi [a mad sanyasi].’

“Bharati sported a turban and beard and closely resembled the man in his Puducherry days,” said Mr. Venkatachalapathy.

Photo with family

Two photographs were taken in 1917 and the session was arranged by his friend from Puducherry, Vijayaragavachariyar. Besides Bharati, his wife Chellammal, daughters Thangammal and Sakunthala and Vijayaragavachariyar are seen in the picture. He agreed to pose for a photograph along with the members of Karaikudi Hindu Madhabimana Sangam and for a separate image in 1919.

Another picture was taken at poet Bharathidasan’s request. He had enquired about Bharatiyar’s health after he was attacked by an elephant of the Triplicane Parthasarasthy temple. One more picture taken when Bharati was 26 remains elusive. Mr. Manikandan said Irish writer James H. Cousin met Bharati in Puducherry and described him as one of India’s four important poets — besides Tagore, Sarojini Naidu and Sri Aurobindo.