Subramania Bharati

The Story

Born in Ettayapuram in 1882, the boy Subramania was recognised as a prodigy — the local court crowned him Bharati, the blessed of Saraswati, at eleven. He grew into a poet of extraordinary range and a journalist of fearless courage, editing the journal Bhārat and using the Swadeshi movement as his platform.

His poetry was a revolution in itself: he broke the old metres, introduced new themes — nationalism, the rights of women, the unity of castes — and wrote in a language of fire and tenderness. His 'Panchali Sabatham' and his songs of the motherland made him the voice of the Tamil freedom movement, and his hymns are sung in every Tamil school.

For his fiery writings he was forced into exile in Pondicherry for several years, under the French, while the British watched. He returned broken in health, and died in 1921, at just thirty-nine, after being hurt by a temple elephant. Tamil Nadu mourned its mahakavi, and his songs became the anthems of the struggle he did not live to see won.