The twentieth century has been witness to the greatest epochal event in human history-A struggle for freedom from a colonial rule from 1857 came to a victorious end with India becoming an independent nation on August 15, 1947. Several sacrificed their blood, sweat, tears and lives at the altar of the nation's movement for independence. Many, sadly, did not live to see the price-less result of their efforts. Still, there were a good number among them whose names have become etched immortally in the annals of history for their efforts and sacrifices. Mahakavi Subramania Bharatiyar is one of them.
Chinnaswami Subramania Bharati (11 December 1882 12 September 1921), known as 'Mahakavi Bharati' for his literary prowess and respectfully referred to as Bharatiyar, was a Tamil poet, writer, translator, journalist, philosopher, activist of the Indian national movement and social reformer. He was a prolific writer who wrote in various genres and on varied themes. His contribution to the lighting of the freedom-fire in the hearts of the Tamils is immeasurable. His death centenary is observed by the Tamil-loving people all over the world since the beginning of 2021. On the occasion, I am happy to bring out a book on this phenomenal personality hailed as 'national poet'.
I was searching for material to present a paper in early 2019 on 'Mahakavi Bharati's Writings on The Emancipation of Women and the Downtrodden: The Influence of Sister Nivedita.' At the time, I chanced upon a copy of Bharati's Nanaratam at the U.Ve. Swaminatha Aiyar Library, Chennai. The initial attraction for me was that Bharatiyar had dedicated the book to Sister Nivedita, the 'subject' of my presentation. Much later when I was mulling over an idea for a tribute to the poet on his death centenary, it occurred to me that a translation of Nana-ratam would make a good commemoration.
The project that began as, and which was intended to be limited to, a translation expanded gradually to the present book Soaring with Bharati in the Wisdom-chariot (Nanaratam). The small work was a pleasure to read at first. Soon, I got so much drawn towards the subtler as-pects that I began to make notes on them. One thing led to another. While writing about Bharatiyar's life and legacy, his association with Dr. Annie Besant of Theosophical Society (TS) came to the fore. He had written articles and reviews in Besant's Commonweal and the New India. So, I decided to include at least a couple of his articles from our long since defunct in-house newspapers. With a write-up on Bharati's association with Dr Annie Besant, his essays 'The Crime of Caste,' and 'The Occult Element in Tamil Speech, both from The Commonweal, were edited and included in the book.
While completing the translation of Nanaratam from the version of the Tamil edition I found first at U.Ve. Swaminatha Aiyar Library, I stumbled on two more versions in the internet. This set me into comparing the different versions and bring out a critically edited text with a translation thereof.
Mahakavi Subramania Bharati was a multi-faceted genius, an innovative poet who initiated a new era of Tamil poetry, a well-informed journalist and thinker who lived far ahead of his times in as much as he was the first Indian poet to have welcomed the Russian revolution (1914) and also the one who did not hesitate to criticise it soon after for the violent turn it took, and the first one to have published political cartoons in Tamil journalism, and above all a well-read man in Indian and Western literary and philosophical traditions and culture.
Perhaps, it is true that Bharati's prose works have not drawn as much attention as his poetic com-positions because of his overwhelming fame as a poet, as the one who ushered a simple new lyrical idiom comprehensible to one and all, irrespective of one's educational background.
Bharati's versatile genius firmly rests on his prose works also. He was the first writer to have introduced to the Tamil literary world a new genre called 'novella' by his composition of Nanaratam ('The Wisdom-chariot') written in elegant Tamil prose. It is but appropriate that an eminent scholar like Dr. Radha Raghunathan has undertaken an insightful study of this splendid work besides translating it in English.
Translation between two languages of totally different linguistic and cultural traditions is a challenging task. The translator needs to be well-acquainted with the cultural and linguistic nuances of both languages. Translation in its Latin origin means 'to go across.' Ezra Pound, who himself was a great poet, had translated ancient Chinese poems and ac-cording to him translation is 'cultural appropriation.' This is what Dr. Radha has precisely done by trans-lating Nanaratam in English. Her translation easily merges with the Tamil original that the expressions in Tamil are 'culturally appropriated' in English which she has helpfully pointed out in her introduction to Nanaratam. This would go a long way in helping an English reader get a grasp of the original Tamil idiom also that would reflect the culture of the people who speak that language.
Dr. Radha's annotative commentary (what they call 'bhasyam' in Sanskrit) for Nanaratam is intellectually stimulating. Her in-depth analysis of the *Chariot' symbol in Jewish and western cultural and religious traditions as well as in Vedic literature of our own to bring out why Bharati chose the 'Wisdom -chariot' for his odyssey to the worlds of 'Celestial Musicians' (Gandharvaloka), 'Righteous-ness' (Dharmaloka), and 'Truth' (Satyaloka). And as an imaginative poet who could fly high, but as a pragmatist who had his feet firmly on the ground, Bharati had shown 'the mundane world' (Mannulakam) also with some autobiographical reflections. This he has done in his 'Cuckoo poem' (Kuyil pattu) also at the end, after narrating a magical realistic story.
One interesting observation that Bharati has made that Dr. Radha points out is as he travels to the 'World of Righteousness' (Dharmaloka) it occurs to him, why still 'Evil' (adharma) exists in our world. Evil (adharma) is constantly being vanquished (eaten) by 'Righteousness (dharma) and as such it is the latter's fodder. Once it has completely 'destroyed' dharma or 'eaten, it has to starve and cannot exist. This could be the reason why 'Good' and 'Evil' co-exist in this world. Like Satan (Evil) says in Milton's Paradise Lost that he could never be destroyed and he and God (Good) have to coexist. This has been beautifully brought out by Dr. Radha in her scholarly exposition.
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