Subramania Bharati (Mahakavi Bharathiyar) – Life, Journalism, Puducherry Exile, Works & Titles | TNPSC Notes

Subramania Bharati (1882–1921), honoured as Mahakavi and Desiya Kavi (National Poet), was a poet, journalist, freedom fighter and social reformer from Ettayapuram who brought new life to modern Tamil poetry. Through Swadesamitran, India and his patriotic songs he carried the Swadeshi message to Tamil homes, and his works were the first in India to be nationalised (1949).

தமிழில் படிக்க

These notes are written for TNPSC Group 1, 2/2A and 4 aspirants and are meant to be complete in themselves. In the Group 2/2A and Group 4 General Studies syllabus, Bharati appears in Unit VI – History, Culture, Heritage and Socio-Political Movements of Tamil Nadu, in Unit III – History, Culture of India and Indian National Movement (Swadeshi and the Extremists in the South) and in the General Tamil unit "இலக்கியம், தமிழ் அறிஞர்களும் தமிழ்த்தொண்டும்" (works, titles, pen names); Group 1 uses different unit numbers for the same topics. Read each section, then revise with the tables and key points at the end.

Birth, Family and Childhood

• Name: Subramanian, called Subbaiah at home; later known as Subramania Bharati or Bharathiyar.
• Born: 11 December 1882 at Ettayapuram, then in Tirunelveli district of the Madras Presidency and now in Thoothukudi district.
• Parents: Chinnaswami Iyer and Lakshmi Ammal. His mother died in 1887, when he was about five.
• Childhood: he was drawn to Tamil poetry very early and showed little interest in routine schooling.
• Father's death: 1898, when Bharati was about 16 – a turning point that sent him to Kasi.

Ettayapuram Court and the Title "Bharati"

Ettayapuram was a zamindari (samasthanam) whose Raja patronised poets and scholars. As a boy – commonly stated as at the age of 11 – Subbaiah impressed the learned men of the court with his verse and won a debate held before the Raja. The scholars honoured him with the title "Bharati", a name associated with Saraswati, the goddess of learning. The title soon replaced his own name. After returning from Kasi he again served for some time at the Raja's court, but court life did not suit him and he left.

Marriage

In 1897, while still in his teens, he married Chellammal (Chellamma), then a young girl, as was the custom of the time. Her native place was Kadayam (Tenkasi area), where Bharati later lived after his exile.

The Kasi (Varanasi) Years, 1898–1902

• After his father's death he went to Kasi (Benares) and stayed with his aunt Kuppammal and her husband.
• He studied at the Central Hindu College (founded by Annie Besant) and passed the entrance examination.
• He learned Sanskrit, Hindi and English, read English poets such as Shelley, and came into contact with the national awakening of North India.
• His trademark turban (mundasu) and moustache made him a familiar figure; hence he is also called Mundasu Kavignar.

Teacher at Madurai (1904)

In 1904 Bharati worked for a few months (August to November) as a Tamil teacher at Sethupathi High School, Madurai. The same year he moved to Madras to begin his career in journalism.

Journalism – Bharati the Editor

Bharati was as much a journalist as a poet. He used newspapers to spread nationalism among ordinary Tamil readers, wrote in simple Tamil, and is credited with introducing political cartoons in Tamil journalism through India.

• Swadesamitran (Tamil daily, Madras; founded by G. Subramania Iyer): Bharati joined as assistant (sub-) editor in November 1904. Its moderate line did not suit his growing radicalism, and he later left it. He rejoined it in 1920 after his exile.
• Chakravarthini (Tamil monthly for women): edited by Bharati in 1905–1906; it carried his ideas on women's education and freedom.
• India (Tamil weekly): started in Madras in May 1906 by nationalists of the Mandayam family; Bharati was its editor and chief writer. It was the voice of the Extremists in Tamil Nadu. In 1908 it shifted with him to Puducherry.
• Bala Bharatham (Bala Bharata): English journal edited by Bharati from 1907, with M. P. T. Acharya.
• Vijaya: Tamil daily brought out from Puducherry. The British banned the entry of India and Vijaya into British India in 1909; India ceased publication in 1910.
• Suryodayam and Karmayogi: Tamil journals of the Puducherry years. He also assisted Sri Aurobindo with the English journal Arya.

Journals at a Glance

Bharati and the National Movement

• Bal Gangadhar Tilak: Bharati accepted Tilak as his political guide and belonged to the Extremist (Nationalist) camp.
• Sister Nivedita: he met Nivedita, the disciple of Swami Vivekananda, in connection with the Benares Congress of December 1905 (some accounts place the meeting after the Calcutta Congress of 1906). He regarded her as his guru; she strengthened his conviction about the freedom and dignity of women. He dedicated Swadesa Geethangal (1908) and Janma Bhoomi to her.
• Surat Congress, 1907: he attended with V. O. Chidambaram Pillai and Mandayam Srinivasachari and supported Tilak's group in the Moderate–Extremist split.
• V. O. Chidambaram Pillai and Subramania Siva: close friends and fellow workers in the Swadeshi movement of the south. Bharati wrote and spoke against VOC's arrest in 1908.
• His songs – "Achamillai Achamillai", "Senthamizh Naadenum Pothinile", "Aaduvome Pallu Paaduvome" (which celebrates freedom before it came) – made the freedom struggle a people's movement in Tamil Nadu.

Exile in Puducherry, 1908–1918

In 1908, after the proprietor of India was arrested in Madras and a warrant was expected against him, Bharati escaped to Puducherry (Pondicherry), then under French rule, where British police could not arrest him. He lived there for about ten years (1908–1918).

• Journals: India was published from Puducherry from October 1908; he also brought out Vijaya, Suryodayam and Karmayogi. The British blocked their circulation in British India.
• Fellow exiles: Sri Aurobindo (arrived on 4 April 1910; Bharati and Srinivasachari received him), V. V. S. Aiyar and M. P. T. Acharya. With Aurobindo he studied the Vedas.
• Most creative period: Kuyil Pattu, Panchali Sabatham and Kannan Pattu, Pudhiya Aathichoodi and many other poems were written here, along with his Tamil translation of the Bhagavad Gita.
• Bharathidasan: the young Puducherry poet Kanaka Subburathinam came under Bharati's influence and took the name Bharathidasan ("servant/devotee of Bharati"). Note: the title Puratchi Kavignar (Revolutionary Poet) belongs to Bharathidasan, not to Bharati.
• Poverty: the family lived in hardship, depending on friends and admirers.
• His house at No. 20, Eswaran Dharmaraja Koil Street is now a memorial museum and research centre.

Return, Arrest at Cuddalore and Kadayam (1918–1920)

• In November 1918, after the First World War ended, Bharati left Puducherry and entered British India near Cuddalore, where he was arrested.
• He was held in Cuddalore jail from 20 November to 14 December 1918. Annie Besant and C. P. Ramaswami Aiyar were among those who worked for his release.
• He then lived at Kadayam, his wife's village, for about two years, where he faced hostility from orthodox society but continued to write.

Last Years and Death (1920–1921)

• In 1920, after a general amnesty, he returned to Madras and rejoined Swadesamitran. He lived at Thulasinga Perumal Koil Street, Triplicane.
• In July 1921 he was knocked down by the elephant of the Parthasarathy temple, Triplicane, which he used to feed. He survived, but his health declined.
• He died in the early hours of 11 September 1921 at Triplicane, Madras, aged 38. Because death came just after midnight, a few sources give 12 September; 11 September is the commonly accepted date and is observed by the Tamil Nadu Government.
• Only a small group of friends – about a dozen – attended his funeral.

Literary Works

Bharati wrote poetry, prose, short stories, essays and translations. He used simple, musical Tamil that ordinary people could sing, and he is regarded as a pioneer of modern Tamil poetry. His poems fall into three broad groups: national songs (Desiya Geethangal), devotional/philosophical songs (Gnana and Thothira Padalgal) and other songs on society, nature and children.

• The three great works (Mupperum Padalgal): Kannan Pattu, Kuyil Pattu and Panchali Sabatham.
• Panchali Sabatham (1912) – based on the dice game of the Mahabharata; Draupadi's vow is used as a symbol of India's struggle against bondage.
• Kannan Pattu – presents Krishna as friend, mother, father, servant, king, child, lover and guru.
• Kuyil Pattu – an allegorical narrative poem about a cuckoo, written amid the groves near Puducherry.
• Pudhiya Aathichoodi – a modern "Aathichoodi" of short maxims following Avvaiyar's model, urging courage, strength and self-respect.
• Paappa Pattu – songs for children.
• Prose: Gnana Ratham, Chandrikaiyin Kathai (unfinished novel), short stories and many essays.
• English: The Fox with the Golden Tail and essays for journals such as Arya and New India.

Works at a Glance

Social Ideas – Women, Caste and National Unity

• Women's liberation: Bharati called for women's education, freedom to choose a spouse, the right to property, entry into public life and the end of child marriage. His idea of the "Pudhumai Penn" (new woman) was ahead of its time. Sister Nivedita's influence strengthened these views; his women's journal Chakravarthini was an early expression of them.
• Against caste: he strongly opposed caste discrimination and untouchability and mixed freely with people of all communities. In Puducherry his disciple R. Kanagalingam later wrote a memoir of him (My Revered Guru, Bharathiyar). In "Kakkai Kuruvi Engal Jaathi" he declared crows and sparrows to be his kin.
• National unity: he sang of India as one land with many languages and regions. His "Sindhu Nadhiyin Misai" pictures the whole of India united.
• Love of Tamil and other languages: though he knew several languages, he wrote that he had found no language sweeter than Tamil ("Yaamarindha mozhigalile Tamizh mozhi pol inidhavadhu engum kaanom"). He also urged Tamils to bring the knowledge of the world into Tamil through translation.
• World view: he welcomed the Russian Revolution of 1917 in Puthiya Russia.

Pen Names and Titles

• Pen names: Shelleydasan (from his admiration for Shelley) and Sakthidasan.
• Titles and epithets: Mahakavi (Great Poet), Desiya Kavi / Rashtrakavi (National Poet), Mundasu Kavignar (turbaned poet), Paattukkoru Pulavan, Sindhukku Thandhai (father of the sindhu song form).
• Do not confuse: Puratchi Kavignar and Paavendhar are titles of Bharathidasan.

Honours, Memorials and Nationalisation of Works

• Nationalisation (1949): the Madras (Tamil Nadu) Government nationalised his works in 1949 – the first time in India that a writer's works were nationalised, making them free for anyone to publish.
• Postage stamp: issued on 11 September 1960, his death anniversary.
• Bharathiar University, Coimbatore: established in February 1982 and named after him.
• Ettayapuram: his birthplace house is preserved as a memorial.
• Puducherry: his house at No. 20, Eswaran Dharmaraja Koil Street was acquired by the Puducherry Government and opened to the public; it now functions as a memorial museum and research centre.
• Triplicane, Chennai: his last residence, Bharathi Illam on Thulasinga Perumal Koil Street, was acquired by the Tamil Nadu Government and restored as a memorial.
• Mahakavi Naal: in 2021, his death centenary, the Tamil Nadu Government declared 11 September as Mahakavi Naal (Mahakavi Day). The Prime Minister announced a Chair in his honour at Banaras Hindu University.
• Bharatiya Bhasha Diwas: his birthday, 11 December, is observed in educational institutions as Bharatiya Bhasha Diwas (Indian Languages Day), on the proposal of the Ministry of Education's Bharatiya Bhasha Samiti.
• Complete works: a compendium of his complete works in 23 volumes, compiled by Seeni Viswanathan, was released by the Prime Minister on 11 December 2024.

People in Bharati's Life

Places in Bharati's Life

Common Confusions in the Exam

• Bharati vs Bharathidasan: Bharati (1882–1921) is Mahakavi; Bharathidasan is Puratchi Kavignar / Paavendhar, who took his name from Bharati.
• Ettayapuram vs Ottapidaram: Ettayapuram is Bharati's birthplace; Ottapidaram is V. O. Chidambaram Pillai's.
• Birth and death days: born 11 December, died 11 September – both on the 11th. Mahakavi Naal = 11 September (death); Bharatiya Bhasha Diwas = 11 December (birth).
• Swadesamitran vs India: Swadesamitran was G. Subramania Iyer's moderate daily where Bharati was assistant editor; India was the radical weekly that Bharati edited.
• Aathichoodi vs Pudhiya Aathichoodi: Aathichoodi is Avvaiyar's; Pudhiya Aathichoodi is Bharati's modern version.
• Nationalisation: 1949, and Bharati was the first – do not confuse with the stamp (1960) or the university (1982).
• Exile: Puducherry was French territory, not British – that is why he could escape arrest there.

Quick Revision Table

TNPSC Key Points (PYQ-style facts)

• Born 11 December 1882, Ettayapuram (now Thoothukudi district); parents Chinnaswami Iyer and Lakshmi Ammal; childhood name Subbaiah.
• Title "Bharati" given by the scholars of the Ettayapuram court (commonly stated as at age 11).
• Wife: Chellammal (married 1897); her village Kadayam.
• Kasi stay 1898–1902; learned Sanskrit, Hindi, English.
• Tamil teacher at Sethupathi High School, Madurai (1904).
• Assistant editor, Swadesamitran (Nov 1904); founder of Swadesamitran – G. Subramania Iyer.
• Edited Chakravarthini (women's monthly), India (Tamil weekly), Bala Bharatham (English), Vijaya (Tamil daily).
• Introduced political cartoons in Tamil journalism (India).
• Guru: Sister Nivedita; political guide: Tilak; attended Surat Congress 1907 with VOC.
• Puducherry exile 1908–1918; met Sri Aurobindo, V. V. S. Aiyar.
• Arrested near Cuddalore, November 1918; released 14 December 1918.
• Three great works: Kannan Pattu, Kuyil Pattu, Panchali Sabatham (1912).
• Pudhiya Aathichoodi – modelled on Avvaiyar's Aathichoodi.
• Gnana Ratham – prose; Chandrikaiyin Kathai – unfinished novel; translated the Bhagavad Gita into Tamil.
• Pen names: Shelleydasan, Sakthidasan.
• Epithets: Mahakavi, Desiya Kavi, Mundasu Kavignar, Sindhukku Thandhai, Paattukkoru Pulavan.
• Bharathidasan took his name from Bharati; Puratchi Kavignar = Bharathidasan.
• Hurt by the Parthasarathy temple elephant, Triplicane, 1921; died 11 September 1921 (some sources 12 Sep).
• Works nationalised 1949 – first in India.
• Stamp 1960; Bharathiar University 1982; Mahakavi Naal = 11 September; Bharatiya Bhasha Diwas = 11 December.

Frequently Asked Questions

When and where was Subramania Bharati born?

He was born on 11 December 1882 at Ettayapuram, then in Tirunelveli district and now in Thoothukudi district. His parents were Chinnaswami Iyer and Lakshmi Ammal, and his childhood name was Subbaiah.

How did he get the title "Bharati"?

As a boy (commonly stated as at the age of 11) he impressed the scholars of the Ettayapuram Raja's court with his poetry and debating skill, and they honoured him with the title "Bharati" – a name linked with Saraswati, the goddess of learning.

Why did Bharati go to Puducherry in 1908?

When the British moved against the nationalist weekly India in 1908 and its proprietor was arrested in Madras, Bharati escaped arrest by moving to French-ruled Puducherry (Pondicherry). He lived there in exile from 1908 to 1918 and continued India from there.

Which are Bharati's three great poetic works of the Puducherry period?

Kuyil Pattu, Panchali Sabatham and Kannan Pattu. Panchali Sabatham retells Draupadi's vow from the Mahabharata as a symbol of enslaved Mother India; Kannan Pattu presents Lord Krishna in many human relationships; Kuyil Pattu is an allegorical poem on a cuckoo.

When were Bharati's works nationalised?

In 1949 the Madras (Tamil Nadu) Government nationalised his works. Bharati was the first poet in India whose writings were nationalised, so his works became freely available to all.

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