TAMIL
Letters of Bharati
Prema Nandakumar
BHARATIYIN KADITHANGAL — Bharati's Letters: R. A. Padmanabhan — Editor; Kalachuvadu, Sudarsan Books, 74, East of Tower, Nagercoil-629001. Rs. 50.
HE HAD the power to make history, our Subramania Bharati (1882-1921). No armchair philosopher, he was a burning brazier of creative imagination whose songs inspired the Tamilians to stream forth onto the platforms of politics and social reform. One cannot have too many books on him; and each reprint ought to be welcomed with gratitude.
The younger generations need his constant presence to help them remain politically alert, tuned to Tamil poetry, alive to the need for reform and to imbibe his cultured discourse, as in the Tarasu essays.
Even his letters, collected with maternal care by R.A. Padmanabhan reveal an extraordinary mind, immensely practical but engaged by the fiery bars of idealism.
The present reprint of his 23 letters comes with additional contextualisation of the letters with the help of A.R. Venkatachalapathy.
Bharati's life was hard. Financial insecurity dogged him throughout his life and most of the letters deal with matters relating to money. His earliest letter to Venkateswara Rettappa Bhupati and the ones he wrote to him in 1919 are requests for monetary help.
Other letters to Parali S. Nellaiappar and Srinivasa Varadan among others are appeals for aid to publish his works. Bharati gave practical suggestions, but he was to face disappointment almost all the time.
The most charming letter is to his 12-year-old wife advising her to study Tamil well instead of worrying about him. The epistle to Mu. Raghava Iyengar reveals "tradition" being saluted by individual talent.
A communication (1914) to Sir Ramsay Macdonald says, "Nowhere in the world is the sacredness of the individual liberty more cynically ignored than in Madras and certain other Provinces of India."
And the letter to his sibling, Viswanathan is a classic. As it comes with detailed notes and translations of the letters originally written in English, Bharatiyin Kadithangal is doubly welcome.
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