32 Facts About Subramania Bharati

1.

Subramania Bharati was bestowed the title "Bharathi" for his excellence in poetry.

2.

Subramania Bharati was a pioneer of modern Tamil poetry and is considered one of the greatest Tamil literary figures of all time.

3.

Subramania Bharati fought for the emancipation of women, against child marriage, vehemently opposed the caste system, and stood for reforming society and religion.

4.

Subramania Bharati wrote many books and poems on how Tamil is beautiful in nature.

5.

Subramania Bharati lost his mother at the age of five and was brought up by his father who wanted him to learn English, excel in arithmetic, and become an engineer.

6.

Subramania Bharati lost his father at the age of sixteen.

7.

Subramania Bharati grew a beard and wore a turban due to his admiration of Sikhs, influenced by his Sikh friend.

8.

Subramania Bharati was a Tamil teacher from August to November 1904 in Sethupathy High School in Madurai.

9.

Subramania Bharati inspired Bharathi to recognise the privileges of women and the emancipation of women exercised Bharathi's mind.

10.

Subramania Bharati visualised the new woman as an emanation of Shakti, a willing helpmate of man to build a new earth through co-operative endeavour.

11.

Subramania Bharati attended the Indian National Congress session in Calcutta under Dadabhai Naoiroji, which demanded Swaraj and boycott of British goods.

12.

Subramania Bharati translated Vedic hymns, Patanjali's Yoga Sutra and Bhagavat Gita to Tamil.

13.

Subramania Bharati was stricken by poverty during this period, resulting in his ill health.

14.

Subramania Bharati resumed editing Swadesimeitran from 1920 in Madras.

15.

Subramania Bharati was badly affected by the imprisonments and by 1920 when a General Amnesty Order finally removed restrictions on his movements, Bharathi was already struggling.

16.

Subramania Bharati was struck by an elephant named Lavanya at Parthasarathy temple, Triplicane, Chennai, whom he used to feed every day.

17.

Subramania Bharati delivered his last speech at Karungalpalayam Library in Erode, which was about the topic Man is Immortal.

18.

Subramania Bharati who forgets not God and fails not in his duty, no matter whatever befalls him and however much he suffers, will at the end attain honour and happiness.

19.

Subramania Bharati employed novel ideas and techniques in his devotional poems.

20.

Subramania Bharati used a metre called Nondi Chindu in most of his works, which was earlier used by Gopalakrisnha Bharathiar.

21.

Subramania Bharati was the forerunner of a forceful kind of poetry that combined classical and contemporary elements.

22.

Subramania Bharati had a prodigious output penning thousands of verses on diverse topics like Indian Nationalism, love songs, children's songs, songs of nature, glory of the Tamil language, and odes to prominent freedom fighters of India like Tilak, Gandhi and Lajpat Rai.

23.

Subramania Bharati even penned an ode to New Russia and Belgium.

24.

Subramania Bharati was well-versed in various languages and translated speeches of Indian National reform leaders like Sri Aurobindo, Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Swami Vivekananda.

25.

Subramania Bharati calls for sharing amongst states with wonderful imagery like the diversion of excess water of the Bengal delta to needy regions and a bridge to Sri Lanka.

26.

Subramania Bharati sang, "Thani oru manithanakku unavu illayenil intha jagaththinai azhithiduvom" translated as " If one single man suffers from starvation, we will destroy the entire world".

27.

Subramania Bharati scorned the divisive tendencies being imparted into the younger generations by their elderly tutors during his time.

28.

Subramania Bharati openly criticised the preachers for mixing their individual thoughts while teaching the Vedas, Upanishads and the Gita.

29.

Subramania Bharati strongly advocated bringing the Dalits to the Hindu mainstream.

30.

The Government of India in 1987 instituted a highest National Subramanyam Subramania Bharati Award conferred along with Ministry of Human Resource Development, annually confers on writers of outstanding works in Hindi literature.

31.

Subramania Bharati had a critical reception from the Tamil music director Adhithya Venkatapathy through the musical duo Hiphop Tamizha which features Subramania Bharati in its logo.

32.

Many of the poems written by Subramania Bharati were used in various Tamil films in the form of songs.