SUBRAMANIA
BHARATI’S PROSE-POETRY
K. C. KAMALIAH
Subramania Bharati is more sung than read. He is more a poet than a
writer of prose. The general impression is that the Tamils wrote only poetry
and not prose. It has to be remembered that commentaries to Tamil classics came
from prose writers of repute like Nachinarkkiniyar, Ilampuranar, Peraciriyar, Parimel Alagar and others. Sivgnana Munivar’s commentary on Sivagnana Bodham known
as Dravida Mapadiyam,
though of later origin, is a monumental one in terse prose, reflecting his
scholarship in Tamil and Sanskrit. But currently more prose is written in Tamil
than poetry, Subramania Bharati
wrote an unfinished novel, Chandirikaiyin Kathai, echoing the reformist views of Viresalingam Pantulu and G. Subramania Aiyar. Other than
that, he wrote his musings on the Vedas, which he called Vachana
Kavithai–Prose Poetry. This
portion of Bharati’s writings deserve a closer
look. The same has, not attracted the attention of scholars to the extent that
it must have been.
Under
the title “Pleasure”–Inpam, Subramania Bharati writes:
“This
world is pleasant. The atmosphere herein is charming. Air is pleasing. Fire is
pleasing. Water is pleasing. Soil is pleasing.
The
sun is fine. So is the moon. Heavenly planets are very endearing. Rain is
endearing. Lightning and thunder are endearing.
Sea
is fine. Mountain is fine.
Birds
are charming. Reptiles are also good. Animals are dear ones. So
also the denizens of water.
Men
are very lovable. Male is good. Female is sweetness. Child is a pleasure. Youth
is fine. Old age is good. Life is good. Death is sweet.”
To
one detached, good and bad are the same. Everything and everyone in the
universe are looked alike and nothing but good wished
for.
“I
know not anything but to think that:
All
must live in peace and pleasure.”
sings
the saint-philosopher Tayumanavar. All in the
universe is nothing but Vishnu. Sarvam Vishnu mayam jagat.
This is the essence of Bharati’s saying under Inpam.
The Vedas
Before
getting to know of Bharati’s thoughts, it would be
fruitful to remember what Max Mueller says of the Vedas. “In the hymns of the
Veda, we see man left to himself to solve the riddle
of the world. We see him crawling like a creature of the earth with all the
desires and weakness of his animal nature. Food, wealth and power, a large
family and a long life, are the themes of his daily prayers. But he begins to
lift up his eyes. He stares at the tent of heaven, and asks who supports it. He
opens his eyes to the winds, and asks them whence and whither? He is awakened
from darkness and slumber by the light of the sun, and him whom his eyes cannot
behold, and who seems to grant him the daily pittance of his existence, he
calls ‘his life, his breath, his brilliant Lord and Protector’.”
A.
C. Clayton quoting the above passage of Max Mueller,
observes: “One of the most precious heirlooms of the ages for all thinking men
are the hymns which were sung first by the poets among those primitive warriors
and herdsmen.” Of the four Vedas, “It is the Rigveda
which gives the most valuable materials to the student of the Aryan religion.”
The more important of the Vedic gods are: (1) Gods of the Upper World, (2) Gods
of the Air and (3) Gods of the Earth. For the purpose of our study here, Surya, the Sun God, Usha, the
Goddess of Dawn of the first category, and Vayu, God
of the Wind of the second category, are taken into account. Surya,
the Sun God, and Savitur are treated as separate and
as one deity sometimes. The Sun is known as Savitur
before his rising and Surya from his
rising to his setting. A hymn of the Rigveda
sings thus of the Sun God.
“The
soul of all that moveth not or moveth,
the Sun hath filled the air and earth and heaven.
Like
as a young man followeth a maiden, so doth the Sun
the Dawn, refulgent goddess.
This
day, O gods, while Surya is ascending, deliver us
from trouble and dishonour.” (Book I, Hymn 115. R. T. H. Griffith’s translation.)
Bharati
on Sun
Bharati echoes the
Vedic ideas in his “Short treatise on the Sun.” Is not the Sun, the soul of
all?
“Who
gives light? Who retains eternal youth? Who disseminates warmth? Whose is the
eye? Who infuses life? Who gives glory? Whose wealth is fame?
Like what will knowledge shine? Which is the temple of the deity of knowledge?
That is the Sun.”
Eternal
darkness will bring nothing but ruin to the animate and the inanimate. Light
and Sun are indivisible. Bharati associates all sources
of light to the perennial source, the Sun. What is the relationship between
Light and Sun?
“O
Light, who art thou? Art thou the daughter of the Sun? Nay, thou art the very
life of the Sun, his god.
Of the Sun, we sing only thy praise. The Sun is the body. Thou art his soul. O Light. when didst thou come into being? Who created thee? O Light, who art thou? What is thine nature?
Thou
art perhaps the daughter of knowledge. Knowledge slumbers. Thou art its clarity–perhaps knowledge’s body. How long art thou
familiar with the space of the sky? Of what sort is thine
love with it ? How dost thou unite with it becoming
one without a second? The lady that created thee all is a magician. She is a
bewitching beauty. She performs miracles. We make our obeisance to her. May you
live long. O Light!”
No
orderly life can there be without the Sun. He is the dispenser of favours to all. Everything depends on the Sun’s goodwill.
But for him. there can be no
rain or cloud. Lightning is a great debtor to the Sun. Bharati
wishes a lightning touch in all that he does.
“Rain showers. Wind blows. Thunder
roars. Lightning flashes. Come, ye poets! Let us sing the praise of Lightning.
Lightning is a play of the god of Effulgence. It is his apparition. Worshipping it. Yavanas got
enlightenment. Our salutation to Lightning. Let it
enlighten our knowledge. Cloudlings shower
lightning-flowers. There is no place where there is no
glowing energy. All deities are so. In black granite rock
white sand, green leaf, red flower, blue cloud, wind and mountain.
Lightning is latent energy. We sing its glory.
May
Lightning grace our eyes! May Lightning’s spreading wings jump into our hearts!
May Lightning descend on our right hand! Let our song get possessed of
Lightning! Let our utterances be moulded after
Lightning!
The glow kills the weak. It strengthens strength. Light, lightning, flame, diamond, the sun, the moon, the heavenly planets, stars, victory to all that emit light.
Let
us sing the praise of all! Let us sing the glory of the Sun!” Savitur is praised in eleven hymns of the Rigveda.
“May
this god Savitur, the strong and mighty, the lord of
precious wealth, vouchsafe us treasures.
“May
he, advancing his far-spreading lustre, bestow on us
the food that feedeth mortals.” (Book VII. Hymn 45.
R. T. H. Griffith’s translation.)
The
tenth verse in Hymn 62 of Book III of the Rigveda is
the Gayatri which every Brahman utters in his daily
prayers.
Tat
savitur varenyam bhargo devasya dhimahi
Dhiyo
yo nah prachodayat
Griffith
translates the verse thus:
“May
we attain that excellent glory of Savitur the god:
So
may he stimulate our prayers.” (Rigveda. Book III.
Hymn 62. Verse 10)
Bharati has put this Tamil
rendering of the Gayatri verse in the mouths of Arjuna and Draupadi, while on
their journey to Hastinapuram, when they said their
evening prayers in his Panchali Sapatham. The transliteration of the Tamil rendering is
as follows:
Cenkatir-t-teevan
ciranta olvinai -t - teerkinroom - avan
Enkalarivinai-t-tundi
nadattuka.
The
Tamil rendering of Bharati may be brought into
English as follows:
“We
seek the effulgence par excellence of the god of lustrous rays;
May
he stimulate our consciousness and guide.”
Preceding
this prayer, Arjuna describes the splendour
of the setting sun to Draupadi. The poet has taken Savitur god as the Sun.
The
early Aryans saw in dawn a captivating charm and the hymns to Usha are among the finest in the Vedas.
“This
light has come, amid all lights the fairest born is the brilliant far extending
brightness.
Bright
leader of glad sounds, our eyes behold her; splendid in hue she hath unclosed
the portals.
She
stirring up the world hath shown us riches; Dawn hath awakened
every living creature.
In
the sky’s borders hath she shone in splendour: the
goddess hath thrown off the veil of darkness.” (Rigveda.
Book 1. Hymn 113. Griffith’s translation)
“She
hath beamed forth lovely with golden colours, mother
of kine, guide of the days she bringeth.
Distinguished
by her beams Dawn shines apparent, come forth to all the world with wondrous
treasure.” (Rigveda. Book VII. Hymn. 77. Griffith’s translation)
Subramania Bharati in his short eulogy of Usha, the goddess of Dawn, gives a digest of the Vedic hymns. Is not Usha nobly born and daughter of heaven?
‘The
reddish tinge of Dawn is sweet. Hail to Usha whose
laughter is flower-like!
Our
salutation to Usha! She is Prosperity incarnate. She
enlightens, bestows clarity, infuses life, gives inducement, radiates beauty.
Victory to her. Bees seek her because of honey dripping from her. Nectar she
is! Immortal she is! Strength only unites with beauty. Lofty indeed is
pleasure.
In
northern Meru, she comes attired in many forms
uninterrupted. She saunters around the horizon emitting peals of laughter. May
her laughter grow louder.
To
us in the South, a lonely dame she appears. Because of her bounteous love, the
one in her is sweeter than many. Dawn is sweet. We sing her praise.”
God of the Wind
Vayu or Vata is one of the gods of the air. There are not many
hymns on him.
“The
soul of gods, and of the world the offspring.
This
god according to his liking wanders,
His
sound is heard, but ne’er is seen his figure.
This
Vata let us know with offerings of worship.”
(Rigveda. Book X. Hymn 168)
“And,
Vata, thou art our father, our brother and our
friend; cause us to live.
From
the treasure of immortality, which is deposited yonder in thy house, O Vata give us to live.”
(Rigveda. Book X. Hymn 186)
Bharati spins a story
about the god of the Wind. He sees two bits of coir strand hanging from a pandal thatched with cocoanut leaves, being loose ends. The
longer one he calls as Kandan. The other is Valliammai. They are active. The former is making love to
the latter. Valliammai felt shy in the presence of a
stranger, here the poet. He did not want to intrude into their privacy. He went
out and came after sometime. The shorter rope, i. e.,
Valliammai was in deep sleep. No movement could be
noticed in the shorter rope. Kandan asked the poet,
“Where had you been, othodox fellow?” All of a
sudden, the Wind god appeared. A blaze of light, he was like a diamond needle.
The god said. “Did you ask the shorter rope is asleep? No, it is dead. I am its
life. In union with me, body is active. Devoid of my touch, it is corpse. I am
life. Because of me, that small rope was alive and it derived pleasure. Tired a
bit, I left her to sleep. Sleep is but death and death but sleep. In my
presence neither is there. Towards the evening, I breathe. They get back to
life. I rouse them, make them move. I am energy’s offspring. Make obeisance to
me and prosper.”
Bharati was an ardent
worshipper of Shakti or Energy, Parashakti,
or the Supreme Energy of God. The gods specially mentioned in the Vedas are Prithvi, Aditi, Usha, Vach. Mother goddesses form
the Dravidian contribution to Hinduism. Valli,
consort of Subrahmanya, Murukan,
Kumara, Karthikeya or by whatever name we may call, is
the Ichcha Sakti. She is
the Will of God. Sri or Lakshmi is the first of
teachers in Guruparamparai of Vaishnavism.
That is why Vaishnavism in the
South is known as Sri Vaishnavism.
“He
is the One; the second part of Him is His sweet grace” says Tirumular.
“Sakti being an essential aspect of God, He is
unthinkable without it. It is difficult to describe the nature of Sakti beyond saying that it is a kind of power. It is a
power so essential that without it, it would decline. Sakti
is God’s love in action. It is His grace made dynamic to save the soul.” (Saiva Siddhanta by
V. Paranjoti)
Subramania Baharati was an ardent worshipper of Shakti.
He sees Shakti or Energy in action in every deity and
in every action of man or beast. He writes: “In the flood of Energy or Shakti, the Sun is but a bubble. In the pool of Energy, the
Sun is a flower. Shakti is
limitless, knows no borders. Shakti is infinite. Shakti shows mobility in immobility. Shakti
is striker, driver, collector, adder, mixer, thrower,
stretcher, rotator, sprinkler, infuser, stopper, connecter, divider. Shakti is freezer and heater. Shakti
is anger, hatred, pleasure, enmity. Shakti is
intoxicator of love, gives determination, makes one fear-conscious, enables one
to boil and cool down. In the ocean of energy, the sun is but a foam. In the Vina of Shakti the sun is a
string, a note. In the dance deluge of Shakti, light
is a beat. It is but one member in Shakti’s art
treasure. May the Great Shakti bless us with poesy,
protection, imparting, cleansing, doing good and enlightenment. We seek her
blessing in our effort to know and enjoy the fruit of growing the Vedic plant,
after watering it with love, ploughing with the help
of knowledge, removing the weed of Shastras!
Subramania Bhsrati claims himself to be a Siddha.
“Many
were the Siddhars before me;
I
also came as a Siddha in this land.”
says Bharati. The Tamil Siddhars are
avidly read and sung, both by the learned scholars and the ordinary folk. Their
songs are surcharged with deep thoughts, philosophic,
reformist, revolutionary and a score more. What is the impact of the Siddhars on Bharati? It may turn
out to be a fruitful and fascinating study. Is Bharati
a Vedantin? Is Bharati a Siddhantin? Or is Bharati a
bridge between Vedanta and Siddhanta, here Saiva Siddhanta, as the illustrious
Taayumaanavar?