Thanks Yadu..
Now you are making this thread very personal.
With Dwarki also joining we will have the "Parade of Bharathy" led by the expert GOL (Grand Old Lady) in our travel through the Memory Lanes!

Yadugiri,
Thanks!
What I did was, photocopy all of your mAmiyAr's (Ranganayaki)'s book which you gave me, and I brought the new copy with me. I was confident to handle the one printed on sturdy paper while translating. That's how I did the first skit.

As for Yadugiri's manuscript papers that you gave me, I did not want to bring them with the pages being so fragile to handle. I merely brought the few pages in which she writes about the elephant hurting Bharathi, which was put up here earlier. No, I had no chance to know about the mixed-up pages! We can sit together in Bengaluru when I'm there and sort it out. Your pATTi Yadugiri says in Bharathi NinaivugaL that she got a letter from her father, bearing the sad news--which you will see in the translation.

Take your time, but go through the other threads on Bharathi also, where we have material from many sources. With Dwaraki and others, you can check facts about the Mandayam family and correct them if they are wrong. After all, these are word-of-mouth accounts and may need checking.

paramugam ennamma.??

you are aware that rasikas are waiting for further installments of the life story of Barathi...you are silent for the last ten days now..
Have you come to Bangaloru...as indicated in your last post..??

Summer is precious time to spend with friends and family.
Rasikas should be patient...

Editor of indiA
...........................

After meeting Niveditha Devi, Bharathi returned to Chennai with renewed spirit.

peTRa thAyum piRanda ponnADum
naTRava vAnilum thanich chiRandanavE!
One's own mother and the land of one's birth are greater than heaven attained by arduous penance.

Bharathi was steeped in such thoughts. While those around him worshipped different gods, this jewel of a poet worshipped BhAratha MAthA in everything that he beheld.
"You have to focus your mind on the image of Mother India in shackles. Then you will be inspired to remove her from the chains of slavery", was Niveditha's message which reverberated in his heart.

In 1906, the National Congress met at Calcutta. Dadabai Nauroji who presided over it gave a rousing speech. "Freedom is our goal!", he roared.
As an editor at SvadEsa Mithran, Bharathi found it very frustrating that he could not express his intense feelings and opinions in fiery words about the political scene. He did not have a chance to write editorials. He was in charge of Chakravarthini, the monthly for women where current political affairs were not discussed.
The partition of Bengal, the svadESi movement and the longing for freedom had started flooding the consciousness of the people of India. A desire for doing away with the state of slavery and to obtain self-government was spreading all across the country.
Bharathi was keen that a thamizh language paper should be started to convey all these stirrings to the people of thamizh nADu in simple but eloquent thamizh. Bharathi was penniless. How could he start a newspaper? As if to answer his prayers, a new thamizh paper was born.
Like manna from heaven, IndiA fell into Bharathi's hands.
A wealthy man from TiruvallikkENi called Thirumalachari was running BrahmavAdin, a monthly. The publisher, Azhagia singapperumal started wondering if a spiritual monthly was an effective vehicle for stirring nationalistic feelings in thamizh nADu. It was then decided that a thamizh newspaper should be started to serve this purpose which made Thirumalachar go in search of a printing machine.
Bharathi arrived on the scene at the right moment. Here was just the man for the job with his experience in editing. Needless to say, he possessed such immense talent for writing.
* * *

IndiA, the Renaissance Newspaper
..........................................

Bharathi was given complete freedom in editing indiA. Nothing stopped him from expressing his own opinions on the political scene. The depth of his thoughts coupled with his idealism for the golden past of thamizh nADu were reflected in his writings. His vibrant words conveyed the impact of the political drama which unfolded every day in the nation. Because of his love for music and in his being a poet and singer, words came out of Bharathi's pen with lyrical beauty and majesty.

Sri.Sri. Acharya describes the beginnings of indiA this way:
The news weekly was started on May 8th, 1906. The managing editor was M.P. Thirumalachar. He went to Europe and to the USA to spread the word about the indian nationals. He married a russian woman and returned to India after it gained independence, and lived in Mumbai. When his wife died, he was broken-hearted, fell into poverty and died in 1953.

As for the newspaper, it was printed on half crown size (15"x10') paper with sixteen pages and was sold for nine old paise in Chennai and for an anna elsewhere.
M. Srinivasan was given credit as its editor for legal reasons.

The front page carried a large political cartoon. Making a block out of a photograph was not possible in those days. The caricaturist had to etch the cartoon on a tin plate under the keen eye of Bharathi who would even act out the poses in which he wanted the characters to be drawn!

Along with his articles, Bharathi's poems and stories were also published in indiA. His gnAna ratham was serialized in the paper.
indiA came out in a larger size from June 13, 1908. Four thousand copies were sold each week--which was an impressive number then. Thamizh and islamic dates were printed on it, not the dates of the english calendar.
The yearly subscription including postage was three rupees. Advertising rates were forty rupees for a full page ad appearing in four issues, and small ads were an anna a line.
* * *

Sorry folks (VKailasam in particular) for not posting recently. Could not find time to sit down and type amid a flurry of activities.
Please feel free to correct me and to interpret the verses in a better way than I do, as we move along. Thanks...

Nice to see you back in spite of busy schedule!
It will be nice to see some of the pages of those publications.
I wonder whether they have been archived in some libraries! ?PB
Can somebody track down the descendants of Thirumalachar?

Check the date line in:-
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zS2JDRBdNzk/TIr6M-4ykQI/AAAAAAAACSw/Z_MV2FuWtLY/s1600/270610+033.jpg

PB to the rescue!
Yes, the english date is there in the earlier versions. I have edited the content to say it. It is the latter editions which did not carry it when indiA was published in a larger size--from June 13 1908, to be exact.

Unfortunately Dadabai Nauroji did not roar, 'Freedom is our goal!'
He merely asked for 'Swaraj' -- self-government of the UK type or of the colonies, under the control of the British!

The demand for 'Purna Swaraj' came much later.

---------
Mods: You may delete my posts, if you consider them undesirable.

PB,
"Freedom is our goal!" meant, our ultimate goal, perhaps
I'm just translating from the material I have.
Here are the exact words of the author (rA. a. Padmanabhan): mudu perundalaivar dAdA bAi naurOji agrAsanap padaviyilirundu suya rAjyamE namadu ilaTchiyam ena muzhanginAr.

svarAj, suya rAjyam were words which also were substituted with svatantrA, sudandiram. We did not use the word pUrNa sudandiram in every day speech. enRu thaNiyum inda sudandira dAgam, sang the poet. What did he mean by that, given the date when he composed it? The same with the word viDudalai. Yes, Dadabai was not Bala Gangadhar Tilak!

Dadabai used the word ‘Swaraj’ and explained its meaning in English as ‘self-government under British rule’. Dadabai passed away, and other leaders had to struggle with the expression ‘Swaraj’ which unfortunately did not convey the meaning ‘Freedom’. Years later, they had to coin ‘Purna-Swaraj’ to mean ‘Freedom from foreign rule'. All these were at the highest political level. For the common man ‘swaraj’ was freedom and ‘purna swaraj’ was complete freedom.

Now we are playing with three languages – Hindi, English and Tamil ! Dadabai used Hindi ‘Swaraj’ to mean ‘self-government under British rule'. Our RAP quoted it faithfully as ‘Suya Rajyam’. His Tamil expression is now translated as ‘Freedom’, though Dadabai had to struggle explaining to other leaders that he did not mean freedom, but only self-government under the British !

Let us move on with the story of Bharati as told by RAP.

Even Gandhiji supported 'self-rule' under the british crown (Dominion status) till the Quit India Movement of 1942...

This summer is turning out to be busier than usual for me. I realize that to find some quiet time and to concentrate on the translation is not going to be easy.
Sorry for the delay, but I do see a solution to this. We have a number of forumites who are capable of continuing where I have left off. Just look at the stable of poets we have! A scholar/poet/translator of french poetry--Ponbhairavi! Pratyaksham Bala, another gentleman from Bharathi's Puduvai! CML, Ganeshkanth, Vkailasam, Punarvasu, Rajani, sridhar and several more. Ravi (Shankar) has very little time, after all the work he does with the lyrics.
I'd be happy to send a copy of the the pages of Chithra Bharathi to the one who volunteers to take it from here. As the Puduvai chapters are in progress, I will bring in the interview and photos of the Mandayam family. When things slow down a bit at home, I'm more than willing to finish the translation, if the one who volunteers runs out of time for it.
I do feel that we should somehow continue the translation. Of all the people, we don't want to keep Bharathi waiting!

I am not a poet or a literarily endowed person, but if no one else volunteers, I would like to give it a try.
Regards.

Arasi, I would love to take up some of the translation work after July 25th. I have 3+ weeks of hectic schedule ahead at work including 2 weeks of travel to/within India. Do please feel free to pass the baton to any others you think fit meanwhile - Shri. Chellappa has been kind enough to volunteer already.

kvchellappa and Sridhar,
Thanks for volunteering! Let's wait for a few more days and see if others are keen on sharing the work. Then, the rest of the pages can be divided among you and the translation of the whole volume can be completed in no time at all!

I am half way through in my next book on 20th century french literature and sorry i have no time for any other commitment.
rajagopalan

Rsachi v requested for link to my blog where the translation by arasi "Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet"

is available...The link is provided here so that others who are interested in can also view and read...

http://e-swari.blogspot.in/2011/07/oy-b ... to-12.html
http://e-swari.blogspot.in/2011/07/oy-b ... 13-26.html
http://e-swari.blogspot.in/2011/07/barathiyar-yaar.html
"Barathi yaar"
(contains views of various personalities,articles etc.)


Daily about 60-70 viewers read the above threads...

To day there was an interview of Shri Vijay Siva about Smt. DK Pattammal...in podhigai TV..

In the course of the interview,he mentioned an incident during a concert by her..
She was singing a Barathi composition..at the end, she saw a woman standing in a corner who was shedding tears..
Smt DKP called her near and asked her as to why she was crying..
She replied that she was his wife chellammal..She said that Pattammal was singing it in the same spirit in which it was composed by her husband..
and that brought tears in her eyes...

Historic... and Touching...
It was MS, DKP and MKT who brought Bharathy to the masses!

Just saw this.
Pattamma had a heart of gold. She could not bear to see a tear in anyone's eyes, for that matter!
Yes, it was a touching moment. Chellamma would have loved listening to Pattamma voicing her husband's memorable lines which was heard from every corner tea shop and AIR. Thanks to AVM's film nAmiruvar (We Two) which, along with Kamala's dances introduced Bharathi's songs to cities and villages alike in a big way...

eTTu dikkum eTTa koTTumuraSE....after all!

The Congress which ended in Chaos
In July 1906, Swami Abhedananda paid a visit to Chennai. As a disciple of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and colleague of Vivekanannda, he was accorded a royal reception in Chennai.
“Just a grand reception will not do, we should follow his teachings also. We should abide by the courage and spirit of unity that he is advocating,” pleaded Bharathi. He also composed a song in praise of Abhedananda.

Next year in 1907, Bharathi got up arrangements to invite to Chennai Vipin Chandra Pal, a fierce orator who was likened to a volcano. He proceeded to Vijayawada to welcome Pal and escorted him to Chennai.

At this time another hard-line leader, Lala Lajpat Rai, was constrained to live in Burma on exile. In the province of Chennai, V.U. Chidambaram Pillai and Subramania Siva were accused of treason and convicted.

“The placid outlook of Chennai-ites flew away in the very presence of Vipin Chandra Pal,” noted Bharathi. The songs, ‘Lajapat Rai Pralapam’ and ‘Lajpat Rai Thuthi’ were born at this time.

At this juncture, Congress session was to be held in Surat in Dec. 1907. In this Congress session, the hard-liners planned and tried to wrest the Congress from the hold of the moderates.

Bharathi announced the plan to take the hard-line representatives in a reserved railway coach and appealed to them to register their names. He sent a telegram to the Tuticorin lawyer, V.U.Chidambaram Pillai to go over to Chennai. ‘Chennai Jana Sangam’, the set-up of hard-liners, met and discussed.

V.U.C. has mentioned in his memoirs on Bharathi, “Bharathi Mama said that we should take a contingent of not less than a hundred representatives to Surat. .. We sent a telegram to Tilak that we would bring a hundred representatives.”
The plan was that Mandya Srinivasacharya and V.U.C. would defray the expenses of the delegates who could not afford the journey.
The response from the youth was overwhelming that they had to book two carriages instead of one for the journey. The youth of Chennai reached Surat in two days.

In Surat, the moderates also had come with their entourage. The efforts for conciliation between the two groups did not fructify.
Trouble broke out on the very first agenda item of the session. No sooner was the name of Rash Behari Ghosh proposed for the president of the session by the moderates than Tilak jumped on his feet and raised objection. The moderates shouted, ‘Don’t talk. Go to your seat.’ Tilak stood his ground.

In the meantime, Rash Behari Ghosh took the podium and started to read his presidential address. Shouts arose from the hardliners, “You are not yet elected the president. Do not read.” Confusion abounded. Arguments strengthened. Fisticuffs ensued. Chairs flew. A pair of Maharashtrian red footwear also flew in the sky! The Chennai delegates encircled Tilak as a fortress.
Rajaji, who had gone to Surat, recalls, “When the pandemonium was in progress, Bharathiyar was watching the fun from afar with G.A.Natesan.”
Police came on the scene to quell the riot. The session was postponed. The hard-liners did not approve of it. They held a ‘national conference’ under the leadership of Arvind Ghosh.

Bharathiyar published on return to Chennai a pamphlet titled, ‘Our Congress Journey’. Sri S.G.Ramanujulu, an editor of those days, has said that the pamphlet was sold for just two annas and that a booklet of Tilak’s speech was also released called, ‘Tenets of the new party’.