My Revered Guru, Bharathiyar

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Puducherri R. Kanagalingam was the disciple of Mahakavi Bharathiyar. He had the good fortune of moving closely with Bharathiyar at various stages of his life. The Dalit, described by many in the history of Bharathiyar, and the Harijan whom Bharathiyar adorned with the Sacred Thread, was none other than Kanagalingam who authored the wonderful book, My Revered Guru, Bharathiyar.

Tamil savant, Thiru. S. Vaiyapuri Pillai praises this book thus : "Every Tamil should read this book, if he wishes to really understand Bharathiyar. He who is ignorant of the wealth of information found in this book, is one who does not know the songs of Bharathiyar"’.

"When we read this book, do words alone "come before our mind’s eye? We too see his revered guru, and like him, we also feel overjoyed. As neither ‘punditry non pedantry obtrudes, we are privileged to -see what is real and true," says P. Sri.

Dr. K. Ramasamy, my esteemed colleague and Deputy Director, CIIL, mooted the idea of translating Thiru.R.Kanagalingam’s Tamil biography of Mahakavi Bharathi, entitled En Gurunathar Bharathiyar into English and Hindi, and publishing it under the auspices of the Institute. Immediately we sat in judgement over it, to explore the feasibility of translating it into these languages. We were struck by the authenticity and sincerity of the author’s voice and we also found that the work was written in a straigtht forward and utterly confessional language and tone, throwing so much light on the life and times of the great poet, and revealing as much about the simple, unsophisticated personality and outlook of the writer who hailed from an oppressed and under-privileged community. We were of the opinion that this biography, as a historical document, as a pictorial record of Bharathi’s daily life, as a vignette of the social, cultural and political life of Tamilnadu, and as an affectionate cameo on Bharathi, the poet and prose writer, political thinker and philosopher, speaker and social reformer, mystic and seer, patriot and prophet, scholar and critic, and selfless lover of humainty, invited a renewed reading, revaluation, and merited translation into English and Hindi, to ensure its appeal to a large cross-section of the reading public.

The Institute found two experts in Dr.R.Ganapathy, former professor of English, Annamalai University, Annamalainagar, and Dr. M. Gnanam, Professor of Hindi, Central Hindi Institute, Regional Centre, Mysore, to do the translation in English and Hindi, respectively. We compliment them for the job so well done and thank them for doing it on time.

We are gratified and are deeply appreciative that the Bharathi National Forum, its distinguished Patron- in-Chief, Thiru G.K.Vasan, Union Minister of State for Statistics and Programme Implementation, its President Thiru G.R. Moopanar, its Secretaries Dr. Sami Thiagarajan and Thiru M. Ramkumar M.A., keenly desired that the translations be published under the auspices of our Institute. We thank them for the privilege and opportunity given to us. We also thank all those at the Institute who were involved heart and soul in the publication of the translation.

Our aim in bringing out these translations will be more than fulfilled, we believe, if more and more readers come forward to read them and know and admire the greatness of Bharathi. May his fame spread far and wide.

Our great poet Bharathi lived at a time, (11.12.1882 - 11.09.1921), when new philosophies and new ideas in politics, economics, social life, literature and in many other fields came into being and were propagated throughout the world and in our own country. The life of this great poet who lived only for thirty nine years was one that became part of our country’s freedom movement and social reformation.

When caste distinctions, even at birth, were dominant in those times, Bharathi, hailing from the so called high caste of Brahmins, hated the very word ‘caste’. To call one ‘high’ or ‘low’ in the name of scriptures was a sin, he declared. He spoke and wrote fearlessly that the Brahmin, who was instrumental in enlightening the Indian race, was solely responsible for the decline of the nation because of his failure to do his duty.

"No scriptures did exist in Tamilnadu. Without fostering scriptures, forgetting those that exist and citing false stories before the ignorant, the Brahmins of Tamilnadu eke out a living". Thus, Bharathi revealed his forceful views.

"Is there a Brahmin like Nandan in this great land?" asked Bharathi fearlessly. His love and affection for those oppressed in society was boundless. The Brahmin’s ‘sacred thread’ displayed on his frame would achieve greatness. This is what Bharathi demonstrated to the world when he made a young Harijan called Kanagalingam, wear the ‘sacred thread’ and happily announced: "From today you are a Brahmin".

Overjoyed by Bharathi blessing him with the ‘sacred thread’, Thiru R. Kanagalingam published in 1947 a book in Tamil, entitled En Gurunathar Bharathiyar. He truthfully wrote in it about his adulation for Bharathi as his Guru, about Bharathi’s love for the downtrodden, about his powerful ideas on their upliftment, about his godly beliefs sans religious fanaticism, and about his views on social reformation.

This book in Tamil based on facts of history was published as a second edition by us, as wished by Thiru GR. Moopanar, President, Baharathi National Forum.

It was desired that Thiru Kanagalingam’s book should be translated and published in Hindi and English with a view to bringing out the greatness of south Indian culture to the north and to the world at large.

To get this done, I approached Dr. K. Ramasamy, Professor cum Deputy Director, Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore. Conscious of the merits of the book and deeming it as certainly worthy of publication, he came forward to help in getting it translated. He secured the services of two experts in the field, namely, Dr. R. Ganapathy, former Professor of English, Annamalai University, Annamalainagar and Dr. M. Gnanam, Professor of Hindi, Central Hindi Institute, Regional Centre, Mysore.

Prof. Udaya Narayana Singh, Director, Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore, offered financial assistance on behalf of the Institute for bringing out the translations and showed keen interest in publishing them. My profuse thanks are due to these two distinguished gentlemen, Prof. Udaya Narayana Singh and Prof. K. Ramasamy.

Thiru G.K.Vasan, Patron-in-Chief, Bharathi National Forum and Union Minister of State for Statistics and Programme Implementation, and Thiru, GR. Moopanar, President, Bharathi National Forum, evinced keen interest m the publication of the work in Hindi and English. I am extremely grateful to them for all the encouragement.

My thanks are also due to the Members of the Fxecutive Committee, to Thiru Senthilnathan and to those of the Press for getting the book printed.

I place on record my thanks and appreciations to Prof. R. Ganapathy and Prof. M. Gnanam for their accepting to do the translation and doing it so well.