Bharathi writings and practice of caste
Kathiravan
Sam Sankaran passionately tried to portray
Bharathi as having revolutionary view of the Indian
society.
His writing and some life-time incidents point
to his casteist leanings that are quite contradictory
to the sterilised views on Bharathi held by SS.
The posts will also bring out Bharathi as a poet
and not quite the sterlised icon that some of
his Bhaktas seem to project.
SS has not commented on many points of my post.
I did not threaten as he quoted. I do not have time
to post now BUT I shall post evidences. Bharathi is
simply a poet with contradicting views and practice.
Some of the points that will be touched later are
his rather non-Tamil outlook on caste and society,
(supporting the four Varna system)
non-secular Hindutva blabberings in his essays
VV's thesis here is Bharathi's writings lean strongly
towards supporting the Brahmanical caste
system.
I append my post on Bharathi again:
-------------------------------------
Bharathi's practice and writings on caste.
[Translated and edited by kathiravan from
Valaja Vallavan's Article in Sintahnaiyalan]
sAthikaL illaiyadip paappa
There are no castes! Oh little one.
-Bharathi
This is what is in the collection
of Bharathi's poems that most of us know
in school. In another place he
says, `eenap paRaiyanukkum viduthalai'.
Literally meaning ` freedom for
even the `lowly' paRaiyar caste people
Bharathi did consider some
people lowly. More of that in his real
life and in other writings.
Dr. Nair addressed a gathering in
Panchamar Conference in Chennai, ezhumpUr
He had addressed the
discrimination in the caste system of brahmanism.
[date 7.10.1917]. He had severely criticized brahmins
in his speech.
Bharathi who is in Pondicherry writes about
this:
``chennaip pattinathil nAyar kashik koottam onRil
paRaiyarai vittu iRaNdu moonRu paarpanarai adikkum
padiyAkap paththirikkaikaLil vaasiththOm'' [pArathiyAr
katturaikaL. vAnathi pathippakam pakkam 395]
He comments on the distorted version of
Dr. Nair's speech. ``ennadA ithu! hindu tharmaththin
pakiraNGka virOthikaL paRaiyaraik koNdu piraamaNarai
adikkum padi seyyum varai sennaip pattinaththu
hindukkaL paarththuk koNdirunthirukkiRaarkaL!
adE!............''[paarathi katturaikaL-pakkam 394]
[Comments: How come some Indians become
`pakiraNGka virOthikaL' of `Brahmanical
Tharma']
Bharathi has written stories. He has expressed
his love for brahmana caste system and more on
having the identity for brahmanas. Fine. But it
contradicts `saathikaL illaiyadi...''. in one
of his stories [paarathi puthaiyal perunthirattu]
he talks about a brahmin male who goes abroad
and marries a white woman. [Ramachandra Aiyar
and Mary Goodrich]. Mary Goodrich comes back
and starts wearing `madisaar' and also changes
her name to shIta thEvi. The brahmins want to
purify RA's identity that got `lost' as a result
of leaving the shores and marrying a non-brahmana
woman. The ritual is performed by maashA boop
theeshithar.
`ipraamhaNa mamathEvathA' [Brahmin is my
God] enRu sree manth naaraayaNanE sollukiRaar;
appadi irukkaiyil yaarum piramaNap pathaviyilirunthu
nazhavak koodaathu. nazhuvinaal maRupadiyum sErththu
koLLa vENdum''
In this story Rs. 50,000 is spent [ipraaya
chchiththam] to convert the brahmin who `lost'
his identity and caste.
The last story that Bharathi started to
write was, ``chandrikaiyin kathai'. He died
before he could complete the story. In this
story a brahmin boy Gopal Aiyangkar falls in
love with Meenatchi, Kuppusamy Konar [cowherds
] daughter. The boy comes and asks for Konar's
consent to wed Minatchi. Konar says, ``I will
accumulate sin by consenting for this wedding
of a Sudra and a Brahmin boy. I cannot accept
this.' Gopal Aiyankar who listen's to Konar
replies, `True brahmin can not only wed a
brahmin girl BUT also marry from any of
the four castes'. Gopal adds, `If you have
any doubt about what I am saying I have
Manu Smirthi in Tamil. I shall show you the
text. You read it yourself'. [paarathiyaar
kathaikaL p. 219].
Bharathi seeks the support of Manu Neethi
to convey that a Brahmin boy can marry from
any other caste. But did Bharathi really believe
himself personally in a brahmin girl marrying
a Sudra boy. He seemed to have some reservations
about it.
During Bharathi's stay in Kadayam (Pondicheri),
Bharathi and Narayanan Pillai [his friend]
were talking about mixed marriages. NP
asks in the spur of the moment, ``Bharathi!
We have been mutually good friends. Can I
propose a wedding between your daughter
Sakunthala Pappa and my son.'' Bharathi
gets mad. `If you really want to encourage
whole heartedly mixed-marriages then find
a Sakkili girl to marry him. Then we can
talk about pAppA's wedding'. Pillai and
Bharathi had heated exchanges and Bharathi
hastily left for his house and reached his
place by 11.00 am.
Bharathi is sitting in front of his house
and comes across a Archakar whose wife is
living with Mr Pillai after Pillai became
a widower. . Bharathi slaps the Archakar
on his face and has a strong word or two for the Archakar.
Archakar complains to NP. NP gets mad,
sends a servant to call Bharathi's bro-in-law,
Appadurai. and warns, ``If Bharathi does not
vacate the place by night he has to face my
wrath'.
Bharathi gets the message, packs everything
and leaves for Chennai with his family. He
does not even wait for 4.00 am Trivananthapuram
Express and chooses a slower Senkottai passenger
rail in hate at 2.30 am.
The news of Bharathi leaving Pondicherry
is sent to `Mithran' Editor A. Rangaswamy Aiyankar
and Judge and friend Durai Samy Aiyer. [ Bharathi'
s life history in Tamil R.A. Padmanabhan]
.........will continue...................
Sankaran, Sam
In <53mtfg$c...@bmerhc5e.bnr.ca> kkri...@bnr.ca writes:
It is not my intent to comment on each and
everyone of kkrishna's posts. But I 'll just
make a couple of remarks on selected passages
from kk's most recent post. The rest of his
post is deleted.
>
>
> Sam Sankaran passionately tried to portray
> Bharathi as having revolutionary view of the Indian
> society.
> His writing and some life-time incidents point
> to his casteist leanings that are quite contradictory
> to the sterilised views on Bharathi held by SS.
> The posts will also bring out Bharathi as a poet
> and not quite the sterlised icon that some of
> his Bhaktas seem to project.
The repeated use of "sterilised" makes
no sense. Maybe the English language is
to blame. However, in my posting in reply
to prabAharan's I specifically said that
bArathi is admired, revered by some, primarily
as an original poet and thinker. Where is
raising him to the level of an icon here,
especially by a person like me with
iconoclastic views?
>
> SS has not commented on many points of my post.
> I did not threaten as he quoted. I do not have time
> to post now BUT I shall post evidences. Bharathi is
Awaiting with bated breath!
> simply a poet with contradicting views and practice.
>
>
> I append my post on Bharathi again:
>
> -------------------------------------
> Bharathi's practice and writings on caste.
>
> [Translated and edited by kathiravan from
> Valaja Vallavan's Article in Sintahnaiyalan]
>
> During Bharathi's stay in Kadayam (Pondicheri),
kadayam (pANdichERi)?
Maybe those who hail from pANdicheri can
set my confused mind staright. Is there a
kadayam in pANdicheri? The kadayam where bArathi
stayed with his family for a short while
after his return to British India, is in
thamizh n^Adu, in thirun^elvEli jillA.
At least, it still was when I last checked.
Has someone arbitrarily moved it to pANdichEri?
If not, how much credibility can we assign to
a person who would take such liberties with
EASILY VERIFIABLE FACTS?
> Bharathi and Narayanan Pillai [his friend]
> were talking about mixed marriages. NP
NOT opinionated, but just having and expressing opinions
for which I am solely responsible.
Swaminathan SANKARAN
Telephone: (306) 585-4988
FAX: (306) 585-4805
M.Ranganathan
In article <53r2ta$n...@sue.cc.uregina.ca>,
Sankaran, Sam <SANK...@Meena.CC.URegina.CA> wrote:
>In <53mtfg$c...@bmerhc5e.bnr.ca> kkri...@bnr.ca writes:
>
>It is not my intent to comment on each and
>everyone of kkrishna's posts. But I 'll just
Aha! But it is mine !
Where are you hiding Kathirist - you Brahminist Mariammanist
Tamilist ? Get those fangs out. Dont be shy.
Brahminically yours,
Ranga.