Subramaniya Bharathiyar:
Vice-President recently paid homage to Subramania Bharati to mark the death centenary of the poet and freedom fighter.
About Subramaniya Bharathi:
- Born on 11th December 1882, in Ettayapuram village of Tirunelveli District in Tamil Nadu.
- He was a poet, freedom fighter and social reformer from Tamil Nadu.
- He was known as Mahakavi Bharathiyar.
- His songs on nationalism and freedom of India helped to rally the masses to support the Indian Independence Movement in Tamil Nadu.
- Literary works: “Kannan Pattu” “Nilavum Vanminum Katrum” “Panchali Sabatam” “Kuyil Pattu”.
- He published the sensational “Sudesa Geethangal” in 1908.
- Sometime in mid-1908, Bharati began to serialise Gnanaratham in his political weekly, India.
- In 1949, he became the first poet whose works were nationalised by the state government.
- He was against caste system. He declared that there were only two castes-men and women and nothing more than that. Above all, he himself had removed his sacred thread.
- He condemned certain Shastras that denigrated women. He believed in the equality of humankind and criticised many preachers for mixing their personal prejudices while teaching the Gita and the Vedas.