When you mention the great Tamil poet Mahakavi Subramania Bharathi just as ‘Subramanian’, without his title ‘Bharathi’, which means Goddess Saraswathy, no one can figure out that you are referring to the famed bard. It is the title ‘Bharathi’ that brings in front of our eyes the poet with his broad eyes and twirled mustache in his black coat and turban. Above all, it is a feather in our cap to know that the title ‘Bharathi’ was conferred on him by a Coimbatorean!
When you mention the great Tamil poet Mahakavi Subramania Bharathi just as ‘Subramanian’, without his title ‘Bharathi’, which means Goddess Saraswathy, no one can figure out that you are referring to the famed bard. It is the title ‘Bharathi’ that brings in front of our eyes the poet with his broad eyes and twirled mustache in his black coat and turban. Above all, it is a feather in our cap to know that the title ‘Bharathi’ was conferred on him by a Coimbatorean!
“At Ettayapuram in 1893, a man, who was an exponent of Siddha medicine and yoga, stumbled upon two boys playing on a street. He asked them a few questions and was surprised at their astounding answering skills. The same evening he conducted a competition for composing Nerisai venba, the most complicated four-lined conventional poem in the traditional metre at the home of one Guruguhadasapillai. While all the participants in the poetry competition were still awaiting the muse, the two boys, whom he had met on the street that morning, were quick in composing the venbas and showed them to him.
Amazed at the talent of the two eleven-year-old boys, the man asked their names. They told him their names as Subramanian and Somasundaram. On their victory in the poetry competition, the man honoured the duo with the title ‘Bharathi’ and announced in the hall that the boys would henceforth be called as ‘Subramania Bharathi’ and ‘Somasundara Bharathi’ “says Pulavar Senthalai. Na. Gowthaman, the noted Tamil scholar of Coimbatore and author of several books on Coimbatore history including Sulur Varalaru.
“Many wonder about the connection between Coimbatore and Subramania Bharathi. And here is the answer. The man who honoured the boy Subramanian with the title ‘Bharathi’ was Viruthai Sivangnana Yogi. Though Yogi went to Virudhunagar and settled there at a later time, he hailed from Avinashi, in the then undivided Coimbatore district”
Similarly, Coimbatore has many credits to the mission of Mahakavi Subramania Bharati.
“Subramania Bharathi’s famed poem Engal Thamizh Mozhi Engal Thamizh Mozhi… was, for the first time, videocast in the 1935 Tamil film Menaka. The box office hit, which was shot in the then Bombay, was produced by Shanmuganantha Talkies, a film production company run by M.Somasundaram and S K Moideen of Tirupur in the then Coimbatore district. Also, the prose works of Bharathi were, for the first time, collected and compiled by Periyasaami Thooran from Coimbatore, who was the editor of the ten-volume encyclopedia Tamil Kalaikanjiyam. Thooran published Bharathi’s prose works on the title Bharati Thamizh “informed Gowthaman.
Gowthaman also cites that Velupillai, a history enthusiast from Coimbatore, discovered a rare picture shot in 1949 at Gopal Bagh in Coimbatore. The picture, which was shot on September 11 Bharathi’s death anniversary, portrays eminent personalities including DMK founder and former Tamil Nadu chief minister C N Annadurai and poet Bharathidasan with the daughter and grandchildren of Subramania Bharathi. The photo also depicts Diwan Bahadur C S Rathinasabapathy Mudaliar, the Municipal Chairman of Coimbatore, PSG Venkatasamy Naidu, one of the founders of PSG Institutions, and Kovai Kizhar CM Ramachandran Chettiar, the first historian of Coimbatore.