The Magic of Translation (Part I): The International Booker Prize for a Hindi Novel
C. Subramania Bharati: 100 Years of Revolution
The International Booker Prize is a prestigious award given to the author of a novel originally written in a language other than English and translated into English. It is a companion to the Booker prize for English-language novels. In 2022, the prize was awarded, for the first time, to a novel originally in an Indian language. The language was Hindi, and the novel was Tomb of Sand, written by Gitanjali Shree and translated by Daisy Rockwell. This episode examines the status of literature in India's national languages over the past century, since Bharati's time,and considers the role...
info_outline
The Siddha and the Superman
C. Subramania Bharati: 100 Years of Revolution
Bharati was deeply troubled by the apparent disintegration of moral values that characterized his times, affecting both colonized and colonial societies. He found himself perpetually searching for alternative ideals - sources of integrity and optimism - within the Indian philosophical traditions that he studied so deeply, with their rich and long histories. The breadth and depth of his reading and research are reflected in the essay "The Siddha & the Superman," first published in 1915, which is discussed in this episode. Bharati had not only read Nietzsche, but he had also reflected deeply...
info_outline
Poet of Womankind
C. Subramania Bharati: 100 Years of Revolution
Bharati is well-known as a champion of women's rights, but his impassioned advocacy for women's freedom transcends much of the usual discussion surrounding women's equality. Instead, Bharati saw women as the social superiors of men - engaged in the task of civilizing man through her masterful absorption and development of stories and symbols. "Where woman comes, comes Art," he writes, a stirring and provocative assertion that places him at odds with all those who have tried to minimize women's contributions to civilization or argued against women's capacity for artistic and intellectual life....
info_outline
Bharati: India's National Bard
C. Subramania Bharati: 100 Years of Revolution
This episode continues the discussion of Bharati's biography from another angle - exploring how the poet is seen by Indians from other parts of the country, for whom access to Bharati's works in Tamil presents a fascinating challenge. Notwithstanding the language barrier, it is a triumph of Indian diversity that Bharati has come to be known as India's "National Bard." This delightful title was first proposed by Mohit Gupta when he organized the original presentation on which the episode is based on behalf of the Ministry of Culture, Government of India. The presentation was part of the...
info_outline
Bharati's Life
C. Subramania Bharati: 100 Years of Revolution
On December 11, 2021, C. Subramania Bharati's 139th birth anniversary, I spoke to Storytrails, an Indian company seeking to share stories of India's culture and history. "India exists in her stories," they write. We discuss the story of Bharati's life, a man who has become a Tamil and Indian legend, trying to separate fact from fiction while celebrating his legacy. The first in a series of episodes exploring Bharati's life this January. Happy Pongal, and happy Tamil Heritage Month to my fellow Canadians!
info_outline
Unknown Warriors
C. Subramania Bharati: 100 Years of Revolution
In his short life, Bharati had to live through the first great disaster of the twentieth century: World War I. In a powerfully moving essay, "India and the War," Bharati throws his support behind the British, approving India's contributions to the War at a time when Independence seemed imminent. This episode explores his reasons for doing so. It is dedicated to reminding the world of the sacrifices of Indians - and of those from other former European colonies - through Bharati's contemporary words.
info_outline
"Equal Among the Servants of the Lord"
C. Subramania Bharati: 100 Years of Revolution
As India celebrates its festival of lights - Diwali or Deepavali - this episode examines Bharati's views on religion. As the poet explains in his essay called "Patriotism and Religious Differences," diversity of religious belief supports a healthy society. Dogmatism and homogeneity should be avoided, he argues, both for the good of society and for the sake of individual development. Bharati reveals himself as an individualist and a humanist, advocating for something far richer than tolerance: diversity.
info_outline
The Nobel Prize in Literature
C. Subramania Bharati: 100 Years of Revolution
The award of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature to Abdulrazak Gurnah, a writer from East Africa writing in English about the aftermath of colonialism, invokes Bharati's own "Reflections" on the first Asian winner and India's only laureate in literature: Rabindranath Tagore. Bharati writes of Tagore's travel to Japan and exhorts the Indian press to do more to publicize the exploits of great Indians. As genius becomes known, greatness stands ready to emerge - a novel, refreshing idea for our own jaded times.
info_outline
The Jewel in the Crown
C. Subramania Bharati: 100 Years of Revolution
This episode challenges romanticized notions of British rule in India with the eyewitness account offered by Bharati in his extended essay, "The Political Evolution in the Madras Presidency." It is a stunning narrative of the reality of colonialism in South India - a story that demands a fresh hearing in our time of reckoning with injustice. Bharati dwells on the chilling hypocrisy of the British government, which claims free speech as a core British value while denying it to their own colonial subjects.
info_outline
The National Movement
C. Subramania Bharati: 100 Years of Revolution
This episode introduces Bharati's writing on the Indian national movement. His perspective as a freedom fighter from India's South is uniquely valuable to us today. Historical narratives have focused on key political figures from the North, while the story of the freedom struggle in other parts of India has been neglected. However, the movement brought together thinkers and creators from across India, and also from Europe, inspiring a modern Indian Renaissance and hopes for a new, post-colonial world order.
info_outlineBharati is well-known as a champion of women's rights, but his impassioned advocacy for women's freedom transcends much of the usual discussion surrounding women's equality. Instead, Bharati saw women as the social superiors of men - engaged in the task of civilizing man through her masterful absorption and development of stories and symbols. "Where woman comes, comes Art," he writes, a stirring and provocative assertion that places him at odds with all those who have tried to minimize women's contributions to civilization or argued against women's capacity for artistic and intellectual life. His perspective on women shows him at his most creative and original. In honor of International Women's Day, this episode explores one of Bharati's most powerful essays on women, originally written in English, aptly entitled "The Place of Woman."