Book on battle for Bharathi’s rights launched

[Wilhelm]

“His books have always been cheap and affordable, why? These are ideas that get into your mind, evolve over a period of time and you try to understand why is it so,” said Professor A. R. Venkatachalapathy during the launch of his book ‘Who Owns that Song? The Battle for Subramania Bharati’s Copyright’ at Madras Institute of Development Studies in Chennai on Tuesday.

Despite being a popular Tamil poet, the renowned poet remains not so well-known even amongst intellectuals outside Tamil Nadu, the professor said in conversation with the former Governor of West Bengal, Gopalkrishna Gandhi.

Talking about how he relates Bharathi to readers outside Tamil Nadu, he said, “In this book, I first introduce him by pointing out his connections outside Tamil Nadu — how he translated Tagore, how he was inspired by Sister Nivedita, what he said about Vivekananda etc.”

The book, which tells the story of how his works were eventually nationalised, also talks about the crucial role played by Omandur Reddiar, former Premier of Madras Presidency, Avinasalingam Chettiar, who served as the Education Minister in his Cabinet and theatre personality T. K. Shanmugam.

Stating that poet Bharathi was well aware of the problems faced by writers even in the early 20th century, Mr. Venkatachalapathy said, “In 1916, in a long essay titled ‘Noolasiriyar Padum Paadu’ in Swadesamitran, he wrote about the difficulties of being a writer in Tamil Nadu. He wrote about how authors are having a tough time because the book trade has not developed in Tamil Nadu. Only those who write trash novels make some money. He [Bharathi] said that if good publishers find good authors and publish good manuscripts, it will be good for authors. Nobody had this kind of idea."

Speaking about his method of writing, Mr. Venkatachalapathy said, “To fellow historians, craft is what keeps the historian going... the search for documents and questions. For me, it is a very creative process.”