The country witnessed widespread political turmoil in 1908 and a new Press Law banned India , a Tamil weekly which Bharati was associated with.
On hearing that the police were after him, his friends forced him to go to Puducherry. Initially some friends helped him as Bharathi was not able to provide his family two meals .
He was greatly relieved by arrival of Sir Aurobindo in April 1910.
Leaders such Subramania Siva and V.V.S. Iyer took asylum in Puducherry. Both Sri Aurobindo and Bharati were poets, Iyer was well known short story writer. All of them spent many hours on the beach and discussed literature, philosophy and mysticism.
According to professor Siva Madhavan, Bharati himself talked about the house in a poem. On the day, he changed shifted to a bigger and more comfortable house, the house in which he had been staying collapsed in a cyclone.
He describes the house thus:
“There we were yesterday — if still there,
What would have been our lot?
Death came as a wild wind hither —
Wasn’t it the Divine that saved us now?”
Bharati’s second daughter was born in Puducherry when he was reading Sakunthalam and therefore he named her Sakunthala.
Prema Nanda Kumar, a Bharati scholar said, “Bharati was irregular in paying rent, but the owner never troubled him. People in Puducherry loved this poet. He even conducted a sacred thread ceremony for a ‘Harijan’ boy Kanakalingam, all by himself.”
Bharati frequently took children to the sea for bath and played with them on the sands. Inspired by the beauty of moon on the beach, he wrote a song, ‘Chandramati’ and short story on ‘Chandra Theavu’ and a novel titled ‘Chandrikaiyan Kathai.’ Sri Aurobindo guided him to mystic hymns of Vedic seers – ‘Veda Rishikalin Kavithai’ (the poetry of Vedic Rishis) was first attempt at translation and also followed by translations of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras and Bhagavad Gita. His translation Samadhi Patha of Patanjali was highly appreciated by Aurobindo.
Bharati worked as freelance journalist with Arya and Jana Banu edited by Subramania Siva. Chinna Sankaran Kathai , his autobiography, was published in a journal later.
Bharati scholars have not only been amazed at the depth of his literary skills but also the manner he picked the lighter moments of life to write on social malaise. One such instance is when Chellammal, his wife, was cleaning rice in the backyard. She went into the kitchen on some work and Bharati was seated nearby writing an article for Swadesamitran . On her return, Chellammal found most of the rice scattered on the floor and Bharati watching a group of sparrows pecking at the grains.
He addressed his wife’s anger with a verse that has been translated thus:
“Look at these sparrows!
How happy they are.
Pappa Pattu
There are no castes dear!
‘Tis sin to talk of high and low.”
Bharati seems to have been particularly drawn to the ‘pasurams’ or hymns of Peria Alwar who has sung about the childhood of Krishna , that led to a bunch of lyrics collectively known as Kannanpattu . Panchali Sapatham, Pappa Pattu and Kuyil Pattu were written while he was living in the house in this city.
