The poet and the pupil — a story from Ettayapuram

A letter written by Subramania Bharati’s wife Chellamma speaks of the family’s difficult times

A recently discovered letter written by Chellamma, Subramania Bharati’s wife, to a family friend tells the story of a benefactor who helped the poet’s family after his death. Congressman Kamu Reddiyar from Vadhalakarai near Vilathikulam had come to the family’s rescue and provided supplies for 33 years. The letter was written when the monthly rations stopped. Chellamma wrote to Reddiyar, unaware that he was no more.

“The letter is with Kamu Reddiyar’s family. I got a copy from his son Pappuraj,” says M.S. Sekar, 70, an ex-serviceman and classmate of Mr. Pappuraj Reddiyar. Kamu Reddiyar, a Congress president in Kovilpatti, helped Bharathiyar’s family as it was the poet who accommodated him in his house when he joined Raja’s High School in Ettayapuram.

“There was no high school in Vadhalakarai and Kamu Reddiyar’s father took him to Bharathiyar in Ettayapuram. He helped him,” says Mr. Sekar.

The families stayed in touch though the elder Reddiyar returned to farming after completing Class 10. Bharathiyar then moved to Chennai. His family returned to Ettayapuram after his death in 1921. When Kamu Reddiyar called on Chellamma, he saw the family’s distress. “He wanted to gift land but she declined. So he sent farm produce. But that stopped in 1954, when he died. Missing the ration, Chellamma wrote to him,” says Mr. Sekar.

“You promised Koolam (produce) and viragu (firewood). They have not arrived and I am expecting them. Do not forget, and send them. Please bring your children too, I am keen to see them,” says the letter posted in 1954.

Kamu Reddiyar was an ardent Congressman and even donated 200 acres of land to Acharya Vinobha Bhave’s Boodhan Movement. “We still have the records of the donation. Even recently, we surrendered a lot of land under the Land Ceiling Act,” explains P. Aravindan, the grandson of Kamu Reddiyar. Though Bharathiyar’s death anniversary is observed on September 11, scholar Seeni Viswanathan says the actual date is September 12, since he died at 1.30 a.m.

Since there was a confusion about the date, for many years his death anniversary was observed on both days. “During the time of Kalki and Parali Su. Nellaiyappar, the friend of Bharathiyar, it was observed on both the days,” says Mr. Viswanathan, who has compiled all works of Bharathiyar.