SaamiPazhaniappan-In The Footsteps of Bharatidasan
Bharatiar and Bharatidasan have played a predominant role in the development of modern Tamil poetry.Bharatiar, the morning star of modern Tamil poetry, dedicated his poetic career for the emancipation of the society from poverty, ignorance, casteism, superstition and untouchability. Emancipation of Dalits and emancipation of women were more important for him than the political freedom. When he envisaged the freedom of
‘Bharatidasan, together with his senior contemporary and mentor Subramania Bharati, resuscitated the art of Tamil poetry in the twentieth century when it had become decadent and was almost in its deathtraps.”says Marudanayagam in his Introduction to the English translation of Bharatidasan’s poems
Even though it is a little bit exaggeration, his comparison of the two great poets is apt and unbiased.
“If the master destined to live a short but eventful life, focussed his attention on arousing the patriotic feelings of his countrymen through his poems during the pre-independence days, besides breathing a new life into a language that had been put to constant poetic use for an incredibly long period of more than twenty centuries, the disciple, blessed with a full life, could attend to all the other social needs after the country won its freedom and show the world that Tamil, which flourished during the Sangam period,continues to be an astonishingly rich medium for poems on a vast variety of themes demanded by modern age.”
An in-depth analysis of Bharatiar’s poems will show his keen desire for social emancipation in all aspects.
In Bharatidasan we get a complete switchover to a radical and rational approach. Poetry in his hand turned as a powerful weapon to fight casteism, religious fundamentalism, conservative determinism, sexism and many more social evils under whose grip not only Tamilnadu but the whole Indian subcontinent suffered a lot for many centuries.
Poet SaamiPazhaniappan is one among the prime disciples of Bharatidasan.SaamiPazhaniappan closely associated himself with the Blackshirt movement of Periyar E.V.R.
E.V.R. may be described as Mahatma Phule of SouthIndia.Ambedkar described Periyar E.V.R. as ‘a crusader in the fight against Un-Touchability, casteism and religious fundamentalism’.
SaamiPazhaniappan condemned the evils of communalism and casteism through his poems adhering to the revolutionary path of E.V.R.
Among the poets who belong to the
When we attained freedom -even at that time had genuine doubts about the freedom, which we have got after a long struggle. With so much castes and religious fanaticism, it is impossible to stand united, thought
SaamiPazhaniappan.
He declared that a freedom that we receive when we are divided by castes and religions is meaningless.
When the people are intoxicated
With castes and religions
Who wants this Independenc
Which is nearing in an
Unjustified and illegal way?
For whom this independence is meant?
Is it meant for us or for
Those aliens who want to exploit us?
Through these lines he expresses his angst and anguish over the exploitation of the poor.
For him political independence alone is not a salvation. Economic independence and social justice are the prime concerns for him, as he belongs to the Periyar’s social movement.
