Mills & Bharathiyar

Muthamittu, pala muthamittu, pala muthamittu unai serndhida vandhen.
With kisses, and more kisses, and more kisses, I revel in our union.

The above line is from Bharathiyar's Vallipaatu. I say, off with his head! I have come here, not to praise him, but to kill him.

Bharathiyar is a love-struck young man who was never able to find his soulmate. He grew up on Shelley! What else can you expect from a man like that? A sissy of the highest order!

He has, of course, given a lot more to Tamil literature through his songs with such diverse topics like philosophy, atheism, communism, spirituality and pure tongue-in-cheek-ness. But he is remembered for his mushy love songs! He is remembered for his Kannamma!

Sure, he was gifted. He came out with some of the glorious lines that still send a tingling down my spine whenever I read it. A case in point:

Kovvai ithazh nagai veesa - vizhi konathai kondu nilavai pidithaal!

I am not going to bother with the translation of that line. It can never be done justice to. What style! What grace! There is a pure fluidity in his words. The syllables simply slide off the tongue, dripping with pure nectar and venom. And pure mush!

Was he slightly twisted in his head? I think not. He was very clearly living in an illusory world. A world that he had built - just for him and his kannamma. What made him retreat to this sensory paradise? Was he too sensitive to the demons around him? He used to be a wife-beater, as astonishing as that sounds. Did the guilt of it eat him from inside? Could it be that he never was able to face his wife and apologize to her? Could it be that he was setting things right by being extra nice to kannamma?

He was a lot like Dylan in the sense that he was made a reluctant rebel. He wanted to write songs about kannamma and about shakthi. He wanted to investigate the hyped-up spirituality business. He wanted to redeem Paanjali. He wanted to hold intellectual conversations with cuckoos.

Perhaps this line is the most profound:

Nachu thalai paambukulle - nalla naagamani ulladhenbaar. Thuchapadu nenjile - nindran jothi valaruthadi!
The legendary Naagamani gleams within the head of the vilest of snakes. And your image blooms like a flame in this detestable heart of mine.

Bharathiyar was a coward, living in an alternate reality. He was a lover. Can you see my dagger through his heart?