Mahakavi Subramania Bharati

Dear Friends :

I have spent the past 42 years of my life  studying my grandfather’s works – reading widely in English literature under the guidance of my husband, P.K. Sundara Rajan – carrying out research in various universities (Annamalai in India, SOAS in London, England, the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada), travelling all over the world lecturing on Bharati’s life and works (India, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, France (Paris), the UK, Canada, and the United States), writing books and articles on Bharati, participating in Bharati-vizhas, and Radio and Television programmes on Bharati.

My husband and I developed the important goal of publishing a STANDARD edition of all of Bharati’s works, including both poetry and prose – something which was desired, but never achieved, by Bharati and his wife, Chellamma.  My daughter, Bharati’s great-granddaughter, Dr. Mira T. Sundara Rajan, DPhil (Oxon) (professormira.com), currently supports this undertaking, and will be an active contributor to the blog.

The need for a standard edition is apparent in the very poor quality of Bharati publication, to date. The goal of my Standard Edition is to present my grandfather’s works in a comprehensive, accurate, and error-free form for the reading public, and to provide context and commentary based on my extensive experience as a Bharati scholar – and unparalleled experience as a granddaughter of the Poet, raised by his own wife and daughter!

In 2007, I started my own publishing house called S. Vijaya Bharati Publications and published Vol. 1 of Bharati’s poems, Desiya Githangal, successfully in 2007-08.  I attempted to print the other three volumes later, completing the Standard Edition of all of Bharati’s poetry (Deivam-Thathuvam, Kannan Pattu and Other Poems, Panchali Sabatham, Kuyil Pattu and Vachana Kavithai), in collaboration with publishers in Tamil Nadu. However, I encountered  many problems with publishers and distributors in Tamil Nadu. My “copyright” in the Standard Edition of my grandfather’s works, and my entitlement to any royalty out of the sale of these volumes, were in question!

Now, thanks to new technology, I have decided to return to our original plan, and publish and distribute the Standard Edition  under my own imprint. I am working on this endeavour, and will let you know as Volumes 2, 3, and 4 of Bharati’s poems are published.

In the meantime, I have decided to start a Blog of my own entirely dedicated to Bharati and Bharati-related matters. This goal has been achieved on the auspicious occasion of Bharati’s 130^th birthday.

The blog will deal with some of the following matters:

–  new studies and analyses of Bharati-literature

–  analysis of the current literary environment for studying and interpreting Bharati

–  familiarizing the public with Bharati’s prose works

–  introducing new scholarship on Bharati

– the preservation of Bharati-literature

– the copyright and moral rights issues surrounding Bharati’s works.

As part of the work on the Standard Edition, a volume dedicated to  Bharati’s  Spiritual Writings (translations, interpretations, and vyakyanams, on Vedas, Bhagavat Gita, Patanjali Yoga Sutras, Isavasyopanishad and Kenopanishad) is almost complete.

I hope you will encourage me in my efforts to publish and disseminate Bharati’s works. Please take an interest in this blog, send me your questions and comments, and I will be glad to respond!

Warm regards and thank you for your support.

S. Vijaya Bharati

December 11, 2012