Mahakavi Bharatiyar’s legacy gets a big salute

S. Vishnu Sharma, INN/Chennai, @svs037

Ravanasamudram centre of noted NGO Sevalaya celebrated Mahakavi Bharatiyar’s 137th birth anniversary at Government High School, Pottalpudur, Tirunelveli district on 11 December.

M Murali, admin associate of Bajaj Finserve Corporation, Tirunelveli, Sudalai, District Educational Officer, Cheranmadevi and R Thirumoorthi, Headmaster of Government High School, Pottalpudur were the chief guests for the celebration.

Sevalaya’s founder and managing trustee V Muralidharan made an appeal to the Government of Tamilnadu to grant permission to install the life size statue of Bharathiyar and Chellammal at Kadayam.

Kadayam village is the hometown of Late  Chellamal Bharathi, the wife of Mahakavi Subramania Bharathi. However, the connection of this town to the great poet has not been memorialized or celebrated in any manner, he said.

Sevalaya voluntarily took up the task of constructing a statue of Mahakavi Bharathiyaar and Chellamal Bharathi at Kadayam in order to immortalize the connection that the village has with the great poet.

With generous contributions from volunteers, the construction of the statue was completed a few months back, he said. Sevalaya approached the district collector for permission to install the statue in Kadayam village in June 2019.

However, the file has been kept pending for months despite repeated requests. Sevalaya also attempted to contact a minister to obtain more clarity on the situation, but we still await permission to install the statue.

It is well known that Mahakavi Bharathiyaar remains one of the biggest sources of inspiration for Tamil youth, even nearly a century after his passing. It was our dream to install the statue in Kadayam on December 11, Bharathi’s birth anniversary as a tribute to the poet. However, this dream of ours did not come true.

At this stage, we would like to make a plea to the Government of Tamil Nadu. Mahakavi Bharathi is one of Tamil Nadu’s greatest gifts to the world. We request the Government of Tamil Nadu to consider our earnest plea at the earliest and kindly allow us to install the statue at Kadayam at the earliest, so that the town may celebrate its connection to the poet, he said.

All the works relating to the statue have been completed months ago. We are merely waiting for one signature so that our Bharathi stands tall in Kadayam once again.

We are confident that the Government will understand the love that we, the people of Kadayam and the people of Tamil Nadu have for our Mahakavi and grant us permission to install the statue at the earliest, said Muralidharan.

Mr. Sudalai praised the services of Sevalaya and gifted pens to the students who recited  Bharathiar poems. Bharathiyar’s books were presented as prizes to 40 students who were the winners of the competitions conducted earlier.
About 300 students of 20 schools in the neighbourhood of Kadayam took part in the competitions.