Subramanya barathi was born as Subbaiah
to a brahmin family in Ettayapuram in 1882.
Having lost his mother at an young age, his father made him work hard in school, he was able to write poetry at the age of 11, and he went on to learn 32 languages wrote poems in many of them.
He was married off to 7 year old Chellamma (barathiyar' wife) when he was 15, she went on to be the theme of many of his poetry, he worked as court poet to the Raja of Ettayapuram, then served as a Tamil teacher in Madurai before taking up Journalism.
He joined as the assistant editor of Swadeshamitran in 1904, he later joined the Indian national congress and participated in various independence movements, the man known for his big beard and white turban was a revolutionary, freedom fighter and a social reformer, his thoughts on women and caste were very progressive and way ahead of his time.
He is also credited to be the pioneer of modern Tamil poetry in 1908 Barathiyar had to flee to Pondicherry after the British has issued a warrant on him, there he published journals India (weekly), Vijaya (Tamil daily) Bala Bharatham ( English monthly) and Suryodayam.
He penned 1000's of poems (barathiyar kavidhaigal) on varieties of subjects including children, women, freedom struggle, spirituality. Barathiyar songs are very famous and are sung till today
His poems embodied the virtues of idealism, patriotism, bravery, Barathi is not just someone who wrote about them he practiced them in his life.
In 1920 he was struck by an elephant named Lavanya at Parthasarathy Temple, Chennai. A few months later his health deteriorated and he died on 12 September 1921.
During in his last speech in Karungalpalayam Library in Erode, he talked about how man is immortal.
True to his words Barathi is still alive a century after his death.
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