Nenju porukku thillaiye - Intha
Nilaiketta manithirai ninaithuvittal,
Anji anji saavaar - Ivar
Anjaatha porulillai avaniyille;
Vanjanai peigal enbaar - Intha
Marathil enbaar; Antha kulathil enbaar;
Thunjathu mugathil enbaar - Migath
Thuyarpaduvaar; Enni bhayappaduvaar ...
Bharathiyar sang,
Achcham illai, achcham illai, achcham enbathu illaiye,
Uchchi meethu vaanidindhu veezhukinra podhinum,
Achcham illai achcham illai, achcham enbathu illaiye... The above means that even if the sky explodes and falls on my head, I will not be cowed down by fear, I will not be scared, and I will fight. Bharathiyar's exhortations of Indians to fight British imperialism was successful, and we badly need an encore to save us from the cultural imperialism as practiced by Karunanidhi and his despicable coterie of sycophants.
Sadly, we live in a world where anyone who defends Hinduism is considered as a Hindu fundamentalist, and someone like Karunanidhi who loves every opportunity to attack Hinduism is considered as rational and secular!!! Long live Indian democracy and tolerance!!! Long live secularism!!! Vande Maataram.
Nilaiketta manithirai ninaithuvittal,
Anji anji saavaar - Ivar
Anjaatha porulillai avaniyille;
Vanjanai peigal enbaar - Intha
Marathil enbaar; Antha kulathil enbaar;
Thunjathu mugathil enbaar - Migath
Thuyarpaduvaar; Enni bhayappaduvaar ...
Excerpts from "Nondich-chindhu" by
Mahakavi Subrahmanya Bharathiar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subramanya_Bharathy
Mahakavi Subrahmanya Bharathiar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subramanya_Bharathy
Great Thamizh (Tamil as is it incorrectly written, widely) poet and freedom fighter Mahakavi Subrahmanya Bharathiar wrote a beautiful song titled "Nondich-chindu" lamenting the state of Indians during the pre-independence era, a piece of the gem sung with pride. No amount of painstaking translation in English or in any other language can do justice to this beautiful poem. With foretold caveats, I try my best at elucidating the crux of the above paragraph and the larger poem itself for the benefit of non-Thamizh readers. Let the readers be reminded that this poem was written at a time when, superstitions dominated the society and religion, womens' right were unheard of, men were scared of fighting the British by supporting armed struggle as espoused by great men like Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Sri Aurobindo, Lala Lajpat Rai, Bipin Chandra Pal etc., to name a few. In that era of social backwardness, Bharathiyar wrote "Nondich-chindu", exhorting Indians to fight the British, attack superstitions and, overcome fear and self-doubts. Bharathiyar cries that his heart bleeds when he sees the unstable and self-doubting Indian, who succumbs to a painful and slow death. The scared Indian blames on imaginary ghosts and evil men, and lacks the guts to fight the British. And so goes the song, exhorting every Indian to look inside and tap the raw nerve to fight social injustices and the British.
Today I felt, we need an encore of this passionate song, as Indians, in particular Hindus live a pathetic life in a country, where they are supposedly in a majority. This is related to the official decree by Tamil Nadu government led by the Karunanidhi, ordering all temples in Tamil Nadu not to perform any pujas for devotees and celebrate Tamil New Year Day on April 13th, as was the hitherto custom. Temples, which are controlled by the Tamil Nadu government, have no choice but to accept the whims of a anti-hindu chief minister. To this day, I have never celebrated English New Year or other stupid foreign commercialized festivities like Valentine's Day, sticking true to my proud Indian roots and celebrating Tamils, Malayalis, Kannadigas, Andhra, Marathas, Bengalis, Punjabi's and north Indians' New Year Days, all of which fall within a few days of one another, which illustrates the closeness and the beauty of our diverse Indian culture. Let me make this clear. I belong to neither Shiv Sena nor Bajrang Dal. I am just a simple Indian who loves his diverse Indian culture. While I consider Indian christians and muslims as Indians, I hold festivities like Valentine's Day, English New Year Day and likes, with utter contempt for the materialism and commercialism they represent, and as a product of culture forced upon us by this hedonistic world. These views were not a product of any external influence, but a product of my own volition. I don't object anyone who celebrates any of these junk festivities with religious fervor, but I consider it as a waste of time.
Bal Gangadhar Tilak, famously proclaimed that "Swaraj is my birthright". But now, I can't go to a temple in TN and seek blessings of The Almighty, as the dreaded Karunanidhi wants us to celebrate Tamil New Year day on the 1st day of the month of Thai (mid Jan.) coinciding with another important Tamil festival, Pongal. As with other Hindu festivals, Tamil New Year Day is based on Hindu astro-almanac calendar. Since Karunanidhi sees this as a product of Hindu-Sanskritic culture, which he detests, the communal Karunanidhi wants to damage the psyche of every proud Hindu. This guy has no balls to question Christian and Islamic festivities, even though neither Christ nor Mohammed had anything to do with India or Indian culture, but derives great pleasure in destroying traditions and Hindu culture that people have been following long before Christianity and Islam came into existence. I see a proud Hindu Bengali, a Hindu Punjabi, a Hindu Maratha, a Hindu Kannadiga, a Hindu Malayali and other proud Hindus, and I see a sorry Thamizh Hindu who has been perennially hurt by anti-hindu policies of DMK, and who has no voice in this so-called Secular and Tolerant country. One can follow the links below,
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080413/jsp/nation/story_9132123.jsp and at
http://newshopper.sulekha.com/newsitem/2008/04/tn-bans-new-year-rites-priests-fume.htm
We, as Indian Hindus, would certainly do well with the rebirth of say, a Subrahmanya Bharathi, a Swami Vivekananda, a Sri Aurobindo, a Chathrapathi Shivaji and many great Indians, to rekindle the sense of pride and admiration for the beauty of Indian culture, and overcome fear and self-doubts, and defend our culture from hostile forces. In a democratic and secular country, we Hindus are forced to dance according to the whims of a anti-hindu leader.
Today I felt, we need an encore of this passionate song, as Indians, in particular Hindus live a pathetic life in a country, where they are supposedly in a majority. This is related to the official decree by Tamil Nadu government led by the Karunanidhi, ordering all temples in Tamil Nadu not to perform any pujas for devotees and celebrate Tamil New Year Day on April 13th, as was the hitherto custom. Temples, which are controlled by the Tamil Nadu government, have no choice but to accept the whims of a anti-hindu chief minister. To this day, I have never celebrated English New Year or other stupid foreign commercialized festivities like Valentine's Day, sticking true to my proud Indian roots and celebrating Tamils, Malayalis, Kannadigas, Andhra, Marathas, Bengalis, Punjabi's and north Indians' New Year Days, all of which fall within a few days of one another, which illustrates the closeness and the beauty of our diverse Indian culture. Let me make this clear. I belong to neither Shiv Sena nor Bajrang Dal. I am just a simple Indian who loves his diverse Indian culture. While I consider Indian christians and muslims as Indians, I hold festivities like Valentine's Day, English New Year Day and likes, with utter contempt for the materialism and commercialism they represent, and as a product of culture forced upon us by this hedonistic world. These views were not a product of any external influence, but a product of my own volition. I don't object anyone who celebrates any of these junk festivities with religious fervor, but I consider it as a waste of time.
Bal Gangadhar Tilak, famously proclaimed that "Swaraj is my birthright". But now, I can't go to a temple in TN and seek blessings of The Almighty, as the dreaded Karunanidhi wants us to celebrate Tamil New Year day on the 1st day of the month of Thai (mid Jan.) coinciding with another important Tamil festival, Pongal. As with other Hindu festivals, Tamil New Year Day is based on Hindu astro-almanac calendar. Since Karunanidhi sees this as a product of Hindu-Sanskritic culture, which he detests, the communal Karunanidhi wants to damage the psyche of every proud Hindu. This guy has no balls to question Christian and Islamic festivities, even though neither Christ nor Mohammed had anything to do with India or Indian culture, but derives great pleasure in destroying traditions and Hindu culture that people have been following long before Christianity and Islam came into existence. I see a proud Hindu Bengali, a Hindu Punjabi, a Hindu Maratha, a Hindu Kannadiga, a Hindu Malayali and other proud Hindus, and I see a sorry Thamizh Hindu who has been perennially hurt by anti-hindu policies of DMK, and who has no voice in this so-called Secular and Tolerant country. One can follow the links below,
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080413/jsp/nation/story_9132123.jsp and at
http://newshopper.sulekha.com/newsitem/2008/04/tn-bans-new-year-rites-priests-fume.htm
We, as Indian Hindus, would certainly do well with the rebirth of say, a Subrahmanya Bharathi, a Swami Vivekananda, a Sri Aurobindo, a Chathrapathi Shivaji and many great Indians, to rekindle the sense of pride and admiration for the beauty of Indian culture, and overcome fear and self-doubts, and defend our culture from hostile forces. In a democratic and secular country, we Hindus are forced to dance according to the whims of a anti-hindu leader.
Bharathiyar sang,
Achcham illai, achcham illai, achcham enbathu illaiye,
Uchchi meethu vaanidindhu veezhukinra podhinum,
Achcham illai achcham illai, achcham enbathu illaiye... The above means that even if the sky explodes and falls on my head, I will not be cowed down by fear, I will not be scared, and I will fight. Bharathiyar's exhortations of Indians to fight British imperialism was successful, and we badly need an encore to save us from the cultural imperialism as practiced by Karunanidhi and his despicable coterie of sycophants.
Sadly, we live in a world where anyone who defends Hinduism is considered as a Hindu fundamentalist, and someone like Karunanidhi who loves every opportunity to attack Hinduism is considered as rational and secular!!! Long live Indian democracy and tolerance!!! Long live secularism!!! Vande Maataram.
