Subrahmanya Bharathi was born on December 11, 1882 at Ettayapuram in Tamil Nadu.His parents were Chinnasami Iyer and Lakshmi Ammaal.His mother died when he was only 5 and father died when was 16 years old. Subrahmanya Bharathi received his early education from a local high school named"The M.D.T.Hindu College".Apart from his education he learnt music from his childhood.

At the age of 11 he was attended at a conference of Ettayapuram court poets and musicians for writing poems and composing songs.In this conference he was awarded title of "Bharathi" (Goddess of learning).He married his cousin Chellamal in 1897, at the age of fourteen.After that he went to Benaras and wandered many parts of India for four years.During this period he was greatly inspired by Indian Freedom Struggle.He taught Madurai Sethupathy High School and worked as an editior of sevaral journals like Swadeshamitran, India, Vijaya, and Bala Bharatham.

Through these newspapers he gave the people the news of all over the world.He started writing on religious,historical subjects.His poem were also published regularly in these newspapers. As a journalist, Bharathi was the first in India to introduce caricatures and cartoons of political figures through his newspapers.These were highly satarical. He was fluent in Sanskrit and other languages including Bengali, Hindi, Sanskrit, Kutchi, French and English.

When he was in Benaras he was deeply moved by Nationalism and spiritualism.He disliked the South Indian orthodox mores and various types social taboos and superstitions.In December 1905, he attended the All India Congress Session in Benaras and also met Sister Nivedita from whom Bharathi got the idea of iconoclasm and emancipation of women.Those idea influnced Bharati and were reflected on his literary works.

Bharathi attended in the Surat Congress in 1907, where the historic division of Indian National Congress between took place. Subrahmanya Bharathi supported the militant wing led by Tilak and Aurobindo.during this period Bharathi gave his time completely in writing and in political activities. In Madras, in 1908, he organised a public meeting to celebrate Swaraj (independence) Day`. His popular nationalistic poems Vanthe Matharam, Enthayum Thayum, Jaya Bharath were printed and distributed free to people of India.

In 1908 he fled to Pondichery which was then under French rule to eschew British Goverment.In podichery he started publishing weekly journal India, Vijaya, a Tamil daily, Bala Bharatha, an English monthly, and Suryothayam a local weekly of Pondicherry.Both India and Vijaya were banned in British India in 1909.In this time he came into contact with Lajpat Rai and V.V.S. Aiyar and Aurovindo.He helped Aurovindo to bring out Arya and Karma Yogi journal .He was arrested near cuddalore in 1918 and he was imprisoned for three weeks.Bharathi also met with Mahatma Gandhi in 1919 .

Barathi was a great poet.He wrote mainly three types poems-nationalistic poem ,Religious and philosophical poems and poems about nature. His nationalistic poem had great impact on the Freedom fighters. He penned several devotional poems like kannan Paattu (The Song of Krishna). He was deeply moved by Shelley and wrote Kuyil Paatu (Song of The Cuckoo), to pay tribute to the great nature poet Shelley. Bharathi also published Panchali Sapatham , a semi-political reflection on greed, pride and righteousness taken from the Indian epic Mahabharata. Bharathi introduced a new style in Tamil poetry.Before him Tamil poetry followed syntactic rules given by the ancient Tamil grammatical masters Tolkappiyam.But he brought a relatively modern style called the puthukkavithai.It was a mixed version of prose and poetry.

Not only he wrote numerous poems but also he wrote sevaral short and long, essays, prose-poetry and fiction.He followed both the rules of tamil literature -comnventional and his new style of puthukkavithai.His literary works can be classified as Autobiography,Patriotic songs ,Philosophical songs , Miscellaneous songs ,Devotional songs Commentary on Gita,Kannan song, Kuyil song ,Panchali`s Vow ,Chandrika`s story , Pappa Pattu (Songs for the Children) ,Leaders .

He also made his mark as a music composer.He wrote many songs and set those in various ragas.Most of those songs were based on natioalism In harata Dheviyin Thiru Dasangam he mixed ten different ragas.He wrote only two songs in Sanskrit.Till now some of his songs are very popular in South India.This include- Theeratha Vilaiyattu Pillai, Chinnanchiru Kiliye, Suttum Vizhi, Thikku Theriyaatha, Senthamizh Nadenum, and Paarukkule Nalla Naadu.He sang his patriotic songs in different political meetings to inspire the patriot.He believed that the singers should not sing song without knowing the proper meaning of the song. and musicians must need proper voice trainning.He wrote many articles for that.

Bharathi was against the caste system in the Hindu society. Although born into an orthodox Brahmin family, he gave up his own caste identity. He also worked a lot for poverty eradication though he was in abject poverty.He was always optimistst in his life. He openly criticised the Hindu preachers for mixing their individual thoughts into Vedas and the Gita for personal gain.

He died on September 11, 1921 at the age of only 39 due to prolonged mental and physical illness.