Subramania Bharati, the great Tamil poet, can be rightfully regarded as the first nationalist poet of India. His poems, with almost visionary quality, pleaded for an integrated India, exhorting Indians to ignore regional and other rivalries and think in terms of 'India'. Mahakavi Bharatiyar is also regarded as a pioneer of modern Tamil poetry. Through his lyrics in Swadesa Gitangal (1908) and Janma Blioomi (1909), he popularized the concept of nationalism. His songs and poems are popular even today. This book gives an insight into the life and times of this great son of India. A fine scholar and literary critic, S. Vijaya Bharati is the granddaughter of the poet. A graduate of the Madras and Annamalai Universities, she earned her doctorate in 1967 in A Critical Study of Bharati's Works. She has numerous articles and two books on Bharati to her credit.