Even as a child, MS was captivated by patriotic songs and nationalistic fervour. With the passing of time, her interaction with Hindustani musicians, her performances in various parts of the country, the addition of Meera Bhajans to her repertoire -- all these contributed to the elevation of MS as a vehicle of nationalism.
Her husband T Sadasivam, a freedom fighter himself, who sang patriotic and nationalist songs in public while facing the lathicharge and while courting arrest, introduced MS to the senior Congress leaders - Rajaji, Nehru and Gandhiji. In course of time Sadasivam fashioned the career of MS in such a way that it was integrated with the freedom movement and later the nationalism of the Congress movement in free India.
It was Sadasivam who asked MS to sing the patriotism-soaked lyrics of Subramania Bharati ("Oli padaitha kanninai") and Bankimchandra Chatterji ("Bande mataram"). It is said that their patrotic fervour was such that they even threatened to walk out of the then Corporation Radio, Madras, when refused permission to include one of these songs in their
programme.
It was this combination of nationalism, Bhakti and melody that moved Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to
exclaim, What am I, a mere Prime Minister, before this Queen of Song.
Gandhi, shortly before his assassination in 1948, is said to have sent a message to Madras. He wanted MS to render his favourite bhajan 'Hari Tum Haro'. Sadasivam, in his reply, pointed out that she did not know this bhajan at all, and may be she could sing another Bhajan, and that someone else could sing 'Hari' for Gandhiji. However, the Mahatma sent back a message saying, "I should prefer to hear it SPOKEN by Subbulakshmi than SUNG by others."
MS was to recount this incident later with the addition that she heard the news of Gandhiji's assassination while listening to a relay of the Thyagaraja Utsavam (festival) and immediately her own song , 'Hari tum haro' came on the air. The shock was too much for her to bear and she almost fainted.
MS was also to recall that once Gandhiji called upon her at a prayer meeting in 1947 at Birla House in Bombay, "Subbulakshmi, Ramdhun tum gao" (You sing the Ramdhun). There were other singers available, and who knew the bhajan better but for Gandhiji, MS represented something beyond music. She invoked qualities of bliss and peace.
On Indira Gandhi's death anniversary, MS was asked to perform bhajans watched by Rajiv and Sonia Gandhi. Again, All India Radio and Doordarshan broadcast a number of songs rendered by MS when national mourning was declared after her death.
If Subramania Bharati was recognised as the National Poet, MS too was seen as the National Singer.
MS and Nationalism
