Born in Tamil Nadu, Subramanya Bharathiyar was a Tamil scholar, writer, poet, journalist, freedom fighter, and a strong advocate for women’s empowerment. Though he had an incredible proficiency over the Tamil language, his use of both scholarly as well as simple dialect enabled him to influence social progress through his words.

Bharathiyar was a devotee of the goddess also known as Shakti. For him, Shakti embodied something much more than just an idol. In his poem, Thunbam Illaadha Nilaiye Shakthi, we get a glimpse at how Bharathiyar viewed both Shakti as well as the power of the feminine.