The Bharathi museum was home to a Tamil poet and nationalist. Bharathi (1882-1921) was a political and social activist who found refuge here from the British in 1908. He freed Tamil poetry from forms that, while beautifully rich and terse, had kept it the preserve of the few. An anthology of his works in French can be read at I' Alliance Francaise and one can buy it at the Romain Rolland Library because unfortunately for non-Tamils who wish to know more about the poet modernist, the inscriptions and material in the museum are exclusively in Tamil.