At the age of 17, Bharathi Dasan met Bharathi. He sang a poem of Bharathi at a marriage. The next year he composed a poem at the request of Bharathi, which was sent to 'Swadesa Mitran' for publication by Bharathi himself. Bharathi Dasan had patriotic feelings at heart and wrote poems on India and Gandhi in the early days. He wore ' Khadi' and made his family also wear it. Later he left the nationalist movement, when he was disillusioned by the casteist behaviour of its leaders.