Gajaman Nona - a spring of amusement

By Amal HEWAVISSENTI

Dona Isabella Perumal Korneliya (popularly known as Gajaman Nona) was the woman who pumped out aesthetic vitality to folk poetry during the twilight of Sinhala literature amidst Dutch invasions and political instabilities. Scholarly opinion agrees on Gajaman Nona's prominence as a leading poetess in the Matara period and the level of her literary charisma to stir men's souls. In short, she represents the quintessence of Matara poetry though her own poetry has its quotient of literary lapses. What struck most people was the level of seductive rawness about her verses which unfortunately found no chance to blossom with higher merits.

She lived in the transitional period between the Dutch and the English (1758 - 1814) when the local poets were trapped in a serious economic deadlock. Most poets were earning their living by composing poems for different people and singing panegyric verses on Mudliars, and other important people of higher social classes. However the society she moved in was highly skeptical of traditional woman's intuition and she too was no exception in this regard. Most often the influential Mudaliars rhapsodized over her performance because they preferred metrical arrangement of her poetry to any hidden meaning or literary value. Apart from that, her poetic capacities are not to be judged on the standards of classical poetry but on the backdrop of Matara period that marked a decline in literature.

Early life

She was born in 1758 to Gajaman Arachchi and Dona Prancina Greru (Nonababa) who had earlier resided in Milagiriya of Colpetty and later came to live in Thuppahige Waththa of Matara. Gajaman Nona was born "Dona Isabella Perumal Korneliya" in Colpetty and generally guessed to have got her early education at the Church of Milagiriya and learnt languages and poetics after her family came to Matara. There she was brought into contact with Ven. Karathota Dharmarama thera who provided her with higher education.

"Nona" was then a form of address to higher class woman who were dressed up strictly to the fashion of Dutch ladies. Korneliya too was dressed up in a skirt and a long sleeved blouse which rightly earned her the label of "Nona", it is believed that this lady who had embraced Dutch ideals in her lifestyle, got her name of Gajaman Nona after the death of her mother who too was named Gajaman Nona. When she was around 22 years of age, every man was enchanted with her striking youthfulness coupled with beauty and she entered a marriage with an ordinary person named Merenchige Gardiyes Arachchi.

Marriage and life

Gajaman Nona soon became untimely widowed with one child by Gardiyes Arachchi. Even though she was widowed with a child, many men offered proposals for remarriage with them but she remained adamant in her stand not to marry again. Yet, on her father's strong persuasion, she married Wijaya Wimalasekara Muhandiram who too died leaving her in a heavy economic predicament with four children. It is said that her inescapable situation even with four children did not at all narrow down her attraction for men because she was still bouncing with health and beauty. All the same, she fought a losing battle against all kinds of domestic adversity and her razor - sharp intelligence opened her a way to improve her life prospects. Now that she was without a substantial property or wealth left by her two dead husbands, she invariably found a way to sustain her four children. She earned a scanty income by giving education (something like present day tuition) to children of higher class families and by eulogising Mudaliars or by composing verses for them for various practical purposes such as Shanthikarma. In her famous poetic message of John Doyle, she unashamedly states her economic plight though she felt it would be utterly mortifying to ask him for favours. Moreover, her father's death plunged her deeper into misery but she was determined to turn her poetic flair into a powerful tool to earn living.

Gajaman Nona who had still retained her youthful look and attractiveness, was somewhat masculine in her aggressive image and readiness to move freely with men and women. Her close association with Dutch society in Colombo during her childhood made her unblushing before men and her attitudes and thinking contrasted noticeably from contemporary women. It is strange sometimes to note that certain words or phrases in her dialogues of verses with other poets were shockingly crude and unpredictably pungent - a tendency which earned her an unsavoury reputation. At any rate, there is no concrete proof to show that she was an immoral woman even though she often went beyond the bounds of convention in her poetic dialogues and lifestyle.

It appears almost fair to say that her sharp poetic retorts made a clear impact on trouble makers who were poised to capitalize on her widowhood and who were notoriously difficult to manage. In spite of her misery as a widow, she bore all marks a self-assured, self-satisfied woman who fearlessly took adequate preventive measures to keep expressions of love and invitations of 'opportunist' poets at bay. People frequently expressed ideas in verse which had sex connotations but she did not give into their desires nor did she leave any room for them to repeat their 'indecent proposals'.

Her history

Her real nature shows itself in her dialogues of verse with other people and it is probably justifiable to say that her society failed lamentably in understanding her. She seem to have been well aware that tough resistance alone could easily distance trouble makers invading her privacy. for this purpose she sensibly used satirically violent and powerfully sharp verses in direct response to their off-colour remarks. It is noted that she sometimes used her flattering to coax wealthy, lustful men into give her grudging favours. One of them was Ranchagoda Bala Mahathmaya who painfully sang "Having played false with me and grabbed money from me, this damned woman is now having an affair with a disrobed man (Elapatha Mudali). Serves me right!

Her tendency to behave and speak out of line with the trend of traditional women gave rise to a considerable misapprehension in folklore about her real qualities. Unlike the typical Sinhala woman who were largely limited in her freedom to behave freely in society, Gajaman Nona dressed herself like a Dutch lady, joked and spoke with every type of person and used to go alone wherever she wanted.

Her poetic expressions on the Nuga (Bunyan) tree of Denipitiya, the elegy written on her father's death and most of her poetic dialogues reflect her creativity at a crucial point. Other poetry is just what she sang in praise of Mudaliars and other important people who in turn patronised her. Her longest poem is "Dedithara Shoka Malaya" which had remained in obscurity till 1977 when Dr. Bandusena Gunasekera copied and edited it from a library. The poem on Nuga tree of Denipitiya is a powerful outburst of hers on the aesthetic beauty of a massive tree in scenic contrast to the surroundings. The poem written in strict alliterative metre is well noted for her flow of ideas and language which are undeniably spontaneous. Her poetic appeal to John Doyle manifests her inborn flair for poetry polished by learning and real life experiences.

Most poets at that time preferred to exchange ideas in verse with Gajaman Nona and she did not hesitate to respond to every poet in verse. Many of the interesting poetic dialogues have probably disappeared because there was no scope for them to be preserved in written form.

Elapatha Mudali

At that time, she was rumoured to be having a romantic affair with a disrobed person named Elapatha Mudali but a closer analysis of her verses exchanged with him reveals that it was a one-sided love by Elapatha Mudali. She seems to have diplomatically handled and controlled Elapatha Mudali's emotions and prevented him from misreading her nature and moods.

There was an exchange of letters of verses between them but nothing happened between them by way of marriage. It is said that he had disrobed with the purpose of marrying Gajaman Nona but for some unexplained reason, she did not like such marriage though she had a close friendship with him.

In some of his romantic verses to her, he said, "I will cherish my love for you until my death. But you do not seem to reciprocate my strong feelings and you behave as an insensitive woman.... Missing your sight, missing your sweet voice, and missing the warmth of an embrace from you afflict me day and night ... You are a lamp lighted in the darkness ... Please come and see me because I'm going to fall ill by being obsessed with you living away from me ..."For these appealing expressions of love, she practically answered to neutralise his strong emotions without risking their friendship.

"If only flowers bloom with sweet aroma, bees swirl around them ... A land becomes fertile if only rain soaks it.

Men love women only if they are beautiful ... But why on earth do you love women so madly?... My memories with my dead husbands still live on ... I am a lamp lighted in the dark but you cannot even dream of living with me as you wish ..."