Any literature reflects the life of people both men and women. Various genres – Poetry, short story, novel, one–act-play, drama are preferred by writers depending upon their liking. Though Poetry books don’t attract the general public, they influence poetic hearts and minds.
There is no world and literature sans women. A man’s life is imperfect, if there is no woman in his life. Women were subservient to men once. This trend has been changing. Are women in all countries equal? Don’t they differ in very many aspects? This paper is a study of women in Sri Lankan Poetry.
Buddhadasa Galappathy, a dramatist and poet has much concern for the common man and woman. Often injustice and war are taken for treatment in his poetry. His poem, “I am Not Sita” (Mirrored Images: An Anthology of Sri Lankan Poetry. Translated by Ranjini Obeyesekere) though a small one in 15 lines narrates the bewailing of a wife, addressed to her husband. The first two verse paras narrate the atmosphere. It is night time. The thief, a cold wind creeps between the window panes. The moon is dim, yet shines over the desolate earth and her rays peep in. The desolation of midnight is broken by the rise and fall of waves. It is not only the sea but the sea of heart is falling, wailing solitary like the boat which her husband rowed out into the sea. It has become a distant speck on the distant ocean.
The next two verse paras record her intense feelings. The wind already is softly whispering that her husband has returned and waiting outside the window of her hut. What now she speaks is the climax:
“Be not angry, my husband
Think not too ill of me, my husband
I cannot be
another Sita” (p.36)
Her earnest request to her husband brings before our mind’s eye the great epic, Ramayana, where Sita is in penance thinking about Rama; in Sri Lanka imprisoned by the demon King Ravana, a true devotee of Lord Siva! Men’s nature is to suspect their wives’ fidelity when they go abroad. The protagonist in the poem requests her husband not to be angry with her and not to think ill of her. When she wails, “I cannot be another Sita” it has very many connotations. (i) I don’t have that much patience and steadfastness to be like Sita (ii) Do you want me to suffer like Sita? (iii) Why should I be like that? Don’t I have the rights to live (free will) as I like? (iv) When you go abroad who knows about your (her husband) behaviour – especially with women? In that situation how it is justified to ask me to be like Sita? So the life of a poor fisherman and his wife is well word painted by B. Galappathy, especially the heart rumbling of a wife.
Virtuous woman
Sarath Amunugama’s poem “Isidasi” (pp.29-30) is highly appealing and emotional since it deals with the pitiable condition of a virtuous woman. The story is narrated by a Bhikkuni in Sinhala. In the English translation (by A.T. Dharmapriya) it is her husband who narrates the tale. It is said innocence is bliss. But here, innocence is an enemy to love. In matters of love, innocence is not expected. Diplomacy is needed – especially to remove the richest attire of the loved one:
I’m endlessly impatient
to touch the softness
of her modesty
of the one who is
supremely beautiful
in the city of Udeni.
Yet between us
is a thick impenetrable wall. (p.29)
The man is highly impatient to touch her to enjoy the love ecstasy, for, she is supremely beautiful like Cleopatra. He feels that there is a thick impenetrable wall between them. During the deepest night maddened by the taste of her tender flesh, he tries to break the wall. But alas, his hands tremble! It remains unshakable and spiritually spotless! She is virtuous. From time to time, he sees the woman through the wall, maddening him to shake the wall; but it remains solid like the wall round Udeni city. During festival nights, harlots roam the city to undress themselves to gold coins. Though they are not that much (even half) beautiful like her, couldn’t build walls around him. In the last two stanzas he accepts his failure.
She was the most virtuous in the city of Udeni
she was the most beautiful in the city of Udeni
that’s why
like an emaciated skeletal beggar woman
she was expelled from the house.(p.30)
The explanation he gives – “She was expelled from their home because she was the most virtuous and the most beautiful” is really shocking and heart rending. Will any woman be punished for her beauty and virtues? Is this acceptable? Women have this ticklish problem in Sri Lanka. What kind of (men’s) world is this?
Monika Ruwan Pathirana with a personal commitment about humiliation and deprivation writes vehemently. During the civil strife in the south of Sri Lanka in the late 80s, the JVP which had been proscribed engaged in summary executions; forbade funeral rites or illuminations or even expressions of grief. Her poem “Wife Lamenting” (pp.92-93) records one such incident. The protagonist (wife) sees her husband dying on the road. In five stanzas she brings out the tragic scene of a woman. In the opening stanza, she wails - like her possessions all burnt out. All over the country the spreading of black smoke; blood shivers in the blood vessels; nerves and muscles tingle where before the flames that burn her husband.
In the second verse para, it is the description of nature – by the canal the croaking of frogs; it beseems that they chant the prithi slogas (songs) near the cemeteries. The devils (forces against the people) prevent all such activities. The branches and the leaves are pouring the water and it resembles the pouring of redeeming water during the funereal cremation.
No final rites; no white flags (symbol of peace), no garlands; only the smell of kadupul flowers. Her heart’s faith is confined to her head. The only light was the light from the moon in the western sky. Her heart is much weighed down by the fond memories of their (husband and wife’s) past. Even she can’t shed tears of sorrow, for, there was no permission. Even for weeping, one has to be permitted by the rulers! Yet, Nature mourns for her - thousands of cicada insects raise mimicking grief through villages and mountains. In the last stanza, her appeal to God is very touching.
It is not a dream of midnight
I see my husband dying on the road
God, turn your eyes to this suffering land
Which the Buddah enlightened
Through compassion. (p.93)
Five important features have to be noted in this stanza (i) What she narrates is not a midnight dream but reality. (ii) She sees her husband dying on the road - nobody to help her. (iii) His request to God is not to help her; but to this suffering land (Sri Lanka) – See her broad mindedness and patriotism - the welfare of a state (country) above an individual’s welfare. (iv) It is the country enlightened by the great saint Buddha (v) Buddha’s preaching. Have compassion. Will all her appeal reach the ears of the rulers?
Mothers’ role
After going through the poems of Buddhadasa Galapathy, Sarath Amunugama and Monica Ruwan Pathirana one can understand how still women are not treated respectably but ill treated; they have fear and stress. Balachandran writes, “One cannot imagine a world without mothers [woman]. The world is growing – population increases because of mothers – this is not just minimizing their role. They are the ones who beget scientists, mathematicians, poets, novelists, dramatists and great personalities.” (p.85) Country is more important than individuals. People have to be patriotic. It is not enough if one prides “Our country is blessed by the Buddha” but should follow his ideals in the real sense.
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