Luis de CAMOENS - 3

Alfredo de Mello

[ The 1581 portrait of Luis de Camoens with the inscription in Marathi / Hindi which reads MahaKavi Camoi-ish  in other words: the Great Poet Camoens ]

Personally I feel, that Camoens belongs to Goa also, and it is a pity that the Indian Govt. took down the Luis de Camoens statue which was erected in Old Goa.  A de M
 

CAMOENS  by Alfredo de Mello : continued from page 2

As far as Camoens was concerned there is the following mention from Pedro de Mariz, a chronicler of his time: "But in (India) he was always much esteemed, be it by the valour of his person in wars, as well as his excellent genius". Indeed, Teofilo Braga, a distinguished writer of the nineteenth century, in his book about the life of the poet, mentions that Camoens displayed an ascendent moral among the gentlemen of the expedition, but hurt unconsciously the (Portuguese) Government of India, which drowned itself in the raving exploitation and the frauds of the entire bureaucracy. For this, he had to suffer, as will be seen later.

The life of Camoens in Goa was described by the Frenchman François Pyrard de Laval, who lived in Goa for some time and described the soldiers in Goa picturesquely: "They live together many times ten or twelve together, in the same house, having one servant in common, or two to brush their clothes. Among the furniture of their lodging they have five or six chairs, one table, and one bed for each, according to their number. Their food consists of rice cooked in water, salted fish and other things of small value, without bread; their drink is spring water. They have two or three suits in common for clothing, which they wear when they go out, while those who remain at home, have no choice than to wear a shirt and underwear because of the heat of the day. Mostly, these soldiers mostly live stingily, at least those who have no means at all. The whole day long they spend in their living room, or seated beside the door in the shade, and in the fresh air, wearing a shirt and underwear, and there they sing and play the guitar or another instrument. They are very courteous with those who pass by the street, and sit down, to chat and exchange jokes with them. They never walk all together around the city, but only in two's and three's, because often they do not have enough clothing to serve ten or twelve".

This is the aspect of poverty in which Camoens lived in India, in contrast with the opulence of the young privileged fidalgos.

It is interesting to note what Camoens had to say about life in Goa. In a letter of January 1555, he wrote: "Of this land I can tell you that it is the mother of despicable villains, and stepmother of honest men. Because those who are here to get rich, always float on water as bladders".

Regarding the ladies of the land, he considered almost all rather old, and who spoke Portuguese mixed with asiatic words. In his letter to a friend in Lisbon, Camoens wrote: "If you wish to hear news about the dames of this land, which would be obligatory in a letter, just as sailors are obliged to go to the feast of St. Freio Pero Gonçalves, may you be informed that the Portuguese ladies all fall as ripe fruit, and that there is no rope which may withhold them, if one were to throw them a chance. Inasmuch as those women which this land offers, apart from being low class, have mercy if you talk to them about some loves of Petrarch or of the poet Boscan; they reply to you in a pidgin language, which chokes you in the throat of understanding, which is like cold water thrown on someone on heat, however randy you may be in the world".

It seems that Camoens was rather unfair in his statements about the women of Goa, inasmuch as he was comparing them with the ladies-in-waiting at the Court in Lisbon, which was the company that enthralled him most, as they were the most educated ladies in Portugal, though I doubt that they could discuss meaningfully about European poets

Camoens could not have had the company of high caste women because the Brahmin families avoided any contact with the "polluted Firangana", as the Portuguese were called, and the Brahmins, if they had no choice, would prefer their daughter to marry a Sudra than a white man. Camoens himself affirms that the local women he met were of low class, or maybe some Devadasis (temple prostitutes), who in any case could speak some words in Portuguese, but could not be expected to know about Francesco Petrarca, an Italian poet of the fourteenth century, nor Juan Boscan, a Catalan poet who had died in 1542. They could, however, acquaint Camoens with the loves of Rama and Sita, described in the Ramayana, or tales of the epic poem Mahabharata, the longest poem in the world, about which Camoens was totally ignorant.

It is fitting to explain why the Portuguese were called Firangana. The natives asked about the Portuguese when they arrived in India: "To what caste do you belong?". The Indians watched their behaviour, how many times they washed daily, how they treated women, and in particular, what and how they ate. The Indians soon concluded that the Portuguese observed no caste rules, and so belonged beneath the lowest Sudras, with outcastes and untouchables. To the beef-eating outcastes in foreign dress the Indians gave the name of Firangana. This word reached India in the times of the Crusades, when the Arabs called the crusaders as "Franj", as most of them came from France, whereas those from Constantinople (Byzantine Empire) were known as Rumes. By the time this nickname reached India, it was transformed into Faranjis, or Firangana.

On the 26th September 1554, a caravel arrived in Goa bringing the new Viceroy D. Pedro de Mascarenhas, a very rich man, and an old ambassador of Portugal in the court of Carlos I of Spain. News had reached the King of Portugal about the rotten and corrupt governments of the Viceroys since Martim Afonso de Sousa (1542-45) and the present government of Afonso de Noronha. The King judged it more advisable to send an austere man to straighten things out in India and to cleanse the den of iniquity. Together with him arrived Joâo Lopes Leitâo, a very close friend of Camoens, also a poet, who acquainted Luis de Camoens about the death of his beloved Caterina de Athayde, who pined away and died at the age of twenty five.

Camoens was grief stricken and composed a sonnet which can only be appreciated in Portuguese on account of its rhyme metre, and sublime feelings; (I shall give the Portuguese version, and try to translate it into English )

"Alma minha gentil, que te partiste Tâo cedo d'esta vida descontente, Repousa lá no céu eternamente, E viva eu cá na terra sempre triste.

Se lá no assento ethereo onde subiste Memoria d'esta vida se consente, Nâo te esqueças d'aquele amor ardente Que já nos olhos meus tâo puro viste.

E se vires que pode merecer-te Alguma coisa a dôr que me ficou Da mágoa, sem remédio, de perder-te, Roga a Deus, que teus annos encurtou, Que tâo cedo de cá me leve a ver-te Quâo cedo de meus olhos te levou."

[Gentle soul of mine, who hast departed So early from this life, unhappy, May thou rest there in heaven eternally And I live here on earth forever sad.

If there on the ethereal seat where thou climbest Is it allowed to remember this life, Do not forget that ardent love Ever so pure, thou hast seen already in mine eyes.

And if thou seest that aught may deserve thee Something of the pain that remained in me Of the hurt, without remedy of losing thee, Pray to God, who curtailed thine years That he taketh me away as soon as possible to see thee Just as soon as He takes thee away from mine eyes.]

As a soldier, Camoens went again to patrol the Arabian Sea, against the Arab pirates, who since 1510 had lost the monopoly of commerce with India, and when he returned in October 1555, he found that Viceroy Mascarenhas had already died four months before, which meant that he ruled only for nine months, and was substituted by Francisco Barreto, who had been Governor of Bassein, and knew very well the ropes on how to run the Government for the benefit of those in power.

Meanwhile Camoens had written SATIRA DO TORNEIO (Satire of the Tournament) a roguish and inoffensive narrative, whose publication caused him to be imprisoned in the Tronco jail in Goa, quite near the Viceroy's palace, and with a view to the river Mandovi. Out of the poet's three oil paintings, made in Goa, there is a portrait of Camoens behind bars in the Tronco jail in Goa, and there he composed ten-line stanzas called DISPARATES DA INDIA ( Blunders of India) where he jokingly exposed the vices and defects of the Portuguese administration and the Jesuits, but really inoffensive. But the printing of these verses was frowned upon by the powers that be.

Vioceroy Barreto banished him to the Southern Armada, which went to China, as Camoens had to spend another three years' service. However, this time Barreto judged that he should have some remuneration, not a Captaincy which was then the privilege of the fidalgos, but at least to allow him to rise from the poverty level into which he was plunged ever since he was banished from Portugal. He could afford to give him a mercy of a voyage, because the Goa-China leg was very profitable, on account of the spices of the Moluccas and the silks obtained in Macau. Camoens departed in April 1556 to the Moluccas and then to Macau, where living in a grotto, he finished writing "The Lusiads". Due to intrigues of his enemies, Camoens was recalled to Goa in 1561; he had the misfortune to experience a shipwreck on the river Mekong in Cambodia, but he managed to save his manuscript with one hand, and swim with the other. He was able to survive thanks to the piety of the Buddhist population. He could only get to Malacca by offering his services as a soldier. Reaching Malacca, he found the old chronicler Gaspar Correia, busily correcting his manuscript of the LEGENDS OF INDIA, which Camoens read. Once again Camoens had to enlist as a soldier in order to pay for his trip back to Goa. In fact, he was recalled to Goa by the Viceroy Constantino de Bragança, as a prisoner of the State, and interned once again in the Tronco jail. His appeals to the Viceroy in the shape of sonnets, were ignored, and it was only in September 1561, when the new Viceroy D. Francisco Coutinho, Count of Redondo, arrived, that some friends of Camoens informed the Viceroy about his predicament. Viceroy Coutinho who remembered very well Camoens' poems, some of them addressed to Maria de Gusmâo, who later became Coutinho's wife, had him released immediately.

There lived in Goa a rich man called Miguel Rodrigues Coutinho, nicknamed "Fios seccos" ( Dry threads) who was a money lender, and since he had loaned Camoens some money, now he pounced on him and had him jailed until the debt was paid back.

Miguel Rodrigues Coutinho was one of the richest and well known citizens of Goa. As a rich man he became an usurer, lending money with high interests. Likewise several military men who had served their term and remained in Goa becoming money-lenders were called chatins. They charged up to 25% interest rates.

However, he had to let Camoens go because it was proven that he had lost all his goods, when the shipwreck occurred, and in fact he had to enlist as a soldier in order to pay his voyage from Malacca to Goa. It was clearly a case of force majeure.

It was at this time that Camoens, who was forty two, became an intimate friend of Dr. Garcia da Orta, of Jewish origin, who was seventy years old.

François de Pyrard, who visited Goa in 1603, described the slave market, on the main street, called Rua Direita: "Among the slaves one can find very beautiful girls and women of all the countries, who in the majority know how to play musical instruments, sew very delicately, and do all sorts of jobs, sweets, conserves and other things. All these slaves can be had for a very small price, and the most expensive do not cost more than twenty or thirty pardaus, a currency which equivalent to thirty two salaries and six denaries each. The young damsels are sold as such, and they are checked by a woman, and on this score, nobody dares to cheat. Among the girls there are some very beautiful, white and gentle, other olive-skinned, swarthy and dark, and of all colours. But the ones that are preferred are the Kaffir girls from Mozambique who have black skins, woolly hair and are very tall." "The greatest profit and riches of the people of Goa proceeds from the work of their slaves, the proceeds of which are delivered at the end of each day, or each week, to which they are obliged, and this besides the slaves that the lords retain at home for their house chores. In said market one can also see a great number of other slaves, who are not for sale, but who offer their produce, which they sell, such as fruit preserves, and other things; others go there to earn money to carry and transport all sorts of objects. The girls adorn themselves in order to please the customers more and enable them to sell their wares better...The girls are sometimes called to the houses, and if they receive amorous propositions, under no circumstance are they elusive, and gladly accept the deal in exchange for something tangible given..."

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 continued on Page 4

Alfredo de Mello
resubmitted to TGF on Aug 15 1999

 

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