A woman,I most like among sri lankan women -Gajaman Nona

                            

                                                                                                                                  Gajaman Nona was a sinhalese poetess of fame.She was born at Kollupitiya in the year 1746 and belonged to a respectable Sinhalese family of the Durham caste.Her father Gajaman Arachchi was originally a mudaliyar's clerk. He later became a vidane arachchi and finally settled in the Matara district. Gajaman Nona was taught by her mother who was a fairly intelligent lady.                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                        Gajaman Nona was twice married, and is said to have spent the greater part of her life in extreme poverty. John D'oyly ,one of the most distinguished members of the president of the provincial Court of Matara, and Gajaman Nona  addressed a poem to him setting out her pitiable condition. This adject tale of woe so touched the heart of D'oyly that an extensive track of Crown land in the Giruwapattu which came to be known as "Nonage gama"was granted to her.                                                                                                                                                          Gajaman Nona died in 1814 at the age of 68.Like most Sinhalese poets ,she left behind no particular work.Stray verses committed to memory by her admirers and traditionally kept up,have been collected and published from time to time.                                                                                                                                                                                                                           End.