Camoes connections with Goa.
Luis Vas
In the heyday of Golden Goa, during the Vice-Royalty of Dom Afonso de Noronha, the sixteenth Governor General, and fifth Viceroy of the Estado da India, on the first of September 1553, just after the monsoon ended, allowing the caravels to ford the entrance of the river Mandovi, there arrived the sole carrack “São Bento” piloted by Diogo Garcia, a Castillian.
The vessel carried the usual shipload of appointed fidalgo officers, sundry goods, and commissioned soldiers, black Kaffir slaves and a non-commissioned soldier called Luis de Camoens, who was obliged to serve as warrior for five years to commute a jail sentence.
He was to spend the next sixteen years in Goa and in the Orient. It was during this time that he composed the greater part of his famous epic, The Lusiadas glorifying the deeds of the Portuguese navigators and military leaders, against the background of the early history of Portugal. This work ranks among the most renowned narrative epic poems, such as the Illiad and the Odyssey, for Camoens had a profound classical education combined with perfect mastery of his instrument and a lifetime of varied experience in sonnets, eclogues, odes and elegies.
It was in Goa also that Camoens befriended two of the most famous Portuguese men in history, Garcia da Orta, the botanist, already a scientist of renown, and the chronicler Diogo do Couto. The former had spent thirty years in India, many of them in the Portuguese settlement of Bombay, in research of the simple medicines used in Asia, after verifying by observation and experience what was positive in this part of Arab and Hindu science, which influenced immediately Europe at the end of the sixteenth century, and throughout the seventeenth century.
Camoens first published poem was printed in Goa and appeared in Garcia da Orta’s Coloquios:
"Favour the ancient
Science which Achilles held in esteem;
Look, because you must see
What was created in our time
The fruit of a Garden where
New plants bloom, unknown to scholars.
Look, how in your lifetime
A remarkable Garden produces many herbs
In the Lusitanian fields,
Herbs which those wise sorcerers
Medea and Circe never found,
Because the laws of Magic outwitted them."
The life of Camoens in Goa was described by the Frenchman François Pyrard de Laval, who narrated the plight of the soldiers in Goa: “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”
Camoens described life in Goa in a letter of January 1555: “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”.
He also 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 lowclass, 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 in heat, however randy you may be in the world”.
Meanwhile Camoens had written Satira do Torneio (Satire of theTournament) 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 of 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 ridiculed the vices and defects of the Portuguese administration and the Jesuits.
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 Cambodja, 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 Lendas da India ( 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 Gusmão, who later became Coutinho’s wife, had him released immediately.
There lived in Goa a rich man called Miguel Rodrigues Coutinho, nicknamed “Fios secos” ( 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 at high interest rates. 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.
Meanwhile poor Camoens eked out a living in Goa, by being a scribe, writing letters on behalf of illiterate persons, and giving final touches to his epic poem Os Lusiadas.
Camoens who was critical of the behaviour of the Portuguese, thought that it was unsafe for him to remain in Goa, and sailed en route to Portugal in 1569, but was stranded in Mozambique for some months, because he had no money to pay for the fare up to Lisbon.
Diogo do Couto, the 16th century historian, on another voyage back to Lisbon, found “that great poet and old friend of mine” and he together with other friends, chipped in to help Camoens to return to Lisbon in their carrack.
His manuscript passed the censorship of the Inquisition, and finally King Sebastian issued a decree to have the Lusiadas printed in 1572, and quickly this opus reached Spain and Italy, where at first it was more appreciated than in Portugal itself. The King gave Camoens a meager pension of 15$000 yearly, and Camoens lived in a little house, adjoining the church of St.Anne.
Torquato Tasso, a contemporary of Camoens, and the greatest Italian poet of the late Renaissance wrote: “It may be that the Empire of the Indies be lost from the hands of the successors of Manuel, and the superb Lisbon may not see arriving in its port the treasures of Africa and Asia; but the first glory of its immense conquests will live forever shining in the Poem of Camoens; the most remote nations will admire in the Lusiadas the incredible valour of a handful of men, who facing terrible dangers, enormous and never seen before, and subduing populous nations, took to the extremities of the universe their virtues and the religion of their fathers”. (K. G. JAYNE, VASGO DA GAMA AND HIS SUCCESSORS 1460-1580)
Well whoever wants to know more about Camoes, it is very easy even in the net there we can find a tremendous amount of information both in Portuguese and English.
Luis Vaz de Camoes was one of the greatest if not the great poets of the World in his days, recognized in our days all around the World.
His poem "Os Lusiadas" is translated in many languages and in a way he too brought Goa to the 4 corners of the World.
Sent from BlackBerry® on Airtel
-----Original Message-----
From: Rajan Barrett <rajanb...@gmail.com>
Sender: goa-bo...@googlegroups.com
Date: Fri, 9 Sep 2011 20:56:55
To: <goa-bo...@googlegroups.com>
Reply-To: goa-bo...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: Camoes connections with Goa. Was: Re: [GOABOOKCLUB] Camoes
--
ya i had read somewhere that he was found in a beggarly condition in
prison somewhere and was recognized as a great writer by the
Portuguese.
On 09/09/2011, aveto afonso <aav...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Camoes did not die in Goa. He was back in Lisbon in 1570, got 'Os Lusiadas'
> published in 1572 with the help of Frei Bartolomeu Ferreira, lived on an
> annual pension of 15,000 granted by King D. Sebastiao, and died on 10 June
> 1580. (Ave Cleto Afonso)
>
> On Fri, Sep 9, 2011 at 7:30 AM, Rajan Barrett <rajanb...@gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> did he die in Goa or was he in jail somewhere in Africa? My interest in
>> him
>> is largely because of the Portuguese sonnet and a person who was not an
>> ivory tower poet. I have some of his sonnets and *Oz Lusiads* in English
>> and have used Landeg White's critique on Camoes but was always intrigued
>> by
>> the idea that it is strange that the sonnet comes to India so early in its
>> history but does not find itself being modified or changed by an Indian
>> language.
>>
>>
>> 2011/9/9 Frederick FN Noronha फ्रेडरिक नोरोन्या *فريدريك نورونيا <
>> frederic...@gmail.com>
>>
>>> Some Camoes connections with Goa:
>>>
>>> Camões belongs to a family originating from the northern Portuguese
>>> region
>>> of Chaves <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaves_(Portugal)> near
>>> Galicia<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galicia_(Spain)>.
>>> At an early age, his father Simão Vaz left his family to discover
>>> personal
>>> riches inIndia <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India>, only to die in
>>> Goa<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goa> in
>>> the following years. His mother later re-married....
>>>
>>> He departed in 1553 for Goa on board the *São Bento*, commanded by
>>> Fernão
>>> Alves
>>> Cabral<http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fern%C3%A3o_Alves_Cabral&action=edit&redlink=1>.
>>> The ship arrived six months later. In Goa, Camões was imprisoned for
>>> debt.
>>> He found Goa "a stepmother to all honest men" but he studied local
>>> customs
>>> and mastered the local geography and history. On his first expedition, he
>>> joined a battle along the Malabar
>>> Coast<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malabar_Coast>.
>>> The battle was followed by skirmishes along the trading routes between
>>> Egypt <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egypt> and India. The fleet
>>> eventually returned to Goa by November 1554. During his time ashore, he
>>> continued his writing publicly, as well as writing correspondence for the
>>> uneducated men of the fleet.
>>>
>>> At the end of his obligatory service, he was given the position of chief
>>> warrant officer in Macau <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macau>. He was
>>> charged with managing the properties of missing and deceased soldiers in
>>> the
>>> Orient. During this time he worked on his epic poem *Os
>>> Lusíadas<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Os_Lus%C3%ADadas>
>>> * ("The Lusiads") in a grotto. He was later accused of misappropriations
>>> and traveled to Goa to respond to the accusations of the tribunal. During
>>> his return journey, near the Mekong
>>> River<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mekong_River> along
>>> the Cambodian <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodia> coast, he was
>>> shipwrecked, saving his manuscript but losing his Chinese lover. His
>>> shipwreck survival in the Mekong Delta was enhanced by the legendary
>>> detail
>>> that he succeeded in swimming ashore while holding aloft the manuscript
>>> of
>>> his still-unfinished epic....
>>>
>>> - In Goa, India the Archeological Museum at Old Goa (which used to be
>>> a Franciscan monastery) houses a 3 meters high bronze statue of Luís
>>> de
>>> Camões. He holds in his hands the scrolls of his epic poem, Os
>>> Lusíadas,
>>> which describes Vasco da Gama’s journey from Portugal to India and
>>> back. The
>>> statue was originally installed in the garden in year 1960 but was
>>> moved
>>> into the museum due to public protest after Goa's annexation to India.
>>> - Another Camoes monument in Goa, India - "Jardim de Garcia da Orta
>>> Garden" (popularly known as Panaji Municipal Garden) has a 12 meter
>>> high
>>> pillar in the center. Constructed in the year 1898, to honour the
>>> first ever
>>> sea voyage from Europe to India, it had been fitted with the bust of
>>> the
>>> Portuguese sailor, Vasco da Gama and had carvings of the poem ‘Os
>>> Lusiadas’
>>> by Luis de Camoes. Considered as a heritage grade structure, the bust
>>> and
>>> the carvings were replaced by India’s national emblem, the four lions
>>> after
>>> Goa's annexation to India.
>>>
>>>
>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lu%C3%ADs_de_Cam%C3%B5es
>>> SOURCE:
>>>
>>> --
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>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Dr. Rajan Joseph Barrett
>> Department of English
>> Faculty of Arts
>> M.S. University Of Baroda
>> Vadodara – 390 002
>> (M) +919898014357
>>
>>
>> --
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>
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>
--
Dr. Rajan Joseph Barrett
Department of English
Faculty of Arts
M.S. University Of Baroda
Vadodara – 390 002
(M) +919898014357
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