The poet who identified the reality of the life
Rohana WANSATHILAKA
Musk deers are rarely born among deers. Likewise, Intuitive Poets
rarely emerge among poets. Wimalarathna Kumaragama was such a most
talented poet who was in Colombo period. He was born on 18 January, 1919
in a remote village named Narampanawa. Including his parents, there were
nine numbers in his family. He was educated at various colleges.
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Wimalarathna Kumaragama |
He got his basic education in Madolkele Morapitiya Primary School.
Then he entered the schools such as Theldeniya School, Katugasthota
Rahula College and Kandy Darmaraja College respectively. Kumaragama got
an appointment as a clerk in Kachcheri, Anuradhapura after his school
education. Later, he sat for the examination that was held for selecting
Divisional Revenue Officers. Kumaragama got through the examination and
joined the administrative service as a Divisional Revenue Officer. He
rendered his service in several remote areas in Sri Lanka.
As a result of his long period of service in Wanni areas, he was able
to gain experiences regarding behaviour of villagers. These experiences
helped him to be a talented poet in Colombo period. Kumaragama could win
the hearts of Sri Lanka readers through his poetry books. His poetry
collections were popular among avid readers due to his sincere
experiences. That poet was competent to emerge painful emotions in
readers. Following poem could be given for instance.
When this poem is tasted, we feel agony about mother of the deer.
In his inception, as a poet Kumaragama wrote many poems to various
daily papers and magazines. His first anthology "Sanwega Wedana" was
published in 1946. Later, he wrote poetry books such as Hapumalie, Nil
Heenaya, Oruwa and Surathallu. These books show his inborn creative
ability. Among special features of his poems, vision could be mentioned,
as one of valuable features. A clear vision could be noticed in his many
poems. Therefore, he could be considered, as an intuitive poet among
other contemporary poets.
Once, Geethanath Kudaligama said in a paper that Kumaragama would
popular among readers due to his profession. However, his idea cannot be
accepted, because it is a baseless saying. In my view, Kumaragama was
well-known among many readers due to higher taste of his poems.
On one hand, he was a bilingual scholar. Kumaragama was conversant
both in Sinhala and English languages. Therefore, he was able to read
many meaningful books than other contemporary poets.
On the other hand, he was able to gather many experiences due to his
D.R.O. post as well. He worked in various provinces of the Island.
However, other poets were not able to acquire experiences. These two
reasons affected ascendancy of this poet. However, poets such as H.M.
Kudaligama praised only natural beauty by their poems. Kumaragama's
poems helped to build up human feelings in connoisseurs.
His poetic creations assisted to develop both pleasure and wisdom.
Present society has deteriorated acutely. Hence, this society could be
developed by reading Kumaragama's poetry books. His poetic creation 'Kira'
was an interesting poem which shows humanism. This displays value of the
freedom of the animals, and condemn cruelty of the people.
This talented poet died on 30 December 1962 unexpectedly. His demise
is an irreparable loss to the nation. However, even today he is immortal
in Sri Lanka society. |
