GULKAN SHALIKASHVILI

Abstract

Literature life in whole Georgia was slowed down almost four centuries, from the second half of XIIIc. till the beginning of XVIIc.Though from time to time it revived. I want to discuss poetry written on the walls of Vanis Kvabta Monastery. Most of them are literary, some are of folklore origin. They were known from early times. V. Tsiskarishvili, K.Kekelidze and Sh. Oniani began to research them. In the introduction of the “The Knight in the Panther’s Skin”is said that in the time of writing the poem lyrical janre was spread in Georgia, through only some of them reached to us. They were written later than the poem by Shota Rustaveli. They are met namely in the wall inscriptions. We can say that the samples of such lyrical poetry written by nuns are kept on the walls of Vanis Kvabta Monastery. One of them is Nun Gulkani who has inscribed two verses. To our mind her surname was Shalikashvili and she lived on the boundary of XV-XVI cc. According to the inscription of Vanis Kvabta Monastery, Gulkani was a beautiful woman. She describes her beauty in her inscriptions. One of the inscriptions on the wall done by Gulkan is 16 syllabled. It is a sample of a joke. The rythm is impressive. The author prays for St. Virgin and asks her to free her from evils. Gulkani is not an author because the mistakes there could be made only by a copyist. The author addresses to St. Virgin who helps sinners and defends people.