Azaghvana E-Book 2003 - Flipbook - Page 175
The Mughuze-Ruwa
To speak of the Muzghuze-Ruwa is a way of referring to all descendants of Mughuze. Ruwa's
name is added because he is considered to be the 'father' of Mughuze, which is how the
Dghweɗe qualified patrilineal descent. We know that Mathews mentions 'Rwa' in the context
of 'Wa'a' (Ghwa'a) but he does not link him with Mughuze, whom he wrongly connects to
'Johode' as an early arrival zone from 'Fitire' (Tur). We are quite certain that Mathew's 'Rwa'
is the same as our Ruwa. Unfortunately, we do not know much about Ruwa, except that he
was seen as the 'father' of Mughuze. From a Ghwa'a perspective, he was referred to as agnate
of a different clan section, with whom they shared a common ancestor called Dghweɗe-Mbra.
Ruwa belongs, like Dghweɗe himself, to a group of mythical ancestors about which my
Dghweɗe protagonists often pondered as to whether any of them had arrived on the Dghweɗe
massif or whether they had never left Tur. The village head of Korana Basa (1994) claimed
that a certain 'Ghwete' was the 'father' of Ruwa, and that it was Ghwete who did not leave
Tur, but that he was relevant to all Dghweɗe. The village head insisted that Ruwa himself had
indeed come to Korana Basa and that his drawa (trumpet) was still there. We know that
Korana Basa did not exist at the time, and perhaps Mathews is right by linking him to
Ghwa'a. In that way, Ruwa would become part of 'Johode' as an early arrival zone from Tur.
We have raised the issue of 'Ngara' as a link ancestor for Thakara and Ruwa, but have decided
to move him to a lower level and have only made him 'father' of Thakara. This makes Ruwa
and Ngara co-descendants of Dghweɗe, and we wonder whether the expanding MughuzeRuwa descendants arranged it this way in hindsight. After all, Mughuze was only a houseboy
of his contemporary Hembe, whose daughter he impregnated. We know this to be a common
theme, not only in the hills but also in the western foothill areas in particular. Whatever is the
case, there is no doubt that the descendants of the Mughuze-Ruwa now see themselves as
members of what we have referred to as the Dghweɗe house of Mbra. Incorporated into the
image of a resilient male outsider, he made Dghweɗe oral history, but, from what we know,
Ruwa could have only become important after the Mughuze had reproduced so very
successfully.
We remember that Mughuze got lost in the bush and was found by Hembe who took him in
and later became his father-in-law following the illegitimate pregnancy of one of his
daughters. We remember that they eventually outnumbered and defeated the Gudule under
Vaghagaya. The Mughuze-Ruwa during my time still occupied the two Korana wards,
Hudimche, Gharaza, Ghathaghure, and also Takweshe and Kwalika. They occupied and
farmed the largest section of Dghweɗe land, and became, as the late pre-colonial shapers of
southern Dghweɗe, not only the most numerous but also the most recent local clan group with
so much influence.
Mathews (ibid) writes much about 'Moghzo' in different contexts, which gives us an
additional take on Mughuze. For example, he places Hembe as the first settler and father-inlaw of Mughuze into today’s Kwalika, where he had been impacted by Mandara raids.
Mathews also claims that Gudule originally lived in this part of early southern Dghweɗe,
apparently where Korana Basa is now. However, some of Mathews’ stories about Mughuze
seem to be mixed up, particularly in parts about the friendship between the 'Hambagda' clan
of Hiɗkala and the Dghweɗe, an alliance which was allegedly formed in Takweshe.
According to Mathews, 'Moghzurua, a Mandara slave of Korana', was given 'powdered cactus
(gadali)' 2 by 'Hambagda' during a visit in 'Tokoshe' (Takweshe) where 'Ivra', who had
adopted 'Hambagda' in Hiɗkala, had brought him for a visit. 'Ivra' was the one who suggested
that the two should be friends and they consumed beer which had been magically transformed
Here Mathews mentions 'gadali' for Cissus quadrangularis, which we identified to be a word of
Fulani origin, and which might have led to the ethnonym ‘Godaliy’ used by their Mafa neighbours of
the DGB area and the Moskota hills. The example above shows that Mathews translates it as 'powdered
cactus'.
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