Azaghvana E-Book 2003 - Flipbook - Page 192
clan, who once saved him from Gudule, remained friendly. The problem was that the Gudule
were at that time still stronger than the Mughuze. There is also some evidence that the Gudule
already owned such a powerful clan medicine and wanted to take it with them to 'Gudulyewe' to
start anew. This was generations later, after the descendants of Vaghagaya eventually defeated
the Gudule in Gharaza. We know that the Vaghagaya asked some of them to stay behind. Many
of those clan medicines seem to be linked to increasing human, animal, and terrestrial fecundity,
while others were used against locusts etc. It seems it was not just the type of clan medicine, but
the person or lineage who owned it, that was significant here.
Similarities and differences
How the narrative about Mughuze differs is that Ghwasa became the founding ancestor of a
whole new ethnic group, as opposed to an integrated part of an already existing group. Many
features are similar, such as the role of the number seven as evidence for successful
reproduction of his descendants. Kumba-Zadva even had seven dogs. The greatest similarity
seems to be that both started as houseboys by cutting grasses for their future fathers-in-law 5,
because they were both young and starving. Nevertheless, the reason for Mughuze’s action
was that Hembe had saved him from Gudule, while Ghwasa was just a newcomer. Still, both
were outsiders and went through a process in which they gained enough strength to become
very successful founding ancestors. Also, both Mughuze and Ghwasa had access to clan
medicine to achieve their expansive goals. Besides this, Mughuze used the pieces of the cut
and rotten bull's meat full of maggots to have twins 6 born to him continuously, to eventually
become strong enough in number, while Ghwasa applied snake poison to kill his local
competitors. Both found a way to establish themselves as founders by adapting to local
circumstances.
We also notice that it took both Mughuze and Ghwasa several generations to achieve such a
high population share to fully develop and assert their powers. In Mughuze's case, it is not
only the seven sons he allegedly had, but another of his sons, Vaghagaya, who also had seven
sons. 7 Something similar applies in the Kumba-Zadva story, where we have first Ghwasa and
then his grandson Kumba-Zadva, who by extraordinary means established himself as the
founding ancestor of the most influential ethnic group of the Zelidva spur and adjacent plains.
The Zelidva are also an example of how patrilineal descent and patrilocality can override
language, considering that the seven sons of Kumba married Wandala and Glavda wives, and
so managed to adopt their languages by the means of successful expansion.
Zadva-Ghwasa had learned Lamang by being born to a Lamang-speaking mother in Divili.
We mentioned that the Zelidva continued to speak Dghweɗe when they sacrificed to their
patrilineal family ancestors. However, other than the Dghweɗe, sticks were used as
representations and not ancestor stones (Gwoza fieldnotes, 1994). This last example does
perhaps demonstrate how ritual culture is able to survive longer in the language than in its
material manifestations. On the other hand, Dghweɗe as the ritual language only survived in
Divili, high up on the Zelidva spur, after they had finally outnumbered their Lamang hosts by
killing them with a clan medicine they had received from a Ɗagha. This shows how
widespread the belief in Ɗagha divine healers was.
Conclusion
We have seen the importance of outsiders as founding ancestors, not only for the ethnogenesis
of the Dghweɗe, but also for other groups of the Gwoza hills. We chose to tell the KumbaZadva story because they were seen as having originally come from Dghweɗe. This
5
It is common in the Gwoza hills for a son-in-law to work for his future in-laws.
We see in Chapter 3.19 what a powerful symbol of fecundity twins are in Dghweɗe culture.
7
We will discuss in Chapter 3.18, not only the significance of a seventh-born son as a symbol of good
luck, but also that of an eighth-born child as a symbol of bad luck, unless the eighth born were twins.
6
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