Azaghvana E-Book 2003 - Flipbook - Page 193
circumstance marks a key difference between the Mughuze-Ruwa and the Kumba-Zadva
stories. While Mughuze was portrayed as a local outsider, Ghwasa was said to have come
from elsewhere. We also remember that Mathews believed Mughuze might have been a
Mandara slave, and we consider this to be a very real possibility, especially considering how
close the valley of Hiɗkala was to former Gharguze and to Kwalika. We are aware of similar
outsider stories from the Lamang foothill area of the western plain, which also point to a link
to clan medicines as a result of a Ɗagha connection to the Margi of the plains region of
Mutube, and Mulgwe to the northwest of the Gwoza hills (see Figure 4).
While the Mughuze narrative indicates greater exposure to the western plains and the risks of
becoming dispersed or enslaved, the Kumba-Zadva story is more about someone who was
born as a montagnard outsider but then went on a journey into the western plain and returned
with a clan medicine given to him by a female water spirit, which he then used to revive his
children. This led to the increase in number and the successful spread of the Zelidva ethnicity.
The Zelidva spur was not a place where there was an immediate threat of being enslaved. The
fact that Ghwasa was adopted by Lamang-speaking people on the heights of what would later
become known as the Zelidva spur was not the result of him having fled from the western
plain. He had come from Ghwa'a, but we do not know why he left.
We know there have been several mentions of migration from the different areas of Dghweɗe
to Zelidva, including former Gharguze and Kwalika, but Ghwasa seems to be seen as the
original one. We do not know whether Ghwasa's migratory route included other stations in
between, such as for example the foothill area of the eastern plains, from where there are also
oral reports of migratory traditions to the Zelidva spur. What Ghwasa's alleged origin from
Ghwa'a suggests, is that he left when Ghwa'a was still an early arrival zone for migrants from
Tur, leading to further distribution towards the northern parts of the Gwoza hills, before the
formation of the Mughuze-Ruwa.
Altogether there are many similar stories of local outsiders as founders, and we remind
ourselves again here of the Malgu-Wandala story reconstructed in hindsight by the scribes of
the new Islamic Wandala state of the early 18th century. There is possibly another similarity
we should point out, namely that it was, in Mughuze's and Mulgu's case, a potential father-inlaw who had too many daughters and not enough sons. This was possibly why Mughuze gave
his firstborn son as dowry, and why the Wandala Chronicles had to introduce noble strangers
from the east, who for dynastic reasons married female successors. We also remember, from
the legend in the chapter about Katala from the hills (Chapter 2.1), that it was the daughter of
Wandala who remained loyal to her pagan husband and saved his dignity by telling him the
truth of what her father had planned. No noble stranger was needed to bring about the
legitimacy of succession, only the loyalty of a husband's first wife.
In the next chapter we will introduce our reader to Dghweɗe relationship terms. We will lay
the ground for a deeper understanding of the Dghweɗe kinship system, and how it unfolds in
the form of ritual action as part of the cultural practice of the pre-colonial Dghweɗe. We
presume that it is the role of the first wife, as the mother of the seventh-born son (thaghaya),
to be in charge of the beer preparation for the patrilineal family ancestors in her kitchen. Her
ritual importance is also manifested as a gender aspect in the architecture of a traditional
house, which we will describe in great detail in Chapter 3.11, and we will describe in Chapter
3.12 the richness of the ritual pottery stored and moved around the house during religious
ceremonies. We also have a separate chapter on the custodianship of locality shrines, which
were bare of the ritual objects of individual belonging that we would find in houses. Lineage
shrines often consisted of a particular rock with perhaps a grove and Cissus quadrangularis
growing nearby, but here too it was the seventh-born son of the first wife, now in his role as
custodian of the land, who was responsible for leading sacrifices away from the house. In the
following chapter we lay the ground for an understanding of all Dghweɗe relationship terms,
which contain much information that explains local group formation, beginning with nuclear
and extended family relationships and their respective homes.
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