Azaghvana E-Book 2003 - Flipbook - Page 213
rainmaker to increase the yield of his guinea corn, but since he was no longer a Traditionalist
he no longer did so.
Amuda and Cissus quadrangularis as divine food
Amuda (see Figure 3a), a small Glavda-speaking ethnic community, is the most exclusive
specialist cornblessing group of the Gwoza hills, and will serve here as a comparative
example to sharpen our understanding of cosmological pairing. A.B. Mathews (1934), reports
that Amuda was the son of Abunwa who came from heaven to the present Amuda hill.
According to my research, Hafta Bunga (Mathews' Abunwa) or Bunga-Zigila roughly means
in Glavda 'the man who fell from heaven' (zigila = heaven), which is a clear reference to the
celestial origin of Amuda's lasting cornblessing talents. Unfortunately, Mathews does not
mention Ganjara the rainmaker lineage, but my research shows that Ganjara was indeed seen
to be the 'brother' of Amuda.
The story goes that Bunga brought with him his divine Cissus quadrangularis, and considered
it to be his food (instead of guinea corn). In the versions I collected, Amuda had a 'brother' by
the name of Ganjara who became the founding ancestor of the local rainmaker lineage.
Mathews only speaks of Amuda, who impregnated 'Faradau', the daughter of 'Ngaziba'. They
are called 'Mathuba' and 'Parado' in my versions, and because Amuda and Ganjara are in all of
my versions 'brothers' of the same 'kitchen' (kuÉ—uge), Bunga (Abunwa) and Parado (Faradau)
must be seen as the parents of both. While Amuda became the founding ancestor of an ethnic
group, Ganjara ended up as an associated lineage in Agapalawa, a Glavda village in the
intramountainaous eastern plain of the Gwoza hills nearby (Figure 3).
Figure 15a: Tree of descent of Amuda and Ganjara
Bunga-Zigila = 'The man who fell from heaven' or 'son of heaven'
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Mathuba (Ngaziba) is 'father' of Paradau (Faradau)
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(Abunwa) Hafta-Bunga = Paradau (Faradau)
__________________|_____________
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Amuda-Hafta (cornblesser)
Ganjara (rainmaker)
(founding ancestor of the Amuda)
(associated lineage in Agapalawa)
According to my 1994 fieldnotes, Mathuba, the 'father' of Paradau, came from the Zuwagha
lineage in Divili. We remember the Zuwagha lineage from Ghwasa (see Figure 9), the
outsider ancestor of Kumba-Zadva, who was socially adopted by his Lamang-speaking host.
Our oral source from Amuda explained that after Hafta had come from heaven, he walked
around with his vavanza, and that Paradau, who was working her father's fields, invited him
to eat guinea corn with her. Hafta answered that he had his divine food, which was his
vavanza. They subsequently made love, and out of that connection came Amuda as founding
ancestor of the most famous cornblessers in our subregion, with Ganjara as 'brother'
rainmaker lineage.
We have a second, more profane version, about the ancestry of Amuda, which suggests that
he was the grandson of Mathuba, but still has Ganjara as his 'brother'. In summary, all our oral
sources refer to Amuda as the cornblesser, and Ganjara as the rainmaker lineage. Amuda is in
all versions the founding ancestor of a very small ethnic group by the same name, while the
Ganjara settle as a specialist lineage in an associated ward among the Glavda of Agapalawa.
We can of course speculate that Hafta was just an outsider, since this is a common tradition of
origin in the Gwoza hills area, and that he was taken in by the Zuwagha lineage because he
made himself useful. He then impregnated one of their daughters and eventually settled where
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