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Kings, Cattle and Blacksmiths: Royal Insignia andReligious Symbolism in the Interlacustrine StatesHamo SassoonPublished online: 26 Feb 2010.
To cite this article: Hamo Sassoon (1983) Kings, Cattle and Blacksmiths: Royal Insignia and Religious Symbolism in theInterlacustrine States, Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa, 18:1, 93-106, DOI: 10.1080/00672708309511316
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Kings, Cattle and Blacksmiths: Royal Insignia and Religious Symbolism
in the Interlactrstrine States Ham0 Sassoon
The historical significance of royal insignia
The country between Lake Victoria on the east, and Lakes Albert and Kivu on the west, has witnessed during the past six hundred years the evolution of a unique group of regnal states, the so-called interlacustrine kingdoms, which eventually dominated the area and bequeathed to us a wealth of historical traditions. The prin- cipal states, and those with which this article is concerned, were Nkore (Ankole), Buganda, Bunyoro, Karagwe and Rwanda. All have recently ceased to exist, the first three as a result of their incompatibility within the modern state of Uganda; Karagwe had already died a slow and natural death before the Tanzanian decision of 1962 to abolish kings and chiefs; and Rwanda suffered a violent revolution in 1959 which overthrew the monarchy.
Although the historical traditions of the interlacustrine kingdoms are so abun- dant, archaeology has contributed surprisingly little towards the history of the area. One reason for this is that the kingdoms, perhaps because they are mainly pastoral in their origins, were notable more for their social organisation than for the durable elements in their culture. The few sites that have been excavated have been oc- cupation sites, usually identifiable by reason of the mounds and hollows - the result of clearing out the cowdung, digging water cisterns or perhaps defensive dit- ches. Virtually no trace of building remains. The royal household equipment must have been largely organic in origin, and excavation has unearthed no more than a modicum of undistinguished pottery, and hardly any metal objects. ' The situation is likely to be different in the future when royal burials can be excavated, but most of the kingdoms are still too recent for public sentiment to permit desecration of a king's grave. However, a beginning has been made in Rwanda where a royal burial was found to contain several hundred iron objects. As local sentiment gives way to historical interest, excavation of burials is likely to contribute usefully to our un- derstanding of interlacustrine history.
In the meantime, there is another class of objects which offers the possibility of profitable historical study. It was common to all the major kingdoms that they possessed collections of royal insignia.2 These included many objects of iron and copper, such as spears, anvils, staffs and hammers. The most important symbol was usually a drum, which was greatly revered, but there were also many other items of organic origin such as baskets, leather quivers, gourds and wooden bowls, which
I. (1960) 61-26 and 33, 2 (1969) 12s-50; for Bweyorere see UJ 32, 2 (1968) 165-82. 2. ruler; they are therefore referred to as insignia rather than regalia.
For Kibengo see Uganda Journal (UJ) 24, 2 (1960) 183-96; for Bigo bya Muganyi see UJ 24, I
None of the objects described in this paper are known to have been used in the installation of a
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cannot have survived fire and decay as did the metal objects. It is misleading to say that the collections were the property of the state. In Nkore and Karagwe this was probably so, for the little that is known of the royal burials indicates that the rulers of these two states were not buried with grave-goods. In Rwanda the excavation mentioned above of the eighteenth century mwami, Cyirima 11, shows that some a t least of the Rwandan rulers were buried with a great quantity of metal insignia (Van Noten, 1972); but a t the same time, there were important insignia which belonged to the state of Rwanda and continued in use from one reign to the next. This appears also to have been the situation in Bunyoro, but in Buganda the in- signia were mostly, if not all, personal to the ruler, and therefore went with him to his tomb.
In this paper, the collections of insignia in the five principal interlacustrine states will be briefly reviewed and the probable functions of the collections as a whole will be discussed. A more detailed description will then be given of one par- ticular set of metal insignia which are found in four of the five kingdoms; these are
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the anvils and anvil-related objects with down-curved lateral prongs. In an attempt to discover the origins and meaning of this set of objects it will be shown that the down-turned prongs represent cattle horns, and that cattle-horn deformation is not only very widespread but also very ancient in the Nile Valley. It is suggested that this practice is connected with supernatural or religious beliefs. In the in- terlacustrine states, it will be shown that the combination in royal insignia af blacksmiths' anvils with symbolic cattle horns may be related to certain aspects of royal ritual described in the esoteric code of Rwanda.
In Uganda, the collections of state insignia of Nkore and Bunyoro were handed over to the Uganda Museum in 1967; museum records show a total of eighty-six items from Ankole and 255 from Bunyoro; in addition to spears and other metal objects, these figures include many perishable items made from organic materials. No insignia were handed over from Buganda in 1967 because, as already stated, the insignia are personal to each ruler. One possible exception to this is the set of drums known in Luganda as mujaguzo; these were hidden in 1966, and did not reappear in public until the burial of Mutesa I1 early in 1971. In Rwanda, the items of state insignia were hidden in 1959 and have not yet reappeared; no proper study of these insignia has ever been published, and it is not known how extensive the collection really was. However, photographs by Bourgeois and Maquet suggest that the collection amounted to about two dozen items.' In Karagwe, the state insignia survived in a remarkable way, largely because of the remoteness of Bweranyange, the old capital site where they were kept. Among other vicissitudes, the whole collection was left unprotected on an open hillside from 1942 until 1958, and therefore no longer contains any perishable items. Nevertheless, there are still ninety-nine items of insignia in Karagwe; twenty items were removed by the Ger- man administration in 1906, but of these, four were destroyed during the 1939-45 war. One item from Bweranyange is known to have been taken by a visitor, and probably more have been removed from the collection in the past by unauthorised persons. The total for the durable items alone in this collection was therefore at least I 20, and was probably considerably more.
Fk. 1 Iron staff with socket at upper end, f rom the K a r a p e collection. H t 87.1 cm.
There would appear to be two different reasons for the possession of royal in- signia; first, they would have been used by the ruler to show that he had authority to rule, or to indicate when he had delegated his authority to one of his agents; or second, they would have been used by the ruler or his associates in the performance of religious ceremonies designed to benefit the state. As an example of the first in- stance, the series of iron staffs (fig. I ) in the Karagwe collection would appear to have been symbols of authority; an identical staff was found during the excavation of the grave of Cyirima I1 in Rwanda; and staffs of the same type were apparently borrowed by offcials of the Nyabingi cult and used to proclaim their status (Van Noten, 1972, Plate X, no. 162; Stuhlmann, 1894, pp. 252-3 and illus. no. 63; Czekanowski, 1917, pp. 187, 306).'
3. examine royal insignia from Nkore, Buganda and Bunyoro. 4. Maqua. See also J.J. Maquet, 1957, pp. 40-42, for pictures of the dynastic hammers. 5 . from the local populace in Kigezi and northern Rwanda.
I am grateful to the Curator of the Uganda Museum for his cooperation in allowing me to
Copies of the photographs by Bourgeois were kindly made available to me by Mme Emma
Nyabingi was an unofficial priestess exerting local power and extracting goods and money
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The second instance, religious ceremonies for the benefit of the state, calls to mind at once the religious performance common to the whole of the interlacustrine area and usually referred to as the new moon ceremony. Both Speke and Grant described the new moon ceremonies in Karagwe (Speke, 1863, pp. 24-5; Grant, 1864). The new moon had actually occurred on I December 1861 (Nautical Almanac), but the ceremony did not take place until 5 December. In his account of the ceremony, Grant describes the king, Rumanyika: ‘His whole body remains concealed behind a screen, and he had beside him his insignia of office, either a small drum, or an instrument which no one but himself can raise’ (Grant, 1864, p. 143). Later, Grant refers to a copper ‘grapple or anchor’ which was placed upright on the ground at these monthly ceremonies (Grant, 1864, p. 145). This can hardly be anything but the object now in the Linden-Museum, Stuttgart (Plate 11). Speke and Grant leave one in no doubt as to the importance of the new moon ceremony in Karagwe, and it is surprising that it has not been better documented in the other four kingdoms. Its existence is briefly recorded in Buganda by Grant (1864, p. 232), in Rwanda by Czekanowski (1917, p . 296-7), in Nkore by Oberg (1940, pp. 137, 138, 144) and Stenning (1959, p. 148 P and in Bunyoro by Speke (1863, p. 523) and Roscoe (1923, pp. 107-im). 9ut considering that it was an important religious ceremony, common throughout the interlacustrine area and beyond (e.g. Nyam- wezi), our knowledge and understanding of the ceremony are very slight.
As distinct from public religious ceremonies, royal insignia were also used in the various rituals connected with the accession of the king, with the maintenance of his powers and with the promotion of the well-being of the state. The best documented of the kingdoms in this respect is Rwanda, where the many and com- plex procedures to be followed by the king in a multitude of eventualities were preserved as traditions memorised by special court officials. But Karagwe is the only kingdom for which there is a description of an object with prongs, together with documentary evidence for its ritual use; in addition, the description probably refers to an object which is still available for study. These circumstances are, un- fortunately, not repeated in any of the other kingdoms, and for them one must simply examine the documentary, linguistic and archaeological evidence which is available.
Anvils with and without prongs, and associated rituals
The Karagwe collection includes four metal objects which are classified here as an- vils, and treated as a set (fig. 2 ; PI. 1-11), The first in this set, Anvil ‘A’ (fig. 2), is a good specimen of an iron pillar anvil, such as is commonly used by blacksmiths in central and eastern Africa; this type of anvil consists of a pillar of iron with a poin- ted end which is driven into the ground; the top of the pillar can then be used as a striking platform. The upper part of the shaft is usually squared off so that it has four lateral faces. This is a dual purpose tool which can also be used as a hammer; for this it is either held vertically and upside down and driven down on to the ob- ject being hammered, so that the total weight of the pillar of iron is transmitted through the striking platform; or it may be held horizontally so that the flattened sides of the shaft are used for striking. The specimen in the Karagwe collection has a square striking platform which is burred at the edges as a result of hammering. The second in the set, Anvil ‘B’, (fig. 2 ) also has a square upper part, but from the top centre of each of the four sides, a short iron hook projects and curls down- wards; this anvil has no central striking platform, but the upper surfaces of the hooks show signs of hammering. Anvil ‘C’ (PI. I) is a large iron specimen; to its
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central pillar four very long down-curved prongs are attached, two on either side. The top of the shaft is rectangular and forms a striking platform which, however, would be difficult to use because the upper pair of prongs would limit freedom to work. The striking platform shows no sign of use. Anvil ‘D’ (Pl. 11) is not made of iron; the central pillar and two of the prongs are made as a single piece and are copper. At right angles to the two copper prongs, two brass prongs are roughly at- tached with copper rivets. All four prongs are slender and curved downwards. This object would be severely damaged were it to be used as an anvil. At present, there is no information available from Karagwe about the names, uses or significance of these four objects, although it is unlikely that this information has already been forgotten by the men responsible for looking after the collection in the recert past.
A B Fig. 2 Anvi l A . Iron anvi l from the Karagwe collection. Ht 45 cm. Anvi l B. Iron anvil wi th four h o o k , from fhe Karagwe collection. Ht 49.8,.cm.
In Buganda, the last four kabakas are buried in Kasubi Tombs, just outside Kampala. In front of the tomb of each kabaka the spears and other insignia which belonged to him during his reign are displayed. Each set of insignia includes a cop- per object consisting of a thin central shaft, to which are attached two finely curved prongs, one on either side of the shaft; the prongs are curved downwards and are flattened in the vertical plane (Pl. 111). Mutesa I, who died in 1884, was the first kabaka to be buried at Kasubi; apparently his insignia included two of these copper objects with prongs; a specimen similar to the one in front of his tomb at Kasubi is kept in the collections of the Uganda Museum (No. 43.335). At present, only one other specimen is known to exist in Buganda; this is among the insignia of Kabaka Suna 11, who died about 1856. Until recently the only evidence for its existence was a photograph which was published in 1908 (Hattersley, 1908, pl. facing p. x8). When the tomb was extensively repaired in 1972, the object was put outside and the opportunity was taken to study it and record it. It is made of cop r and brass (Pl. IV) and is similar to the copper specimen Karagwe Anvil D r P1. 11). It is probable that similar objects exist in the insignia of other kabakas, but since these are kept concealed, it is not possible to pursue the matter further.
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The documentation for the specimen in the Uganda Museum states that it is an ‘Mpiima ... symbol of Mutesa 1’s power’, and this is roughly what one is told at Kasubi Tombs -but with the additional information that mpiima means a sword or dagger, and that this type of sword has two blades so that the kabaka could behead two people at the same time. This is such an improbable explanation that it im- mediately arouses suspicion. At present, there is no other documentary information for the mpiima, but one cannot be quite certain whether its true origins and significance are still held in secret memory, or whether the ‘screen story’ about the two-bladed sword is all that is now left, even for the most persistent enquirer.
Also among the insignia of Mutesa I a t Kasubi Tombs are three small metal ob- jects which appear to be ritual anvils. The specimen illustrated (fig. 3) is 32.6 cm high and consists of two parts: an upper iron shaft, very skilfully forged and decorated with alternate inlaid strips of brass and copper; this is wedged into a pointed iron socket. There is no information available concerning these three ob- jects, but the top or striking platform of the specimen illustrated has been burred over by hammering.
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Fig. 3 Small iron anvil with inlaid strips of brass and copper,from the insignia of Mutesa 1 at Kasubi Tombs, Kampala H t 32.6 cm.
In Rwanda, an object called nyarushara is among. the Rwandan insignia which were hidden in 1959; fortunately there are photographs which show it as an iron shaft, to which are attached two lateral down-curved prongs. It would appear that the origins of the object and the meaning of the word nyarushara have, as in Buganda, been forgotten. The documentation collected by Bourgeois and recorded on the reverse of the photograph reproduced as P1. V states: ‘Irons in the form of a cross of which the central part is called inyundo (hammer), symbol of power, whilst the lateral branches (urushara) are curved and represent the female breasts, symbols of fertility. There are in the royal insignia of the Mwami of Rwanda five nyarushara which accompany the principal drum koringa, When the Mwami went to bed, these charms were placed beside his pillow. They constitute the insignia of the blacksmith-kings, a title assumed by the rulers of Rwanda who claim that they in- troduced iron-working into the country.’ Comparison of nyarushara with the anvils in the Karagwe collection, especially Karagwe Anvil ‘C’ (Pl. I), leaves no doubt that nyarushara is a near relative of the anvils with long down-curved prongs; but in this case, the prongs are shorter, and the shaft of the anvil longer. The top of nyarushara is splayed, suggesting the top of an anvil; unfortunately, it is not possible to examine it and see whether it has been used as an anvil.
In the remaining two kingdoms, Nkore and Bunyoro, the insignia do not at present include any anvils with prongs. In the Nkore collection there is a good specimen of a pillar anvil of the same type as Karagwe Anvil ‘A’ (Uganda Museum No. 67-41 (b) ANK). The collection of insignia from Bunyoro now in the Uganda Museum does not include any anvils, with or without down-turned prongs.
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To summarize this account of the anvils in Karagwe, Nkore, Rwanda and Buganda, the four Karagwe anvils are: the plain anvil (A), an anvil with down- curved prongs (B), and two objects with prongs but lacking the central striking platform (C and D). In the nyarushara of Rwanda, the anvil and prongs are com- bined, and in Buganda the mpiima is a pair of prongs only, but there are also small ritual anvils among the insignia of Mutesa I. In Nkore there is a plain pillar anvil similar to Karagwe Anvil A.
These objects can be arranged in a morphological series having at one extreme the plain iron pillar anvils of Karagwe and Nkore; at the other extreme are the cop- per mpiima of Buganda and the copper object, Karagwe Anvil D which, because they are within the morphological series, are also referred to as anvils. The plain anvils in this series can be related with certainty to the ritual smithing which is associated with priestly rule in the interlacustrine region, The interestieg features of this series are the combination of prongs with anvils and, at one extreme in the series, the dominance of down-turned prongs and the complete suppression of the practical characteristics of an anvil. The ritual significance of these features in in- terlacustrine states will be discussed in the remainder of this section. In the next section an attempt will be made to identify the ideas associated with the anvil and down-turned prong features, and reasons will be suggested for the combination of these symbols in single objects.
Let us consider first of all the documentary evidence for royal smithing in the five kingdoms. In Rwanda, the kings bearing the dynastic names Mutara and Cyirima were required, among other duties, to carry out a ritual reforging of the dynastic hammers: ‘The king goes in front of the forge, he approaches Nyarushara and beats the iron four times. He orders the descendant of Muhinda to beat the iron four times’ (d’Hertefelt and Coupez, 1964, pp. 115-117, 11. 394-410). In Buganda, the existence of the small anvils in the insignia of Mutesa I is clear evidence that blacksmithing formed a part of the royal rituals; yet the only reference to this in the extensive literature on Buganda would appear to be in Roscoe (191 I , p. 524) where a list of the houses in the Royal Enclosure includes: ‘No. 8: the house where the king did smithing’. The text of the book does not mention the king as a blacksmith. In Bunyoro, although the collection of insignia does not include an anvil, it is recorded that the king, during the ceremonies connected with his accession to the throne, had to hammer iron on a stone anvil four times, to show that he was the head of all the blacksmiths (Winyi, 1936). In Nkore, despite the existence of the an- vil mentioned earlier, there is no documentary evidence that the king was required to carry out ritual smithing.
In Karagwe, it is firmly believed that all the metal insignia were made by the father of Rumanyika I, Ndagara, who was king from about I 820 until I 8 5 3. He is said to have worked secretly at night and to have been a marvellous smith. Since this tradition was first recorded less than a century after the death of Ndagara, it should command some respect. But it loses credibility because it is coupled with other traditions which are plainly not historically true; for example, Ndagara is said to have forged an iron hammer and hurled it across to Rwanda where it struck and killed his enemy, the Rwandan king Gahindiro (Ford and Hall, 1947, p. 8). It is most improbable that the king would have spent his time labouring in the forge to make over a hundred metal objects. In view of the royal blacksmithing rituals recorded in the other kingdoms, it is probable that Ndagara was required to carry out ritual smithing, and that this is the origin of the legend that he made all the Karagwe metalwork. However, it is then necessary to ask why Rumanyika I, who ruled from about 1 8 5 3 until 1878, was not also famous for his blacksmithing ac- tivities. Traditions seem to be silent on this point, and although Speke, Grant and
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Stanley all recorded their impressions of Rumanyika, the matter of blacksmithing is never mentioned. Possibly there is a clue to the solution of this problem in the royal ritual of Rwanda. On accession to the throne, the kings of Rwanda were given dynastic names which followed a cyclical pattern; since the mid-eighteenth century this cycle has been: Mutara, Kigeri. Mibambwe, Yuhi, and then Cyirima, Kigeri, Mibambwe, Yuhi, and then back to the beginning of the cycle with Mutara 11. Some of these dynastic names carried with them certain rules and obligations which governed the policy and life of the rulers concerned (d’Hertefelt and Coupez, 1964, pp. I I 5 - 16). The Mutara or Cyirima who began each cycle was responsible for pastoralism but he also had to reforge the ritual iron insignia. It seems probable that a less involved cyclical system of dynastic naming was also in use in Karagwe, and that the ritual duties of Ndagara, like those of Mutara and Cyirima, included the reforging of the ironwork. This would account for the strength of the smithing tradition in connection with Ndagara, and its complete absence from the traditions concerning his successor, Rumanyika. Further evidence for the existence of a cyclical system of dynastic naming is to be found in Speke’s account of Karagwe, where he records that the first ten rulers were called alternately Rohinda (Ruhinda) and Ntare (Speke, 1863, p. 250).
Documentary evidence combined with the presence of anvils of various types in the collections of insignia in the kingdoms, shows that most, if not all, of the dynasties ruling the principal interlacustrine states included blacksmith- kings. This is potentially a useful clue to the earlier history of the interlacustrine states; as Iron Age archaeology progresses, it is probable that the potential will be realised. Already, excavation has begun to fill in the large gaps: the burial goods of the mid- eighteenth century Rwandan king, Cyirima 11, included a pillar anvil which is similar to the anvil in the Nkore insignia, apart from the fact that it is about one centimetre smaller.
We must now consider the interesting fact that royal anvils in the in- terlacustrine area are frequently provided with down-curved prongs. Speke noted that Rumanyika’s private hut contained, among other objects, a number of brass rapples; this is a reasonable description of the co per and brass anvil, Karagwe D r Speke, 1863, p. 206). Speke’s companion, Grant Q who was a much better observer)
wrote: ‘A piece of copper, made up in the form of a grapple or anchor, two feet long, lay near the door of the sultan’s hut. We were told this was to represent the horns of cattle, and had a sacred signification. It was placed upri ht in the ground on the occasion of the monthly festivities’ (Grant, 1864, p. 145 7 . The suggestion that the down-curved prongs on the grapple or anchor represented cattle horns is neatly confirmed by another class of objects in the Karagwe collection; these are the iron cows. Speke was shown in Rumanyika’s hut, a number ‘bf . . . small models of cows, made in iron. . .’ (Speke, 1863, p. 206). The Karagwe insignia now in- cludes seven models of cows, made of iron. In addition, there are three more which were taken to the Linden-Museum, Stuttgart, in 1906. Of these ten cows, all have long horns; three of the cows have their horns curved downwards in very much the same way as the Karagwe anvils C and D (fig. 4). Examination of the way in which the bases of the horns are fitted to the front part of each of these three specimens shows that the down-curved horns cannot be the result of subsequent damage; they were certainly made this way. Evidently Grant’s recording of the sacred significance of the down-turned prongs on the ‘grapple or anchor’ is mat- ched by the similar conformation of the horns of three of the model iron cows.
6. Cyirima 11.
I am grateful to Dr Van Noten for providing a photograph of the iron anvil from the tomb of
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Fig. 4 Iron model of a cow from the Karagwe collection, side view a n d front view. L. 30 cm,
Turning again to Rwanda, one looks with growing suspicion a t the explanation offered to Bourgeois that the two down-curved lateral branches of nyarushara, called urusharu, were representations of female breasts, symbols of fertility. Suspicion crystallises into certainty when one finds that Hima wall patterns in Ankole include a design called nyaruiharu; this is a representation of a musical in- strument which incorporates the down-turned hook motif, and the name is said to be derived from the Hima word enshara, meaning a cow with drooping horns (Sekintu and Wachsmann, 1956, pp. 4-5). The evidence therefore shows that, at least in Karagwe and Rwanda, down-turned cattle horns have some ritual significance, and that they are also associated with anvils. And in Buganda, although the significance of the rnpiirna appears to have been totally forgotten, there can be little doubt that the fine copper objects associated with the tombs of the kubakas originally represented down-turned cattle horns. In Bunyoro there appears to be no trace of any cult of down-turned cattle horns. In Ankole, an elderly in- formant recalled having seen about half-a-dozen small, copper, double-horned ob- jects which were kept in a bark-cloth bag with the royal drums (E.S.G. Mugoha, pers. comm.). Although the drums are in the Uganda Museum, they do not now seem to be accompanied by any copper objects. The same informant also told'a story which is connected with the first arrival of cattle in Rwanda: a man called Gashubi was near Lake Bulera, in northern Rwanda, when he saw a great number of cattle coming slowly out of the water towards him. He was afraid of what, to him, were strange new beasts and climbed into a tree. From this vantage point he saw an immense bull in their midst. Losing his nerve, he screamed; whereupon the bull turned. The cattle in front of the bull continued to come out on to the dry land, but all the cattle behind him turned also, and he and they went back into the lake and were never seen again. This story is told to explain why there are never enough cattle to satisfy the needs of everybody in Rwanda, and the failure of Gashubi to keep his nerve has become proverbial. The name of the great bull was Rushara or Rutendere, and predictably his horns were down-turned. A modified version of this story, omittin the name Rushara, has been published by Coupez and Kamanzi (1962, pp. 8 t - j f
In the interlacustrine region, therefore, ritual black-smithing and down-turned cattle horns were two important elements of ritual which were closely connected with the well-being of the state. But in both Karagwe and in Rwanda, the material expression of these two rituals was combined in a single item of insignia - an anvil with down-turned horns. This strange combination suggests that it may be related to the ritual duties incumbent upon the Rwandan kings who bore the dynastic
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I02 Kings, cattle, blacksmiths
names Cyirima and Mutara. The kings who were given these names were primarily concerned with the prosperity of the cattle, as opposed to the Kigeris and Mibambwes who were warrior kings, and to the Yuhis who were responsible for the general prosperity of the kingdom (d’Hertefelt and Coupez, 1964, pp. 454, 469, 474, 495). But it was also the Cyirimas and Mutaras who had to reforge nyarushara and the other five dynastic hammers (d’Hertefelt and Coupez, 1964, pp. 1 0 1 - 1 0 3 #
It does not appear to have been recorded whether each Cyirima and each Mutara had a dynastic hammer forged especially for him, but it is interesting to make this assumption and to see what historical depth it suggests. According to Vansina’s lists of kings, the last four blacksmith-kings died in 1617, 1740, 1 8 3 5 and 1931 (Vansina, 1961, pp. 22-3). By projecting this series of dates backwards, one reaches an early fifteenth century date for the forging of the first of the six dynastic hammers, which happens also to coincide approximately with the period when Vansina considers that the kingdom was first established. However, the system of dynastic naming was not immutable, and Kagame has recorded a major change made in the system by Mutara I who died in or about 1617 (1947, p. 377). Yet another reason for treating these notional historical projections with caution is that more than one dynastic hammer may be attributable to a single ruler. A similar situation has already been noted for Mutesa I of Buganda, who evidently had two mpiimas, one of which is at Kasubi Tombs and the other in the Uganda Museum.
In Buganda, as may be seen at Kasubi Tombs, the rnpiirna or down-turned horns symbols (Pl. 111) and the anvils (fig. 3 ) are two separate groups of objects. This situation may well be related to the absence of any evidence for a cyclical system of dynastic naming such as existed in Rwanda. It must, however, be significant for the history of Buganda that its collections of royal insignia include symbols representing cattle-horns; for geographical reasons Buganda was never a cattle kingdom like the other four kingdoms, and this is borne out by the absence of any milk or cattle rituals in the rites of succession. The similarity between the mpiima belonging to Suna 11, and the Karagwe anvil D before the brass prongs were added, is very obvious; the reign of Suna 11, c, 1 8 2 0 - 1 8 5 3 , was a period during which Buganda was growing rapidly and extending her influence a t the expense of her neighbours. Already in 1861, Speke recorded that Rumanyika of Karagwe was in the habit of giving presents to the kings of Bunyoro and Buganda in acknowledgement of their superior status (1863, p. 2 3 3 ) . But in the present state of our knowledge of the insignia of the earlier kabakas, it is not possible to know whether the mpiima - or the idea of it - travelled from Karagwe to Buganda or vice versa or, more probably, originated in a source independent of both.
11. 70-91).
Royal smithing and down- turned horns in wider perspective
Having examined the evidence in the interlacustrine area for the existence of religious rituals centred upon blacksmithing and upon down-turned cattle horns, one may attempt to look for the origins of these rituals. The connection between kingship and blacksmithing is well-known in Africa, although assessments of its implications seem to be scarce (Pechuel-Loesche, 1907, p. 170). This association must have its origins in the spread of iron-smelting groups and their domination of populations who did not have the knowledge of ironworking, a process which is likely to have taken place in many different areas of Africa and at many different periods. In the stage of development in which we now live, iron and steel are so
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Ham0 Sassoon I 0 3
common and so generally distributed that we take their production for granted. But for those who, for the first time, listened to stories and then saw with their own eyes that a lump of brown stone could actually be transformed into a bright and valuable metal, the evidence for divine intervention must have been indisputable. It is hardly surprising that iron-smelters made the most of the situation and surroun- ded their craft with secrecy and ritual. Not only did iron give its makers superior power in war, hunting and agriculture, but it also set them up as an extremely practical caste of magicians. They were thus a potentially dominant group, and when they or their relatives became kings, they would not have failed to see the importance of holding their position against other workers of iron. The need to keep the ironworkers in their place may have led in some African societies to the relegation of the blacksmiths to separate and feared groups who were often kept at a distance, both socially and geographically, from the society as a whole. This theory is not incompatible with the situation in Sukur in north-eastern Nigeria, where smelting and smithing families were definitely discouraged from marrying into other Sukur families, although the chief of Sukur was permitted to marry the daughter of a blacksmith (Sassoon, 1964, p. 177).
Despite the fact that one can identify ritual aspects of ironworking in many African societies, it is still not possible to see, either in the practices or in the distribution, any pattern which would help to explain where these ideas originated or how they spread. Among agriculturalists the evidence of iron-smelting is widespread and is almost invariably accompanied by rituals which are believed to be essential for the mysterious conversion of the ore into metal. The process of smithing seems to have been viewed in a far more empirical light and the shaping of the iron could be achieved without recourse to elaborate rituals. Among pastoralists on the other hand there is apparently no evidence of iron-smelting, but smithing was performed and was associated with rituals which were of great im- portance for the well-being of the state. Pastoralists, therefore, were dependent upon agriculturalists for their supplies of iron; they could not have developed iron- smithing rituals until they had begun to receive supplies of iron from the agriculturalists. It may be that, when they acquired iron, they also adopted associated ideas about ritual.
The origins of the beliefs connected with down-turned cattle horns seem to be one stage more remote than the origins of blacksmithing rituals. Cattle keepers all over the world regard horns as a potential embellishment of their animals, and they frequently try to improve the natural growth by artificial means. In Britain, this was - and probably still is - done by screwing weights on the horns, or by using a system of weights and pulleys in the cattle stalls, or by scraping away the hard outer shell of the horn on one side, so that it grows faster; combined with a nick filed on the opposite side of the horn, this causes it to bend. In Africa, both the Karamojong and the Longarim have specially made stone hammers with which they persuade the horns to bend, breaking part of the skull in the process (Kronen- berg, 1961). The Shilluk shave the horns down to the core and then apply a red-hot spear to achieve the desired shape (Hofmayr, 1925, p. 314). In Rwanda, the cattle keepers are said to bite off the outer horn when the animal is one year old; the horn core then grows a much larger horn, and in the process it can be shaped according to the herdsman’s wish (A. Kagame, pers. comm.). The Xhosa used to scra e away the side of the horn and this caused it to bend in the opposite direction P Alberti, 1968, p. 54). Doubtless there are other methods in use which have not been recor- ded, but the evidence is sufficient to show that artificial horn-shaping is a widespread practice. It is also a very ancient practice. There are numerous examples
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I04 Kings, cattle, blacksmiths
in Egyptian paintings which show that, as far back as the Vth Dynasty (2750-2475 BC), it was not uncommon for cattle to have one horn bent downwards. For- tunately, the practice of bending horns may leave its matk in the archaeological record; four cattle skulls were excavated at Faras, a site 30 km NNE from Wadi Halfa, and on three the left horn cores point forward and downward, the right ones forward and upward. The site is classified as Nubian C and is probably of Meroitic age (fifth century BC to fourth century AD). And at Meroe the mortuary chapel of one of the pyramids shows a group of cattle, one of which has its left horn bent forward and down (Hall, 1962, pp. 59, 61).
Seligman comments that ‘the social and emotional value among Nilotes of cat- tle with artificially deformed horns is very great’. Dinka and Nuer boys receive from their fathers a t initiation a macien, (more correctly muocien) or else an animal
oung enough to have its horns cut and deformed so that it becomes a maden r Seligmann, 1932). Very often, the Egyptian paintings show the leading animal with its left horn bent downwards (Davies, 1900- 1901, Pls. iii and xxi). Single horn deformation is also recorded in Tegre, Ethiopia (Leclant, 1956, P1. vi). In a recent study of cattle among the Sebei, a Nilotic people on Mount Elgon, there is a photo- graph showing the ‘bull of the herd’; its left horn is bent downwards in exact- ly the same way as in the Egyptian paintings (Goldschmidt, 1969, illus. no. 4).’ Cattle keepers are notoriously conservative, but it is not often that one can trace their conservatism over a period of 4,300 years!
Double deformation seems to be less common than single horn deformation, both in the earliest records and in more recent times. Some of the early Egyptian paintings also show cattle with both horns turned downwards (Blackman, 1914- 1924, Vol. 3 , P1. iv). Alberti in or about 1807 recorded that the Xhosa bent the horns of their cattle so that ‘they surround the back of the head and come together below the throat’ (Alberti, 1968). The Hima word enshara refers to a cow which has both horns hanging down (Lukyn Williams, 1938, p. 39); it is not clear whether by human agency or as a result of natural factors. Clearly, the turning down of both horns is a rare practice compared with the turning down of one horn, and were it not for the evidence of the Egyptian wall paintings which show both single and double deformation, one might dismiss the two lines of evidence as unrelated to each other.
Finally, we have to seek the reasons for the artificial turning down of horns. Evans-Pritchard (1956, pp. 234-5, P1. XIII) has drawn attention to the ‘left-right polarity’ which arises from single horn deformation; Nuer youths render their left arms useless by pressing met$ rings into the flesh for months or even years. A man and his favourite ox are identified, and so it is logical that when the horns of favourite oxen are. shaped, it is always the left horn which is trained downwards. In the case of two-horn deformation, there can be no polarity between left and right and other reasons must be sought: there appear to be some clues in the religious practices and beliefs of the Dinka. Godfrey Lienhardt, describing the sacrifice of an ox, has recorded the belief that ‘where the divinity Flesh is really “running”, . . . in a praying master of the fishing-spear the horns of the victim will droop and fall forward’. The Dinka also believe that a really effective master of the fishing-spear can make the horns, the weapons of the beast’s aggression, wilt before his words. Lienhardt also quotes an account of a priest who made invocations over certain bulls, and the horns of the first bull, a white one, ‘sank forwards to the ground’ (Lienhardt, 1961, pp. 144, 237-8, 303).
7 . rather than bulls.
I am informed by Jean Brown that the animals chosen for horn deformation are always oxen
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Plates 1, 11
Plate I Anvil C. Iron anvil with four prongs, from the Karagwe collection, Ht 67 cm.
Sassoon
Plate I1 Anvil D. Copper anvil with two copper nnd two brnss prongs, T ~ k m jicirrr the Knrogwe iollcctinn i n 1906, now in the Linden-Museum, Stuttgnrt, Ht 48 c w i ,
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Sassoon Plates 111, 1V
P/d lK II/ A n d or mpiimafiorri the insixnio qf’Siirrn I1 o t Wornoh, This /rod been roticealed/br iriotry yenrs, but war displayed again in September 1972. The wwtol is f opper , but a pietr qf’brnss 27 o n lon,q is let in to the lower port qf’ lire slrqf’t, HI, 38.3 c m ,
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Plate V Sassoon
T w o iron anvils wi th prongs, f iorn the R w a n d a n insignia called nyarushara. Present locotion unknown
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Ham0 Sassoon 10s
Of course, horns do not really droop or wilt at the moment of sacrifice, but if the dying animal collapses forwards, the people attending the ceremony must see the fall of the head and horns to the ground as the submission of the stronger brute to the weaker priest, and thus the strengthening of the man at the expense of the animal. It is not difficult to visualize how the passage of strength from the animal could be thought of as the collapse of its horns. The association of sacrifice with the collapsing horns of the animal suggests a possible reason for down-turned horns; it may have been a symbolic sacrifice to avoid or postpone the actual killing of valued stock.
The historical implications
It is unfortunate that the possibility of new dynasties copying or absorbing the beliefs and insignia of their predecessors prevents one from using the horned anvils as indicators of common or even of Nilotic origin. One can, however, use them as evidence for close association a t some unknown period between Karagwe, Ankole and Rwanda. Buganda may also have shared in this association, and Bunyoro must remain in a suspense account, perhaps until some royal burials have been examined. The precise inter-state boundaries of the twentieth century mask a system of closer relationships in the preceding centuries. It is likely that the interlacustrine states were ill-defined spheres of influence except in times of stress, separated by small buffer populations who were, to use the current terminology, stateless and non- aligned. The degree to which the states were inter-related is suggested by Speke’s observation that Rumanyika’s wives in 1861 include the dau hters of the rulers of Mpororo, Bunyoro, Nkore and Utumbi (Speke, 1863, p. ~369.~
More significant from the historical viewpoint is the association of blacksmiths’ anvils with cowhorns. Since the anvils of Karagwe and Ankole are eminently usable tools, we can safely say that they, or similar objects, preceded the horned an- vils, especially the copper ones which could not be used for smithing. The addition of horns to an anvil may therefore be a tangible and visible sign that the new pastoral kingship cared for the interests of both the indigenous agriculturalists and the cattle keepers.
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