founding of the kingdom of Nkore. The drums
were the fundamental part of the regalia that
served to legitimize the Bahinda clan as the royal
bloodline of Nkore’s monarchy. The Banyankore
revered the Bagyendanwa as a symbol of author-
ity and national unification. No monarch could
rule without possession of the drums, which were
male and female. Similarly, the Banyankore
believed that the national sovereignty of Nkore
rested with the Bagyendanwa and therefore hid
the drums during times of war. As a means of
ancestral veneration and reflexive memory, the
Banyankore offered supplication and gave charity
in the customs of fellowship and good will that
the drums represented.
Although traditional scholarship holds that
the Banyankore worshipped the drums, the
Banyankore did not believe that the drums pos-
sessed a spirit, and this interpretation is inconsistent
with African religious practice (see e.g., the function
of the Golden Stool in the Asante kingdom).
Malachi D. CrawfordSee alsoBantu Philosophy; Drum, The; Kings
Further Readings
Doornbos, M. R. (1973). Images and Reality of
Stratification in Pre-Colonial Nkore.Canadian
Journal of African Studies, 7 (3), 477–495.
Oberg, K. (1940). The Kingdom of Ankole in Uganda. In
M. Fortes & E. E. Evans-Pritchard (Eds.),African
Political Systems(pp. 121–162). London: Oxford
University Press.
Steinhart, E. I. (1977).Conflict and Collaboration:The
Kingdoms of Western Uganda,1890–1907.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
BANYARWANDA
Banyarwanda(singularMunyarwanda) is a word
originating in the Bantu family of languages mean-
ing “the people of Rwanda” and consisting of three
caste groups: the Batutsi, cattle herders; the Bahutu,
agricultural cultivators; and the Batwa, hunters and
pottery-makers. From the 15th century until its
colonization by Germany in the final years of the
20th century, Rwanda was a kingdom located in
East Africa, to the south of Uganda, and bordered
by Lake Tanganyika, Lake Victoria, and Lake Kivu.
The Banyarwanda perceive Imana as the
Supreme God that created the universe and every-
thing within it. Imana is essentially good and the
life-giving force that sustains all existence. The
material world that humans experience is one of
three planes of reality. Another world calledijuru
exists above the sky, while a third reality exists
beneath the ground. Both of these two anterior
realms are similar in appearance to the material
realities of human existence and are not conceptu-
ally comparable to notions of heaven and hell.
Banyarwanda believe that, after traversing the sky
in the daytime, the sun is cut into pieces by a man
who throws its bone back across the heavens
where it is reborn the next day.
Because Imana does not intercede into the daily
affairs of mankind, for many Banyarwanda, the
most direct means of connecting with the spiritual
realm is through invoking the sacred power of
lesser gods, ancestors, diviners, or sorcerers. One
such lesser god isRyangombe, the personal ser-
vant and expression of Imana. Banyarwanda
believe that Ryangombe has the power to influ-
ence human affairs and that human will enters the
world through him. Ryangombe works through
the power of his spoken word and often acts on
behalf of the weak and vulnerable of society, some-
times as a challenge to established authority.
Banyarwanda appeal to Ryangombe for good for-
tune.Nyabingi, meaning abundant, rich, or one
that provides, is a female demigod with sacred
power that equals Ryangombe’s in strength.
Knowledge of the meaning and uses of sacred
power in society is imperative to understanding
Banyarwandan cosmology. Authority was depen-
dent on one’s command of sacred power in
Banyarwandan society—a king could not rule
without it. In part, a king’s ability to maintain
powerful practitioners of sacred power at his
court or in his service was an indirect reflection on
his own sacred power.
Human beings, both living and dead, have sig-
nificant powers within this sacred order. For exam-
ple, although Imana determines the nature of one’s
life, ancestors influence its purpose. To forget one’s
ancestry is to forget one’s purpose and can cause
great harm. So, although a Munyarwanda will106 Banyarwanda