WAMALA
Wamala, venerated bymany people in Central
Africa, is relatedto thegreat Kintu,founder of
theBagandapeoples.Narrativesof originof the
Baganda peoples attribute to Ki ntu,the great
ancestor,theunityof theBagandaforwhichhe
stands asthecentral symbol. Bagandapeoples’
mythologyclaimstheirancestry toKi ntuasthe
sonof one of theKabakas wh o ruledovertheregion
formanygenerations.
Althoughasthena rrativeunfoldsthisprog-
enymaybeunclear, themostacceptedve rsi on
seemsto re ly ontheundisputedfa ct thatKintu
settled in the Baganda region together with
Bukulu. Here, BukulumarriedWaddaandtheir
progeny, distinguishedbytheirexceptionalqual-
ities,en teredtheirpeople’s an ces tra l andmytho-
lo gicalworld through ac complishments and
involvementin communityli fe,naturalphenom -
ena,andthegeneral affairsandor dealsof every-
dayliving.
When th e sunand moon fellou t ofthe sk y,
Wangais saidto havere st oredthesunandthemoon
to theskyfromwherethe y hadfa ll en;Muwanga,
Bukulu’sgrandson,wasappointedth e rulerof the
balubaale (ancestors) andru lerof all thi ngs;Musi si
wasthespirit/deity of ea rthquakes.
Musisi’s sons, Wannema and Wamala, quar-
re ledoneday,andWamalain angerwent intothe
mainland, where,ou t of hi s urine, he made a lake
thatstill bears hisname andwhose spirit/deity
wasMukasa.Mukasabecamethemostre spected
god among the Ba gandaas reported by the
Europeanswhentheyarrivedin theregionin the
18 th century.
Mukasa and Wamala are also kn ownas
Mugasha andWamara andareat theforefront
ofa dynastyofrulerswhoenteredthehistoric
and mythologicalnarrativesof originamongthe
Bagandapeoplesas balubaale.
From 1300 to 1600,a perioddeterminedby the
beginnings of theCweziem pi re andtheestablish -
mentof th e 3rdRwandadynasty,thepoliticaland
socialactualizations amonga numberof founding
kingdomsin thesouthernandwesternpartsof
th e interlacustrineregionsof CentralAfricapro -
du ced,accordingto some authors,a shiftin orien-
tation as far as the ancestor veneration was
concernedandtransformedit intoa kindof cult
whereWamalaremainedas thecentralspiritfig -
urefortheBaganda, Bunyoro,Toro,andBuhaya,
while in Rwanda,Burundi,Buha,Busumbwa,and
Bunyanwezi,theveneratedancestorandspiritfig -
urewasRyangombe.
These two separat edtraditionsseem tohave
derivedfromthedissolutionof anempireandthe
defeatofWamalaas a cultural hero,followed
bytheco ns equenttransitionandtransformation
of the Wamara custom and tradition into the
Ryangombe culture.Th e polit icaldomination
of the Rwanda st ateov erthe region ga ve
Ryangombeprominenceastheveneratedances-
tor,while theWamalaculture andtradition,dif -
fusedwiththeHindaandextendedin theritual
traditionsof theBunyoroandtheKarangwestate,
waslosing influence.Warfareandpoliticalpower703