Mr. Tylor's statement, of course, involves the opinion that the idea
of creation is present to the Zulu mind. Unkulunkulu made things, as
Baiame, and Puluga, and other beings did. Like them he is no spirit,
but a magnified non-natural man. Unlike them, he is subject to the
competition of ancestral ghosts, the more recent the better, in receipt
of prayer and sacrifice. Having no special house which claims him as
ancestor, and being very remote, he is now believed by many Zulus to be
dead. His name is a fable, like that of Atahocan, a thing to amuse or
put off children with; they are told to call on Unkulunkulu when their
parents want to send them out of the way.
All this is exactly what my theory would lead me to anticipate, if
the Zulus had once possessed the idea of an unworshipped creative
being, and had lost it under the competition of worshipped, near akin,
and serviceable ghosts. Their ancestral character would be reflected
on him. It is just as if the Australian Kurnai were to take to
ancestor-worship, glorify Tundun, the son and deputy of Mungan-ngaur;
neglect Mungan-ngaur, look on Tundun as the creator, and finally
neglect _him_ in favour of ancestral spirits less remote, and more
closely akin to themselves. This process is very readily conceivable,
and, from our point of view, it would look like degeneration in
religion, under stress of a new religious motive, the _do ut des_ of
sacrifice to ancestral ghosts. That Unkulunkulu should come to be
thought dead is the less surprising, as a Zulu in bad luck will be so
blasphemous as to declare that the ancestral spirits of his worship
are themselves dead. 'When we sacrifice to them, and pray that a
certain disease may cease, and it does not cease, then we begin to
quarrel with them, and to deny their existence. And the man who has
sacrificed exclaims: "There are no Amadhlozi; although others say there
are, but for my part I say that the Amadhlozi of our house died for
ever."'[4]....
Thus I can easily suppose that the Zulus once had an idea of a creative
being; that they reduced him, on the lines described, to a first man;
that they neglected him in favour of serviceable ghosts; and that they
now think him extinct; like the ghosts themselves when they cease to be
serviceable.
Mr. Hartland's theory is the reverse of mine. He says: 'In fact, so
far as can be gathered, the very idea of creation was foreign to their
minds.' ... 'The earth was in existence first, before Unkulunkulu as
yet existed.'[5] But heaven, and the sun, and all things were not in
existence before Unkulunkulu: he made them, according to other native
witnesses, and Dr. Callaway, in his first page, says that the Zulus
regard Unkulunkulu as the Creator.
The evidence, as Mr. Hartland urges with truth, is 'contradictory.'
But its contradictions contradict his statement that 'the very idea
of creation was foreign to their minds.' Many witnesses attest the
existence in the Zulu mind of the idea of creation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account