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Africa:
Religion: Religious system of the Amazulu: UTIKXO, God
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THE RELIGIOUS SYSTEM
OF THE AMAZULU
p. 105
UTIKXO.
UTIKXO, the word adopted for God by the early missionaries
among the Kxosa or Frontier Kafirs, was not a word known to the natives of
these parts, but was introduced by missionaries and others. And it is
generally supposed that the word does not properly belong to the Kxosa or
any other of the alliterative dialects spoken in South Africa;1
but has been derived from the Hottentots. The word Utikxo has the nearest
resemblance to the Tikxwoa of the Cape Hottentot dialect.
We cannot doubt that this is the word which Kolb means to express as the
Hottentot name for God.2
Having declared his undoubting conviction that the Hottentots generally
"believe in a supreme Being, the Creator of heaven and earth, and of every
thing in them; the arbiter of the world, through whose omnipotence all
things live and move and have their being. And that he is endowed with
unsearchable attributes and perfections," he goes on to say:—"The Hottentots
call him Gounja Gounja or Gounja Ticquoa; that is, the God of all gods; and
say he is a good man, who does nobody any hurt; and from whom none need be
apprehensive of any; and that he dwells far above the moon."3
If the investigations of Moffat, Appleyard, Casalis, and others are
correct, Kolb very much exaggerated the Hottentot notion respecting God, and
substituted instead of what they really believed, the belief of a Christian
man. Nothing is more easy than to enquire of heathen savages the character
of their creed, and during the conversation to impart to them great truths
and ideas which they never heard before, and presently
p. 106 to have
these come back again as articles of their own original faith, when in
reality they are but the echoes of one's own thoughts. But even here in
Kolb's statement we have the idea, more clearly and distinctly enunciated by
after investigators, that great, and mighty and good, as, according to him,
the Hottentots might have regarded their Tikxwoa, they believed that he was
but "a good man."
And further on Kolb tells us they also "worship an evil deity whom they
look upon as the father of mischief, and source of all plagues. They call
him Touquoa; and say he is a little, crabbed, inferior captain, whose malice
against the Hottentots will seldom let him rest; and who never did, nor has
it in his nature to do, any good to any body. They worship him therefore,
say they, in order to sweeten him and to avert his malice."4
The two words—Ticquoa and Touquoa—here given for a good and evil deity,
are remarkably alike; and it is not improbable that Kolb mistook two words,
identical in meaning, and applied to one imaginary being, for the name of
two beings, a good and evil one. If not, then we must suppose that since the
time of Kolb a great corruption has taken place in the original creed of the
Hottentots, and that the good and evil, which were formerly kept distinct
and referred to different agents, have become confused, and are
indiscriminately ascribed to one being.
Observing that Dr. Bleek speaks of Tikxwoa as being one with "Kolb's
Tikquoa or touquoa," I supposed he might have more ample reason for thinking
them identical than I had.5
His reasons, however, are simply philological. I quote from his letter on
the subject:—"By identifying this Toukquoa with Tikquoa, the name for God
found in the vocabulary (where Cham-ouna is that for the devil, who is
called in Nama Hottentot Kau-ap), I do not think I exceeded the probability.
But it may yet be that Kolb meant a different word. However, considering it
fully, I have not much doubt it is really the same word, identical with the
Nama Tsuikxoap, which contain both the vowels in the first syllable of which
the two renderings of Kolb give only each one."
I may add that whilst recently on a visit amoug the Griquas I met with
several persons who were acquainted with the Hottentots, and understood
their language, They told me that the
p. 107 name they
used for God was Tikqwa. They did not know any other name for an evil
principle resembling it, They also understood the language of the Bushmen,
and told me that their word fur God was Ikqum’n; and that the meaning of the
word was, "Father who is above."
Moffitt quotes from Dr. Vanderkemp the following, which appears to
justify the surmise that Kolb was mistaken in supposing the two words
referred to two beings from not observing that he was dealing with a merely
tribal difference of pronunciation:6—"A
decisive proof of what I here say with respect to the national atheism of
the Kafirs, is, that they have no word in their language to express the idea
of Deity; the individuals just mentioned calling him ’Thiko, which is a
corruption of a name by which God is called in the language of the
Hottentots, literally signifying one that induces pain."7
But Moffat is equally decisive that the Hottentots and Namaquas are just
as ignorant of God, and their language just as devoid of a word for God, as
Dr. Vanderkemp and others have represented the Kafirs. Whilst pursuing his
investigations among the inbabitants of Great Namaqualand, he says:—"I met
with an ancient sorcerer or doctor, who stated that he had always understood
that Tsui’kuap was a notable warrior, of great physical strength; that in a
desperate struggle with another chieftain, he received a wound in the knee,
but having vanquished his enemy, his name was lost in the mighty combat
which rendered the nation independent; for no one could conquer the
Tsui’kuap (wounded-knee). When I referred to the import of the word, one who
inflicts pain or a sore knee, manifesting my surprise that they should give
such a name to the Creator and Benefactor, he replied in a way that induced
the belief that he applied the term to what we should call the devil, or to
p. 108 death
itself; adding that he thought death, or the power causing death, was very
sore indeed."8
And then he asks:—"May not the Tsui’kuap of these people be like the
Thlanga of the Kafirs, an ancient hero; or represent some power which they
superstitiously dread, from its causing death or pain?"9
We see, then, that Moffat comes to a conclusion somewhat similar to that
of Kolb, that there is an evil principle or being, feared by the Hottentots,
and which has received the name of Tsui’kuap, which is equivalent to Utikxo.
But he does not appear to have heard any thing of the good principle or
being, of which Kolb speaks.
Again, Casalis expresses an equally decided opinion as to the "endemical
atheism" of the inhabitants of South Africa generally. He says:—"The tribes
had entirely lost the idea of a Creator. All the natives whom we have
questioned on the subject have assured us that it never entered their heads
that the earth and sky might be the work of an invisible being."10
Shaw also says:—"The Kafir nations cannot be said to possess any
religion."11 And
again:—"Before Missionaries and other Europeans had intercourse with the
Kafirs, they seem to have had extremely vague and indistinct notions of God.
The older Kafirs used to speak of Umdali, the Creator or Maker of all
things, and Uthlanga, which word seems to have been used to denote the
source or place from which all living things came forth."12
A similar statement is made by Arbousset. He says:—"They have scarcely
retained the idea of a Supreme Being. The more enlightened admit that there
is a Morena in heaven, whom they call the powerful master of
things, but the multitude deny that there is, and even this name of
morena is the same as they give to the lowest of their chiefs. All the
blacks whom I have known are atheists, but it would not be difficult to find
amongst them some theists. Their atheism, however, does not prevent
p. 109 their
being extremely superstitious, or from rendering a kind of worship to their
ancestors, whom they call barimos, or in the singular morimo."13
He says of the Mountain Bushmen's faith:—"They say that there is a
Kaang or Chief in the sky, called also Kue-Akeng-teng, the Man,
that is to say, the Master of all things. According to their
expression, 'one does not see him with the eyes, but knows him with the
heart.' He is to be worshipped in times of famine and before going to war,
and that throughout the whole night, performing the dance of the mokoma."14
The same notion of malevolence is connected in the native mind among the
Bechuanas with the word Morimo, which the Missionaries have adopted for God.
The meaning of Morimo as given by Moffat,15
and of Molimo as given by Casalis,16
is, like that given to the Bushmen's Ikqum’n, "He that is in heaven." But,
says Moffat, "Morimo, to those who knew any thing about it, had been
represented as a malevolent selo or thing."17
And again, "According to native testimony Morimo, as well as man, with all
the different species of animals, came out of a cave or hole in the Bakone
country."18 "There
is," says Casalis, "an obvious contradiction between the language and the
received ideas."19—That
is, I presume, Casalis supposes that the word Morimo or Molimo,—a heavenly
one,—is a testimony preserved in the language of the people against their
present infidelity and corruption of faith. And Archbishop Trench, in his
work on "The Study of Words," has brought this word forward as a remarkabIe
instance of the disappearing of an important word from a language, and with
it "the disappearing as well of the great spiritual fact and truth whereof
that word was once the vehicle and the guardian."20
But Dr. Bleek has made it more than probable that Moffat and Casalis are
mistaken in the derivation and meaning of this word; and that Molimo has a
sound by accident only similar to Moh‘olimo—"one who is in heaven." He
says:—"In other South African languages, different words are found
indicating the idea of a supreme being; but in Se-tshuana at
p. 110 least the
word for 'God' has a similar reference to their ancestor worship as the Zulu
Unkulunkulu. Thus in Se-suto Mo-limo means God, and me-limo
gods, but mo-limo, ancestral spirits, plur. ba-limo."21
This is a far more probable derivation. And when we remember that Morimo
is supposed to have come out of the same hole that gave origin to man and
beasts, as Unkulunkulu came out of the same bed of reeds; and that in the
native mind there is no connection of thought between a heavenly being and
this Morimo, there can be little doubt of the correctness of the view taken
by Dr. Bleek.
Further, it may be added in corroboration that although the Amazulu do
not say Unkulunkulu is an Itongo,—an ancestral spirit; they say he was an
Ukoko,—an ancestor: and not only does it appear that they suppose that at
one time he was regarded as an Itongo, and was worshipped among other
Amatongo by his own laud-giving names, but we find them incidentally giving
intimations of a belief in a great Itongo from whom all things proceeded.
Thus they are heard to say in explanation of the superiority of the white
man to the coloured that the former remained longer with a great Itongo than
the blacks, and therefore came into being more perfect, with better habits
and accoutrements.22
This view brings the notions of different people of South Africa into a
certain similarity and consistency. Whilst on the other view they are
neither consistent with themselves nor with each other.
Appleyard gives a somewhat similar account to that of Moffat as to the
meaning of Utikxo. He says:—"Tshoei’koap is the word from which the Kafirs
have probably derived their Utixo, a term which they have invariably
applied, like the Hottentots, to designate the Divine Being, since the
introduction of Christianity. Its derivation is curious. It consists of two
words which together mean 'the broken knee.' It is said to have been
originally applied to a doctor or sorcerer of considerable notoriety and
skill among the Hottentots or Namaquas, some generations back, in
consequence of his having received some injury of the knee. Having been held
in high repute for extraordinary powers during life, he continued to be
invoked, even after death, as one who could relieve and protect;23
and hence, in process of
p. 111 time, he
became the nearest in idea to their first conceptions of God."24
If this account be correct, and there appears no reason whatever for
doubting its accuracy, it is clear that the early Missionaries, in using the
word Utikxo for God, adopted an isibongo, or laud-giving name, of some old
brave.
To my mind nothing here found conveys the idea that the notion of
divinity was ever in the uneducated native mind connected with Utikxo; much
less that Utikxo ever meant God: on the contrary that it meant something
very different from God; in some instances, at least, an evil spirit, which
was worshipped just on the same grounds as the Yezidis worship Satan,
"because he must be conciliated and reverenced; for as he now has the means
of doing evil to mankind, so will he hereafter have the power of rewarding
them."25 And it
appears to me to have been unwisely and improperly adopted by the early
Missionaries; to be explained and excused only on the ground that at first
the teachers and taught were unable freely to communicate ideas one to the
other.
The term Molimo or Morimo appears equally improper. How very
objectionable is it to use a word for God in teaching savages the doctrines
of Christianity, to which they have a natural or rather educated repugnance,
and of the Being whom it is meant to represent they can speak as a native
chief spoke to Mr. Moffat:—"When we assured him that God (Morimo) was in the
heavens, and that He did whatever He pleased, they blamed us for giving Him
a high position beyond their reach; for they viewed their Morimo as a
noxious reptile. 'Would that I could catch it, I would transfix it with my
spear,' exclaimed S., a chief, whose judgment on other subjects would
command attention."26
At the same time it is quite possible that the confusion of ideas
between good and evil,—the association of the idea of evil with God,—which
we here meet with, is a confusion of comparatively recent times; that
originally there existed a defined belief in a good and an evil Being; but
that the common multiform natural phenomena, which are constantly exhibiting
the Creator's beneficence, were lost to these afflicted populations amidst
phenomena of an apparently
p. 112 opposite
character, and especially amidst the sufferings and wants of their daily
life; until created things spoke to them only of suffering, and fixed their
attention on a pain-creating being, whom they feared more than reverenced,
and whom if they worshipped, it was to deprecate wrath, rather than to
express their faith in his love.
And may not the legend,—so bizarre and bald,—given by Dr. Bleek in the
"Hottentot Tales"27 of
a contest between Heitsi Eibip and Gqagqorip be a confused tradition of some
old faith, the fundamental principle of which was that of a contest between
good and evil in nature; but which in process of time has been lost, and the
good and the evil come to be confounded, and referred alike to one fabulous
being.
According to Du Chaillu, we find even at the present time among the
inhabitants of the Western coast of Africa the worship of a good and evil
spirit. He says:—
"Aniambia enjoys the protection of two spirits of very great power,
named Abambou and Mbuirri. The former is an evil spirit, the latter is
beneficent. They are both worshipped; and their accommodations, so far as I
was permitted to see, were exactly alike.
"Abambou is the devil of the Camma. He is a wicked mischievous spirit,
who lives near graves and in burial grounds. He takes occasional walks
through the country; and if he is angry at any one, has the power to cause
sickness and death. In worshipping him they cry, 'Now are we well! Now are
we satisfied! Now be our friend, and do not hurt us!'
"Mbuirri, whose house I next visited, is lodged and kept much as his
rival. He is a good spirit, but has powers much the same as Abambou, so far
as I could see. Being less wicked, he is less zealously worshipped."28
This coincides remarkably with Kolb's statement; and leads to a
reasonable suspicion that his Touquoa,—probably only some local or tribal
variation of the word now come down to the Kafirs as Utikxo,—and the Morimo
of the Bechuanas and Basutos, is the same as the Abambou of the people of
Aniambia. Yet what missionary would choose Abambou as the name for God, even
though he should have ascribed to him, in addition to his own, the only
"less wicked" attributes of Mbuirri?
Dr. Bleek's Hottentot legend just alluded to, begins with the
p. 113
significant words, "At first there were two," And among the natives of these
parts we have the two words Unembeza and Ugovana to express the good and
evil hearts which are supposed to be contending within them. And they
ascribe good and evil to the Amatongo which they worship, and worship more
sedulously to avert evil than to acknowledge good.
Be this as it may, the impression so generally existing among those who
have laboured long in South Africa of the "endemic atheism" of the different
peoples, and the difficulty universally confessed of being able to determine
whether the name, applied to some being to whom certain supreme acts are
referred, is in the native mind any thing more than the name of their great
forefather, or of some great hero-benefactor of times gone by, to whom with
perfect consistency an ancestor-worshipping people would refer such acts,
suggest that it would be both more wise and reverent, and more likely to be
effectual in attempting to teach them a new faith, to introduce a new
name,—a name not really newer to them than the idea of the supreme Being
itself. I am myself persuaded that such a new name is very desirable, aye
more, very necessary. For there is no name, whether Utikxo, or Morimo, or
Unkulunkulu, which, without possessing any primary signification referring
to divinity, has not much, both etymologically and traditionally, which is
highly objectionable, and calculated to mislead the young convert. Bishop
Colenso felt this on his first introduction to mission work. And I do not
doubt that his impression was the result of devout and intelligent thought,
which is not at all invalidated by a change of opinion, which led him to
attempt to introduce an equally objectionable word for God, and to which
exception has been justly taken by many on grounds similar to those which
may be taken against Utikxo.
In connection with the word Utikxo, "the broken knee," the following
interesting and curious corroboration of the idea that Utikxo is but the
isibongo or laud-giving name of some ancient brave, is well worth
considering. Among the Amazulu there is a word, clearly an isibongo,
U-gukqa-ba-dele, which means, He kneels and they get enough of it. And
the following explanations appear to show the character and circumstances of
the conflict from which he obtained the name:—
p. 114
We apply the name U-gukqa-ba-dele to a man who has been surrounded
by many others, who trust to their number, and expect to be able to
confuse him by surrounding him, and so kill him before he can well see
what to do; and perhaps they stab him, or without having stabbed him,
they see him sink on his knee, and say, "He is falling; we have stabbed
him." And they draw near to him, no longer now as when he was standing;
they go quite close to him now he has fallen, saying, "Ah, now then, let
us make an end of him," But a long time passes without their killing
him; it is he alone who kills them, they not understanding in what way
he is so difficult to kill; until at length they say, "Hau! are we then
at length all killed by one man? Let us let him alone."
And so they leave him still in the same place where they first found
him, so then when they have left, going away with their faces towards
him, they go on looking back and see him still kneeling and watching
them, for he thinks they may take heart and come back to him again. But
when they do not return he arises and goes away.
They have had enough of it forsooth, that is, they are satisfied,
p. 115 and do
not go after him any more. Such a man, then, is called U-gu-kqa-ba-dele.
It is not the name of a common person. It is a name which we heard from
people when the Dutch first came from the Kxosa tribes; they brought
some Kxosa people with them; when they took an oath, they said, "Tikxo
who is above. Gukqa-ba-dele." But it is by no means clear whether the
word "gukqa" (kneel) came at precisely the same time as the word Utikxo.
We heard from the Amakxosa that Utikxo is the Lord who is above.29
At first chiefs used to go out with the army, and invade other
people with it; but it happened through their shrewdness that the enemy
devised a plan, saying, "In order that we may conquer these people, let
us kill their king, that they may be discouraged." And in fact they
might kill the king and scatter the army; for the kings used to go out,
saying, "Then my people will be brave, when they see me there."
So the custom of accompanying the army was given up; it is no longer
usual; it may still be among some nations; it is no longer the custom
among the Amazulu.
p. 116 Among
the Amazulu the chief is praised for the conduct of his people among the
enemy; they conquer, and it is not said that the conquest was made by
the king's people. For instance, if a powerful army appears on the high
lands, and the other army is below, a wise officer says, "O, the place
is bad; we shall be borne down; our position is bad; kneel, and stab
them in the bowels." If they succeed by this stratagem, their chief may
be called by the name U-gukqa-ba-dele, as though it was he who did it,
when forsooth it was his people through the bravery which the
recollection of their chief gave them. This is the manner, then, in
which kings get names; as it is said when lauding the king of the
Amazulu, "You who ate up So-and-so, the son of So-and-so; and it was
nothing to you." So the chief is praised for the conduct of his army.
The power which is exhibited by the army is the source from which the
lauds of the chief are taken. So it is that it is not clear whether it
was done by him in person or by his people.
Hence it appears certain that the word Utikxo is the laud-giving name of
an ancient hero, and that it was given in consequence of some conflict in
which he repulsed enemies more powerful from numbers than himself by the
stratagem of kneeling, and so causing them to approach him under the
impression that they could make an easy prey of him.
Next
Footnotes
p. 105
1 Bleek. Comparative Grammar, p. 92, sec.
397.—Moffat. Missionary Labours, pp. 257, 258.—Appleyard. Kafir Grammar, p.
13.
2 The Present State of the Cape of Good
Hope, &c. Written originally in High German. By Peter Kolben, A.M. Done into
English from the original, by Mr. Medley. Kolb's Work was published in
German, Folio, 1729. I quote from the translation by Medley, 2 Vols. 8vo.,
published 1731.
3 Id., Vol. I, p. 93.
p. 106
4 Id., p. l04.
5 Comparative Grammar, p. 92.
p. 107
6 Dr. Bleek gives the fonowing variations
of the Hottentot name of God, which, not having the requisite characters, I
shall spell in accordance with the principles laid down in the Preface to
Vol. I. of Zulu Nursery Tales:—
"I add here the Hottentot name for God, which is Tsuikqwap
(Schmelen's Tsoeikwap) or Tsuigxoap (Wallmann's Zuigxoap) in the Nama; and
Tshukxoap in the Kqora dialect; Thuikxwe (Van der Kemp's Thuickwe) among the
Eastern Hottentots; and Tikxwoa (Kolb's Tikqwoa or Toukqwoa) near the Cape."
(Comp. Gram., p. 92.)
It will be seen that most of these words differ from each other more
than the two words of Kolb.
7 Moffat. Op. cit., p. 257.
p. 108
8 Moffat. Op. cit., p. 259.
9 Id., p. 259.
10 Casalis. The Basutos, p. 238.
11 Story of My Mission, p. 444.
12 Id., p. 451.—My reasons for thinking
that these views require very considerable modification are given in another
place.
p. 109
13 Op. cit., p. 69.
14 Op. cit., p. 363.
15 Op. cit., p. 260.
16 Op. cit., p. 248.
17 Op. cit., p. 261.
18 Id., p. 262.
19 Op. cit., p. 248.
20 P. 18.
p. 110
21 Op. cit., p. 91.
22 See
p. 80.
23 That is, strictly in accordance with
the custom of an ancestor-worshipping people.
p. 111
24 Grammar, p. 13.
25 Layard's Nineveh. Vol I., p. 298.
26 Op. cit., p. 265.
p. 112
27 P. 77.
28 Op. cit., pp. 202, 203.
p. 115
29 Compare the Bushman word, which is said
to have a similar meaning,
p. 64;
and the dispute between the two Kxosa natives as to the use of Utikxo and
Unkulunkulu,
p. 68.
**
**
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