Anyamazenga
Anyamazenga is an ancestral figure in the oral histories of the Tiv people of central Nigeria. According to the Tiv tradition concerning their origin, Anyamazenga is considered to be the ancestor of Takuruku, who in turn became the father of the Tiv.[1]
Genealogy of the Anyamazenga tradition
In the Anyamazenga tradition, Anyamazenga married an unnamed woman and had a son named Takuruku. Takuruku then married Aliwe and had a child named Tiv. Tiv married Ayaaya, and in this account she gave birth to four children: Gbe, Anadendem, Ipusu and Ichongo. It is said that Gbe, the eldest of the children, left the family and went to a place which is unknown, while Anadendem died without having any children. Ipusu and Ichongo thereafter became the two main ancestral lines by means of which the Tiv people are traditionally traced.[1]
The tradition is represented in the following genealogy:
| Anyamazenga | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Takuruku | Aliwe | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tiv | Ayaaya | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gbe | Anadendem | Ipusu | Ichongo | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Lanshima points out that the Anyamazenga tradition is maintained not only in the genealogical records but also in the Tiv oral history, in their songs, folklore, social commentary and in other cultural practices, including those relating to the institution of the Tor Tiv.[1]
Place in Tiv origin traditions
The Anyamazenga tradition is one of a number of traditions relating to the origin of the Tiv people, and Lanshima considers it to be one of the two main versions which have become established in accounts of Tiv origins; this tradition states that the Tiv descend from a single ancestral family and finally connects the different Tiv clans with the descendants of Ipusu and Ichongo.[1]
Yet some other sources attribute the origins of the Tiv to different individuals. Research based on Tiv history and oral tradition has established Tiv, Takuruku, Anyamazenga, Karagbe, Shon, Gbe, Akem and Awange as ancestral figures in various versions of the tradition.[2] As a result, the idea that Anyamazenga is the final ancestor of the Tiv rests on traditional genealogy and not on a firmly established historical fact.
Ancestral status
Anyamazenga is also connected to Tiv ideas about ancestry and the relationship between the living and their ancestors. A study of Tiv marriage and burial customs mentions a traditional funeral tribute which invokes "Takuruku Anyamazenga" and requests the ancestral figure to wait for the arrival of a deceased relative on the way to the ancestral world. This invocation shows that the name Anyamazenga remains part of the Tiv ancestral tradition, even though the exact theological importance of the funeral formula has been described as uncertain.[3]
Some scholarly sources regard Takuruku Anyamazenga as a primordial or "great" ancestor of the Tiv; other accounts, however, treat Anyamazenga and Takuruku as different persons and place one generation earlier in the genealogy. The fact that there are such differences shows the variation that exists in the Tiv oral traditions regarding the identity and status of the first ancestors.[1]
Variants of the tradition
There is a disagreement among oral and academic accounts regarding the identity of the first ancestor of the Tiv. According to one version of the family tradition, Anyamazenga is regarded as the ancestor of Takuruku, and by extension of the Tiv. In contrast, other versions claim that Takuruku, Tiv, Karagbe, Shon, Gbe, Akem or Awange is the founder of the Tiv people.[2]
J. Orkar pointed out a number of different traditions regarding the ancestry of the Tiv, among them versions in which Takuruku holds various positions with respect to Aondo and Tiv. He also observed that the various traditions differ as to the descendants assigned to Tiv, showing the flexibility of the oral genealogies by means of which the origins of the Tiv have been passed on.[4]
Historical status
No documentary or archaeological evidence exists which can be regarded as independent and which identifies Anyamazenga as a historically distinct individual; rather, his significance is mainly due to the Tiv oral traditions relating to ancestry, migration, and the origin of the Tiv people. For this reason, scholars have regarded the genealogies as sources for gaining an understanding of Tiv historical memory, at the same time acknowledging that the various traditions contain conflicting accounts of the first ancestors.[2][3]
In the Anyamazenga tradition he holds the highest position in the line of descent which leads to Takuruku, Tiv, and eventually to the Ipusu and Ichongo lineages. The tradition thus offers one of the main genealogical explanations for Tiv ancestry.
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 Lanshima, Cletus A. (2016). "African Traditional Systems of Conflict Resolution". The African Anthropologist. 20 (1–2): 262–291.
- 1 2 3 Torkula, Alfred Akawe (2006). The Cosmology in Tiv Worldview. Makurdi: Oracle Business Limited. p. 6-8.
- 1 2 Luga, Ayem (2001). Tiv Marriage & Burial Customs (Thesis). p. 54.
- ↑ Orkar, J. (1979). A Pre-Colonial History of the Tiv of Central Nigeria c.1500–1850 (PhD thesis). Dalhousie University. p. 105.