Bayajidda

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Bayajidda (Hausa: Bàyā̀jiddà, also known as Abuyazidu) is a character from the mythology of the Hausa people of northern Nigeria and the central figure of the Bayajidda Legend. Originating in Baghdad, Bayajidda traveled across Africa and arrived in the Kanem-Bornu Empire, where he married a local princess; tensions with her father, the king, forced him to flee. Leaving her in Hadejia, he made his way to Gaya, where he had the local blacksmiths forge him a knife. With this knife he proceeded onto the final stopping place on his jorney, the city of Daura, where he slew a serpent who terrorized the townspeople and married the local queen, Daurama.

He had one child, Bawo, with Daurama, and Bawo's own children went on to found the seven Hausa states. While some Hausa maintain that Bayajidda was real, others hold the view that he did not actually exist, but is instead a personification of a group of people from West African history.

Contents

[edit] Trip across Africa and stay in Bornu

Bayajidda was a prince from Baghdad (the capital of Iraq) and son of King Abdullahi, but he was exiled from the city after Queen Zidam,[1] also known as Zigawa, took over the city.[2] Once he left Baghdad, he traveled across Africa with a group of about 300 and arrived in the Kanem-Bornu Empire, commonly known as Bornu.[1]

Once in Bornu, tales differ as to what caused tension with the local king. According to one story, Bayajidda realized his forces were stronger than those of the king; because of this, he planned to overthrow him. However, the king heard of the plot and, after consulting with his advisors, gave Bayajidda his daughter, Magaram (also known as Magira),[2] in marriage. Later, when the king attacked and took over several towns, he tricked his new son-in-law into leaving his own men to guard the towns, thereby decreasing the amount of men Bayajidda had at his disposal. Bayajidda realized that he was being tricked when he had only his wife and one slave left; during the night, they fled to Garun Gabas, now known as Hadejia.[1] While there, Magaram gave birth to Bayajidda's first child, Biram (also known as Gabas-ta-Biram or Biran).[2]

However, according to another version of the story, Bayajidda was welcomed into Bornu, married Magaram and became popular among the people. Because of this, the king envied him and plotted against him; upon being informed of this by his wife, he fled Kanem-Bornu with her.[2]

[edit] Arrival in Daura and slaying of the serpent

Location of Gaya, Niger
Location of Gaya, Niger

Bayajidda left his wife and child in Hadejia and continued on to Gaya (a city in modern Niger), where he had the local blacksmiths make him a knife.[3] He then came to the town of Daura (located in modern day Katsina State)[4], where he entered a house and asked an old woman for water. She informed him that a serpent named Sarki guarded the well and that the people were only allowed to draw water once a week (Sarkin is the Hausa word for emir.)[5]. Bayajidda set out for the well and beheaded the serpent with the knife the blacksmiths had made for him, after which he drank the water, put the head in a bag, and returned to the old woman's house.[1] (The well where this is said to have happened has since become a tourist attraction.)[6]

The next day, the people of Daura gathered at the well the next day, wondering who had killed the snake; Magajiya Daurama, the local queen, offered sovereignty over half the town to whoever could prove that they killed the snake. Several men brought snake heads forth, but the heads did not match the body. The old woman, owner of the house Bayajidda was staying in, informed the queen that her guest had slain it, after which Daurama summoned Bayajidda. After presenting the head, proving to her that he was the one who had slain Sarki, he turned down the offer of half the town, instead requesting her hand in marriage; she married him out of gratitude for slaying the serpent.[2]

[edit] Relationship with Daurama

Daura
Nigeria locator map
Map of Nigeria's linguistic groups (Hausa and Fulani are in yellow)
with Daura emphasized by a red dot.

Because it was against the custom of the people of Daura for their queens to marry, Daurama made a compromise with Bayajidda and said she would only have sexual intercourse with him once; because of this, she gave him a concubine named Bagwariya. (However, another alternate version of the story claims that Daurama gave him Bagwariya because she wanted to break her "queenly vow to remain a virgin," but had to undergo rituals to do so.)[7]

Bayajidda had a son by Bagwariya and, with his permission, she named him "Karap da Gari," which means "he snatched the town" in the Hausa language. This worried Daurama, and when she had a son of her own (fathered by Bayajidda), she named him "Bawo", which means "give it back."[1]

[edit] Legacy and descendants

Throughout his life, Bayajidda fathered three children with three different women.[8] Bawo fathered six of his own sons,[9] whose names were Daura, Gobir, Kano, Katsina, Rano, and Zaria (also known as Zazzau).[10] Together with Biram, these seven went on to rule the seven "legitimate" Hausa states, the Hausa Bakwai.[11] Karap da Gari's descendants, meanwhile, founded the seven "illegitimate" Hausa states, the Banza Bakwai.[7]

[edit] Analysis of the story's meaning

There a variety of views on the Bayajidda story, with differing opinions on the meaning and historicity of the tale. While some Hausa maintain that their legendary forefather existed, and contemporary royals trace their lineage to and draw their authority from him, others disagree with this literal interpretation and claim that Bayajidda never actually existed.[12] One such view is that the story of the marriage of Bayajidda and Daurama symbolizes the merger of Arab and Berber tribes in North and West Africa.[13] W. K. R. Hallam, meanwhile, argues that Bayajidda represents a "folk personification" of the supporters of Abu Yazid, (a Kharijite Berber warrior), who fled southwards from North Africa after Yazid's defeat by and death at the hands of the Fatimids.[14]

Dierk Lange, a German professor, contends that the story parallels the biblical story of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar.[7] He compares Abraham to Bayajidda (while also noting the similarity between Biram and Abraham's names), Sarah to Magaram, and Hagar to Bagwariya, and says that the Israelites are cognate to the Hausa Bakwai, while Arabs correlate with the Banza Bakwai.[7]

In his 1989 book An Imperial Twilight, Gawain Bell suggests that the marriage of Bayajidda and Daurama signals a "change from a matriarchal to a patriarchal system."[15] (Prior to the arrival of Bayajidda, the Daura monarchy had been exclusively female.)

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^ a b c d e Abdurrahman, Alasan; transcribed by Dierk Lange. Oral version of the Bayajidda legend. Ancient Kingdoms of West Africa. Retrieved on 2006-12-20.
  2. ^ a b c d e Yahaya, Ibrahim Yaro (1988). "Some Parallels in Unofficial Islamic Beliefs in Near Eastern and Hausa Folk Traditions", al-Ma'thurat al Sha'biyyah, 1-24. Retrieved on 2006-12-21. 
  3. ^ Hausa. University of Iowa. Retrieved on 2006-12-20.
  4. ^ Daura. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Retrieved on 2006-12-20.
  5. ^ History of Western Africa. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Retrieved on 2007-02-05.
  6. ^ Katsina State. ngex.com. NGEX, LLC. Retrieved on 2007-01-20.
  7. ^ a b c d Lange, Dierk (2004-06-05). West Africa and the Classical World - Neglected Contents. Afrika im Kontext 20. Conference of the Africa Studies Organization in Germany. Retrieved on 2007-01-25.
  8. ^ Bivins, Mary Wren (1997). "Daura and Gender in the Creation of a Hausa National Epic", African Languages and Cultures, Vol. 10, No. 1. Taylor & Francis, Ltd. Retrieved on 2006-12-21. 
  9. ^ Some versions of the tale leave Bawo and Magaram out entirely, with Biram, Daura, Gobir, Kano, Katsina, Rano, and Zaria being the sons of Daurama.
  10. ^ Archibong, Maurice (2004-9-23). Zaria: Men’s world previously ruled by women. Daily Sun. Retrieved on 2006-12-21.
  11. ^ Johnston, H. A. S. (1967). "Hausaland and the Hausas", The Fulani Empire of Sokoto. Oxford University Press. Retrieved on 2006-12-20. 
  12. ^ Ochonu, Moses Ebe (2004-05-29). 1914 and Nigeria’s Existential Crisis: A Historical Perspective. Retrieved on 2006-12-23.
  13. ^ Lamb, Malcolm J. The Hausa Tanners of Northern Nigeria. Harmatan Leathers, Ltd.. Retrieved on 2006-12-20.
  14. ^ Hallam, W. K. R. (1966). "The Bayajidda legend in Hausa folklore", Journal of African History VII.1, 47-60. Retrieved on 2005-02-19. 
  15. ^ Bell, Gawain (1989). An Imperial Twilight. Lester Crook Academic Publishing, 290. ISBN 1870915062. Retrieved on 2007-03-15. 

[edit] External links

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