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“Furthermore, although there were distinct period of overt opposition - specifically c. 1455-1482 - there was an apparent ideological basis upon which this social formation established political, economic, and social relationships. Divine kingship, religious and ritual obligations, cult organisations, avenues of social mobility, patronage opportunities, and a degree of security from external attack, all contributed in one form or another to this ideological base.”
[1]
“According to Benin mythology, their land is the cradle of the world which was founded by the first king who was the youngest son of Osanobua (also called Osanoghodua) the Supreme God, the Almighty.”
[2]
The Oba was seen as divine/a descendent of the gods. “Beginning with the accession of Oba Ohuan in about 1606 AD, and closing with the reign of Oba Akengbuda in 1804 AD, no king went on campaign to command military operations. In the power dynamics of the period, Benin chiefs took the decision which led to loss of direct military command by the Oba. While the administrative and military chiefs gained power, the authority of the Oba as divine king was reduced to a secluded ritual figure in the palace. The ritual functions seemed to also fit with the idea of been divinely ordained by God, supreme, and invested with majesty as the Uku Akpolokpolo, meaning the mighty that rules.”
[3]
“P. A. Talbot, however, has written the most complete ethnographic analysis of Bini sacrificial customs: “At Benin the worship of the Obba’s forefathers corresponds almost to the state religion and celebration of the rites form the chief ceremonies of the year. It was from the sacrifices ... in connection with these, that the Bini Empire obtained its partly undeserved reputation for blood- thirsty cruelty. [90]””
[4]
“There is little doubt that human sacrifices were an integral part of the Benin state religion from very early days. Barros, for instance, observed that "the king of Beny was very much under the influence of his idolatries," [66] and Pereira said that Benin life "is full of abuses and witchcraft and idolatry, which for brevity’s sake I omit."”
[5]
Though Christianity was present due to Portuguese (C15) and British missionaries, it was not a major force in the Benin Empire. “Christianity was first introduced to Benin kingdom by the Portuguese in the 15th century when King John II of Portugal sent d’ Aveiro to Benin on a trade mission to the kingdom. […] An attempt was equally made again to introduce Christianity to Benin by the British in the late eighteenth century […] By the end of 1892, eight Christian missions were already operating in different parts of Southern Nigeria. Out of these missions, the Church Missionary Society was the largest. It monopolized the Niger Delta region. In a way, Benin was affected because it belonged to the western part of the Niger Delta. Ehianu (2017) opines that with the combined efforts of the white missionaries, catechists, evangelists and commercial agents who were already entrenched in Asaba, Benin City was reached with the gospel by the Roman Catholic Church (Ehianu, 2017). These initial attempts to introduce Christianity to Benin failed. Between the periods of 16th to 19th centuries only little success was registered. Ryder maintains that the Benin rulers and peoples were not prepared to flirt at all with Christian missionaries (Ryder, 1961).”
[6]
“Therefore, from about 1428 to 1455, Benin began to develop and exploit productive capacity and direct economic development toward control of trade, trade goods, and trade routes. One method utilised successfully to expand Beni domination of the east-west trading system was the founding of the Olokun cult. Olokun, as the god of wealth, provided a religious sanction for the pursuit of commercial profit and established a mechanism through which trade and commerce could be organised, licensed, administered, and taxed. The Olokun priests, usually relatives of the Oba, were charged with the responsibility for maintaining an orderly flow of trade, and establishing viable market controls." The domination by the palace and the expansion of commercial enterprise through palace-controlled religious institutions established trade as an important source for elite wealth.”
[7]
[1]: Sargent, R. A. (1986). From A Redistribution to an Imperial Social Formation: Benin c.1293-1536. Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne Des Études Africaines, 20(3), 402–427: 420. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/AUEZSTBR/collection [2]: Osadolor, O. B. (2001). The Military System of Benin Kingdom, c.1440–1897. University of Hamburg, Germany: 55. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/N4RZF5H5/collection [3]: Osadolor, O. B. (2001). The Military System of Benin Kingdom, c.1440–1897. University of Hamburg, Germany: 127. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/N4RZF5H5/collection [4]: Graham, J. D. (1965). The Slave Trade, Depopulation and Human Sacrifice in Benin History: The General Approach. Cahiers d’Études Africaines, 5(18), 317–334: 329–330. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/4AS9CVZH/collection [5]: Graham, J. D. (1965). The Slave Trade, Depopulation and Human Sacrifice in Benin History: The General Approach. Cahiers d’Études Africaines, 5(18), 317–334: 327. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/4AS9CVZH/collection [6]: Aremu, J., & Ediagbonya, M. (2018). Trade and Religion in British-Benin Relations, 1553-1897. Global Journal of Social Sciences Studies, 4, 78–90: 85–86. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/86KXRXBH/collection [7]: Sargent, R. A. (1986). From A Redistribution to an Imperial Social Formation: Benin c.1293-1536. Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne Des Études Africaines, 20(3), 402–427: 411. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/AUEZSTBR/collection |
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“As stated above, the transfer of the capital to Polonnaruva has been portrayed as connected with a religious shift towards a more pluralistic and eclectic patronage at state-level, incorporating Buddhist, Brahmanical and Saivite practices. Indrapala has suggested that in tandem with the widespread appearance of tenth-century Tamil inscriptions dated to the regal years of Cōḻa rulers, there was also an increase in Saiva temples. In the chronicles, it is also stated that Parākramabāhu I (r. 1153–86 CE) constructed twenty-four temples to the gods, and Pathmanathan has recorded the presence of at least fourteen temples within Polonnaruva. In support of this plurality, archaeological investigations at Polonnaruva have identified Saiva and Vaisnava shrines with bronze Nataraja, Śiva and Parvati images. A twelfth-century inscription of Niśśaṅkamalla (r. 1187–96 CE) at Dambulla recorded the construction of a Hindu temple as well as the restoration and construction of Buddhist temples. In Anurādhapura itself, structures north of Abhayagiri dating to the later phases of the city’s occupation were identified as ‘Hindu ruins’ on the basis of their architectural layout and the recovery of several lingams, although this identification has been contested.
[1]
“The patronage and protection afforded by ‘non-Buddhists’ is further reinforced by a Tamil inscription on a stone slab beside the Tooth Relic Temple in Polonnaruva. Known as the Aṭadāgē, this structure was built under the patronage of Vijayabāhu I (r. 1055–1110 CE) and the epigraph instructs guards from South India, Vēlaikkāras, to protect the Buddha’s Tooth Relic within (Figure 1.1). Part of a long tradition of ‘Sinhala’ states employing South Indian guards, the Vēlaikkāras are stated to be adherents of the Mahātantra, and this further highlights the diversity and complexity of identity, religiosity and the construction of royal legitimacy within medieval Sri Lanka. All these complexities are crucial for the consideration of evidence for potential signs of cosmopolitan practices in the archaeological record.”
[2]
“The inevitable result of the Cōḷa conquest was the Hindu-Brāhmanical and Saiva religious practices, Dravidian art and architecture, and the Tamil language itself became overwhelmingly powerful in their intrusive impact on the religion and culture of Sri Lanka. The period of the South Indian invasions of the Anurādhapura kingdom in the ninth and tenth centuries coincided with the decline of Buddhism in India and the collapse of important centres of Buddhist learning as a result of Muslim invasions. These processes proved to be irreversible. South Indian influence on Sri Lanka thereafter became exclusively Hindu in content. It is against this background that the recovery of Buddhism under the Polonnaruva kings needs to be reviewed. The most substantial contributions came from Vijayabāhu I and Parākramabāhu I. The unification of the saṅgha in the latter’s reign was one of the most significant events in the history of Sinhalese Buddhism […] The resuscitatory zeal of these two monarchs in particular demonstrated afresh the remarkable resilience of Sri Lankan Buddhism. Sinhalese bhikkhus maintained contacts with distant centres of Buddhism like Nepal and Tibet; they also made vigorous but unsuccessful attempts to spread their teachings in Bengal, apart from engaging in spirited disputes with their Theravādin colleagues in South India on questions relating to the interpretation of the canon. It was South-East Asia, however, that was most receptive to their teachings, and the expansion of Sinhalese Theravāda Buddhism in that region was an important trend in this cultural history during this period.”
[3]
[1]: Coningham et al. 2017, 37) Coningham et al. 2017. ‘Archaeology and cosmopolitanism in early historic and medieval Sri Lanka.’ Sri Lanka at the Crossroads of History. Edited by Zoltán Biedermann and Alan Strathern. London: UCL Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/DCQMW8E3/collection [2]: Coningham et al. 2017, 25-26) Coningham et al. 2017. ‘Archaeology and cosmopolitanism in early historic and medieval Sri Lanka.’ Sri Lanka at the Crossroads of History. Edited by Zoltán Biedermann and Alan Strathern. London: UCL Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/DCQMW8E3/collection [3]: (De Silva 1981, 73-74) De Silva, K.M. 1981. A History of Sri Lanka. London: C. Hurst & Company, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/4R6DQVHZ/collection |
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The following quote refers to Vedic religion in Tamil Nadu during the Sangam Period. “The Vedic religion had struck root in the south, which is proved by references to the costly sacrifices performed by the monarchs of the age. Brahmins, devoted to their studies and religious duties, held a high position in society.”
[1]
“During the Sangam Age, Buddhism and Jainism also flourished together, but were subordinate to the Brahmanical Vedic religion. The Tamils of the Sangam Age were aware of certain spiritual and philosophical truths, such as concepts of body and soul superiority of destiny, dying for a noble cause and so on.”
[2]
[1]: (Agnihotri 1988, 360) Agnihotri, V.K. 1988. Indian History. New Delhi: Allied Publishers Pvt. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/PNX9XBJQ/collection [2]: (Agnihotri 1988, 361) Agnihotri, V.K. 1988. Indian History. New Delhi: Allied Publishers Pvt. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/PNX9XBJQ/collection |
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Influence of Hinduism in later centuries is inferred in the following quotes. “Anuradhapura (377 BCE–1017 CE) was the first Buddhist city in Sri Lanka.”
[1]
“[I]t is very likely that the early Aryans brough with them some form of Brāhmanism. By the first century BC, however Buddhism had been introduced to the island, and was well established in the main areas of settlement. According to Mahāvaṁsa the entry of Buddhism to Sri Lanka occurred in the reign of Devānampiya Tissa (250-210 BC), a contemporary of the great Mauryan Emperor Aśoka whose emissary Mahinda (Aśoka’s son, as some authorities would have it, or his brother, as is suggested by others) converted Devānampiya Tissa to the new faith. Once again the Mahāvaṁsa’s account of events conceals as much as it reveals, and what it hides in this instance is the probability that Buddhists and Buddhism came to the island much earlier than that. [...] Although the spread of Buddhism in the island was at the expense of Hinduism, the latter never became totally submerged, but survived and had an influence on Buddhism which became more marked with the passage of time. Vedic deities, pre-Buddhistic in origin in Sri Lanka, held their sway among the people, and kings who patronised the official religion, Buddhism, supported Hindu temples and observed Brāhmanic practices as well. Hinduism was sustained also by small groups of Brāhmans living among the people and at the court. It was in later centuries of the Anurādhapura kingdom that the Hindu influence on Buddhism became more pronounced as a necessary result of political and religious change in South India. The early years of the Christian era saw Buddhism strongly entrenched in South India, and Nāgārjunikoṇḍa (in Andhra) and Kāñchī were famous Buddhist centres there. Close links were established between these South Indian Buddhist centres and Sri Lanka. There was a Sri Lanka vihara at Nāgārjunikoṇḍa, and the introduction and establishment of the new heterodox Buddhist sects of Sri Lanka was the work primarily of visiting ecclesiastics from India or Sri Lankan students of famous Indian theologians. After the sixth century all that remained of South Indian Buddhism, inundated by the rising tide of an aggressive Hindu revivalism, were a few isolated pockets in Orissa, for example, maintaining a stubborn but nonetheless precarious existence. There was no recovery from that onslaught. The intrusive pressures of South Indian kingdoms on the politics of Sri Lanka carried with them also the religious impact of a more self-confident Hinduism. All this was especially powerful after the Cōla invasions and Cōla rule.”
[2]
[1]: (De Silva 2019, 163) De Silva, Wasana. 2019. ‘Urban agriculture and Buddhist concepts for wellbeing: Anuradhapura Sacred City, Sri Lanka’. International Journal of Design & Nature and Ecodynamics. Vol 14: 3. Pp 163-177. Sheshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/JIJEFKG3/collection [2]: (De Silva 1981, 9, 50). De Silva, K.M. 1981. A History of Sri Lanka. London: C. Hurst & Company, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/4R6DQVHZ/collection |
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“Anuradhapura (377 BCE–1017 CE) was the first Buddhist city in Sri Lanka.”
[1]
“it is very likely that the early Aryans brought with them some form of Brāhmanism. By the first century BC, however Buddhism had been introduced to the island, and was well established in the main areas of settlement. According to Mahāvaṁsa the entry of Buddhism to Sri Lanka occurred in the reign of Devānampiya Tissa (250-210 BC), a contemporary of the great Mauryan Emperor Aśoka whose emissary Mahinda (Aśoka’s son, as some authorities would have it, or his brother, as is suggested by others) converted Devānampiya Tissa to the new faith. Once again the Mahāvaṁsa’s account of events conceals as much as it reveals, and what it hides in this instance is the probability that Buddhists and Buddhism came to the island much earlier than that. […] Although the spread of Buddhism in the island was at the expense of Hinduism, the latter never became totally submerged, but survived and had an influence on Buddhism which became more marked with the passage of time. Vedic deities, pre-Buddhistic in origin in Sri Lanka, held their sway among the people, and kings who patronised the official religion, Buddhism, supported Hindu temples and observed Brāhmanic practices as well. Hinduism was sustained also by small groups of Brāhmans living among the people and at the court. It was in later centuries of the Anurādhapura kingdom that the Hindu influence on Buddhism became more pronounced as a necessary result of political and religious change in South India.”
[2]
[1]: (De Silva 2019, 163) De Silva, Wasana. 2019. ‘Urban agriculture and Buddhist concepts for wellbeing: Anuradhapura Sacred City, Sri Lanka’. International Journal of Design & Nature and Ecodynamics. Vol 14: 3. Pp 163-177. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/JIJEFKG3/collection [2]: (De Silva 1981, 9, 50). De Silva, K.M. 1981. A History of Sri Lanka. London: C. Hurst & Company, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/4R6DQVHZ/collection |
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“Anuradhapura (377 BCE–1017 CE) was the first Buddhist city in Sri Lanka.”
[1]
“it is very likely that the early Aryans brough with them some form of Brāhmanism. By the first century BC, however Buddhism had been introduced to the island, and was well established in the main areas of settlement. According to Mahāvaṁsa the entry of Buddhism to Sri Lanka occurred in the reign of Devānampiya Tissa (250-210 BC), a contemporary of the great Mauryan Emperor Aśoka whose emissary Mahinda (Aśoka’s son, as some authorities would have it, or his brother, as is suggested by others) converted Devānampiya Tissa to the new faith. Once again the Mahāvaṁsa’s account of events conceals as much as it reveals, and what it hides in this instance is the probability that Buddhists and Buddhism came to the island much earlier than that.”
[2]
“Although the spread of Buddhism in the island was at the expense of Hinduism, the latter never became totally submerged, but survived and had an influence on Buddhism which became more marked with the passage of time. Vedic deities, pre-Buddhistic in origin in Sri Lanka, held their sway among the people, and kings who patronised the official religion, Buddhism, supported Hindu temples and observed Brāhmanic practices as well. Hinduism was sustained also by small groups of Brāhmans living among the people and at the court. It was in later centuries of the Anurādhapura kingdom that the Hindu influence on Buddhism became more pronounced as a necessary result of political and religious change in South India.”
[3]
[1]: (De Silva 2019, 163) De Silva, Wasana. 2019. ‘Urban agriculture and Buddhist concepts for wellbeing: Anuradhapura Sacred City, Sri Lanka’. International Journal of Design & Nature and Ecodynamics. Vol 14: 3. Pp 163-177. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/JIJEFKG3/collection [2]: (De Silva, 1981, 9) De Silva, K.M. 1981. A History of Sri Lanka. London: C. Hurst & Company, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/4R6DQVHZ/collection [3]: (De Silva 1981, 50). De Silva, K.M. 1981. A History of Sri Lanka. London: C. Hurst & Company, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/4R6DQVHZ/collection |
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“Senganan [Kochchenganan], the Chola king famed in legends for his devotion to Siva figures as the victor in battle of Por against the Chera Kanaikkal Irumporai. The Chera king was imprisoned and later released. Senganan Chola is said to have built 70 fine temples of Shiva.”
[1]
“During the Sangam Age, Buddhism and Jainism also flourished together, but were subordinate to the Brahmanical Vedic religion. The Tamils of the Sangam Age were aware of certain spiritual and philosophical truths, such as concepts of body and soul superiority of destiny, dying for a noble cause and so on.”
[2]
[1]: (Agnihotri 1988, 350) Agnihotri, V.K. 1988. Indian History. New Delhi: Allied Publishers Pvt. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/PNX9XBJQ/collection [2]: (Agnihotri 1988, 361) Agnihotri, V.K. 1988. Indian History. New Delhi: Allied Publishers Pvt. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/PNX9XBJQ/collection |
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“According to Burton Stein, the Kalabhra interregnum may represent a strong bid by non-peasant (tribal) warriors for power over the fertile plains of Tamil region with support from the heterodox Indian religious tradition (Buddhism and Jainism). This may have led to persecution of the peasant and urban elites of the Brahmanical religious traditions (Hinduism), who then worked to remove the Kalabhras and retaliated against their persecutors after returning to power.”
[1]
“This has led to the inference that the Kalabhra rulers may have ended grants to Hindu temples and persecuted the Brahmins, and supported Buddhism and Jainism during their rule.”
[2]
“Towards the sixth century, the coinage shows the figures of Brahmanical gods and goddesses, sitting and standing, along with the combined use of Prakrit and Tamil languages.”
[3]
[1]: (Srinivansan, 2021) Srinivasan, Raghavan. 2021. Rajaraja Chola: Interplay Between an Imperial Regime and Productive Forces of Society. Mumbai: Leadstart Publishing Pvt Ltd. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/UGD5HUFP/collection [2]: (Jankiraman, 2020) Jankiraman, M. 2020. Perspectives in Indian History: From the Origins to AD 1857. Chennai: Notion Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/N3D88RXF/collection [3]: (Gupta 1989, 23-24) Gupta, Parmanand. 1989. Geography from Ancient Indian Coins and Seals. New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/5Z4TFP7P/collection |
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The following quote is referring to Hindu temples in the port city of Mamallapuram. “The city is known for several structural temples, rock cut caves and monolithic shrines and huge panels and bas reliefs that are considered to be the greatest examples of Pallava art. This tradition of stone carving is still alive among artists scattered in the area […] This temple was built by Mamalla for the worship of Vishnu. His successor Narasimhavarman II added two shrines dedicated to Shiva.”
[1]
“Most Pallavas were Hindus, with the majority of the Pallava rulers belonging to the Brahmin branch, and worshipped Shiva and Vishnu as well as other Hindu deities. Kings claimed hereditary descent based on divine origin. Many Hindu devotees made pilgrimages to the capital of Kanchipuram. Most rulers practiced religious toleration towards practitioners of other sects and religions, such as Buddhism and Jainism.”
[2]
[1]: (Kamlesh 2010, 569) Kamelsh, Kapur. 2010. ‘The Pallava Dynasty’ In History of Ancient India: Portraits of a Nation. New Delhi: Sterling Publishers Pvt. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/UETBPIDE/collection [2]: (Bush Trevino 2012, 46) Bush Travino, Macella. 2012. ‘The Pallava Dynasty’ In Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Asia and Africa: An Encyclopedia. Vol.4 Edited by Carolyn M. Elliot. Los Angeles: Sage. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/4RPCX448/collection |
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"Dambadeniya rulers worked tirelessly for the development of Buddhism as the state religion."
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Influence of Hinduism is inferred from the following quotes. “Anuradhapura (377 BCE–1017 CE) was the first Buddhist city in Sri Lanka.”
[1]
“it is very likely that the early Aryans brough with them some form of Brāhmanism. By the first century BC, however Buddhism had been introduced to the island, and was well established in the main areas of settlement. According to Mahāvaṁsa the entry of Buddhism to Sri Lanka occurred in the reign of Devānampiya Tissa (250-210 BC), a contemporary of the great Mauryan Emperor Aśoka whose emissary Mahinda (Aśoka’s son, as some authorities would have it, or his brother, as is suggested by others) converted Devānampiya Tissa to the new faith. Once again the Mahāvaṁsa’s account of events conceals as much as it reveals, and what it hides in this instance is the probability that Buddhists and Buddhism came to the island much earlier than that.”
[2]
“ “It was in the later centuries of the Anurādhapura kingdom that the Hindu influence on Buddhism became more pronounced as a necessary result of political and religious change in South India. The early years of the Christian era saw Buddhism strongly entrenched in South India, and Nāgārjunikoṇḍa (in Andhra) and Kāñchī were famous Buddhist centres there. Close links were established between these South Indian Buddhist centres and Sri Lanka. There was a Sri Lanka vihara at Nāgārjunikoṇḍa, and the introduction and establishment of the new heterodox Buddhist sects of Sri Lanka was the work primarily of visiting ecclesiastics from India or Sri Lankan students of famous Indian theologians. After the sixth century all that remained of South Indian Buddhism, inundated by the rising tide of an aggressive Hindu revivalism, were a few isolated pockets in Orissa, for example, maintaining a stubborn but nonetheless precarious existence. There was no recovery from that onslaught. The intrusive pressures of South Indian kingdoms on the politics of Sri Lanka carried with them also the religious impact of a more self-confident Hinduism. All this was especially powerful after the Cōla invasions and Cōla rule. There was, for instance, the influence of Hindu ritual and modes of worship; faith in the magical effect of incantations, a great Vedic phenomenon, and more importantly in bhakti (devotion as a means of salvation), which was an important part of Hinduism from about the seventh century AD, strengthened the shift from the ethical to the devotional aspects of Buddhism initiated by Mahāyānism. Hindu shrines came to be located close to vihāras. The assimilation of Hindu practices in Buddhism, of which this was evidence, was reinforced by the gradual accommodation in Buddhist mythology of Hindu deities such as Upuluvan, Saman and Nātha. This latter occurred by the tenth century.”
[3]
“Thus Sri Lanka’s Theravāda Buddhism accommodated a variety of religious influences—pre-Buddhistic cults and practices, Mahāyānism, Tantric Buddhism and Hinduism—but was not overwhelmed by any or all of them.”
[4]
“The closest and most intimate ties were with the Buddhist kingdoms of South-East Asia, especially with lands where the prevalent form of Buddhism was Theravādin. Thus there were frequent exchanged of pilgrims and scriptural knowledge with Rāmaṇṇa in Burma. These links became stronger after the tenth century. The resuscitation of the Sinhalese saṅgha after the destructive effects of the Cōḷa conquests owed a great deal to bhikkhus from upper Burma sent over for this purpose by its king at the request of Vijayabāhu I (1055–1110).”
[4]
“Around 1000 CE, the future of Buddhism in Sri Lanka came into danger as well, as the South Indian Cōḻas under the kings Rājarāja and Rājendra set out to not only conquer the island and its capital Anurādhapura, but also made it a province of the Cōḻa Empire for most of the eleventh century. Despite being separated from the mainland, the Anurādhapura kingdom had always been part of the political structure of South India and had experienced invasions from the mainland on several occasions. The latest Cōḻa conquest was a particular disaster, as it first resulted in the plunder and destruction of the capital and then the integration of the island into the Cōḻa empire, with Poḷonnaruva becoming the capital of the new province. More importantly, the destruction and plundering of the capital terminated the hitherto uninterrupted lineage of the Mahāvihāra. Never again mentioned in the chronicles, it continued to exist only as a notion, while relics (and especially the Tooth Relic) took the monastery’s place as a central religious site. The relics were salvaged by monks, who had managed to escape to Rohana, the island’s southern region. It also was in Rohana that a resistance movement formed under Vijaya Bāhu I, which eventually succeeded to restore the former Sinhala kingdom in the north and push the Cōḻas back to India. But before this, by the mid-eleventh century, Theravāda Buddhism seemed set to become extinguished on the island.”
[5]
[1]: (De Silva 2019, 163) De Silva, Wasana. 2019. ‘Urban agriculture and Buddhist concepts for wellbeing: Anuradhapura Sacred City, Sri Lanka’. International Journal of Design & Nature and Ecodynamics. Vol 14: 3. Pp 163-177. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/JIJEFKG3/collection [2]: (De Silva, 1981, 9) De Silva, K.M. 1981. A History of Sri Lanka. London: C. Hurst & Company, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/4R6DQVHZ/collection [3]: (De Silva 1981, 50-51) De Silva, K.M. 1981. A History of Sri Lanka. London: C. Hurst & Company, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/4R6DQVHZ/collection [4]: (De Silva 1981, 51) De Silva, K.M. 1981. A History of Sri Lanka. London: C. Hurst & Company, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/4R6DQVHZ/collection [5]: (Frasch 2017, 70) Frasch, Tilman. 2017. ‘A Palii cosmopolis? Sri Lanka and the Theravada Buddhist ecumene, c. 500–1500’. Sri Lanka at the Crossroads of History. London: UCL Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/JQMKSIWF/collection |
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“The Cwezi-kubandwa religious complex covered most of Great Lakes Africa by the nineteenth century, being found in modern-day Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, north-west Tanzania and eastern Congo, a region united by closely related Bantu languages as well as traditions of kingship and other cultural similarities.”
[1]
[1]: (Doyle 2007: 559) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/enricocioni/items/9EXDF5UP/library |
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“The Cwezi-kubandwa religious complex covered most of Great Lakes Africa by the nineteenth century, being found in modern-day Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, north-west Tanzania and eastern Congo, a region united by closely related Bantu languages as well as traditions of kingship and other cultural similarities.”
[1]
[1]: (Doyle 2007: 559) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/enricocioni/items/9EXDF5UP/library |
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“The Cwezi-kubandwa religious complex covered most of Great Lakes Africa by the nineteenth century, being found in modern-day Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, north-west Tanzania and eastern Congo, a region united by closely related Bantu languages as well as traditions of kingship and other cultural similarities.”
[1]
[1]: (Doyle 2007: 559) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/enricocioni/items/9EXDF5UP/library |
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“The Cwezi-kubandwa religious complex covered most of Great Lakes Africa by the nineteenth century, being found in modern-day Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, north-west Tanzania and eastern Congo, a region united by closely related Bantu languages as well as traditions of kingship and other cultural similarities.”
[1]
[1]: (Doyle 2007: 559) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/enricocioni/items/9EXDF5UP/library |
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“The Cwezi-kubandwa religious complex covered most of Great Lakes Africa by the nineteenth century, being found in modern-day Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, north-west Tanzania and eastern Congo, a region united by closely related Bantu languages as well as traditions of kingship and other cultural similarities.”
[1]
[1]: (Doyle 2007: 559) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/enricocioni/items/9EXDF5UP/library |
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“The Cwezi-kubandwa religious complex covered most of Great Lakes Africa by the nineteenth century, being found in modern-day Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, north-west Tanzania and eastern Congo, a region united by closely related Bantu languages as well as traditions of kingship and other cultural similarities.”
[1]
[1]: (Doyle 2007: 559) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/enricocioni/items/9EXDF5UP/library |
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“The Cwezi-kubandwa religious complex covered most of Great Lakes Africa by the nineteenth century, being found in modern-day Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, north-west Tanzania and eastern Congo, a region united by closely related Bantu languages as well as traditions of kingship and other cultural similarities.”
[1]
"Ndori seems to have introduced a new cult, hitherto unknown in central Rwanda, to further legitimize the specific power of the royal dynasty. This is the cult of Gihanga. In the regions to the northwest and the north of central Rwanda, Gihanga, whose name means “creator, founder,” was celebrated as the founder of kingship and the first of all kings."
[2]
[1]: (Doyle 2007: 559) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/enricocioni/items/9EXDF5UP/library [2]: (Vansina 2004: 56) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/5J4MRHUB/collection. |
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“The Cwezi-kubandwa religious complex covered most of Great Lakes Africa by the nineteenth century, being found in modern-day Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, north-west Tanzania and eastern Congo, a region united by closely related Bantu languages as well as traditions of kingship and other cultural similarities.”
[1]
[1]: (Doyle 2007: 559) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/enricocioni/items/9EXDF5UP/library |
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“The Cwezi-kubandwa religious complex covered most of Great Lakes Africa by the nineteenth century, being found in modern-day Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, north-west Tanzania and eastern Congo, a region united by closely related Bantu languages as well as traditions of kingship and other cultural similarities.”
[1]
[1]: (Doyle 2007: 559) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/enricocioni/items/9EXDF5UP/library |
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“The Cwezi-kubandwa religious complex covered most of Great Lakes Africa by the nineteenth century, being found in modern-day Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, north-west Tanzania and eastern Congo, a region united by closely related Bantu languages as well as traditions of kingship and other cultural similarities.”
[1]
[1]: (Doyle 2007: 559) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/enricocioni/items/9EXDF5UP/library |
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"According to Christopher Ehret, we can reconstruct a specific word for the Creator God, Nyambe, in the proto-Benue-Kwa language to the sixth millennium BC, and he also noted that the wide distribution of the term in contemporary Niger-Congo languages indicates that it may well go back to the very beginning of Niger-Congo civilization in the twelfth millennium BC. For [...] proto-Yoruboid people, that Creator God lived on the top of and beyond the massive and ageless granitic hills of the southwest confluence. In a tradition that continues till today among many Yorùbá subgroups, the sky god is believed to reside on those hills and is associated with “the making of rain and the creation of the day.” The proto-Yoruboid believed that the sky god ruled over the elements of the sky—thunder, lightning, and rain—and their earthly implications—fertility of the soil, water, and agricultural productivity. Those bare granite formations were the anchor of the hamlets and homesteads that dotted the lower slopes of the rugged landscape in the last quarter of the first millennium BC. They were more than the backdrop for the proto-Yoruboid communities. They were also the compasses that provided individuals and communities with a sense of direction and their location in space and time. Not surprising, [...] these massive rocky hills were also gendered feminine, as evident in the names many of them still bear and the fertility attributes they are accorded. The Creator God of the proto-Yoruboid world was likely androgynous but may have been more feminine than masculine in the gender spectrum. However, the Creator God was a distant figure in the everyday religious lives of the proto-Yoruboid and other proto-Benue- Kwa groups. The focus of worship was on the territorial deities presiding over the hills, valleys, drainages, and other landscape features as well as on the ancestors—the deceased heads, priests, and priestesses of houses, families, villages, and communities. The ancestors were incorporated into the pantheon and called upon to intercede with the greater and more distant Creator God and the territorial deities during the daily devotions, seasonal festivals, and times of crisis."
[1]
[1]: (Ogundiran 2020: 38-39) |
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“By the 14th century, all the Bilen, Tirgrinya, and Tigre-speaking peoples were Orthodox Christians as were many of the Belew in the lowlands. During this period, the Eritrean region was a center for a monastic revival that accompanied the preaching of Ewostatewos and led to the founding of the great monasteries of Debre Bizen, Debre Maryam, and Debre Merqorewos. In the 15th century, these institutions received huge land grants from Ethiopian emperors anxious to appease the regionalist sentiments of the Tigrinya-based Ewostatian movement. But during the 1500s, Islam spread in the region, and by the mid-1800s, Orthodox Christians were confined almost exclusively to the Tigrinya-speaking population of Kebessa.”
[1]
[1]: (Connell and Killion 2011, 40) Connell, Dan and Killion, Tom. 2011. Historical Dictionary of Eritrea. Second Edition. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/24ZMGPAA/collection |
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The Kingdom of Hadiya was nominally Muslim. “This marriage linked the nominally Muslim kingdom of Hadeya with the Christian Ethiopian Empire.”
[1]
“The province was inhabited by animist Sidama people, some of whom were converted to Islam.”
[2]
[1]: (Shinn and Ofcansky 2013, 200) Shinn, David and Thomas Ofcansky. 2013. Historical Dictionary of Ethiopia. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/TWITJWK4/items/29MS79PA/collection [2]: (Pankhurst 1997, 77) Pankhurst, Richard. 1997. The Ethiopian Borderlands: Essays in Regional History from Ancient Times to the End of the 18th Century. Lawrenceville, New Jersey: The Red Sea Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/F5TE8HH5/collection |
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“Traditionally the king of Kafa was the secular and ritual head of the nation, ruling also through the spirit of doche, known as the "good king." He was in effect an alamo, or medium. My research has shown that this ritual leadership began only in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. During the reign of Kami the king removed the position of the ibede goda, the leader of the Dugo clan who was the traditional medium to the monarchs of Kafa, and claimed that the spirit of doche had now passed to himself; as a result he acquired great wealth from the sacrifices which were traditionally brought to doche as well as the powers of spiritual sanctions.”
[1]
Under King Madi Gafo (1530 CE – 1565 CE) various Muslim and Christian groups start moving into the kingdom. “During his reign Kafa allowed its first Muslim traders, the Abjedo clan, to open stations. This was also the time of the Galla expansion, and the Kafa tell many tales about the great Oromo leader, Shipenao. There is some debate as to whether Shipenao is Ahmad Ibn Ibrahim, more commonly referred to as Gran.”
[1]
“During this period the territory of Kafa also received an influx of Amaro clans (i.e. Christian lineages), and, it is said, Hinaro, Bushasho (the princes of Enarea), and the Bosho, Hindata, Koijo, Gingicho, Gurabo, and Dedjewo clans came.”
[1]
[1]: (Orent 1970, 269) Orent, Amnon. 1970. ‘Refocusing on the History of Kafa Prior to 1897: A Discussion of Political Processes’. African Historical Studies. Vol. 3:2. Pp 263-293. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2A389XGK/collection |
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“In contrast, Harlaa was at least partially Islamised and its inhabitants participated in long distance trade in the 12th -13th centuries.”
[1]
“At Harlaa, Islam co-existed with Indigenous religions that were followed by the majority of the local population. The nature of these religions is little understood, as they left no historical records and have only been partially investigated archaeologically with reference to their most tangible aspect: funerary practice.”
[2]
[1]: (Insoll 2017, 208) Insoll, Timothy. 2017. ‘First Footsteps in Archaeology of Harar, Ethiopia’. Journal of Islamic Archaeology. Vol 4:2. Pp 189-215. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/VQ38B374/collection [2]: (Insoll et al. 2021, 501) Insoll, Timothy et al. 2021. ‘Material Cosmopolitanism: the entrepot of Harlaa as an Islamic gateway to eastern Ethiopia’. Antiquity. Vol 95: 380. Pp 487-507. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/GGUW3WRZ/collection |
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Islam seems to be prevalent after 1830 CE when King Sanna Abba Jifar adopted Islam. “About 1830 Sanna Abba Jifar succeeded in uniting many of the Jimma Galla under his rule as king of Jimma-Kakka, known also as Jimma Abba Jifar. As Bofo before him, Abba Jifar adopted Islam and encouraged the spread of Islam among his subjects.”
[1]
[1]: (Rubenson 2008, 85) Rubenson, Sven. 2008. ‘Ethiopia and the Horn’ In The Cambridge History of Africa c.1790 – c.1870. Edited by John E. Flint. Vol. 5. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/Sven/titleCreatorYear/items/VRU64Q8P/item-list |
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“Torodbe accounts of events in the Futa Toro have influenced us to regard their denianke predecessors as pagan.”
[1]
“The traditional elites and the traditionalist peasants were not necessarily pagan. La Maire commented in 1682 that the Siratik, the ruler of the Fouta Toro, did not drink wine and brandy and followed ‘the law of Mahomet more religiously than other blacks.’”
[2]
[1]: (Klein 1972, 429, footnote 18) Klein, Martin A. 1972. ‘Social and Economic Factors in the Muslim Revolution in Senegambia.’ The Journal of Africa History. Vol. 13:3. Pp 419-441. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/ZJRN8UJ8/collection [2]: (Klein 1972, 427) Klein, Martin A. 1972. ‘Social and Economic Factors in the Muslim Revolution in Senegambia.’ The Journal of Africa History. Vol. 13:3. Pp 419-441. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/ZJRN8UJ8/collection |
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Influence of Hinduism is inferred from the following quotes. “Anuradhapura (377 BCE–1017 CE) was the first Buddhist city in Sri Lanka.”
[1]
“it is very likely that the early Aryans brough with them some form of Brāhmanism. By the first century BC, however Buddhism had been introduced to the island, and was well established in the main areas of settlement. According to Mahāvaṁsa the entry of Buddhism to Sri Lanka occurred in the reign of Devānampiya Tissa (250-210 BC), a contemporary of the great Mauryan Emperor Aśoka whose emissary Mahinda (Aśoka’s son, as some authorities would have it, or his brother, as is suggested by others) converted Devānampiya Tissa to the new faith. Once again the Mahāvaṁsa’s account of events conceals as much as it reveals, and what it hides in this instance is the probability that Buddhists and Buddhism came to the island much earlier than that.”
[2]
“ “It was in the later centuries of the Anurādhapura kingdom that the Hindu influence on Buddhism became more pronounced as a necessary result of political and religious change in South India. The early years of the Christian era saw Buddhism strongly entrenched in South India, and Nāgārjunikoṇḍa (in Andhra) and Kāñchī were famous Buddhist centres there. Close links were established between these South Indian Buddhist centres and Sri Lanka. There was a Sri Lanka vihara at Nāgārjunikoṇḍa, and the introduction and establishment of the new heterodox Buddhist sects of Sri Lanka was the work primarily of visiting ecclesiastics from India or Sri Lankan students of famous Indian theologians. After the sixth century all that remained of South Indian Buddhism, inundated by the rising tide of an aggressive Hindu revivalism, were a few isolated pockets in Orissa, for example, maintaining a stubborn but nonetheless precarious existence. There was no recovery from that onslaught. The intrusive pressures of South Indian kingdoms on the politics of Sri Lanka carried with them also the religious impact of a more self-confident Hinduism. All this was especially powerful after the Cōla invasions and Cōla rule. There was, for instance, the influence of Hindu ritual and modes of worship; faith in the magical effect of incantations, a great Vedic phenomenon, and more importantly in bhakti (devotion as a means of salvation), which was an important part of Hinduism from about the seventh century AD, strengthened the shift from the ethical to the devotional aspects of Buddhism initiated by Mahāyānism. Hindu shrines came to be located close to vihāras. The assimilation of Hindu practices in Buddhism, of which this was evidence, was reinforced by the gradual accommodation in Buddhist mythology of Hindu deities such as Upuluvan, Saman and Nātha. This latter occurred by the tenth century.”
[3]
“Thus Sri Lanka’s Theravāda Buddhism accommodated a variety of religious influences—pre-Buddhistic cults and practices, Mahāyānism, Tantric Buddhism and Hinduism—but was not overwhelmed by any or all of them.”
[4]
“The closest and most intimate ties were with the Buddhist kingdoms of South-East Asia, especially with lands where the prevalent form of Buddhism was Theravādin. Thus there were frequent exchanged of pilgrims and scriptural knowledge with Rāmaṇṇa in Burma. These links became stronger after the tenth century. The resuscitation of the Sinhalese saṅgha after the destructive effects of the Cōḷa conquests owed a great deal to bhikkhus from upper Burma sent over for this purpose by its king at the request of Vijayabāhu I (1055–1110).”
[4]
“Around 1000 CE, the future of Buddhism in Sri Lanka came into danger as well, as the South Indian Cōḻas under the kings Rājarāja and Rājendra set out to not only conquer the island and its capital Anurādhapura, but also made it a province of the Cōḻa Empire for most of the eleventh century. Despite being separated from the mainland, the Anurādhapura kingdom had always been part of the political structure of South India and had experienced invasions from the mainland on several occasions. The latest Cōḻa conquest was a particular disaster, as it first resulted in the plunder and destruction of the capital and then the integration of the island into the Cōḻa empire, with Poḷonnaruva becoming the capital of the new province. More importantly, the destruction and plundering of the capital terminated the hitherto uninterrupted lineage of the Mahāvihāra. Never again mentioned in the chronicles, it continued to exist only as a notion, while relics (and especially the Tooth Relic) took the monastery’s place as a central religious site. The relics were salvaged by monks, who had managed to escape to Rohana, the island’s southern region. It also was in Rohana that a resistance movement formed under Vijaya Bāhu I, which eventually succeeded to restore the former Sinhala kingdom in the north and push the Cōḻas back to India. But before this, by the mid-eleventh century, Theravāda Buddhism seemed set to become extinguished on the island.”
[5]
[1]: (De Silva 2019, 163) De Silva, Wasana. 2019. ‘Urban agriculture and Buddhist concepts for wellbeing: Anuradhapura Sacred City, Sri Lanka’. International Journal of Design & Nature and Ecodynamics. Vol 14: 3. Pp 163-177. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/JIJEFKG3/collection [2]: (De Silva, 1981, 9) De Silva, K.M. 1981. A History of Sri Lanka. London: C. Hurst & Company, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/4R6DQVHZ/collection [3]: (De Silva 1981, 50-51) De Silva, K.M. 1981. A History of Sri Lanka. London: C. Hurst & Company, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/4R6DQVHZ/collection [4]: (De Silva 1981, 51) De Silva, K.M. 1981. A History of Sri Lanka. London: C. Hurst & Company, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/4R6DQVHZ/collection [5]: (Frasch 2017, 70) Frasch, Tilman. 2017. ‘A Palii cosmopolis? Sri Lanka and the Theravada Buddhist ecumene, c. 500–1500’. Sri Lanka at the Crossroads of History. London: UCL Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/JQMKSIWF/collection |
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“As stated above, the transfer of the capital to Polonnaruva has been portrayed as connected with a religious shift towards a more pluralistic and eclectic patronage at state-level, incorporating Buddhist, Brahmanical and Saivite practices. Indrapala has suggested that in tandem with the widespread appearance of tenth-century Tamil inscriptions dated to the regal years of Cōḻa rulers, there was also an increase in Saiva temples. In the chronicles, it is also stated that Parākramabāhu I (r. 1153–86 CE) constructed twenty-four temples to the gods, and Pathmanathan has recorded the presence of at least fourteen temples within Polonnaruva. In support of this plurality, archaeological investigations at Polonnaruva have identified Saiva and Vaisnava shrines with bronze Nataraja, Śiva and Parvati images. A twelfth-century inscription of Niśśaṅkamalla (r. 1187–96 CE) at Dambulla recorded the construction of a Hindu temple as well as the restoration and construction of Buddhist temples. In Anurādhapura itself, structures north of Abhayagiri dating to the later phases of the city’s occupation were identified as ‘Hindu ruins’ on the basis of their architectural layout and the recovery of several lingams, although this identification has been contested.
[1]
“The patronage and protection afforded by ‘non-Buddhists’ is further reinforced by a Tamil inscription on a stone slab beside the Tooth Relic Temple in Polonnaruva. Known as the Aṭadāgē, this structure was built under the patronage of Vijayabāhu I (r. 1055–1110 CE) and the epigraph instructs guards from South India, Vēlaikkāras, to protect the Buddha’s Tooth Relic within (Figure 1.1). Part of a long tradition of ‘Sinhala’ states employing South Indian guards, the Vēlaikkāras are stated to be adherents of the Mahātantra, and this further highlights the diversity and complexity of identity, religiosity and the construction of royal legitimacy within medieval Sri Lanka. All these complexities are crucial for the consideration of evidence for potential signs of cosmopolitan practices in the archaeological record.”
[2]
“The inevitable result of the Cōḷa conquest was the Hindu-Brāhmanical and Saiva religious practices, Dravidian art and architecture, and the Tamil language itself became overwhelmingly powerful in their intrusive impact on the religion and culture of Sri Lanka. The period of the South Indian invasions of the Anurādhapura kingdom in the ninth and tenth centuries coincided with the decline of Buddhism in India and the collapse of important centres of Buddhist learning as a result of Muslim invasions. These processes proved to be irreversible. South Indian influence on Sri Lanka thereafter became exclusively Hindu in content. It is against this background that the recovery of Buddhism under the Polonnaruva kings needs to be reviewed. The most substantial contributions came from Vijayabāhu I and Parākramabāhu I. The unification of the saṅgha in the latter’s reign was one of the most significant events in the history of Sinhalese Buddhism […] The resuscitatory zeal of these two monarchs in particular demonstrated afresh the remarkable resilience of Sri Lankan Buddhism. Sinhalese bhikkhus maintained contacts with distant centres of Buddhism like Nepal and Tibet; they also made vigorous but unsuccessful attempts to spread their teachings in Bengal, apart from engaging in spirited disputes with their Theravādin colleagues in South India on questions relating to the interpretation of the canon. It was South-East Asia, however, that was most receptive to their teachings, and the expansion of Sinhalese Theravāda Buddhism in that region was an important trend in this cultural history during this period.”
[3]
[1]: Coningham et al. 2017, 37) Coningham et al. 2017. ‘Archaeology and cosmopolitanism in early historic and medieval Sri Lanka.’ Sri Lanka at the Crossroads of History. Edited by Zoltán Biedermann and Alan Strathern. London: UCL Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/DCQMW8E3/collection [2]: Coningham et al. 2017, 25-26) Coningham et al. 2017. ‘Archaeology and cosmopolitanism in early historic and medieval Sri Lanka.’ Sri Lanka at the Crossroads of History. Edited by Zoltán Biedermann and Alan Strathern. London: UCL Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/DCQMW8E3/collection [3]: (De Silva 1981, 73-74) De Silva, K.M. 1981. A History of Sri Lanka. London: C. Hurst & Company, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/4R6DQVHZ/collection |
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“The crowning achievement of the Śaivite saint Tiruñānasambandar, for example, is said to have been his conversion of a Pāṇḍya king from Jainism to Śaivism. […] Hence, such sacred books of the Tamils as the Dēvāram preserve, among other things, a kind of regional sacred geography of medieval Tamilnad. That such hymns helped to endow various temples with rich, sacred traditions undoubtedly helped to promote the growth of pilgrimage networks and the development of what might be called “regional consciousness” among the Tamils.”
[1]
[1]: (Spencer 1969, 48, 49) Spencer, George W. 1969. ‘Religious Networks and Royal Influence in Eleventh Century South India’. Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient. Vol 12: 1. Pp. 42-56. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/5XDG98BE/collection |
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“The Pandya kings followed the tenets and traditions of Vedic Dharma; they were worshippers of Shiva and Vishnu. They respected all Devas. Many inscriptions begin with prayers and invocations to Shiva and Vishnu. Many rulers of Pandya dynasty performed Vedic Yajnas such as Rajasuya and Asavamedha.
[1]
[1]: (Kamlesh 2010, 600) Kamlesh, Kapur. 2010. ‘Pandya Dynasty’ In Portraits of a Nation: History of Ancient India. New Delhi: Sterling Publishers. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/3TS5DCT6/collection |
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“Senganan [Kochchenganan], the Chola king famed in legends for his devotion to Siva figures as the victor in battle of Por against the Chera Kanaikkal Irumporai. The Chera king was imprisoned and later released. Senganan Chola is said to have built 70 fine temples of Shiva.”
[1]
“During the Sangam Age, Buddhism and Jainism also flourished together, but were subordinate to the Brahmanical Vedic religion. The Tamils of the Sangam Age were aware of certain spiritual and philosophical truths, such as concepts of body and soul superiority of destiny, dying for a noble cause and so on.”
[2]
[1]: (Agnihotri 1988, 350) Agnihotri, V.K. 1988. Indian History. New Delhi: Allied Publishers Pvt. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/PNX9XBJQ/collection [2]: (Agnihotri 1988, 361) Agnihotri, V.K. 1988. Indian History. New Delhi: Allied Publishers Pvt. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/PNX9XBJQ/collection |
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“Five temples attached to the Devasthanam in Thanjavur palace are dedicated to Krsna. They are (1) Navanita Krsna (2) Bhuloga Krsna (3)Mannarswami (4) Madanagopalaswami (5)Venugopalaswami. All of them seem to have come up during the rule of the Nayaks of Thanjavur and the Mahrattas from the 16th century onwards.”
[1]
“It is no exaggeration to say that the temple gathered round itself all that was best in the arts of civilized existence and regulated with the humanness bom of the spirit of Dharma. The rulers of Thanjavur were orthodox Hindus and continued a tradition of liberality towards temples and mathas.”
[2]
[1]: (Padmaja 2002, 96) Padmaja, T. 2002. Temples of Krsna in South India: History, Art, and Traditions in Tamilnadu. New Delhi: Abhinav Publications. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/5MFKBQ9E/collection [2]: (Appasamy 1980, 9) Appasamy, Jaya. 1980. Thanjavur Painting of the Maratha Period. Vol. 1. New Delhi. Abhinav Publications. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/35BU75NG/collection |
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The following quote refers to Vedic religion in Tamil Nadu during the Sangam Period. “The Vedic religion had struck root in the south, which is proved by references to the costly sacrifices performed by the monarchs of the age. Brahmins, devoted to their studies and religious duties, held a high position in society.”
[1]
“During the Sangam Age, Buddhism and Jainism also flourished together, but were subordinate to the Brahmanical Vedic religion. The Tamils of the Sangam Age were aware of certain spiritual and philosophical truths, such as concepts of body and soul superiority of destiny, dying for a noble cause and so on.”
[2]
[1]: (Agnihotri 1988, 360) Agnihotri, V.K. 1988. Indian History. New Delhi: Allied Publishers Pvt. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/PNX9XBJQ/collection [2]: (Agnihotri 1988, 361) Agnihotri, V.K. 1988. Indian History. New Delhi: Allied Publishers Pvt. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/PNX9XBJQ/collection |
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“The Navaiyat dynasty came to power when Saadutullah Khan was appointed subadhar, or chief of military and revenue officer of the newly established Mughal subah of Arcot in 1710. The Navaiyats, wanting to take advantage of the relative weakness of the links to the Mughal centre, and wanting to carve out an independent dynastic rule for themselves, quickly fell into the traditional pattern of empire-building. They extended existing citadels like Vellore and Gingee by ‘importing’ North Indian traders, artisans and soldiers; they established a number of new market centres; they founded and endowed mosques; and they invited poets, artists and scholars and Sufi holy men to the new capital of Arcot.”
[1]
“The most significant aspect of South Indian Islam, however, is that it was predominantly influenced by Sufi mysticism. The Sufis were not as bound by doctrinal formalism as the Sunnis or the Shi’ites but were concerned with an individual, mystic devotionalism which made it easy to adapt to the existing religious environment of South India. Sufi mysticism was characterized on the one hand by centres of learning, poetry, science, and on the other hand by the centrality of the pir or saint. The saint’s devotees assembled at his shrine to partake in the sacred power which abounded in the area, thus falling into the existing tradition of sacred places and the importance of pilgrimage.”
[1]
“Unlike the Navaiyats, however, the Walajahs also endowed Hindu temples and shrines. The need to maintain a military superiority and the need to establish princely authority by acts of religious patronage coincided in the magnificent endowments lavished on the fortresses and temples of Trichinopoly. The control with temple centres was not only necessary in order to establish princely authority but also because the temples were centres of trade and important sources of revenue for the rulers.”
[1]
[1]: (Bugge, 2020) Bugge, Henriette. 2020. Mission and Tamil Society: Social and Religious Change in South India (1840-1900). London: Routledge Curzon. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/9SKWNUF4/collection |
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The following quote is referring to Hindu temples in the port city of Mamallapuram. “The city is known for several structural temples, rock cut caves and monolithic shrines and huge panels and bas reliefs that are considered to be the greatest examples of Pallava art. This tradition of stone carving is still alive among artists scattered in the area […] This temple was built by Mamalla for the worship of Vishnu. His successor Narasimhavarman II added two shrines dedicated to Shiva.”
[1]
“Most Pallavas were Hindus, with the majority of the Pallava rulers belonging to the Brahmin branch, and worshipped Shiva and Vishnu as well as other Hindu deities. Kings claimed hereditary descent based on divine origin. Many Hindu devotees made pilgrimages to the capital of Kanchipuram. Most rulers practiced religious toleration towards practitioners of other sects and religions, such as Buddhism and Jainism.”
[2]
[1]: (Kamlesh 2010, 569) Kamelsh, Kapur. 2010. ‘The Pallava Dynasty’ In History of Ancient India: Portraits of a Nation. New Delhi: Sterling Publishers Pvt. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/UETBPIDE/collection [2]: (Bush Trevino 2012, 46) Bush Travino, Macella. 2012. ‘The Pallava Dynasty’ In Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Asia and Africa: An Encyclopedia. Vol.4 Edited by Carolyn M. Elliot. Los Angeles: Sage. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/4RPCX448/collection |
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“According to Burton Stein, the Kalabhra interregnum may represent a strong bid by non-peasant (tribal) warriors for power over the fertile plains of Tamil region with support from the heterodox Indian religious tradition (Buddhism and Jainism). This may have led to persecution of the peasant and urban elites of the Brahmanical religious traditions (Hinduism), who then worked to remove the Kalabhras and retaliated against their persecutors after returning to power.”
[1]
“This has led to the inference that the Kalabhra rulers may have ended grants to Hindu temples and persecuted the Brahmins, and supported Buddhism and Jainism during their rule.”
[2]
“Towards the sixth century, the coinage shows the figures of Brahmanical gods and goddesses, sitting and standing, along with the combined use of Prakrit and Tamil languages.”
[3]
[1]: (Srinivansan, 2021) Srinivasan, Raghavan. 2021. Rajaraja Chola: Interplay Between an Imperial Regime and Productive Forces of Society. Mumbai: Leadstart Publishing Pvt Ltd. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/UGD5HUFP/collection [2]: (Jankiraman, 2020) Jankiraman, M. 2020. Perspectives in Indian History: From the Origins to AD 1857. Chennai: Notion Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/N3D88RXF/collection [3]: (Gupta 1989, 23-24) Gupta, Parmanand. 1989. Geography from Ancient Indian Coins and Seals. New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/5Z4TFP7P/collection |
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“Five temples attached to the Devasthanam in Thanjavur palace are dedicated to Krsna. They are (1) Navanita Krsna (2) Bhuloga Krsna (3)Mannarswami (4) Madanagopalaswami (5)Venugopalaswami. All of them seem to have come up during the rule of the Nayaks of Thanjavur and the Mahrattas from the 16th century onwards.”
[1]
“The rule of the nayaka in Thanjavur came to an end in the second half of the seventeenth century. Vijayaraghava Nayak (1634-73), son of Raghunatha Nayak, was the last ruler of the nayaka dynasty. On the whole, this period shaped the country both economically and culturally since most of these Hindu (Vaishnava) rulers had cultural, literary, and scientific interests and were comparatively tolerant and open in religious matters.”
[2]
[1]: (Padmaja 2002, 96) Padmaja, T. 2002. Temples of Krsna in South India: History, Art, and Traditions in Tamilnadu. New Delhi: Abhinav Publications. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/5MFKBQ9E/collection [2]: (Lieban 2018, 54) Lieban, Heike. 2018. Cultural Encounters in India: The Local Co-workers of Tranquebar Mission, 18th to 19th Centuries. London: Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/32CRNR7U/collection |
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Influence of Hinduism in later centuries is inferred in the following quotes. “Anuradhapura (377 BCE–1017 CE) was the first Buddhist city in Sri Lanka.”
[1]
“[I]t is very likely that the early Aryans brough with them some form of Brāhmanism. By the first century BC, however Buddhism had been introduced to the island, and was well established in the main areas of settlement. According to Mahāvaṁsa the entry of Buddhism to Sri Lanka occurred in the reign of Devānampiya Tissa (250-210 BC), a contemporary of the great Mauryan Emperor Aśoka whose emissary Mahinda (Aśoka’s son, as some authorities would have it, or his brother, as is suggested by others) converted Devānampiya Tissa to the new faith. Once again the Mahāvaṁsa’s account of events conceals as much as it reveals, and what it hides in this instance is the probability that Buddhists and Buddhism came to the island much earlier than that. [...] Although the spread of Buddhism in the island was at the expense of Hinduism, the latter never became totally submerged, but survived and had an influence on Buddhism which became more marked with the passage of time. Vedic deities, pre-Buddhistic in origin in Sri Lanka, held their sway among the people, and kings who patronised the official religion, Buddhism, supported Hindu temples and observed Brāhmanic practices as well. Hinduism was sustained also by small groups of Brāhmans living among the people and at the court. It was in later centuries of the Anurādhapura kingdom that the Hindu influence on Buddhism became more pronounced as a necessary result of political and religious change in South India. The early years of the Christian era saw Buddhism strongly entrenched in South India, and Nāgārjunikoṇḍa (in Andhra) and Kāñchī were famous Buddhist centres there. Close links were established between these South Indian Buddhist centres and Sri Lanka. There was a Sri Lanka vihara at Nāgārjunikoṇḍa, and the introduction and establishment of the new heterodox Buddhist sects of Sri Lanka was the work primarily of visiting ecclesiastics from India or Sri Lankan students of famous Indian theologians. After the sixth century all that remained of South Indian Buddhism, inundated by the rising tide of an aggressive Hindu revivalism, were a few isolated pockets in Orissa, for example, maintaining a stubborn but nonetheless precarious existence. There was no recovery from that onslaught. The intrusive pressures of South Indian kingdoms on the politics of Sri Lanka carried with them also the religious impact of a more self-confident Hinduism. All this was especially powerful after the Cōla invasions and Cōla rule.”
[2]
[1]: (De Silva 2019, 163) De Silva, Wasana. 2019. ‘Urban agriculture and Buddhist concepts for wellbeing: Anuradhapura Sacred City, Sri Lanka’. International Journal of Design & Nature and Ecodynamics. Vol 14: 3. Pp 163-177. Sheshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/JIJEFKG3/collection [2]: (De Silva 1981, 9, 50). De Silva, K.M. 1981. A History of Sri Lanka. London: C. Hurst & Company, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/4R6DQVHZ/collection |
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“The Padu Mandapa or ‘New Hall’ (Tamil Putu Mantapam) is one of the best-known monuments from the Nayaka period of Tamilnadu in the later sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It was built around 1630 under the patronage of Tirumala Nayak, the ruler of Maduari (1623-59), hence an alternative name, ‘Tirumala Nayak’s Choultry’. It was built as a major addition to the Minaksi-Sundaresvara temple complex that dominates the centre of this major Tamil town and Hindu pilgrimage centre.”
[1]
[1]: (Branfoot 2001, 191) Branfoot, Crispin. 2001. ‘Tirumala Nayaka’s ‘New Hall’ and the European Study of the South Indian Temple. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. Vol 11:2. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/FE5VZ76M/collection |
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“So Igbo beliefs about pollutions are closely bound up with the cosmic order. Here I will present a brief description of this order as the Igbo see it, and show the link of its different structures with pollution. The world-view described here is the model shared by Igbo communities found mainly in the northern and western parts of Igboland which are under the ritual authority of Eze Nri (king of Nri), whose authority rests solely on his ability to institute, abrogate, and cleanse pollutions.”
[1]
“Beyond this veil of divergence in tradition and ecology lies a basic Igbo culture characterized by similarities in language, institutions and religious and cosmological beliefs. Religion played a major unifying role in the area of Igbo culture. An aspect of this is the hitherto unquestioned priestly role of the Nri and, on their eclipse, some major oracles. Nri is a small town in the Northern Igbo area whose king, Eze Nri, according to tradition, secured considerable concessions from God (Chukwu) for providing mankind with food, especially yam. The widespread desire for Nri religious services led to the development of a hegemony based on ritualism as opposed to militarism. Nri priestly lineages emerged in most of Igboland, and some exist to this day.”
[2]
“Igbo also recognize stratifications in both worlds. Chukwu is the great creator and manifests his existence in a quadripartite manner. First, as the creator of all things, okike. Secondly, He is the source of fertility, agbala. Thirdly, He is the source of light and knowledge, anyanwu. Finally, He is the source of procreation, character and individual prowess, chi. Chukwu created other powerful supernatural forces and beings which are given responsibility for various spheres of human endeavour, such as agriculture, divination and medicine. It is believed that the supernatural forces control earthly matters. The result of medical treatments or agricultural activities is determined by the disposition of extra-terrestrial forces. The spirit world is the transient abode of the living after their death and is in constant contact with the mundane. The dead join their ancestors in the spirit world and, through their reincarnation, the mundane world is peopled.”
[3]
“The Eze Nri (priest-kings of Nri) claim for themselves a status equivalent to that of the spirits. Every reigning Eze Nri is embued with the spirit of Eri, his first ancestor, who was sent down by Chukwu from heaven to organize the world. Eri dried up the water which covered the earth and thus organized the physical world. By sacrificing his son and daughter, he obtained yams and cocoyams, the main food and cash crop of the Igbo, thus introducing agriculture and agricultural rituals. He introduced ichi scarification, and the ozo chiefly-title system, thus reorganizing social life. Finally, he organized economic life by introducing the four Igbo market days. The powers received by Eri from Chukwu include the ritual powers to control the worship of Ala who controls agriculture, Ife-jioku the yam deity, and Eke, Oye, Afor, and Nkwo, deities of the four Igbo market days of the same name. He has the ritual powers to establish, cleanse, and abrogate prohibitions connected with their cult. As symbols of his authority, Eri received from Chukwu the ofo (ritual staff) and the otonsi (ritual spear) used for the rites of establishing or cleansing alu (pollutions). Ofo-carrying Nri priests still visit or settle among different Igbo communities to provide pollution cleansing services. In Nri town itself, the cleansing rites are performed by the Ezeana, in the presence of Eze Nri who as a spirit never offers sacrifices.”
[4]
“The Nri sphere of ritual influence was probably at its greatest between 1100 and 1400. Nri ritual specialists, distinguished by their facial scars (which are shown in several Igbo-Ukwu sculptures) and by their ritual staffs of peace, travelled far afield, purifying the earth from human crimes and introducing a variety of ritual practices, including the ozo title system, and ikenga, the cult of the right hand, ‘with which a person works out a successful living in this difficult world’.”
[5]
[1]: Ikenga-Metuh, E. (1985). Ritual Dirt and Purification Rites among the Igbo. Journal of Religion in Africa, 15(1), 3–24: 6. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/SFADDVVX/collection [2]: Ejidike, O. M. (1999). Human Rights in the Cultural Traditions and Social Practice of the Igbo of South-Eastern Nigeria. Journal of African Law, 43(1), 71–98: 74. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/7CMJSBJH/collection [3]: Ejidike, O. M. (1999). Human Rights in the Cultural Traditions and Social Practice of the Igbo of South-Eastern Nigeria. Journal of African Law, 43(1), 71–98: 75. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/7CMJSBJH/collection [4]: Ikenga-Metuh, E. (1985). Ritual Dirt and Purification Rites among the Igbo. Journal of Religion in Africa, 15(1), 3–24: 7–8. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/SFADDVVX/collection [5]: Isichei, Elizabeth. A History of African Societies to 1870. Cambridge University Press, 1997: 247. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/Z4GK27CI/collection |
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“So Igbo beliefs about pollutions are closely bound up with the cosmic order. Here I will present a brief description of this order as the Igbo see it, and show the link of its different structures with pollution. The world-view described here is the model shared by Igbo communities found mainly in the northern and western parts of Igboland which are under the ritual authority of Eze Nri (king of Nri), whose authority rests solely on his ability to institute, abrogate, and cleanse pollutions.”
[1]
“Beyond this veil of divergence in tradition and ecology lies a basic Igbo culture characterized by similarities in language, institutions and religious and cosmological beliefs. Religion played a major unifying role in the area of Igbo culture. An aspect of this is the hitherto unquestioned priestly role of the Nri and, on their eclipse, some major oracles. Nri is a small town in the Northern Igbo area whose king, Eze Nri, according to tradition, secured considerable concessions from God (Chukwu) for providing mankind with food, especially yam. The widespread desire for Nri religious services led to the development of a hegemony based on ritualism as opposed to militarism. Nri priestly lineages emerged in most of Igboland, and some exist to this day.”
[2]
“Igbo also recognize stratifications in both worlds. Chukwu is the great creator and manifests his existence in a quadripartite manner. First, as the creator of all things, okike. Secondly, He is the source of fertility, agbala. Thirdly, He is the source of light and knowledge, anyanwu. Finally, He is the source of procreation, character and individual prowess, chi. Chukwu created other powerful supernatural forces and beings which are given responsibility for various spheres of human endeavour, such as agriculture, divination and medicine. It is believed that the supernatural forces control earthly matters. The result of medical treatments or agricultural activities is determined by the disposition of extra-terrestrial forces. The spirit world is the transient abode of the living after their death and is in constant contact with the mundane. The dead join their ancestors in the spirit world and, through their reincarnation, the mundane world is peopled.”
[3]
“The Eze Nri (priest-kings of Nri) claim for themselves a status equivalent to that of the spirits. Every reigning Eze Nri is embued with the spirit of Eri, his first ancestor, who was sent down by Chukwu from heaven to organize the world. Eri dried up the water which covered the earth and thus organized the physical world. By sacrificing his son and daughter, he obtained yams and cocoyams, the main food and cash crop of the Igbo, thus introducing agriculture and agricultural rituals. He introduced ichi scarification, and the ozo chiefly-title system, thus reorganizing social life. Finally, he organized economic life by introducing the four Igbo market days. The powers received by Eri from Chukwu include the ritual powers to control the worship of Ala who controls agriculture, Ife-jioku the yam deity, and Eke, Oye, Afor, and Nkwo, deities of the four Igbo market days of the same name. He has the ritual powers to establish, cleanse, and abrogate prohibitions connected with their cult. As symbols of his authority, Eri received from Chukwu the ofo (ritual staff) and the otonsi (ritual spear) used for the rites of establishing or cleansing alu (pollutions). Ofo-carrying Nri priests still visit or settle among different Igbo communities to provide pollution cleansing services. In Nri town itself, the cleansing rites are performed by the Ezeana, in the presence of Eze Nri who as a spirit never offers sacrifices.”
[4]
“The Nri sphere of ritual influence was probably at its greatest between 1100 and 1400. Nri ritual specialists, distinguished by their facial scars (which are shown in several Igbo-Ukwu sculptures) and by their ritual staffs of peace, travelled far afield, purifying the earth from human crimes and introducing a variety of ritual practices, including the ozo title system, and ikenga, the cult of the right hand, ‘with which a person works out a successful living in this difficult world’.”
[5]
[1]: Ikenga-Metuh, E. (1985). Ritual Dirt and Purification Rites among the Igbo. Journal of Religion in Africa, 15(1), 3–24: 6. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/SFADDVVX/collection [2]: Ejidike, O. M. (1999). Human Rights in the Cultural Traditions and Social Practice of the Igbo of South-Eastern Nigeria. Journal of African Law, 43(1), 71–98: 74. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/7CMJSBJH/collection [3]: Ejidike, O. M. (1999). Human Rights in the Cultural Traditions and Social Practice of the Igbo of South-Eastern Nigeria. Journal of African Law, 43(1), 71–98: 75. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/7CMJSBJH/collection [4]: Ikenga-Metuh, E. (1985). Ritual Dirt and Purification Rites among the Igbo. Journal of Religion in Africa, 15(1), 3–24: 7–8. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/SFADDVVX/collection [5]: Isichei, Elizabeth. A History of African Societies to 1870. Cambridge University Press, 1997: 247. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/Z4GK27CI/collection |
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“What singles out the Sereer from their neighbours is that they only embraced Islam very recently in their history. Their religion is characterized by the cult of Pangol. Broadly speaking, Pangol are spirits or ancestros that mediate between humans and God, known among the Sereer as Roog. As first settlers, members of the same lineage were also linked by religion and performed rituals together to honour the same ancestor, founder, or spirit (Fangol).”
[1]
“In their heyday as royal capitals Kahone (Saloum), Diakhao (Sine), and Lambaye (Baol) these towns were not predominantly Muslim. Muslims at court would have lived, and built their mosque, in a peripheral neighbourhood, not on the central square.”
[2]
[1]: (Thiaw 2013,100) Thiaw, Ibrahima. 2013. ‘From the Senegal River to Siin: The Archaeology of Sereer Migrations in North-Western Senegambia. In Migration and Membership Regimes in Global and Historical Perspectives. Edited by Ulbe Bosma. Leiden: Brill. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/Q2ZFJKTJ/collection [2]: (Bigon and Ross 2020, 42) Bigon, Liora and Ross, Eric. 2020. Grid Planning in the Urban Design Practices of Senegal. London: Springer. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/MM67I638/collection |
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“The Navaiyat dynasty came to power when Saadutullah Khan was appointed subadhar, or chief of military and revenue officer of the newly established Mughal subah of Arcot in 1710. The Navaiyats, wanting to take advantage of the relative weakness of the links to the Mughal centre, and wanting to carve out an independent dynastic rule for themselves, quickly fell into the traditional pattern of empire-building. They extended existing citadels like Vellore and Gingee by ‘importing’ North Indian traders, artisans and soldiers; they established a number of new market centres; they founded and endowed mosques; and they invited poets, artists and scholars and Sufi holy men to the new capital of Arcot.”
[1]
“The most significant aspect of South Indian Islam, however, is that it was predominantly influenced by Sufi mysticism. The Sufis were not as bound by doctrinal formalism as the Sunnis or the Shi’ites but were concerned with an individual, mystic devotionalism which made it easy to adapt to the existing religious environment of South India. Sufi mysticism was characterized on the one hand by centres of learning, poetry, science, and on the other hand by the centrality of the pir or saint. The saint’s devotees assembled at his shrine to partake in the sacred power which abounded in the area, thus falling into the existing tradition of sacred places and the importance of pilgrimage.”
[1]
“Unlike the Navaiyats, however, the Walajahs also endowed Hindu temples and shrines. The need to maintain a military superiority and the need to establish princely authority by acts of religious patronage coincided in the magnificent endowments lavished on the fortresses and temples of Trichinopoly. The control with temple centres was not only necessary in order to establish princely authority but also because the temples were centres of trade and important sources of revenue for the rulers.”
[1]
[1]: (Bugge, 2020) Bugge, Henriette. 2020. Mission and Tamil Society: Social and Religious Change in South India (1840-1900). London: Routledge Curzon. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/9SKWNUF4/collection |
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Islam seems to be prevalent after 1830 CE when King Sanna Abba Jifar adopted Islam. “About 1830 Sanna Abba Jifar succeeded in uniting many of the Jimma Galla under his rule as king of Jimma-Kakka, known also as Jimma Abba Jifar. As Bofo before him, Abba Jifar adopted Islam and encouraged the spread of Islam among his subjects.”
[1]
[1]: (Rubenson 2008, 85) Rubenson, Sven. 2008. ‘Ethiopia and the Horn’ In The Cambridge History of Africa c.1790 – c.1870. Edited by John E. Flint. Vol. 5. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/Sven/titleCreatorYear/items/VRU64Q8P/item-list |
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"Nineteenth-century European visitors were highly impressed by the extent of the Islamization, which was visible in the large number of mosques and schools at all levels, the degree of scholarship, the richness of the libraries, and the widespread practice of Islamic worship."
[1]
[1]: (Barry 2005: 539) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/SU25S5BX/items/6TXWGHAX/item-list |
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“There are whole villages inhabited by priests of Mahomet and their relations and by these alone. These priests in their own tongue are called serims, by Marabouts by the French.”
[1]
“Mahometanism is making daily progress, and will soon become the only religion of the country of Cayor. The court alone remains attached to a Paganism more favourable to the passions.”
[2]
[1]: (The Philanthropist no. II 1811, 209) 1811. ‘Manners and Customs of the People of Cayor, Sin and Sallum’ In The Philanthropist no. II. London: Longman and Company. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/C5553ITD/collection [2]: (Mollien 1820, 61) Mollien, Gaspard Theodore. 1820, Travels in the Interior of Africa to the Sources of the Senegal and Gambia Performed by Command of the French Government in 1818. Edited by T.E. Bowdich. London: Henry Colburn and Company. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/W3PWMURF/collection |
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"Arab writers mention various ethnic groups for the northern Chad Basin, some of which had developed hierarchically structured societies with aspects of divine kingship. Such can be taken from the work of the antiquarian Yaqut, dating to 1229. Although writing at the beginning of the thirteenth century he made use of earlier accounts. His narration probably reflects the situation of the tenth century, when he states: Their houses are all reed huts as is also the palace of their king, whom they exalt and worship instead of Allah. They imagine that he does not eat any food . . . He has unlimited authority over his subjects and he enslaves from among them anyone he wants . . . Their religion is the worship of their kings, for they believe that they bring life and death, sickness and health. (Yaqut in Levtzion and Hopkins 1981: 171)"
[1]
"[T]he adoption of Islam by the Kanembu rulers ca. A.D. 1080s (Lavers, 1980) implies that the kinds of durable sculptures that were associated with the royal court art in Igbo-Ukwu and Ile-Ife during the same period (see below) are not likely to have existed."
[2]
[1]: (Gronenborn 2002: 103 [2]: (Ogundiran 2005: 144) |
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“Regarding the traditional religion of the Wolofs, we have very little documentation that would have allowed us to identify an organized institution or precise religious theology. We have only some descriptions that shed light on the practices arising from an indigenous ritual. Chambonneau, in 1675, remarks that each family had a totem representing an animal: ‘…about their surnames, amongst which are the names of several beasts and birds which bear the same name as themselves. They believe that there is such great affinity and connection between them, that they would not eat them or kill them for anything in the world, or even touch them… for example the man or woman who has his surname Guiop, will never dare eat or touch a peacock, because it is also called Guiop, he who is called Boy, a civet cat, he who is Fal, a snake and so of other names.’”
[1]
“In other words, we are dealing here essentially with an Islam of the royal court. However, insecurity, a consequence of the slave trade, very soon provided another image for the Islam of the royal court; it transformed into a belligerent Islam. During 1673 and 1677 this transformed Islam became the origin of the most extraordinary holy war that Waalo and the nations of northern Senegambia would experience.”
[2]
[1]: (Barry 2012, 35-36) Barry, Boubacar. 2012. The Kingdom of Waalo: Senegal Before the Conquest. New York: Diasporic Africa Press. Seshat URL:https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/9KV5MEKN/collection [2]: (Barry 2012, 39) Barry, Boubacar. 2012. The Kingdom of Waalo: Senegal Before the Conquest. New York: Diasporic Africa Press. Seshat URL:https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/9KV5MEKN/collection |
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Islam was definitely present, though from the reign of King Yaji I in Kano (1349–85), but it may have been practised for much longer. Other religions continued to be practised in some areas and by some sectors of society. “The initial introduction of the Islamic religion into Hausaland is still the subject of scholarly controversy. Many authors have uncritically accepted the statement of the Kano Chronicle that Islam was first introduced into the area in the middle of the fourteenth century by the Wangarawa, who came from Mali during the reign of Sarkin Kano Yaji (1349-85). Although this is the first recorded mention of Islam in Hausa written sources, it is more than likely that Islam entered Hausaland at a much earlier date.”
[1]
“[I]t is obvious that Islam was introduced into Hausaland much earlier, either by way of Air and Gobir or, more probably, via Kanem-Bornu. And it cannot be ruled out that Muslim traders from the west (Mali and Songhay) were actively spreading Islam among the Hausa traders and some of the ruling élite in Hausaland before the arrival of the Wangarawa, who were immigrant Muslim scholars and missionaries and who later helped to establish a stronger and more widespread Islamic tradition. On the other hand, although Islam was widely known in Hausaland before the fourteenth century, it evidently remained largely a religion of expatriate traders, small groups of local merchants and the ruling élite; for the most part, the masses continued to practise their traditional religion. Nevertheless, in the fifteenth century a strong Islamic tradition appears to have been established, especially in Kano and Katsina. This trend was strengthened not only by the Wangara scholars, but also by Muslim Fulani clerics, who brought with them new books on theology and law.”
[2]
“In general, Islamization during this period was chiefly confined to the ruling élite and to trader groups, and it was only in cities and larger centres that Islam had much impact. Even so, most of the so-called Muslims were only half-hearted in their allegiance to Islam and still believed in other gods, who m they invoked in their shrines at sacred rocks and trees.”
[3]
“There are non-Muslim groups in both Nigeria and Niger who speak only Hausa and who share the Hausa culture, but who refuse to be called Hausa people. In Nigeria these people call themselves, and are called by the other Hausa, Maguzawa (or Bamaguje), whereas in Niger they are known by the name Azna (or Arna) - the Hausa word for ’pagan’. These Azna also regard the geographical coverage of the name Hausa as being confined to the Zamfara, Kebbi and Gobir areas. Since the name Maguzawa is probably derived from the Arabic madjüs (originally ’fire-worshippers’, then ’pagan’ generally) it is possible that the polarization between Hausa and Maguzawa/Azna began only with the spread of Islam among the common people in Hausaland, after the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.”
[4]
“In the 1450s, the Fulani came to Hausaland from Mali, bringing ’books on divinity and etymology’ (formerly only books on law and the traditions had been known); the end of the century witnessed the arrival of a number of rif (descendants of the Prophet Muhammad ) and the vigorous Muslim cleric, al-Maghîlï.”
[5]
“With such a strong economic and political base, Muhammad Korau began to raid far and wide, until he had carved for himself a large domain, the kingdom of Katsina; he is traditionally regarded as its first Muslim ruler.27 It was during his reign that al-Maghîlï visited the city; the Gobarau mosque, part of which still stands, was built during the same period, modelled on the mosques of Gao and Jenne.”
[6]
[1]: Niane, D. T., & Unesco (Eds.). (1984). Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century. Heinemann; University of California Press: 289. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/ERZKPETN/collection [2]: Niane, D. T., & Unesco (Eds.). (1984). Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century. Heinemann; University of California Press: 290. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/ERZKPETN/collection [3]: Niane, D. T., & Unesco (Eds.). (1984). Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century. Heinemann; University of California Press: 292. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/ERZKPETN/collection [4]: Niane, D. T., & Unesco (Eds.). (1984). Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century. Heinemann; University of California Press: 269. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/ERZKPETN/collection [5]: Niane, D. T., & Unesco (Eds.). (1984). Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century. Heinemann; University of California Press: 272. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/ERZKPETN/collection [6]: Niane, D. T., & Unesco (Eds.). (1984). Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century. Heinemann; University of California Press: 273. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/ERZKPETN/collection |
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“In Mauritania and Senegambia, there was a network of rural schools, at which the Koran and certain important works of technology and law were studied. The more learned marabouts studied at different schools. Some of these schools seem to have played an important revolutionary role. Thus, according to Futa Toro traditions, all the major leaders of the 1776 torodbe revolt studied at Pir Saniokhor in Cayor.”
[1]
[1]: (Klein 1972, 428) Klein, Martin A. 1972. ‘Social and Economic Factors in the Muslim Revolution in Senegambia.’ The Journal of Africa History. Vol. 13:3. Pp 419-441. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/ZJRN8UJ8/collection |
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“The Sultanate of Shoa is the earliest Muslim political unit reported by local traditions known to us so far.”
[1]
[1]: (Tamrat 2008, 106) Tamrat, Taddesse. 2008. ‘Ethiopia, the Red Sea and the Horn’ In the Cambridge History of Africa: c. 1050 – c.1600 vol. 3. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp 98-182. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/Tamrat/titleCreatorYear/items/A68FCWWI/item-list |
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“The Adalite imams played a significant role in the spread of Islam in East Africa.”
[1]
[1]: (Mukhtar 2016, Encyclopedia of Empire) Mukhtar, Mohamed H. 2016. ‘Adal Sultanate.’ In J. Mackenzie Encyclopedia of Empire. Wiley. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/FM8D55XW/library |
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“However they did accept the first Muslim migrants, the Hatimi from Yemen and the Amawi from Sham (Syria), around the 10th century, for both religious and commercial reasons. The town prospered and became one of the major Islamic centers in the Horn, the Barawaani Ulama, attracted students from all over the region. Muslim scholars of the time, such as al-Idrisi, wrote about Barawa as ‘an Arabic ‘Islamic’ island on the Somali coast.’”
[1]
[1]: (Mukhtar 2003, 50) Mukhtar, Mohamed H. 2003. Historical Dictionary of Somalia. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/TWITJWK4/items/J8WZB6VI/collection |
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“By the thirteenth century Mogadishu, Merca and Brava had become important Muslim and commercial centres on the eastern seaboard of the Horn. Many Muslim merchants of Arab, Persian and probably Indian origin lived in these towns. The local people in the coastal areas and in the interior were predominantly Somali and, most probably, they had already embraced Islam as their religion.”
[1]
[1]: (Tamrat 2008, 138) Tamrat, Taddesse. 2008. ‘Ethiopia, the Red Sea and the Horn’ In the Cambridge History of Africa: c. 1050 – c.1600 vol. 3. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp 98-182. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/Tamrat/titleCreatorYear/items/A68FCWWI/item-list |
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“Kanem rulers were among the first to be Islamized in sub-Saharan Africa in the 11th century. The empire of Kanem-Bornu became rapidly renowned for its Islamic culture with some of its mais undertaking the hajj and building mosques in the country (Barkindo 1985: 235). Islam had an important political role in Kanem-Bornu as the change of dynasty between the Duguwa and the Sayfawa in the 11th century seems to have been triggered by political and religious factors. Indeed, Hummay (r.1075–1080) became ruler of Kanem and founded the Sayfawa dynasty with the help of a pro-Islam faction in the Kanem court (Lange 1993: 265). Moreover, Islam had an influence on the expansionist policies of the state as the development of the kingdom could be justified by the conversion of non-Muslims. Islam also influenced the discourse of state-creation as rulers during this period claimed to be descended from a Yemenite ancestor, the 7th century figure Sayf ibn Dhi Yazan of Himyar (Smith 1983). Moreover, since the end of the 15th century, and maybe since an earlier date, the mai (the head of the empire) assumed the title of “caliph” (Lavers 1993: 257) and the Sayfawa throne was also supposed to be the degal lisalambe, the “cradle of Islam.” As a consequence, the mais used Islamic advisors and, in theory, their power could not exceed the prescriptions of the Sharia. This creation of a Muslim religious ancestry was a common practice through which trans-Saharan African empires could assert their religious and kinship ties with Arabia. As a Muslim empire, Kanem-Bornu was not radically different from other “Islamicate” polities in sub-Saharan Africa. Indeed, whilst it was dominated by Islam, there were many pre-Islamic features that shaped political and cultural life. A perfect example of the importance of this pre-Islamic culture was the cult of an undefined sacred object, the mune, until its destruction by mai Dunama Dibbalemi (1203–1242).”
[1]
“The Kanuri people of Borno cannot separate their state and society from Islam, because throughout remembered history, the Borno state, society and the religion of Islam are each an aspect of the other. Islam had been a state religion in Borno’s precursor state of Kanem as far back as the early thirteenth century A.D., where more than a century earlier, a ruler of Kanem had already converted to Islam, and the religion was penetrating peacefully through foreign traders and itinerant scholars even much earlier. As state religion, Islam had thus come to not only overwhelm the way of life of the people but, in particular, the structure and functioning of the state, and the conduct of state affairs at all levels. From sources there is indeed evidence that these early rulers have taken the faith seriously. Smith for instance has confirmed that the next ruler since the conversion, Mai (King) Dunama, performed the holy pilgrimage to Mecca twice, with great pomp and was indeed drowned in the Red Sea on his way for the third time. Mai Biri who succeeded this holy pilgrim, is remembered in our sources as a faqih (a learned man) and the grandson of this faqih is recorded as a great mosquebuilder. Not only were these early rulers committed torch-bearers of Islam, but they had honoured the burgeoning body of Kanuri ulama (Muslim scholars) to whom they gave privileged positions in Court and/or fiefs in the country-side where they had settled with their pupils and dependants (malumri). Usually, such settlements and their inhabitants are free from taxation and other State dues (mahram). It can no doubt be contended that such a privileged and high profile position bestowed to ulama would itself provide for largescale conversion and proselytization among the people.”
[2]
[1]: Hiribarren, V. (2016). Kanem-Bornu Empire. In N. Dalziel & J. M. MacKenzie (Eds.), The Encyclopedia of Empire (pp. 1–6). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.: 3. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/KNHK5ANQ/collection [2]: Tijani, K. (1993). THE MUNE IN PRE-COLONIAL BORNO. Berichte Des Sonderforschungsbereichs, 268(2), 227–254: 228. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2VQBX7DW/collection |
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“With a long tradition of trading connections to the Arabian Peninsula, the Somalis were converted to Islam at an early date and remain staunch Muslims (Sunnis, of the Sha afi School of Law).”
[1]
[1]: (Lewis 2008, 1-2) Lewis, Ioan M. 2008. Understanding Somalia and Somaliland: Culture, History, Society. New York, Columbia University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/Understanding%20Somalia/titleCreatorYear/items/7J425GTZ/item-list |
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“With a long tradition of trading connections to the Arabian Peninsula, the Somalis were converted to Islam at an early date[...].”
[1]
[1]: (Lewis 2008, 1-2) Lewis, Ioan M. 2008. Understanding Somalia and Somaliland: Culture, History, Society. New York, Columbia University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/Understanding%20Somalia/titleCreatorYear/items/7J425GTZ/item-list |
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“Most, if not all, of them are now Moslems, although the neighbouring Itu are generally pagan.”
[1]
[1]: (Thesiger 1935, 2) Thesiger, Wifred. 1935. ‘The Awash River and the Aussa Sultanate.’ The Geographical Journal. Vol. 85:1. Pp 1-19 Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/APBB7BBK/library |
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“Islam took root early in Harar and the city remains a center for Islamic learning.”
[1]
[1]: (Shinn and Ofcansky 2013, 208) Shinn, David and Thomas Ofcansky. 2013. Historical Dictionary of Ethiopia. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/TWITJWK4/items/29MS79PA/collection |
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“Fourth, the Muslim resistance in Wallo seems also to have led to the growth of a Jihadic movement in the Gibe region. The Muslim clerics who made Islam the religion of the masses and nurtured Islamic culture in Wallo, brought the spirit of resistance with them to the Gibe region. This spirit of resistance grew into a Jihadic movement mainly in the kingdom of Gumma, which remained a hotbed of rebellion and Muslim resistance from 1887 to 1902.”
[1]
[1]: (Hassen 1992, 96) Hassen, Mohammed. ‘Islam as a Resistance Ideology Among the Oromo of Ethiopia.’ In In The Shadow of Conquest: Islam in Colonial Northeast Africa. Trenton, New Jersey: The Red Sea Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/search/Hassen/titleCreatorYear/items/PJ3UMMX5/item-list |
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“The Majerteen Sultan professed Sunni Islam and adherence to the Shafi’i branch of Sunni Islamic law. They sponsored madrasas, built mosques, encouraged prayer and pilgrimage, and undertook many of the other obligations of Muslim rulers.”
[1]
[1]: (Smith 2021, 43) Smith, Nicholas W.S. 2021. Colonial Chaos in the Southern Red Sea: A History of Violence from 1830 to the Twentieth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/TWITJWK4/items/K6HVJ7X4/collection |
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“This traveller found it the most civilized of these states, he wrote: ‘The Galla of Gomma were the first (of these states) to embrace Islam. Both old and young always memorize the Quran which is taught by migrant Muslims who put on the guise of learned men.”
[1]
[1]: (Trimingham 2013, 200) Trimingham, J. Spencer. 2013. Islam in Ethiopia. London: Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/RB7C87QZ/collection |
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“Ifat was the second sultanate to be formed in the region of Shawa, in what is currently central Ethiopia. It was Umar Walasma who founded the Walasma dynasty (1280–1520s), which spearheaded Muslim resistance to the expanding Christian kingdom.”
[1]
[1]: (Hassen 2016, Encyclopedia of Empire) Hassen, Mohammed, 2016. ‘Ifat Sultanate.’ In J. Mackenzie Encyclopedia of Empire. Wiley. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/FXDQBFFT/library |
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The Kingdom of Hadiya was nominally Muslim. “This marriage linked the nominally Muslim kingdom of Hadeya with the Christian Ethiopian Empire.”
[1]
“The province was inhabited by animist Sidama people, some of whom were converted to Islam.”
[2]
[1]: (Shinn and Ofcansky 2013, 200) Shinn, David and Thomas Ofcansky. 2013. Historical Dictionary of Ethiopia. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/TWITJWK4/items/29MS79PA/collection [2]: (Pankhurst 1997, 77) Pankhurst, Richard. 1997. The Ethiopian Borderlands: Essays in Regional History from Ancient Times to the End of the 18th Century. Lawrenceville, New Jersey: The Red Sea Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/F5TE8HH5/collection |
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“In contrast, Harlaa was at least partially Islamised and its inhabitants participated in long distance trade in the 12th -13th centuries.”
[1]
“At Harlaa, Islam co-existed with Indigenous religions that were followed by the majority of the local population. The nature of these religions is little understood, as they left no historical records and have only been partially investigated archaeologically with reference to their most tangible aspect: funerary practice.”
[2]
[1]: (Insoll 2017, 208) Insoll, Timothy. 2017. ‘First Footsteps in Archaeology of Harar, Ethiopia’. Journal of Islamic Archaeology. Vol 4:2. Pp 189-215. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/VQ38B374/collection [2]: (Insoll et al. 2021, 501) Insoll, Timothy et al. 2021. ‘Material Cosmopolitanism: the entrepot of Harlaa as an Islamic gateway to eastern Ethiopia’. Antiquity. Vol 95: 380. Pp 487-507. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/GGUW3WRZ/collection |
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“With a long tradition of trading connections to the Arabian Peninsula, the Somalis were converted to Islam at an early date and remain staunch Muslims (Sunnis, of the Sha’afi School of Law).”
[1]
“As in the north, the saints represented a tradition of Islam quite removed from the theocratic version with its formal hierarchy and legalistic practice. In rural traditions, the saints were characterized not so much by their capacity to uphold Muslim law as by their possession of special religious gifts. Among these were aziimo (sacred knowledge), tacdaar (sacred magic) and wardi (the capacity to receive divine revelations).”
[2]
[1]: (Lewis 2008, 1-2) Lewis, Ioan, M. 2008. Understanding Somalia and Somaliland: Culture, History, Society. New York: Columbia University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/7J425GTZ/library [2]: (Cassanelli 1982, 124) Cassanelli, Lee. V. 1982. The Shaping of Somali Society: Reconstructing the History of a Pastoral People, 1600-1900. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/TKPH7Z89/library |
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“Islam first appeared between the 11th and 14th centuries, while Christianity arrived in the 19th century. Initially, Islam attracted only the elite desirous of power and trade. The emergence of the Sokoto Caliphate in the 19th century spurred the spread of Islam from royalty to the common people.”
[1]
[1]: Falola, Toyin, and Ann Genova. Historical Dictionary of Nigeria. The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2009: xxxiii. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/SJAIVKDW/collection |
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“Islam spread in the Funj Sultanate not only as a result of its acceptance by the governing elite and the trading communities, but also as the result of the migration of Muslim scholars and holy men into the region.”
[1]
[1]: (Lapidus 2002, 431) Lapidus, Ira M. 2002. A History of Islamic Societies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/QW9XHCIW/collection |
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“Torodbe accounts of events in the Futa Toro have influenced us to regard their denianke predecessors as pagan.”
[1]
“The traditional elites and the traditionalist peasants were not necessarily pagan. La Maire commented in 1682 that the Siratik, the ruler of the Fouta Toro, did not drink wine and brandy and followed ‘the law of Mahomet more religiously than other blacks.’”
[2]
[1]: (Klein 1972, 429, footnote 18) Klein, Martin A. 1972. ‘Social and Economic Factors in the Muslim Revolution in Senegambia.’ The Journal of Africa History. Vol. 13:3. Pp 419-441. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/ZJRN8UJ8/collection [2]: (Klein 1972, 427) Klein, Martin A. 1972. ‘Social and Economic Factors in the Muslim Revolution in Senegambia.’ The Journal of Africa History. Vol. 13:3. Pp 419-441. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/ZJRN8UJ8/collection |
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The following quote refers to Vedic religion in Tamil Nadu during the Sangam Period. “The Vedic religion had struck root in the south, which is proved by references to the costly sacrifices performed by the monarchs of the age. Brahmins, devoted to their studies and religious duties, held a high position in society.”
[1]
“During the Sangam Age, Buddhism and Jainism also flourished together, but were subordinate to the Brahmanical Vedic religion. The Tamils of the Sangam Age were aware of certain spiritual and philosophical truths, such as concepts of body and soul superiority of destiny, dying for a noble cause and so on.”
[2]
[1]: (Agnihotri 1988, 360) Agnihotri, V.K. 1988. Indian History. New Delhi: Allied Publishers Pvt. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/PNX9XBJQ/collection [2]: (Agnihotri 1988, 361) Agnihotri, V.K. 1988. Indian History. New Delhi: Allied Publishers Pvt. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/PNX9XBJQ/collection |
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“The crowning achievement of the Śaivite saint Tiruñānasambandar, for example, is said to have been his conversion of a Pāṇḍya king from Jainism to Śaivism. […] Hence, such sacred books of the Tamils as the Dēvāram preserve, among other things, a kind of regional sacred geography of medieval Tamilnad. That such hymns helped to endow various temples with rich, sacred traditions undoubtedly helped to promote the growth of pilgrimage networks and the development of what might be called “regional consciousness” among the Tamils.”
[1]
[1]: (Spencer 1969, 48, 49) Spencer, George W. 1969. ‘Religious Networks and Royal Influence in Eleventh Century South India’. Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient. Vol 12: 1. Pp. 42-56. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/5XDG98BE/collection |
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“According to Burton Stein, the Kalabhra interregnum may represent a strong bid by non-peasant (tribal) warriors for power over the fertile plains of Tamil region with support from the heterodox Indian religious tradition (Buddhism and Jainism). This may have led to persecution of the peasant and urban elites of the Brahmanical religious traditions (Hinduism), who then worked to remove the Kalabhras and retaliated against their persecutors after returning to power.”
[1]
“This has led to the inference that the Kalabhra rulers may have ended grants to Hindu temples and persecuted the Brahmins, and supported Buddhism and Jainism during their rule.”
[2]
“Towards the sixth century, the coinage shows the figures of Brahmanical gods and goddesses, sitting and standing, along with the combined use of Prakrit and Tamil languages.”
[3]
[1]: (Srinivansan, 2021) Srinivasan, Raghavan. 2021. Rajaraja Chola: Interplay Between an Imperial Regime and Productive Forces of Society. Mumbai: Leadstart Publishing Pvt Ltd. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/UGD5HUFP/collection [2]: (Jankiraman, 2020) Jankiraman, M. 2020. Perspectives in Indian History: From the Origins to AD 1857. Chennai: Notion Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/N3D88RXF/collection [3]: (Gupta 1989, 23-24) Gupta, Parmanand. 1989. Geography from Ancient Indian Coins and Seals. New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/5Z4TFP7P/collection |
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The following quote is referring to Hindu temples in the port city of Mamallapuram. “The city is known for several structural temples, rock cut caves and monolithic shrines and huge panels and bas reliefs that are considered to be the greatest examples of Pallava art. This tradition of stone carving is still alive among artists scattered in the area […] This temple was built by Mamalla for the worship of Vishnu. His successor Narasimhavarman II added two shrines dedicated to Shiva.”
[1]
“Most Pallavas were Hindus, with the majority of the Pallava rulers belonging to the Brahmin branch, and worshipped Shiva and Vishnu as well as other Hindu deities. Kings claimed hereditary descent based on divine origin. Many Hindu devotees made pilgrimages to the capital of Kanchipuram. Most rulers practiced religious toleration towards practitioners of other sects and religions, such as Buddhism and Jainism.”
[2]
[1]: (Kamlesh 2010, 569) Kamelsh, Kapur. 2010. ‘The Pallava Dynasty’ In History of Ancient India: Portraits of a Nation. New Delhi: Sterling Publishers Pvt. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/UETBPIDE/collection [2]: (Bush Trevino 2012, 46) Bush Travino, Macella. 2012. ‘The Pallava Dynasty’ In Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Asia and Africa: An Encyclopedia. Vol.4 Edited by Carolyn M. Elliot. Los Angeles: Sage. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/4RPCX448/collection |
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“Senganan [Kochchenganan], the Chola king famed in legends for his devotion to Siva figures as the victor in battle of Por against the Chera Kanaikkal Irumporai. The Chera king was imprisoned and later released. Senganan Chola is said to have built 70 fine temples of Shiva.”
[1]
“During the Sangam Age, Buddhism and Jainism also flourished together, but were subordinate to the Brahmanical Vedic religion. The Tamils of the Sangam Age were aware of certain spiritual and philosophical truths, such as concepts of body and soul superiority of destiny, dying for a noble cause and so on.”
[2]
[1]: (Agnihotri 1988, 350) Agnihotri, V.K. 1988. Indian History. New Delhi: Allied Publishers Pvt. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/PNX9XBJQ/collection [2]: (Agnihotri 1988, 361) Agnihotri, V.K. 1988. Indian History. New Delhi: Allied Publishers Pvt. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/PNX9XBJQ/collection |
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"Ominously for Kaabu’s Mandinka overlords, when the Frenchman Gaspard Mollien travelled through Futa Toro in 1818 he was informed of a "sacred alliance" of Muslims in Futa Toro, Bundu, and the Fula almamate in Futa Jallon to defeat "pagans" and compel them to submit to Islam."
[1]
[1]: (Brooks 2007: 56) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/TT7FC2RX/collection. |
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"Ancestor veneration is at the core of Mossi religious behavior. The recent ancestors are notified, through sacrifices, of the important events in the lives of their descendants, and they are expected to aid in solving everyday problems. The ancestors also invoke their sanctions against antisocial behavior among their descendants. Once a year the Mossi people, in concert with the Moro Nabas, appeal to their individual and collective ancestors for good crops, large families, and for the preservation of the dynasty. Often associated with the ancestors as propitiatory agents are local deities called Tengkougas (sing. Tenkougre) or earth shrines, visibly manifested by clumps of trees, mountains, rocks, or rivers. [...] The earth itself, Tenga, is one of the principal deities of the Mossi. Tenga is considered the wife of a male deity called Winnam, Wind&, or Naba Zidiwind6. The true nature of Winnam is not clear. The Mossi say: “Winnam is the sun, and Winnam is God”; he is considered a sun god as well as a supreme deity. Winnam is venerated but he is not feared, because it is the dead ancestors who chastise evil-doers by afliction or death. When wicked people die they face the wrath of the ancestors in Keemsbtenga, or land of the ancestors."
[1]
[1]: (Skinner 1958: 1103-1104) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/FXVG26H7/collection. |
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Ancestor worship combined with the worship of a supreme deity identified as the most likely form of worship practiced at Great Zimbabwe, based on the current traditions of the Shona-speaking Karanga. Their faith is built on a belief in supernatural beings, including a supreme being, “Mwari,”and ancestor spirits, who can be ritually communicated with, offered gifts, and supplicated to request that Mwari bring on rain. “Much of what we understand about the belief system at Great Zimbabwe comes from today’s Shona-speaking Karanga culture which inhabits the Great Zimbabwe area…. The Karanga believe in a range of supernatural beings, the most important of which are their ancestor spirits. Ancestors serve as guardians of the living, helping their descendants where possible, deflecting witchcraft and fending off evil intentions. Only those who were elderly at death, produced children, and who had lived honorable lives became ancestor spirits…. Ancestors are honored by gifts of millet, beer, and rituals. An area at the back of a Karanga house is dedicated to the ancestors…. One of the most important rituals involves rainmaking and takes place at the beginning of the rainy season…. An important task of the ancestors is to communicate with Mwari, the supreme god in Karanga religion, who is crucial to the bringing of rain…. As is the case among the Karanga today, recognition and propitiation of ancestor spirits at Great Zimbabwe seem to have been a central part of the belief system. The chief’s ancestors were of crucial importance, as they were in a very influential position to bring rain, wealth, fertility, and balance to the people…. Karanga oral tradition suggests that the Mwari cult began at Great Zimbabwe; the cave may have been used as a vehicle through which Mwari spoke to the people of the land.”
[1]
[1]: (Steadman 2009, 263-266) Sharon R. Steadman, The Archaeology of Religion: Cultures and Their Beliefs in Worldwide Context (London: Routledge, 2009). Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/N4R4GHNJ/collection |
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Odinala (or Odinala-Igbo) is the name for Igbo cultural and religious practices in this region, and origins of the word Chukwu/God (as in Arochukwu). This word was not used in the works consulted, though.
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“What singles out the Sereer from their neighbours is that they only embraced Islam very recently in their history. Their religion is characterized by the cult of Pangol. Broadly speaking, Pangol are spirits or ancestors that mediate between humans and God, known among the Sereer as Roog. As first settlers, members of the same lineage were also linked by religion and performed rituals together to honour the same ancestor, founder, or spirit (Fangol).”
[1]
“In their heyday as royal capitals [Kahone (Saloum), Diakhao (Sine), and Lambaye (Baol)] these towns were not predominantly Muslim. Muslims at court would have lived, and built their mosque, in a peripheral neighbourhood, not on the central square.”
[2]
[1]: (Thiaw 2013,100) Thiaw, Ibrahima. 2013. ‘From the Senegal River to Siin: The Archaeology of Sereer Migrations in North-Western Senegambia. In Migration and Membership Regimes in Global and Historical Perspectives. Edited by Ulbe Bosma. Leiden: Brill. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/Q2ZFJKTJ/collection [2]: (Bigon and Ross 2020, 42) Bigon, Liora and Ross, Eric. 2020. Grid Planning in the Urban Design Practices of Senegal. London: Springer. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/MM67I638/collection |
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“What singles out the Sereer from their neighbours is that they only embraced Islam very recently in their history. Their religion is characterized by the cult of Pangol. Broadly speaking, Pangol are spirits or ancestros that mediate between humans and God, known among the Sereer as Roog. As first settlers, members of the same lineage were also linked by religion and performed rituals together to honour the same ancestor, founder, or spirit (Fangol).”
[1]
“In their heyday as royal capitals Kahone (Saloum), Diakhao (Sine), and Lambaye (Baol) these towns were not predominantly Muslim. Muslims at court would have lived, and built their mosque, in a peripheral neighbourhood, not on the central square.”
[2]
[1]: (Thiaw 2013,100) Thiaw, Ibrahima. 2013. ‘From the Senegal River to Siin: The Archaeology of Sereer Migrations in North-Western Senegambia. In Migration and Membership Regimes in Global and Historical Perspectives. Edited by Ulbe Bosma. Leiden: Brill. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/Q2ZFJKTJ/collection [2]: (Bigon and Ross 2020, 42) Bigon, Liora and Ross, Eric. 2020. Grid Planning in the Urban Design Practices of Senegal. London: Springer. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/MM67I638/collection |
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“From the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, Mande Muslim traders migrated to the Guinea-Sierra Leone hinterland seeking land and trade relations (Skinner 1978:34-35; cf. Triminghan and Fyfe 1960:36). They settled in villages along the trade routes of Sierra Leone, forming villages of their own where they combined cultivation with their trade. The Mande were accepted by the indigenes among whom they settled and with whom they intermarried (Triminghan and Fyfe 1960:36). [...] Another account of the infiltration of Islam into Sierra Leone recounts its expansion south from the Sudan through small groups of Fula and Mandingo traders in the eighteenth century (Fyle 1981:27; cf. Bah 1991:464). Upon arrival in any place, and during their temporary or permanent stay, the Fula and Mandingo opened schools to teach Arabic and the tenets of Islam (Alharazim 1939:14; cf. Parsons 1964:226; Bah 1991:464). Many of the people and their leaders rallied around these teachers, embraced the Muslim faith, and became the patrons of their teachers (1939:14). [...] In spite of this seemingly fruitful interaction between the Mandingo and the indigenes, these early Fula and Mandingo immigrants did not succeed in establishing Islam in Sierra Leone to any strong degree (1981:29).”
[1]
[1]: (Conteh 2009: 92-93) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/SU25S5BX/items/WNZ725MA/item-list |
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"Arab writers mention various ethnic groups for the northern Chad Basin, some of which had developed hierarchically structured societies with aspects of divine kingship. Such can be taken from the work of the antiquarian Yaqut, dating to 1229. Although writing at the beginning of the thirteenth century he made use of earlier accounts. His narration probably reflects the situation of the tenth century, when he states: Their houses are all reed huts as is also the palace of their king, whom they exalt and worship instead of Allah. They imagine that he does not eat any food . . . He has unlimited authority over his subjects and he enslaves from among them anyone he wants . . . Their religion is the worship of their kings, for they believe that they bring life and death, sickness and health. (Yaqut in Levtzion and Hopkins 1981: 171)"
[1]
"[T]he adoption of Islam by the Kanembu rulers ca. A.D. 1080s (Lavers, 1980) implies that the kinds of durable sculptures that were associated with the royal court art in Igbo-Ukwu and Ile-Ife during the same period (see below) are not likely to have existed."
[2]
[1]: (Gronenborn 2002: 103 [2]: (Ogundiran 2005: 144) |
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"Contexts that could shed light on the dynamics of social structure and hierarchies in the metropolis, such as the royal burial site of Oyo monarchs and the residences of the elite population, have not been investigated. The mapping of the palace structures has not been followed by systematic excavations (Soper, 1992); and questions of the economy, military system, and ideology of the empire have not been addressed archaeologically, although their general patterns are known from historical studies (e.g, Johnson, 1921; Law, 1977)."
[1]
Regarding this period, however, one of the historical studies mentioned in this quote also notes: "Of the earliestperiod of Oyo history, before the sixteenth century, very little is known."
[2]
Law does not then go on to provide specific information directly relevant to this variable.
[1]: (Ogundiran 2005: 151-152) [2]: (Law 1977: 33) |
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Temple of Dangbe is, at least today, described as a Vodun temple, but no specific references to this in the literature. “The principal shrine of Dangbe at this period, however, was located at the Hueda capital Savi, rather than in Ouidah; its relocation in Oudah being a consequence of the destruction of Savi in the Dahomian conquest of the 1720s. In Ouidah itself in recent times, it is in fact Hu rather than Dangbe who has been regarded as first in status among local vodun”.
[1]
“When local people speak of Ouidah’s special religious status, however, they are generally referring to something rather different: the organized cults of the vodun. […] Rather than thinking of vodun as a single religion worshipping a pantheon of many gods, it is better conceptualized as comprising a number of distinct and separate ‘churches’. What distinguishes Ouidah above all is the sheer number of vodun worshipped in the town. A European visitor in 1784–5 reported that the town contained more than 30 ‘public fetish temples’, but this was certainly an underestimate; a survey in 1937 counted a total of 104 vodun ‘temples’, and the quarters of the town that already existed in the eighteenth century – Tové, Ahouandjigo, Sogbadji, Docomè and Fonsaramè – accounted for the great majority of these, no fewer than 79. The total of vodun worshipped is greater since, although some vodun have more than one temple, several different vodun are normally worshipped within each temple.”
[2]
[1]: Law, Robin. Ouidah: The Social History of a West African Slaving “port” 1727-1892. Ohio State University Press, 2004: 22–23. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/NQ5VFMUD/collection [2]: Law, Robin. Ouidah: The Social History of a West African Slaving “port” 1727-1892. Ohio State University Press, 2004: 89. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/NQ5VFMUD/collection |
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“Although the peoples of the Slave Coast recognised a multiplicity of deities (called generically vodun), it is clear that the idea of a single supreme God, more or less analogous to the God of the Christians, was familiar to them. There is no clear contemporary evidence on this point for Allada, but with regard to Whydah the Dutchman Bosman noted in the 1690s that "It is certain that [they] have a faint idea of the True God, and ascribe to him the attributes of Almighty and Omnipresent; they believe he created the Universe, and therefore vastly prefer him before their Idol Gods" (Bosman 1705: 36a).”
[1]
2The king of Allada in 1660, for example, claimed that his own and his kingdom’s fortunes were bound up with the maintenance of the traditional religious practices: "if he gave them up he would die immediately, enemies would enter his gates, and there would be no forces to resist them” […] The implied suggestion of an immutable traditional religion is, however, highly misleading. There was in fact nothing very traditional about the indigenous religion of the area, since numerous local cults are recognised to have been in origin importations from other areas. An especially important but by no means exceptional example is the cult of Ifa, the god of divination, which was borrowed from the Yoruba to the east (Maupoil 1943)21. There is, indeed, some evidence for an explicit perception that the power of gods derived from the size of their human followings, so that the rise and decline of cults depended ultimately upon the voluntary allegiance of human worshippers. Karin Barber has discussed this attitude to gods among the Yoruba (Barber 1981), and it seems applicable also to the Slave Coast. In Whydah in the 1690s a local man (probably to be identified with Captain Assou) told the Dutchman Bosman that "we make and break our Gods daily, and consequentially are the Masters and Inventers of what we Sacrifice to" (Bosman 1705: 368).”
[2]
Christian missionaries, mostly Portuguese, were present: “Most explicitly, the king of Allada explained to the Spanish missionaries in 1660 that he had invited them "so that in his kingdom there should be no thunder, lightning, thunderbolts, or wars", because "he had been told that the priests of the whites had power against all these things"; and he desired baptism for himself because "[his] Christian interpreter had told him that holy water was good against demons". Apart from baptism, the king seems to have been especially interested in learning the Christian prayers; and it seems a reasonable inference that he valued these also for their magical (or instrumental) power. He seems further to have wished to monopolize the magical powers of the new cult for himself, and refused the Capuchins’ request to be allowed to preach direct to the people on the grounds that "it was not right that anyone in his kingdom should know the prayers before him, nor that anyone should be baptised”.”
[3]
“The king of Allada in 1660, for example, claimed that he could not give up the pagan cults "without the consent and approval of all the captains and fidalgoes [nobles] of his kingdom"; and though the Capuchins regarded this as an excuse or evasion (and it may well be that the king had in any case no intention or desire to abandon these cults), this statement accurately expressed the reality that the king’s authority was not absolute but circumscribed in practice by the countervailing power of the chiefs.”
[4]
“The difficulty about Christianizing the royal ancestor cult (or appropriating Christianity for adaptation as an ancestor cult) on the Slave Coast lay primarily, it may be suggested, in the local practice of offering human sacrifices to deceased kings, which was clearly incompatible with Christianity. But such human sacrifices were not practised on an especially large scale in Allada or Whydah, being offered only at actual royal funerals (and then not in large numbers).”
[5]
[1]: Law, Robin. “Religion, Trade and Politics on the ‘Slave Coast’: Roman Catholic Missions in Allada and Whydah in the Seventeenth Century.” Journal of Religion in Africa, vol. 21, no. 1, 1991, pp. 42–77: 65. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/C4ZBEWMH/collection [2]: Law, Robin. “Religion, Trade and Politics on the ‘Slave Coast’: Roman Catholic Missions in Allada and Whydah in the Seventeenth Century.” Journal of Religion in Africa, vol. 21, no. 1, 1991, pp. 42–77: 60–61. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/C4ZBEWMH/collection [3]: Law, Robin. “Religion, Trade and Politics on the ‘Slave Coast’: Roman Catholic Missions in Allada and Whydah in the Seventeenth Century.” Journal of Religion in Africa, vol. 21, no. 1, 1991, pp. 42–77: 64. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/C4ZBEWMH/collection [4]: Law, Robin. “Religion, Trade and Politics on the ‘Slave Coast’: Roman Catholic Missions in Allada and Whydah in the Seventeenth Century.” Journal of Religion in Africa, vol. 21, no. 1, 1991, pp. 42–77: 70. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/C4ZBEWMH/collection [5]: Law, Robin. “Religion, Trade and Politics on the ‘Slave Coast’: Roman Catholic Missions in Allada and Whydah in the Seventeenth Century.” Journal of Religion in Africa, vol. 21, no. 1, 1991, pp. 42–77: 72. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/C4ZBEWMH/collection |
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“At Annual Customs, kings assembled the entire population, offered sacrifices, conducted Vodun ceremonies, gave gifts, reviewed the previous year, and planned future activities.”
[1]
[1]: Shillington, Kevin, ed. Encyclopedia of African History. 1st Ed., Fitzroy Dearborn, 2005; 333. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/AWA9ZT5B/collection |
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"The false huts that were set atop the burials may have served as altars for petitioning the village ancestors, as documented amongst Gourounsi villages in the early twentieth century (Tauxier 1912). The burials of individuals from other mounds may have been restricted to their respective residential areas, and lacked false huts. The mortuary program was likely a materialization of Mound 4’s authority over a village community, and consequently over the village earth and ancestral shrines./"Widespread among modern Voltaic societies is the belief that the well-being of a community is assured by the special relationship between a village founder and the local spirits. The demographic growth of a village represents success in this pact, as maintained by a series of sacrificial petitions, although the political role of the descendents of a village’s founder varies according to society."
[1]
[1]: (Dueppen 2012: 28) |
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"At Kirikongo, increasing centralization is associated with a gradual co-option of iron metallurgy. Iron metallurgy as an avenue to inequality would provide an alternative spiritual power, derived from profound excavation and transformation in the realm of divinities (the earth). It is this power that today makes smiths held in high esteem and occasionally feared. The spiritual power of the Bwa smith is separate from the political process, but at Kirikongo the emergence of smith-elites at Mound 4 marks the possible combination of multiple spiritually derived sources of power, from those based upon their role as village founder (over nature and ancestry), to a new cult (iron) that may have been manipulated owing to its mysterious nature."
[1]
[1]: (Dueppen 2012: 30) |
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"The political power formerly residing at Mound 4 during Red I and Early Red II was largely disseminated within the community; however, their role as village founders who maintain the community’s relations with the local and ancestral divinities, as well as their symbolic position as the external face of the village community, remained unchanged and was simply detached from the iron cult. The first nondomestic structures identified at Kirikongo are found from Red II and Red III on the peak of Mound 4. This multistory complex has formal similarities to a Bwa ancestor house, which today when associated with the founding house is a sacrificial shrine to the village ancestors, the meeting place for the village council, and maintained by the village headman. Given the presence of these ritual structures, cross-cutting communal activities, and a communally focused built environment, it is possible that an institution similar to the village Do was in existence."
[1]
[1]: (Dueppen 2012: 31) |
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"Accounts from the late-fifteenth to early-nineteenth centuries generally agree that the strictest practitioners of Islam among the Wolof were the clergy or marabouts (serin in Wolof), and that most of the nobility and commoners were lax in, if not indifferent to, Islamic practices. [...] Once the jihads began, this division was accentuated, and it did not end in Jolof until the reign of Albuuri Njay[1875-1890], who showed that a traditional ruler could be a practicing Muslim. By the end of his reign, Islam was no longer a religion practiced by a minority of the population, but one in which the majority participated."
[1]
[1]: (Charles 1977: 18-22) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/SU25S5BX/items/NRGZDV3Z/collection |
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"Accounts from the late-fifteenth to early-nineteenth centuries generally agree that the strictest practitioners of Islam among the Wolof were the clergy or marabouts (serin in Wolof), and that most of the nobility and commoners were lax in, if not indifferent to, Islamic practices."
[1]
[1]: (Charles 1977: 18-19) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/SU25S5BX/items/NRGZDV3Z/collection |
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“Regarding the traditional religion of the Wolofs, we have very little documentation that would have allowed us to identify an organized institution or precise religious theology. We have only some descriptions that shed light on the practices arising from an indigenous ritual. Chambonneau, in 1675, remarks that each family had a totem representing an animal: ‘…about their surnames, amongst which are the names of several beasts and birds which bear the same name as themselves. They believe that there is such great affinity and connection between them, that they would not eat them or kill them for anything in the world, or even touch them… for example the man or woman who has his surname Guiop, will never dare eat or touch a peacock, because it is also called Guiop, he who is called Boy, a civet cat, he who is Fal, a snake and so of other names.’”
[1]
“In other words, we are dealing here essentially with an Islam of the royal court. However, insecurity, a consequence of the slave trade, very soon provided another image for the Islam of the royal court; it transformed into a belligerent Islam. During 1673 and 1677 this transformed Islam became the origin of the most extraordinary holy war that Waalo and the nations of northern Senegambia would experience.”
[2]
[1]: (Barry 2012, 35-36) Barry, Boubacar. 2012. The Kingdom of Waalo: Senegal Before the Conquest. New York: Diasporic Africa Press. Seshat URL:https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/9KV5MEKN/collection [2]: (Barry 2012, 39) Barry, Boubacar. 2012. The Kingdom of Waalo: Senegal Before the Conquest. New York: Diasporic Africa Press. Seshat URL:https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/9KV5MEKN/collection |
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“Although exposed to Islamic influences through Muslim clerics, traders and court advisers, the Djolof Empire, unlike Tekrur resisted Islamization and most leaders and people remained firmly attached to their traditional religious practices.
[1]
[1]: (Gellar, 2020) Gellar, Sheldon. 2020. Senegal: An African Nation Between Islam and the West. Second Edition. London: Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/ZCQVA3UX/collection |
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“There are whole villages inhabited by priests of Mahomet and their relations and by these alone. These priests in their own tongue are called serims, by Marabouts by the French.”
[1]
“Mahometanism is making daily progress, and will soon become the only religion of the country of Cayor. The court alone remains attached to a Paganism more favourable to the passions.”
[2]
[1]: (The Philanthropist no. II 1811, 209) 1811. ‘Manners and Customs of the People of Cayor, Sin and Sallum’ In The Philanthropist no. II. London: Longman and Company. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/C5553ITD/collection [2]: (Mollien 1820, 61) Mollien, Gaspard Theodore. 1820, Travels in the Interior of Africa to the Sources of the Senegal and Gambia Performed by Command of the French Government in 1818. Edited by T.E. Bowdich. London: Henry Colburn and Company. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/W3PWMURF/collection |
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" Although Ilé-Ifè. was not by any means the sole inventor of the òrìsà pantheon, it played a dominant role in standardizing and promoting a version of it. It was the place where the ancestral deities that had evolved out of Ifè’s own local political experience were integrated into the existing pan-regional deities. The city’s intellectuals also gave most of those existing pan-regional deities their own flavor by domesticating them as local deities. One of those methods of domestication was the insistence that those deities had their origins in Ilé-Ifè. The Ifè intellectuals worked with the same cosmogony that was widely known to their neighbors, but they filled it with Ifè-centric dramatis personae. As a result, a new ritual field that was an amalgamation of the regional and local elements was created, and the intellectuals of the city promoted it as a universal experience. In other words, Ilé-Ifè was the place of coalescence where “the ways of the òrìsà” from different parts of the Yorùbá region, before and during the Classical period, were integrated, repackaged, and standardized."
[1]
[1]: (Ogundiran 2020: 129-130) |
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Islam and to a much lesser extent Christianity were also present, but Yoruba religions were built into the mechanisms of the Oyo Empire, eg the alaafin as divinely appointed ruler; the Ogboni. The rise of Islam contributed to the collapse of the Oyo Empire, and it could be argued that as some oba converted in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Islam should also be coded here. “A combination of internal and external factors was responsible for the decline of Oyo after the death of King Abiodun in 1789. One notable external factor was the increasing power of its provincial and vassal states, which began to break away because the central government could not effectively administer the expanding empire. Provincial chiefs and warriors who were required to respect the order of the alaafin began to carve out part of the empire for themselves. The most consequential of these secessionist projects was that of Ilorin under Are Ona Kakanfo Afonja, the highest-ranked of the military chiefs. After carving Ilorin for himself, Afonja invited the Hausa-Fulani jihadist from the north to help populate his new territory. With time the Muslim jihadist, inspired by the teachings of Usman dan Fodio, a respected Islamic scholar based in Sokoto, the capital of the Islamic caliphate that covered much of present-day northern Nigeria, took over the town from him and launched an onslaught on the Oyo capital. The final end to a once glorious Yoruba empire came around 1835 in the Eleduwe War, when the capital of Oyo fell to the jihadist.”
[1]
“There can be no doubt that since the reign of Aole towards the end of the eighteenth century, Islamic influence had been penetrating into Yorubaland from the north. For example, in Old Oyo, the capital of the Old Oyo Empire, the trader, one Alajaeta, who appealed to Aole for protection when his goods were stolen was a Muslim. For, a copy of the Koran was one of the things reported stolen.”
[2]
“Islam had already been known to the Yoruba of Southern Nigeria even before the Jihad of Uaman dan Fodio. […] Islam reached Yorubaland by way of the desert to the north of the country or, to be more precise, by way of Hausaland. There have been Muslims south of the Sahara in Bornu and Hausaland from the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Islam originally entered Yorubaland, like in the North, through the efforts of Muslim traders.”
[3]
“Certainly, by the end of the imperial period there was a substantial community of Muslims in the Oyo capital, though the great majority of the population of the city remained pagan. […] There is no evidence that any Alafin of Oyo Ile ever adopted Islam, but a measure of official recognition was extended to the new cult. The Alafin appointed (or, rather, confirmed the selection of) the Imam, and the Imam in turn offered prayers for the Alafin. Islam, in fact, functioned at first very much like the indigenous pagan cults of Oyo.”
[4]
[1]: Aderinto, Saheed. African Kingdoms: An Encyclopedia of Empires and Civilizations. ABC-CLIO, 2017: 246-247. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/EB5TWDG7/note/U7W4UF33/collection [2]: Atanda, J. A. ‘The Fall of the Old Ọyọ Empire: A Re-Consideration of its Cause’. Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria vol.5, no.4 (June 1971): 488–489. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/NR9MAEAE/collection [3]: Adelowo, E. D. ‘Islam in Oyo and its Districts in the Nineteenth Century’. Thesis, University of Ibadan, 1978, 35–36. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/UHKKZNRA/collection. [4]: Law, R. (1977). The Oyo Empire c. 1600 – c. 1836: A West African Imperialism in the Era of the Atlantic Slave Trade. Oxford University Press: 76. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/SB32ZPCF/collection |
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“The acolyte has in the meantime entered the sleeping quarters (Ungbo Kojuado- No. 2), awakened the Ata and, abasing himself with head touching the ground, has warned him that the sun is soon to rise; water, in a pot consecrated to its use, has been brought for his ablutions and a cloth wrapper, his cap and sandals have been laid ready for him. Leaving him to complete his toilet, the acolyte takes a pot of the king’s beer and some kola nuts across to the Manejo and tells the Ogbe that the Ata has arisen in good health; they now wait for him to emerge, when he is greeted by the Ogbe and the two of them go into the Manejo. Within are the sacred sceptre, the nine staves (Okute), the kola nuts and the beer; some of the latter is poured off into a small libation bowl, and this the Ata spills on the ground in front of the Okute, and, breaking several of the kolas, scatters the fragments before them also. Then, taking the sceptre in his hand, he strikes the earth with it nine times, declaiming on each occasion the name of an ancestor, community with whom is thereby established. The ancestors having thus been symbolically fed the Ata concludes with a supplication which may be freely translated as follows: "The sun has arisen and I come again as is our custom to greet you and to bid you good health; if, 0 ancestors, I am doing that which was done aforetime and if I am your lawful successor, do you then accept my offering and give heed to my prayer. Give health to my people, temper the seasons to our need that the earth may bring forth crops in abundance, may our women be fruitful, keep evil and misfortune from us."”
[1]
“The Egu Festival. The most important of the annual festivals is naturally that in commemoration of the ancestors; it is celebrated at the commencement of the yam harvest.”
[2]
[1]: Clifford, Miles, and Richmond Palmer. “A Nigerian Chiefdom.” The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 66, 1936, pp. 393–435: 417-418. zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/TF7MM698/collection [2]: Clifford, Miles, and Richmond Palmer. “A Nigerian Chiefdom.” The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 66, 1936, pp. 393–435: 431. zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/TF7MM698/collection |
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