Kanyarwanda

Kanyarwanda (throne-name Gahima), son of Gihanga and his named successor, the personified eponym of Rwanda. Named explicitly in the batch prose of banyaruanda_gihanga ('succeeded by his son Kanyarwanda I Gahima, the eponym of Rwanda'). The eponymous group-ancestors Gatutsi, Gahutu and Gatwa attributed to him (and parallel to the Kazikamuntu account) are not authored here. Demigod as a divinely-descended founder-line king.

Parentage

• Gihanga

Children

• Gahutu
• Gatutsi
• Gatwa

Domains

• kingship and succession
• national eponym

Powers

• personify and name the kingdom of Rwanda

Relations

• father: Gihanga

Sources

• Alexis Kagame, Inganji Karinga.
• Jan Vansina, Antecedents to Modern Rwanda: The Nyiginya Kingdom (2004).
• Folklore in Rwanda; Jacques J. Maquet, The Premise of Inequality in Ruanda (1961).