Mundu, the first man

Mundu, whose name is simply the Kikamba word for 'man', is the first human being of the Akamba creation story. Mulungu fashioned him and his wife in the sky, where, like Mulungu himself, they were spirits, and then lowered them to earth with their cattle and a stool for the man. They alighted on a rock on the hill of Nzaui in present-day Makueni, and the Akamba say that the footprints of Mundu, Kiveti and their animals can still be seen there. After Mulungu sent a great rain a second couple came out of an anthill; the heavenly pair had only sons and the anthill pair only daughters, so the sons of Mundu took the daughters in marriage, and from these unions the people multiplied.

Domains

• human ancestry

Relations

• spouse: Kiveti, the first womanMundu and Kiveti are the primordial married pair from whom, with the couple who emerged from the anthill, the Akamba reckon their descent.Gerhard Lindblom, The Akamba in British East Africa, 2nd ed. (Uppsala: Appelbergs, 1920), on the first man and his wife at Nzaui. (secondary); John S. Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy (London: Heinemann, 1969). (secondary)

Sources

• Mundu is the first man of the Akamba creation myth, fashioned by Mulungu and set with his wife Kiveti upon the rock of Nzaui, where their footprints and those of their cattle are pointed out.: Gerhard Lindblom, The Akamba in British East Africa: An Ethnological Monograph, 2nd enlarged ed. (Uppsala: Appelbergs, 1920; 1st ed. 1916). (secondary); John S. Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy (London: Heinemann, 1969). (secondary)