Mbidi Kiluwe
Luba · deity · mythic · Recorded classification
The black prince-hunter from the east who brings refined, sacred kingship (bulopwe) to the Luba — 'Mbidi the hunter,' the celestial/lunar master of the rain, foil to the red rainbow-serpent Nkongolo. Husband of Nkongolo's sisters Bulanda and Mabela and father of Kalala Ilunga; he returns alone to the east. Authored as a deity (a celestial/heroic culture-bringer of the charter). era mythic. (Recorded in the historical king-lists as Ilunga Mbili.)
Children
Domains
- sacred kingship
- the hunt
- rain and the moon
Powers
- Confers sacred kingship (bulopwe) by descent
- Institutes the courtesies and eating-taboos of kingship
- Hunts as the consummate aristocratic hunter
Epithets
- Mbidi Kiluwe (Mbidi the Hunter)'Mbidi the hunter' — the aristocratic hunter-prince from the east.Luc de Heusch, The Drunken King, or The Origin of the State (1982) (secondary)
- the Black PrinceThe handsome black-skinned prince of the refined order, figured by the blue/'black' bead.Mary Nooter Roberts & Allen F. Roberts, Memory: Luba Art and the Making of History (1996) (secondary)
Relations
- spouse: BulandaHusband of Bulanda (Nkongolo's sister), mother of Kalala Ilunga.Luc de Heusch, The Drunken King, or The Origin of the State (1982) (secondary)
- spouse: MabelaHusband of Mabela (Nkongolo's sister); by her he fathered a second son (Kisula in de Heusch's recension).Luc de Heusch, The Drunken King, or The Origin of the State (1982) (secondary)
- father of: Kalala IlungaFather of Kalala Ilunga (by Bulanda), the founder-king of the Luba empire.Luc de Heusch, The Drunken King (1982); Reefe, The Rainbow and the Kings (1981) (secondary)
Sources
- existence: Luc de Heusch, The Drunken King, or The Origin of the State (Indiana Univ. Press, 1982; Fr. Le roi ivre, 1972) (secondary); Thomas Q. Reefe, The Rainbow and the Kings: A History of the Luba Empire to 1891 (1981) (secondary); Harold Womersley, Legends and History of the Luba (1984) (secondary)