Nkongolo Mwamba

The autochthonous 'red' tyrant-king of the Luba genesis epic and the first kingship — Nkongolo, 'the rainbow' (the red-skinned rainbow-python, master of the dry season), 'Muntu wa Malwa.' Brother of Bulanda and Mabela; maternal uncle and enemy of Kalala Ilunga, by whom he is defeated, beheaded and castrated. Authored as a deity in the cosmic register the charter gives him (a chthonic rainbow-serpent genius), not as a mere mortal. era mythic.

Domains

• kingship
• the rainbow
• drought and the dry season
• violence and bloodshed

Powers

• Embodies the red rainbow-serpent and rules the dry season
• Rules as a drunken, incestuous tyrant
• Diverts rivers to raise fortified islands

Epithets

• Muntu wa Malwa
• Nkongolo (the Rainbow)

Relations

• sibling: Bulanda
• sibling: Mabela
• enemy: Kalala Ilunga

Sources

• Luc de Heusch, The Drunken King, or The Origin of the State (Indiana Univ. Press, 1982; Fr. Le roi ivre, 1972)
• Thomas Q. Reefe, The Rainbow and the Kings: A History of the Luba Empire to 1891 (Univ. of California Press, 1981)
• Harold Womersley, Legends and History of the Luba (UCLA African Studies Center, 1984)