Ilankaka

Ilankaka is the luminous sun-woman of the Nsong'a Lianja cycle, often glossed as 'the sun-maiden'. Daughter of the wealthy chief Esombyankaka, she is found shining in the snare that Lonkundo had set after dreaming he would catch the sun. Rather than accept the bride-wealth her father is able to pay, Lonkundo claims her as his wife, and she becomes the mother of Itonde, the hero who wins the wish-granting bell. Through her solar radiance she transmits to her line the brightness later seen again in her great-granddaughter Nsongo, who is said to shine like the sun.

Children

• Itonde

Domains

• solar radiance

Powers

• to shine with the brightness of the sun

Epithets

• Ilankaka

Relations

• spouse: Lonkundo

Sources

• Scheub, H. (2000). A Dictionary of African Mythology: The Mythmaker as Storyteller. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Knappert, J. (1971). Myths and Legends of the Congo. London: Heinemann (African Writers Series 83).