Lianja

Lianja is the supreme hero of the Mongo and gives his name to the national epic Nsong'a Lianja. Conceived after the murder of his father Itonde-Ilele by the rival Sau-Sau, he speaks already from the womb and emerges fully grown and armed from the shin of his mother Mbombe, together with his twin sister Nsongo. He avenges his father and then leads his people on a long migration through the forest, overcoming monsters and rivals and gathering to himself followers possessed of crafts such as fishing, weaving and brewing. Though a warrior, the epic frames his ultimate destiny, shared with Nsongo, as the bringing of peace and the binding together of the scattered peoples; his many regional name-forms, Lianza, Libanza and Jibanza, attest the wide diffusion of his story across the Congo basin.

Parentage

• parent: Itonde
• parent: Mbombe

Domains

• heroic leadership
• migration and conquest

Powers

• to be born fully grown and armed from his mother's leg
• to avenge the killing of his father
• to lead his people on their migration through the forest

Epithets

• Nsong'a LianjaBoelaert, E. (1949). Nsong'a Lianja: l'épopée nationale des Nkundo. Antwerp: De Sikkel (also Aequatoria 12). (secondary)

Relations

• twin sibling: NsongoLianja and Nsongo are born together from Mbombe; Nsongo, shining like the sun, accompanies him as sister and consort throughout the migration.Scheub, H. (2000). A Dictionary of African Mythology: The Mythmaker as Storyteller. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (secondary)

Sources

• Lianja is the great national hero of the Mongo, born armed from his mother Mbombe's leg to avenge his father Itonde and to lead his people on their migration, the central figure of the Nsong'a Lianja epic.: Scheub, H. (2000). A Dictionary of African Mythology: The Mythmaker as Storyteller. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (secondary); de Rop, A. (1964). Lianja, l'épopée des Mongo. Brussels: Académie Royale des Sciences d'Outre-Mer, Sciences morales et politiques, n.s. XXX-1. (secondary)