Shemwindo

Shemwindo, whose name means 'father of Mwindo,' is the chief of the village of Tubondo in the state of Ihimbi. Coveting daughters, whom he could marry off for bride-wealth, he decreed that his wives bear only girls and ordered the killing of any son. When his preferred wife nonetheless bore the extraordinary Mwindo, Shemwindo sought repeatedly to destroy him, sealing the child in a drum and casting it into the river. His flight from the vengeful hero drives the epic through the underworld; at its close, defeated and humbled, he is reconciled with his son, who restores him and divides the chiefship.

Children

• Mwindo

Domains

• kingship

Powers

• rule the village of Tubondo

Relations

• child: MwindoFather of Mwindo, whom he tried to destroy.Biebuyck & Mateene, The Mwindo Epic from the Banyanga, 1969. (primary)
• sibling: IyanguraIyangura is his sister.Biebuyck & Mateene, The Mwindo Epic from the Banyanga, 1969. (primary)

Sources

• Shemwindo is the chief of Tubondo in Ihimbi and the father of Mwindo; forbidding his wives to bear sons, he rejects and pursues the newborn Mwindo, becoming the hero's chief antagonist until their reconciliation.: Biebuyck & Mateene, The Mwindo Epic from the Banyanga, 1969. (primary); Biebuyck, Hero and Chief, 1978. (secondary)