River Mother of the Niger

Songhai · deity · Songhay/Zarma oral tradition; living holey cult · deity

Spirit-class figure (chief female Tooru) entered as a deity. The Niger is the Songhay 'isa'. Principal scholarship: Stoller (1989); Rouch (1960/1989).

Children

Domains

river water
motherhood fertility

Powers

to rule the waters of the Niger and the beings within them
mother and chief of the river-spirits (Tooru)
command the Zin (water-genies) of the river

Epithets

Harakoy Dikko

Relations

ancestor of: Thunder
ancestor of: Lightning
ancestor of: Master Smith of the Hausa

Sources

Paul Stoller, Fusion of the Worlds (1989)
Jean Rouch, La religion et la magie songhay (1960/1989)

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