Thohoyandou
Thohoyandou, 'Head of the Elephant', is the greatest of the Singo kings and the towering figure of Venda dynastic memory, a son of Dyambeu who reigned from the stone capital of Dzata. Under him the kingdom reached its widest bounds, stretching from the Vhembe in the north to the Crocodile river in the south, and Delagoa Bay records of the 1720s attest the reach of his power. Tradition surrounds his end with mystery: in a bitter succession quarrel the god Mwali is said to have withdrawn from the royal house, after which Thohoyandou was defeated in war and vanished utterly, in the best-known telling walking into the sacred waters of Lake Fundudzi. He left no grave and no certain death, and his disappearance passed into legend; the modern capital of the Venda region bears his name.
Parentage
Domains
- kingship
- sovereignty
- war
Powers
- expand the kingdom to its greatest extent
- vanish without trace, leaving no grave
Epithets
- Thoho ya Ṋdou — Head of the ElephantN. J. van Warmelo (ed.), Contributions towards Venda History (1932). (primary)
Relations
Sources
- Thohoyandou ('Head of the Elephant'), son of Dyambeu, was the greatest Singo king, ruling from Dzata and extending the kingdom from the Limpopo to the Crocodile river.: N. J. van Warmelo (ed.), Contributions towards Venda History, Religion and Tribal Ritual (1932). (primary); H. A. Stayt, The BaVenda (1931). (primary)
- Tradition holds that after Mwali withdrew his favour in a succession conflict Thohoyandou was defeated and vanished, in some tellings into Lake Fundudzi, leaving no grave.: N. J. van Warmelo (ed.), Contributions towards Venda History (1932). (primary)