Bayajidda

Bayajidda (Hausa: unicode|Bàyā̀jiddà, also known as Abuyazidu) is a character from the mythology of the Hausa people of northern Nigeria and the central figure of the Bayajidda Legend. The various versions of the legend differ on minor points, but generally agree that he originated in Baghdad, traveled across the Sahara, and arrived in the Kanem-Bornu Empire, where he married a local princess. Tensions with her father, the king, forced him to flee; leaving his wife in Hadejia, he made his way to Gaya, where he had the local blacksmiths forge him a knife. With this knife, Bayajidda proceeded to the final point on his journey, the city of Daura, where he slew a serpent that had been terrorizing the townspeople. In gratitude for this deed Magajiya Daurama, the local queen, married him

He had one child, Bawo, with Daurama, and Bawo's own children are said to have went on to found the seven Hausa states. While some Hausa maintain that Bayajidda was real, others hold the view that he did not actually exist, but is instead a personification of a group of people from West African history.

Legend

Trip across Africa and stay in Bornu

According to the legend, Bayajidda was a prince from Baghdad (the capital of Iraq) and son of King Abdullahi, but he was exiled from the city after Queen Zidam,cite web| url = http://dierklange.com/pdf/fulltexts/hausa/08_Sources-Bayajidda-legend.pdf| title = Oral version of the Bayajidda legend| accessdate = 2006-12-20| last = Abdurrahman| first = Alasan|coauthors=transcribed by Dierk Lange|work = Ancient Kingdoms of West Africa| publisher = |format=PDF] also known as Zigawa, took over the city.cite book |last= Yahaya |first= Ibrahim Yaro|title= al-Ma'thurat al Sha'biyyah|url= http://polyglot.lss.wisc.edu/all/bayajida.htm|accessdate= 2006-12-21|year= 1988|pages= 1-24|chapter= Some Parallels in Unofficial Islamic Beliefs in Near Eastern and Hausa Folk Traditions] Once he left Baghdad, he traveled across Africa with a group of about 300 and arrived in Bornu.

Once in Bornu, tales differ as to what caused tension with the local king. According to one story, Bayajidda realized his forces were stronger than those of the king; because of this, he planned to overthrow him. However, the king heard of the plot and, after consulting with his advisors, gave Bayajidda his daughter, Magaram (also known as Magira), in marriage. Later, when the king attacked and took over several towns, he tricked his new son-in-law into leaving his own men to guard the towns, thereby decreasing the amount of men Bayajidda had at his disposal. Bayajidda realized that he was being tricked when he had only his wife and one slave left; during the night, they fled to Garun Gabas, now known as Hadejia. While there, Magaram gave birth to Bayajidda's first child, Biram (also known as Gabas-ta-Biram or Biran).

However, according to another version of the story, Bayajidda was welcomed into Bornu, married Magaram and became popular among the people. Because of this, the king envied him and plotted against him; upon being informed of this by his wife, he fled Kanem-Bornu with her.

Arrival in Daura and slaying of the serpent

Bayajidda left his wife and child in Hadejia and continued on to Gaya (a city in modern Niger), where he had the local blacksmiths make him a knife.cite web| url = http://www.uiowa.edu/~africart/toc/people/Hausa.html | title = Hausa| accessdate = 2006-12-20| publisher = University of Iowa] He then came to the town of Daura (located in modern day Katsina State), where he entered a house and asked an old woman for water. She informed him that a serpent named Sarki ("Sarkin" is the Hausa word for emir) guarded the well and that the people were only allowed to draw water once a week. Bayajidda set out for the well and beheaded the serpent with the knife the blacksmiths had made for him, after which he drank the water, put the head in a bag, and returned to the old woman's house. (The well where this is said to have happened has since become a tourist attraction.)cite web |url= http://www.ngex.com/nigeria/places/states/katsina.htm |title= Katsina State |accessdate=2007-01-20 |work=ngex.com|publisher= NGEX, LLC]

The next day, the people of Daura gathered at the well, wondering who had killed the snake; Magajiya Daurama, the local queen, offered sovereignty over half the town to whoever could prove that they killed the snake. Several men brought snake heads forth, but the heads did not match the body. The old woman, owner of the house Bayajidda was staying in, informed the queen that her guest had slain it, after which Daurama summoned Bayajidda. Having presented the snake's head, proving to her that he was the one who had slain Sarki, he turned down the offer of half the town, instead requesting her hand in marriage; she married him out of gratitude for slaying the serpent.

Relationship with Daurama

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base_caption = Nigeria locator map
float = Locator Dot.svg
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float_caption = Daura
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infobox_caption=Map of Nigeria's main linguistic groups, as of 1979 (Hausa and Fulani are in yellow).
Daura is emphasized by a red dot.Because it was against the custom of the people of Daura for their queens to marry, Daurama made a compromise with Bayajidda and said she would only have sexual intercourse with him once; because of this, she gave him a concubine named Bagwariya. (However, an alternate version of the story claims that Daurama gave him Bagwariya because she wanted to break her "queenly vow to remain a virgin," but had to undergo rituals to do so.)cite web |url= http://www.vad-ev.de/2004/download/01tagung/020papers2004/SpecialLectures/vad2004_Lange.pdf |title= West Africa and the Classical World - Neglected Contents|accessdate= 2007-01-25|last= Lange|first= Dierk|date= 2004-06-05|work= Afrika im Kontext|publisher= Conference of the Africa Studies Organization in Germany|pages= 20|format=PDF]

Bagwariya had a son by Bayajidda and, with his permission, she named him "Karap da Gari," which means "he snatched the town" in the Hausa language. This worried Daurama, and when she had a son of her own (also fathered by Bayajidda), she named him "Bawo", which means "give it back."

Descendants

Throughout his life, Bayajidda is said to have fathered two children with three different women.cite book |last= Bivins |first= Mary Wren|title= African Languages and Cultures, Vol. 10, No. 1|url= http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0954-416X(1997)10%3A1%3C1%3ADAGITC%3E2.0.CO%3B2-D|accessdate=2006-12-21|year=1997| publisher=Taylor & Francis, Ltd|chapter= Daura and Gender in the Creation of a Hausa National Epic ] Bawo fathered six of his own sons, whose names were Daura, Gobir, Kano, Katsina, Rano, and Zaria (also known as Zazzau).cite web| url = http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/features/travels/2004/sept/23/travels-september-23-001.htm | title = Zaria: Men’s world previously ruled by women| accessdate = 2006-12-21|last = Archibong|first = Maurice| date = 2004-09-23| publisher = "Daily Sun"] Together with Biram, son of Magaram, these seven went on to rule the seven "legitimate" Hausa states, the Hausa Bakwai.cite book |last= Johnston|first= H. A. S.|title= The Fulani Empire of Sokoto |url= http://www.amanaonline.com/Sokoto/sokoto_1.htm|accessdate= 2006-12-20|year= 1967|publisher= Oxford University Press |chapter= Hausaland and the Hausas] (Some versions of the tale leave Bawo and Magaram out entirely, with Biram, Daura, Gobir, Kano, Katsina, Rano, and Zaria being the sons of Bayajidda and Daurama.) Karap da Gari's descendants, meanwhile, founded the seven "illegitimate" Hausa states, the Banza Bakwai.

Analysis of the story's meaning

There a variety of views on the Bayajidda story, with differing opinions on the meaning and historicity of the tale. While some Hausa maintain that their legendary forefather existed, and contemporary royals trace their lineage to and draw their authority from him (see Kano Chronicle), others disagree with this literal interpretation and claim that Bayajidda never actually existed.cite web| url = http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=1134| title = 1914 and Nigeria’s Existential Crisis: A Historical Perspective| accessdate = 2006-12-23| last = Ochonu| first = Moses Ebe| date = 2004-05-29| publisher = | pages = ]

One such view is that the story of the marriage of Bayajidda and Daurama symbolizes the merger of Arab and Berber tribes in North and West Africa.cite web| url = http://www.harmatan.co.uk/news/articles.php| title = The Hausa Tanners of Northern Nigeria| accessdate = 2006-12-20| last= Lamb | first = Malcolm J | publisher = Harmatan Leathers, Ltd.] W. K. R. Hallam, meanwhile, argues that Bayajidda represents a "folk personification" of the supporters of Abu Yazid, (a Kharijite Berber warrior), who fled southwards from North Africa after Yazid's defeat by and death at the hands of the Fatimids.cite book |last= Hallam|first= W. K. R.|editor= |title= Journal of African History VII.1|url= |accessdate= 2005-02-19|year= 1966|pages=47-60|publisher= |chapter= The Bayajidda legend in Hausa folklore]

Dierk Lange, a German professor, contends that the story parallels the biblical story of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar. He compares Abraham to Bayajidda (while also noting the similarity between Biram and Abraham's names), Sarah to Magaram, and Hagar to Bagwariya, and says that the Israelites are cognate to the Hausa Bakwai, while Arabs correlate with the Banza Bakwai.

In his 1989 book "An Imperial Twilight", Gawain Bell suggests that the marriage of Bayajidda and Daurama signals a "change from a matriarchal to a patriarchal system."cite book |last=Bell |first=Gawain |title= An Imperial Twilight|url= http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN1870915062&id=CrAgAAAAMAAJ&q=abuyazidu&dq=abuyazidu&pgis=1 |accessdate= 2007-03-15|year= 1989|publisher= Lester Crook Academic Publishing|isbn= 1870915062|oclc= |doi= |id= |pages= 290|chapter=|quote= ] (Prior to the arrival of Bayajidda, the Daura monarchy had been exclusively female.)

Elizabeth Isichei, in her work "A History of African Societies to 1870", suggests that Bayajidda's stay in Borno prior to arriving in Hausaland is "perhaps a folk memory of origins on the Borno borderland, or a reflection of Borno political and cultural dominance." [cite book |title= A History of African Societies to 1870|last=Isichei |first=Elizabeth |year=1997 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=233 |isbn=0521455995 |url= http://books.google.com/books?pg=PA233&lpg=PA233&source=web&sig=B-WHTczRAIvifGTdNCXtTBDlIO4&id=LgnhYDozENgC&ots=sFYM5i0daf ]

Notes and references

External links

*cite web| url = http://xavier.xula.edu/jrotondo/Kingdoms/GlossEntries/Bayajidda.htm| title = Bayajidda| accessdate = 2006-12-20|last = Rotondo-McCord| first = Jonathan| publisher = Xavier University of Louisiana (Includes audio file of pronunciation of Bayajidda.)
* [http://cache.eb.com/eb/image?id=5047&rendTypeId=4 Map showing Bornu and the Hausa Bakwai]
*Hausa language version of the Bayajidda tale: [http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/humnet/aflang/hausarbaka/Video_Files/M501_supp_Bayajidda_I.pdf Part I] & [http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/humnet/aflang/hausarbaka/Video_Files/M501_supp_Bayajidda_II.pdf Part II]