Imana
Imana AfricaLiterally, ‘almighty’. God of the Banyarwanda people of Ruanda, an area unvisited by Europeans before 1894. This densely populated kingdom retained intact till very recent times its ancient mythology. For the Banyarwanda ‘the invisible world is a fearful reality’. One part is called ijuru and exists beyond the rock which is the sky we see. Beneath the soil is the other part, known as ikuzimu. The three-storeyed universe of the Banyarwanda appears to be slowly degenerating, getting old, and wearing out: it would entirely collapse without the support of Imana, the author and sustainer of the universal order.
Imana ‘alone knows all things’. He is Hategekimana, ‘the only ruler’; Hashakimana, ‘the one who plans’; Habyarimana, ‘the sole giver of children’; Ndagijimana, ‘the protector of possessions’; and Bigirimana, ‘owner of all things’. Conceived as a powerful person, Imana ‘has very long arms’...
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