Unkulunkulu
Unkulunkulu AfricaLiterally, ‘chief’. The Zulu, once the most warlike nation in southern Africa, conceive of their sky god's omnipotence in political terms. He is uGuqabadele, ‘the irresistible’; uGobungqongqo, ‘he who bends down even majesties’; and uMabonga-kutuk-izizwe-zonke, ‘he who roars so that all nations are struck with terror’. Like their armies of old, the sky god tolerates no physical opposition.
Unkulunkulu—sometimes called uKqili, ‘the wise one’—is a self-originating deity. The Zulu describe him as uZivelele, ‘he who is of himself’. Having ‘come into being, he gave being to man’, whom he raised ‘out of beds of grass’. Unkulunkulu is a creator god whose ways are incomprehensible and mysterious. Man knows ‘nothing of his mode of life, nor of the principles of his government. His smiting is the only thing we know.’ For Unkulunkulu controls lightning as uDumakade, ‘he who thunders from far-off...
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