Sundiata: Alexander of the Bright Country

War and magic in medieval West Africa

The road to Timbuktu, in Mali. Source: Annabel Symington.

The Book:

Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali
By D. T. Niane
Translated By G. D. Pickett
Pearson
1965

The Talk:

There is no single definitive version or “text” of the Sundiata epic story. Various versions of the Sundiata story have been, and continue to be, told, sung and performed by various African griots or bards (like Djeliba in the film Kieta¹).

The story of Sundiata as told by Mamadou Kouyaté of Guinea, translated into French in 1960 by D. T. Niane, was translated into English by G. D. Pickett in 1965. Sundiata was a historical figure who ruled the empire of Mali from 1235-55. (FYI modern country names in Africa do not match up with ancient kingdoms.) The story is a coming-of-age tale, from Sundiata’s birth to a good king and a hunchback wife from the land of Do (“the damsel of Do”) to his unifying of the twelve kings of the “Bright Country” at the age of eighteen.

Sundiata’s childhood begins inauspiciously, as he cannot walk but crawls like an infant until the age of seven. When he sees his mother crying in humiliation because he cannot stand, he calls for a massive iron rod and uses it to stand up, now filled with superhuman strength. After this feat, he and his mother are banished from their kingdom. Sundiata grows up away from his homeland, maturing into a great hunter and warrior. But when he hears that his hometown has been destroyed by the evil sorcerer-king Soumaoro, he returns with an army of friends and admirers, defeating his enemy and rebuilding his town.

“The Untouchable King”

The main villain Soumaoro reminded me of the demon king Ravana in the Ramayana. He’s a kind of smorgasbord of evil. He abducts the daughters of his people. He steals the wife of his brother. He wears human skins for clothing.

He lives in Sosso, a city surrounded by three(!) walls. In the center of the city is his massive palace. In the center of his palace is a seven-story building. On the seventh story is a secret room.

The walls of the chamber were tapestried with human skins and there was one in the middle where the king sat; around an earthenware jar nine heads formed a circle.

These are the nine skulls of nine slain kings. There’s also a snake, three owls, and strangely-shaped weapons. But most importantly the room is filled with fetishes, objects with magical properties that give Soumaoro power. He is also impervious to iron because of a hereditary taboo on him.

Didn’t people say that Soumaoro could assume sixty-nine different shapes to escape his enemies? According to some, he could transform himself into a fly in the middle of the battle and come and torment his opponent; he could melt into the wind when his enemies encircled him too closely—and many other things.

For all these reasons, Soumaoro is known as “The Untouchable King.” In order to defeat him, Sundiata must become both a master of warfare and a master of magic.

Owl-to-owl communication

Throughout the story seers, soothsayers, sorcerers, and witches play a major role. No major decision is made without consulting several seers and getting the consensus view. Jinn never speak or appear in the story, but they are ever-present and must be won over with animal sacrifices.

Nearly every character in the story is a sorcerer of some kind. Most kings are some degree of sorcerer. Sundiata is one. His enemy Soumaoro is also. In one scene, the two have a long-distance conversation via owls, which is something sorcerers do. Each line of dialogue is a separate owl message:

“Know, then, that I am the wild yam of the rocks; nothing will make me leave Mali.”

“Know, also that I have in my camp seven master smiths who will shatter the rocks. Then, yam, I will eat you.”

“I am the poisonous mushroom that makes the fearless vomit.”

“As for me, I am the ravenous cock, the poison does not matter to me.”

“Behave yourself, little boy, or you will burn your foot, for I am the red-hot cinder.”

“But me, I am the rain that extinguishes the cinder; I am the boisterous torrent that will carry you off.”

The dialogue continues on from there.

Traditional indigenous religion sits in some kind of tension with Islam in the story. Kouyaté, a devout Muslim, says:

The fortified town of Sosso was the bulwark of fetishism against the word of Allah.

Sundiata, in contrast, eventually dresses “in robes such as are worn by a great Muslim king” and his lineage is traced back to a close disciple of Muhammad. Even so, Sundiata is a sorcerer too and performs divinations, consults seers, sacrifices to jinn, etc. The boundary lines are unclear to me, but it is nevertheless true that both Islam and these indigenous religious practices have continued together for centuries to the present day.

A game of wori

My favorite scene from the story happens during the exile of the young Sundiata and his mother. They wander from town to town, king to king, in search of safety. Mansa Konkon takes them in, but after a few months he summons Sundiata to his quarters and challenges him to a game of wori (sometimes called wari), a game in the mancala family.

“Sit down,” said the king. “It is a habit with me to invite my guests to play, so we are going to play, we are going to play at wori. But I make rather unusual conditions; if I win—and I shall win—I kill you.”

“And if it is I who win,” said Djata [Sundiata] without being put out.

“In that case I will give you all that you ask of me. But I would have you know that I always win.”

Inviting a guest to play a game is an act of hospitality, but here Konkon has perverted the moral principle of hospitality to strangers that runs throughout the book. In fitting style for an epic hero, Sundiata turns the tables on Konkon and escapes.

The Alexander of West Africa

One of the things I found most surprising in the story was the frequent references to Alexander the Great. In the opening Kouyaté frames the story this way:

By my mouth you will get to know the story of the ancestor of great Mali, the story of him who, by his exploits, surpassed even Alexander the Great; he who, from the East, shed his rays upon all the countries of the West.

When Sundiata is a young boy his appointed griot, Balla Fasséké, teaches him about “the history of kings” and Sundiata is particularly captivated by Alexander. When his family is exiled, he joins a caravan of traders and learns even more about him. Later soothsayers say he will be greater than Alexander, and on the eve of the climactic battle of the epic, spiritual men recount to him again the story of Alexander.

There are other indirect similarities between Sundiata and Alexander: Sundiata comes to power at the age of 18, he is known for his love of horses and also his use of novel battle tactics to achieve victory.

Niane writes in the endnotes:

In other songs also attributed to Balla Fasséké Sundiata is constantly compared to Alexander. For my part I am inclined to attribute these songs to griots of the time of Kankan Moussa (1307-1332). In fact at that time the griots knew general history much better, at least through Arabic writings and especially the Koran.

Apparently, the Alexander romance was an entire genre of literature in the Islamic world and beyond. The Greek Alexander Romance is definitely on my reading list now.

Related:

10 reasons you should read the Ramayana

The Lewis Chessmen and why we play the game

This time for Africa

From Crisis to Conflict: Climate Change and Violent Extremism in the Sahel (Tony Blair Institute for Global Change)²

1. You can watch the entire 1996 film for free on YouTube.

2. “Across Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, we are witnessing climate change unfold with alarming intensity. The Sahel’s temperature is rising at 1.5 times the global average, as extreme weather events multiply and become more severe. Long-term shifts in temperature and rainfall patterns are destabilising entire communities – disrupting traditional ways of life, eroding livelihoods and threatening food security.”