The Cult of Nyakang and the Divine Kings of the Shii.luk 



BY 



C. G. Seligmann, M.D. 



Preliminaey Eemarks 



The Shilluk kings trace their origin to Nyakang, the semi-divine hero, %Yho, with a 

 comparatively small band of followers, took possession of the present Shilluk territory and 

 founded the Shilluk nation. Nyakang and his followers are generally considered to have 

 come from the west, perhaps from the banks of the Bahr-El-Ghazal or some of its 

 tributaries, but other accounts state that their hon:e lay far to the south of the present 

 Shilluk domain.' 



The object of this paper is to record the chief features of the cult of Nyakang and his 

 successors, but iu order to make this worship clear it is first necessary to say a few words 

 concerning the organisation of the Shilluk nation. 

 The Shilluk The Shilluk country forms a narrow fringe on the west bank of the Nile from Kaka in 



country ^j^^ north to Lake No in the south. From Kodok to Tauiikia the Shilluk also occupy the 



east bank and their villages extend some 35 miles up the Sobat Eiver, principally on 

 the north bank. Their territory is almost entirely a grass country, hence cattle are their 

 wealth and principal care, and although a considerable quantity of dura is grown, not 

 enough is harvested to provide fully for the really dense population, and famines are by 

 no means unusual. A census of the river villages taken in 1903 gave a population in 

 1,010 villages of nearly 40,000 souls possessing over 12,000 head of cattle and neai-ly 

 64,000 sheep and goats.- It follows from these figures that the Shilluk are poor in 

 cattle and that their villages are small, often consisting only of a few houses. This 

 is undoubtedly the case in the majority of instances, though large villages are not 

 unknown, indeed the village of Atwadoi, some distance to the north of Kodok, 

 is said to contain 120 houses.^ This presumably means 120 homesteads, since among the 

 Shilluk each householder occupies a small group of two or three or sometimes four huts, 



• The Choli or Acholi of the Uganda Protectorate speak a language closely allied to the Shilluk and have a 

 branch in Uuyoro called Chopi, who, as Mr. E. B. Haddon informs me, speak almost the same language as the 

 Acholi. Mr. Haddon also points out that the KaTirondo Jaluo of Kisumu, on the east side of Victoria Nyanza 

 extending to about 0°30' S., speak a language almost identical with that of the Chopi, and he refers to a Jaluo 

 tradition that they came from the neighbourhood of a high mountain to the north. There is no doubt that the 

 Chopi came from the Acholi country, and, as there are high mountains here, the country to the north of the 

 Victoria Nile may well be the home of the tribes speaking Shilluk and closely allied languages. Whatever 

 the views entertained by the Shilluk as to the direction from which their ancestors came, all agree that Nyakang 

 left, his country on account of a quarrel. According to a legend related by the chief of the Nyalwal district. 

 Dag, the son of Nyakang, made himself a nuisance to everyone in his village by playing a stringed instrument all 

 night, and even when his mother's brothers remonstrated with him, as was their right, he took no notice of what 

 they said. As he was a bad nephew and disobedient they determined to kill him, but their plan, which was to 

 spear him as he slept, was overheard and reported to Nyakang, who made a wooden image and laid 

 it iu the sleeping place usually occupied by Dag. When Dag had finished playing he quietly slijiped away. Soon 

 his uncles came and thrust spears through his sleeping place, sending word next morning to Nyakang to say that 

 his son was dead. Nyakang sent back the answer " mourn for him, you killed him, he was your son {i.e., sister's 

 son), I shall not mourn." The uncles began the usual death ceremonies when Dag returned and twitted them 

 with their failure to kill him, and it was as a result of the ensuing quarrel that Nyakang and his followers left 

 the country. 



- Anglo-Eyyptinn Sudan, I. p. 19.3. The number of cattle is probably too small, the census in 1906 gave 

 over 22,000. 



' Anglo-Egyptian Siidan. loc. cit. 



