THE KINGDOM OF ANKOLE IN UGANDA 155
its magical power, was believed to contribute to the welfare of the people as a wrhole, to enable individuals to rise in social position, to add to their strength in war and to the acquisition of material goods, to right wrongs and to punish evil-doers, to increase the fertility of women and cattle, and to protect men from evil powers resident in the world. But other spiritual and magical agents were also instrumental in furthering the interests and endeavours of men, such as the emandwa spirits, ghosts, sacred places, charms3 and magical practices of various kinds. The power of Bagyetidanwa, then, lay not so much in what the drum did, but rather in the fact that the drum did these things alone and for the entire tribe.
First of all, there was only one Bagyendanwa^ while the spirit cults, the ancestor cult, magical charms, and shrines were very numerous and therefore differentiating influences. The beliefs and practices associated with these agents formed associations, it is true, but there was nothing about these groups which emphasized and supported the unity which the political structure represented. But Bagyendanwa was common to all men in Ankole— as common as the land of Ankole and the king of Ankole. Its shrine was the tribal centre, where individual and tribal interests were furthered through ritual performances, and Bagyendanwa wras the focus of all those beliefs which made for the \vell-being of men. 'Bagyendanwa is ours. We are the children of Bagyendanwa', the Banyankole say in expressing their common aspirations and allegiance to a unifying agent that is at once concrete and a source of power. In the second place, Bagyendanwa belongs to Ankole and to the Banyankole. It differentiates the kingdom of Ankole from all other kingdoms. *Bunyoro', the people say, 'has its Ruhuga; Karagwe has its Nyabatama\ Ruanda has its Karinga\ but Ankole has Bagyendanwa.'' Here, again, other cults are of little value as buttresses for political unity, for they extend beyond the borders of politically differentiated territories. The people of all these kingdoms had the ancestor cult, and the emandwa cult was common to Bunyoro, Toro, Karagwe, and Ruanda. Thus while, on the one hand, the cult of Bagyendanwa formed a common centre for belief and practice in Ankole, overriding sectional beliefs and rituals, it differentiated, on the other hand, the people of Ankole from the inhabitants of neighbouring kingdoms.