Extract from a thesis the title of which is “Mwari and the Divine Heroes” and is actually a study and analysis of indigenous “Shona” religion.
Mukombwe was the last of the Great Northern Mutapa kings, a direct and traceable lineal descendent of Mutota. He is remembered for defining the boundaries of the vassal polities and provinces of the kingdom or empire. His praise-name (by which he is best remembered) is Maguranyika or Banguranyika which means Boundary Setter. Mukombwe was the ruling Mutapa from 1667 to 1696. Throughout the north-eastern districts of Mount Darwin, Guruve, Rushinga and Mutoko and as far south as Shamva, Bindura and Mazowe his mhondoro is revered for it was he who gura’d (demarcated) their Nyika or dunhu thus giving legitimacy to their tenure. Yet at Nhenene, the seat of Dzivaguru and Karuva, Mukombwe becomes a brother of Karuva. Mutota is acknowledged but his authority and position are given reference as being a junior relative of Dzivaguru.
To the south-east of Choma lies the district of Mutoko. The dominant mhondoro here is Nehoreka, identified as a brother or son of Mukombwe. Nehoreka joins the genealogy of the divine because he married Dzivaguru‘s daughter but is also a powerful figure because of his relationship to Mukombwe, whether the latter is regarded as the Mutapa or as the brother of Karuva. If seen as the brother of Karuva then Nehoreka is the Mutoko area regenerator of the divine seed because his union with the daughter of Dzivaguru must be by the kupinga pasi ritual.
Myth relates that Nehoreka tricked the autochthonous leader Makati into submission by providing him with a bride in the shape of his sister, Nyamungate, who, as is common throughout Shona mythology, stole his magical weapons from him and rendered him harmless. Again, as is common in these stories, Makati parted a ruware (granite outcrop – in this case the impressive Mt. Mutemwa) and descended into the earth rather than face humiliation at the hands of Nehoreka. Mapatswe, a younger brother of Makati, helped Nehoreka establish his rule over the Makati people and the area they formally ruled. In gratitude Nehoreka gave him a Nyika of his own to rule. Mapatswe became, in due course, a powerful chief in his own right and oral tradition relates that he was a real threat to Nehoreka's authority. But for the latter's close association with Dzivaguru and his ability to produce rain, tradition has it, Mapatswe would have overthrown his patron-or at least succeeded him. In the event, this did not happen. By means of formal, institutionalized arrangements, not unlike those found at the Matopos or Nhenene but which have some unique local characteristics, Nehoreka ensured his dominance.
Nehoreka set himself up as the tribal "high priest" and trading on his reputation as a "rain god", he introduced the religious ceremonies and rituals of the Charewa people. He convinced the tribal elders that after his death a woman would be possessed of his spirit” (Simmonds).
Mapatswe (Chief Mutoko’s) successors need the ritual support of Nehoreka to succeed to the chieftaincy. This is given in trance by a female svikiro speaking for the mhondoro Nehoreka. The ritual title of the svikiro is Wamvura, “She of the Rain”.
In turn Chief Mutoko (Mapatwse's descendant) has to nominate a female guardian - called Charewa – The Announcer) -to take care of the svikiro. Assisting her is the VaNyashe (the “Guardian of the Chief”) another woman appointed by the Gurupira, the 'son' of Mutoko. Finally, to complete the attendants there is another woman attendant and medium called VaDziva (“She of the Pool”), thus underlining Nehoreka's close association with Mutoko Mapatswe’s divine father-in-law.
By this system of institutionalized checks and balances the mhondoro Nehoreka enhances his dominion and reinforces his close association with Dzivaguru (who is God, Musikavanhu, Nyakudenga, Chikara and Mwari amongst a number of other praise names). Furthermore, the otherwise segmentary ingredient is neutralized by establishing a ritual obligation between the two polities. Nehoreka continues to reign over 'his' Nyika through the VaNyashe's guardianship of his medium, the WaMvura, and of Chareva, she who articulates and administers the requirements of Nehoreka with support from VaDziva. Mutoko-Mapatswe can exist only through the patronage of the Nehoreka mhondoro. By these reciprocal ritual obligations the two segments remain firmly joined in their interdependence.
Some 160 km to the south of Nehoreka's country lies the Marondera District. This is the home of several chiefdoms, one of which is that of Nyandoro. Nyandoro's mutupo is Nhari. Chizwiti, the Chief adjoining Choma is also of this mutupo and is related to the Nyandoros. Originally they were of the mutupo Nzou Samanyanga and were thus of the royal Mutota family. A dispute over succession to the throne caused an unsuccessful claimant, Mukomahasha (“Harsh Elder Brother”) to flee with his followers (from Mukombwe, after the latter’s succession to the throne), north into the Zambezi Valley from whence they eventually drifted southwards onto the central plateau. Their leader by this time was nick-named Nyandoro because he had a round white mark on his forehead that looked like an ndoro (conis shell). After a long period of movement southwards from the Zambezi Valley Nyandoro settled in what is now the Goromonzi and Marondera districts.
The senior medium for the Nyandoro people is (or was when I was doing my research) called simply Ambuya, Grandmother (Mwari at the Matopos is also praised as Ambuya (Daneel, 1970)). She has a large constituency in central Zezuru country as well as amongst her own Nhari people. This is not surprising, for apart from her charisma, her success is reinforced by the fact that she is possessed by the spirit of a woman, Biri, and by Ganyiri who is Mukombwe (the name Ganyiri, a variation of Maguranyika, is derived from the verb stem ganura which is a synonym for gura - divide). Biri (Nembire?) and Ganyiri alias Mukombwe were brother and sister, which of course means that they are the kupinga pasi heroes for their constituents; and this explains why Ambuya is so reverently regarded. It also demonstrates the eventual reconciliation of the Nyandoro off-shoot with the overlordship of the Mutapa Mukombwe as their leader. But it is to Dzivaguru that Ambuya, speaking either as Ganyiri or Biri, makes appeal on behalf of her supplicants. She was of course also in communion with the Mutota mhondoro and the Nehoreka cult centre when I observed her activities. Her vanyai moved between the three cult centres and were particularly active at that time because with the advent of intense guerrilla activity in Mutota's and Nehoreka's areas there was, presumably, need for close consultation.
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