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- Permanent Link:
- http://digital.soas.ac.uk/LSMD000282/00001
Notes
- Abstract:
- After invoking God, the poet tells how Mohammed and his companion Miqdad sheltered from the rain in a cave. Mohammed asks Miqdad to tell a story. When Miqdad asks whether he should tell something he has heard or something he has seen, Mohammed expresses preference for the latter. Miqdad then tells how, against his advice, his wife Mayasa went to a celebration and became consumed by desire for precious things. Seeing that only wealth would placate her, Miqdad became a bandit. In this capacity he encountered a man he could not defeat in combat. The man, Abdallah, told Miqdad how the woman to whom he was betrothed was that very day being married to another suitor. Abdallah and Miqdad became friends. Abdallah decided that he must go to the bride. The bride’s father, furious at his trespass into the wedding celebration, ordered that Abdallah be tied to the wedding bed that night as punishment. When Miqdad found him there and freed him, Abdallah killed the bridegroom and carried the bride from the city. In the ensuing conflict, Abdallah, the bride and many members of her family died. This version of the poem closely resembles that in Swahili 34:1 (edited by Jan Knappert), although it does not precisely match any of the manuscript versions Knappert there describes. It differs somewhat from that of Werner (1932); in Werner’s version, for example, Miqdad successfully steals from two parties rather than one before he encounters Abdallah. Werner’s general comments about shifts from first- to third-person narration are relevant to this version of the poem. The origins of the utenzi are unknown. The wedding Miqdad describes, in which the bride and bridegroom enter their home on a day of special celebrations, distinctly reflects Swahili culture. Like the poem preceding it in this collection, Utenzi wa Miqdadi contains a mix of northern and southern word forms and exhibits scribing errors: for example, ‘swilaha’ (using the Arabic letter Saad) replaces ‘silaha’ (using the Arabic siin). ( en )
- General Note:
- Date of Composition is unknown
- General Note:
- Languages: Swahili (Roman script)
- General Note:
- Poetic Form: Utenzi
- General Note:
- Extent: 11 pages (147 stanzas)
- General Note:
- Incipit: Nandike Arahamani, Mtume akadhukuri, niswalie na Amini, ulo yaona ni kheri
- General Note:
- Although the numbering of stanzas proceeds consecutively from 147, the Utenzi wa Mikidadi finishes with this stanza. The Utenzi wa Karneni begins at 148
- General Note:
- From the Hichens Papers via Miss M.C. Bryan (gift), 23 February 1970
- General Note:
- Africa -- Eastern Africa -- Swahili Coast
- General Note:
- Publication information: Allen, J.W.T. 1971. Tendi. London: Heinemann Educational, pp. 269-369.
- General Note:
- Publication information: Knappert, Jan (ed). 1964. Utenzi wa Mikidadi bin Alasuadi na Mayasa Mkewe (Mombasa version), ed by Jan Knappert. Kiswahili 34 (1): 120-29.
- General Note:
- Publication information: Werner, Alice. 1932. The story of Miqdad and Mayasa: from the Swahili-Arabic text . Medstead, Hampshire: Azania Press
Record Information
- Source Institution:
- SOAS University of London
- Holding Location:
- Archives and Special Collections
- Rights Management:
- This item may be in the public domain. Its status has yet to be assessed.
- Resource Identifier:
- MS 255733 ( SOAS manuscript number )
MS 255733b ( SOAS manuscript number )
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