ABSTRACT
Two terms used for the Supreme Being, Nzambi and Kalunga, are wide spread in West Central Africa, although the concepts they denote differ from one area to another.(2) Among the tribes here under consideration, Nzambi(3) is used by Lunda, Chokwe and Luchazi, Kalunga by Luena. Both terms however are found among all four tribes, and are sometimes associ ated, as in the Chokwe Kalunga Zambi. Other names occasionally used are Samatonga and SakapangaA4) Hie terms Nzambi and Kalunga are generally thought to relate to two distinct conceptions of the Supreme Being, but the distinction must be regarded as to some extent an artificial one when applied to areas where the terms are used synonymously,(5) or where the attributes of Kalunga and Nzambi are subsumed under one or other of the terms. So far as the Northern Rhodesia group is concerned, the basis of the distinction lies in the fact that Kalunga is closely associated with natural phenomena, while Nzambi is not (see below). Attempts have been made by scholars such as Frobenius(6) and Torday(7) to associate Nzambi and Kalunga with paternal and maternal elements, and to explain the history of their use by a change in the mode of succession. No such correlation is apparent in the area here concerned. Kalunga is thought to be the older concept of the two, Nzambi to have been introduced from other tribes, possibly from the west. The grafting of Nzambi on to the older Chokwe Kalunga is said to be a result of Lunda influence.(8)
The Kalunga of Chokwe and Luena is associated with rain, thunder and lightning; with the ocean and the underworld, with death and the grave, and with fate or destiny. His name may actually be used for any of these: Luena and Luchazi, for example, sometimes refer to the rain as Kalunga. He is thought of as both creator and destroyer, and usually as an amoral power remote from human affairs (see below). It may be noted that among the Ovimbundu Kalunga is associated with the sea, death, and the grave, but he is never thought of as the Supreme Being, whose name is Suku.(9)
The Nzambi of Lunda, Luchazi, and Chokwe has no special connection with natural phenomena, although as creator of all things he may be con sidered responsible for them. He is primarily a sky god and a creative
power; he knows the purpose of all things, owns all things, including human beings, and to him even sorcerers owe their power. He disposes of life and death, and may punish certain transgressions, but is not conceived as the rewarder of righteousness. While this is generally true for the Northern Rhodesia group, it should be noted that Struyf, writing of the Chokwe of Kahemba Territory, says that Nzambi (or Kalxmga) is regarded not as remote and detached, but as taking a close interest in human affairs: he saves the innocent and punishes the guilty, and acts as protector of the weak, to whom he speaks and to whose aid he sends mysterious messengers.(1) But, as White points out, the quoted texts from which these conclusions are drawn are capable of a less direct interpretation.
