by Faun Rice
nowhere. It’s all a matter of where you look. And if one turns back to the nine-
teenth-century literature and looks in the right places, one can, I think, already
find strong evidence that the nature and legitimacy of the power of kings was,
indeed, being contested, and often quite openly. The most compelling evidence
is the fact that almost all the foreign observations about subjects’ unquestioning
obedience to the sovereign referred not to kings, but to queens. In fact, dur-
ing the seventy-eight years where foreign observers were present, from roughly
1816 to 1895, only two men (Radama I and Radama II) sat on the throne, for
a total of fourteen years between them, and both faced significant popular op-
position. All other heads of state were women.
Here is the canonical list of Merina monarchs, to give a sense:
R5 King Andriamasinavalona (c. 1675–1710)
R5 [period of civil wars, c. 1710–87, all contesting parties male]
R5 King Andrianampoinimerina (1787–1810)
R5 King Radama I (1810–28)
R5 Queen Ranavalona I (1828–61)
R5 King Radama II (1861–63)
R5 Queen Rasoherina (1863–68)
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R5 Queen Ranavalona II (1868–83)
R5 Queen Ranavalona III (1883–95)
Now, the standard narrative of the Merina kingdom runs like this: once upon
a time, there was a wise old king named Andriamasinavalona, who managed to
unify the numerous tiny kingdoms of the northern highlands into what was later
to become the Merina state. After his death, the kingdom descended into civil
wars, with his various male descendants vying for power. Up to this time, in fact,
there is no record of female monarchs of any sort, other than legends about the
very distant, misty past. Eventual y, the ruler of one of these principalities man-
aged to conquer the rest, took on the name Andrianampoinimerina (“the desire
of Imerina”), and laid the foundations of the Merina state—insisting his ultimate
goal was to bring the entire island of Madagascar under his suzerainty. His son,
Radama, managed to accomplish his father’s vision by entering into an al iance
with British agents from Mauritius, who sent military aid and advisors to help
him create a standing army, and invited foreign missionaries to enter his king-
dom on condition they establish a school system on which he could train civil
service. But Radama’s early death threw the kingdom into crisis. Commoner
generals seized power, and placed his widow, Ranavalona, on the throne.
Ranavalona reigned for the next thirty-three years, and is remembered both
as a terrifying tyrant who fostered endless wars against coastal “rebels,” and
a protonationalist who restored the ancient rituals, expelled missionaries and
other foreign agents, and demanded world powers recognize Madagascar as a
fully independent modern state. Her death provoked another crisis, and after a
brief attempt by her son Radama II to open Madagascar to foreign powers once
again, another military coup in 1863 led to a compromise where from then on,
only women would actually sit on the Merina throne. The last three queens were
all selected by, and secretly married to, the commoner prime minister, Rainilaia-
rivony, the general who actually held ultimate political authority.
Such is the canonical version. The story is true as far as it goes. But one
must ask: If what we are dealing with is essential y a ploy, a series of queens
put up as figureheads by what was really a commoner military junta, what
was it that made the generals think such a ploy would be effective? As I’ve
noted, there was little precedent for women rulers in Merina history.7 Even
7. According to legend, in very early times there were two female monarchs named
Rafohy and Rangita, but these were “Vazimba” monarchs, Vazimba often being
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259
in world-comparative terms, what they came up with was an extraordinarily
unusual arrangement. In fact it may wel be unique. I am not aware of any
other kingdom on record, anywhere in the world, where a clique of commoners
seized power and legitimated their rule by placing a series of exclusively female
monarchs on the throne.8
Even more, one has to ask why the ploy actually was effective. Because while
both Radamas faced strong popular resistance, by all accounts, the queens—
however oppressive the military cliques that actually ran their governments (and
they were often very oppressive indeed)—did not. Even the terrifying Ranava-
lona I seems to have inspired genuine devotion.
* * *
So far the story of Leiloza, which purports to explain the end of the monarchy
in Imamo, has led us to a series of historical puzzles. Let me arrange them in
reverse order:
1. Why is it that in the nineteenth century, the legitimacy of male kings fell
into question, but the legitimacy of female ones did not?
2. Why is it that after the French conquest, popular history was quickly rewrit-
ten so that all ancient monarchs were represented as being oppressive or
even outright evil during their lifetimes, but benevolent and protective after
their deaths?9
3. Why is it that when describing their unjust and oppressive behavior, kings
are so often represented in their lifetimes as petulant, egotistical, “naughty”
children?
represented as an early, aboriginal people expelled by the current inhabitants of the
country.
8. There are a few cases where the paramount political position is always expected to
be held by a woman: the Lovedu “rain queen” (Krige and Krige 1943) being perhaps
the most famous. But it is surprisingly rare.
9. It’s worth pointing out here that almost all documented eighteenth- and nineteenth-
century rulers, including the queens, were quickly forgotten in the colonial period.
The founder of the Merina state, Andrianampoinimerina, is still an important curing
spirit, and there are still shrines to a few earlier kings, but the latter are of virtually
no ritual importance. The “kings” remembered now are a peculiar hodgepodge of
ancient figures almost none of whom were actually rulers, let alone important rulers,
during their lifetimes.
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The best way to start to think about answers to these questions, it seems to me,
would be to reexamine the history of Leiloza himself. Because there was a his-
torically documented prince of Imamo named Leiloza, who did in fact fal from
power, and it happened just around the time that the fabled Leiloza of Ambohit-
rambo is supposed to have tumbled from his bridge. It’s actually rather remark-
able we know the story, because most stories from Imamo have been irrevocably
lost. By a peculiar historical accident, history has been preserved, in the unpub-
lished journals of one James Hastie, a British infantry sergeant dispatched to the
court of king Radama by the governor of Mauritius in 1817, and who was at the
time acting as the king’s chief military advisor. In this very early account, many
of the key elements that were later to come together in Merina attitudes toward
/>
their rulers—from mediumship to female rule—are already very much present,
and might be said provide a kind of structural foretaste of what was to come.
Let me begin, then, with Hastie’s account.
The real Leiloza and the bandit queen
The Leiloza in Hastie’s account was not from Ambohitrambo but from a small
kingdom called Valalafotsy, also part of the region of Imamo, but on the very
western fringes of the highlands, where it drifts into uninhabited no-man’s land.
His story appears in account of the death of Leiloza’s son, Rabevola, at the
hands of the Merina king, Radama I.
In October 1824, Radama’s new British-trained army, fresh from its con-
quest of the Sakalava kingdom of Boina, was marching south through a terri-
tory called Mivamahamay. It was largely open country, dotted with occasional
forests, renowned for its dense herds of feral cattle, which the soldiers stopped
to hunt. The only inhabitants of this desolate land were a band of several thou-
sand runaways from the highlands, most of them Manendy—members of a
famous warrior caste who had once served Radama’s father (Domenichini and
Domenichini-Ramiaramanana 1980; Rakotomanolo 1981). They had presented
themselves at the court of the king of Boina, who granted them leave to estab-
lish themselves in this no-man’s land. There they formed what Hastie referred
to as a “Manendy Republic,” welcoming a variety of other refugees from the
highlands, who ranged from escaped slaves to various unseated princes and their
retainers. This motley crew soon became notorious for launching marauding
raids on Radama’s subjects in the highlands, and in the process, accumulating a
great deal of moveable wealth.
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261
In fact, the “Manendy Republic” was only a republic in a certain very broad
sense of the term. It had a supreme leader: a “prophetess,” as Hastie describes
her, widely feared across the region. This woman went by the unwieldy name of
Triemanosinamamy.10
This is where the story becomes relevant to us, because in describing the ori-
gins of this prophetess, Hastie begins telling stories, obviously culled from her
followers, about events in the highlands several generations before. As it turns
out, Sergeant Hastie explains, Triemanosinamamy was not originally the name
of the prophetess, but the name of an earlier ruler of Valalafotsy, a kingdom on
the very western marches of Imamo. What’s more, the prophetess was the suc-
cessor to the recently deceased former chieftain of the Manendy Republic, who
was, precisely, Leiloza. Leiloza had himself originally been king of Valalafotsy:11
It is said that four generations back, a Chieftain named Triemanosinamamy
governed the district Valalafotsy in so equitable and successful a manner as to
render himself highly respected and even revered by all his subjects. His good ac-
tions had such an effect that they transferred his influence and popularity to his
descendants and particularly to the Chieftain from whom the late Leiloza was
descended. During the reign of Leiloza, a slave boy that was sent for firewood
returned with a dry faggot and placed it under the cave, outside his master’s
house, where it was soon discovered to grow luxuriantly, and the boy ran into a
little building or cemetery which was erected over the remains of Triemanosi-
namamy; a place considered so sacred by the natives that they suppose any per-
son not of noble blood would die immediately on entering it. The boy, however,
10. Since the text was written just before Malagasy spelling was standardized in its
current form, I follow the version adopted by the English missionary William Ellis,
who summarizes Hastie’s account in his History of Madagascar (1838, II: 345–48).
Ellis’ version abbreviates the narrative, leaves out several elements such as the magical
charms and prophetess’ harem, but otherwise remains fairly faithful to the original.
The most peculiar omission is the name Leiloza, whose name is written Lahilooza
in Hastie’s text—Ellis for some reason renders this Sahiloza and incorrectly ascribes
the name to the first “prophet” in the story, rather than to the king. There’s also the
question of the old king’s name, which takes an unusual form. Trie- is a rare prefix,
and manosimamy would literally mean “to confiscate that which is sweet,” which
doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense. I follow Ellis but suspect the real name was
different. Hastie’s first mention of the name is Tsiemamoshima maam, which seems
better rendered Tsiemamotsiramamy, which would make slightly better sense.
11. I have kept the original, but changed the spelling of the Malagasy names to standard
form.
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soon began to sing, and roar loudly; and after singing, and roaring alternately for
some time, he declared himself to be filled with spirit, and ultimately to be the
absolute person of the long-deceased Chief Triemanosinamamy, whose voice it
was imagined by those on the outside he had assumed. Under this assumed title
he issued from the tomb and was received by many as a true prophet; the miracle
of the dry faggot growing being considered an incontrovertible proof, that he was
not an imposter, and it so occurred that he gained confidence with the people by
happening to foretell, with exactness in several instances, their success or defeat
in marauding expeditions.
Leiloza finding his own power declining, and that of the prophet fast in-
creasing, charged him with being an imposter and urged that his dark colour and
particularly his curly head proved that he could not be the personage that he
represented himself to be. And Leiloza caused him to be put to death.
At that period commenced the victorious career of Radama’s father An-
drianampoinimerina, who, aiming at conquest, attacked the district of Valala-
fotsy, and met little opposition from Leiloza, who was deserted by the greater
part of his subjects; it being their belief that in the prophet they had lost the
only means by which the invaders could be restrained. And Leiloza, with a few
fol owers, sought safety in the Boina district, where they were joined by the
Manendy and other immigrants or runaways from Imerina. They al settled at
Mivamahamay, where Leiloza died, leaving the settlement without a leader of
distinction.
Much confusion succeeded until a female of more than ordinary talent
raised herself to notice among them, and in confidence told Rabevola (the son
of Leiloza) that she was the identical person that his father had caused to be put
to death; in testimony of which she showed the wounds inflicted on her former
person, when in the character of a man, and this she asserted to be the cause of
her now assuming the character of a female.
Rabevola gave full credit to her story, and several of the persons who had
witnessed the execution of the slave boy prophet testified that the report she
made of the wounds was correct. She had no difficulty consequently in get-
ting herself installed as the leader of the people. However she always permitted
Rabevola and Tsiafondrazana [her sec
ond husband, the Manendy leader] to ap-
pear to share the power of Government with her; and the several petty Chief-
tains that have since joined the population under her sway have been allowed to
form their parties, and enjoy all the privileges of royalty, within their respective
divisions; so that she has thus kept in favor with all. And though she had only
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263
two reputed husbands, she exercised her extensive prerogative in that respect as
a true-born Princess of the country is entitled to do. (Hastie n.d.: 402–6)12
After having defeated the main force of Manendy a few days previous, Radama’s
soldiers had captured the prophetess and her chief followers red-handed, trying
to make off with some royal cattle. Curious to meet so extraordinary a figure,
Hastie accompanied two officers who had been sent to interrogate the captives.
Her people, probably numbering not more than a few hundred, had, it would
seem, established a certain reputation for themselves, not so much for military
might, as for knowledge of dangerous medicines. Their forest camp, serving as
temporary capital, was guarded only by ody: “pieces of sticks, and roots in various
forms, and rubbed with oils, were suspended on the trees around them” (ibid.:
402) without, to Hastie’s surprise, any more conventional fortification. At the
center of the camp, they encountered the prophetess herself. Hastie found her
decidedly unimposing in appearance: about twenty-five-years of age, short and
fat, dark of complexion, with frizzy hair but excellent teeth, she appeared flanked
by her two “copper-colored” husbands. Backed up by Leiloza’s son Rabevola,
“she launched into vigorous protestations of innocence, swearing endless fidelity
to the Merina king” (ibid.). Rabevola added that any accusations of their being
in possession of ody mahery, or evil medicine, were entirely unfounded: they had
12. Some liberties have been taken with punctuation. That Leiloza was indeed a
historical ruler of Valalafotsy is confirmed in the Tantara ny andriana (Callet 1908:
567), a series of manuscripts assembled sometime in the late nineteenth century,
where the king reigning in Valalafotsy at the time of Andrianampoinimerina’s