Case file · Folklore / legend
Sundiata and Sumanguru: the sorcerers' battle of Kirina
Mande griots tell that Sundiata Keita defeated the sorcerer-king Sumanguru Kanté at Kirina around 1235 by learning his secret: he could be wounded only by an arrow tipped with the spur of a white rooster.
1235 CE · 12.75, -8.27 · status: legend
The account
In the epic, Sundiata is the crippled son of the 'buffalo woman' Sogolon, and Sumanguru can vanish, change shape and keep fetishes in a chamber of his palace. The victory founded the Mali Empire. The battle site near the Niger is approximate.
The sceptical view
The battle is historical, but the story is an oral epic first written down by outsiders in the 20th century; its magic expresses ideas of power (nyama) in Mande society.