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Mandy, the Sultan's daughter, made us knead

A woman whose history witnessed heroism

Sable Slatin

sabenuala@yahoo.com

This research was previously published in the colleague Sudanile

I am torn when I squeeze back the years of my life and return to my memory of the stories of my ancestors, their heroism and their remarkable struggle, their blood mixed with the soil of the homeland, and their positions that resonate throughout the years. I am reminded of the Nuba Mountains, that legacy steeped in history, and that land that has sprouted civilizations and cultures rooted in the beautiful African color.

The Nuba Mountains gave birth to one of the most beautiful women in the universe, and one of the greatest fighters in the history of the struggle. Historians overlooked her. I do not want to say intentionally, but rather accidentally?? History does not forgive those who shroud the most wonderful heroics in oblivion, but the memory of the days is present, telling generations what has disappeared.

The history of the national movement in Sudan is full of heroism and sacrifices that aimed to preserve the precious soil of the homeland. Among the most important of these movements were the revolutions in the Nuba Mountains, which ignited and exploded for several reasons. The most important of these was the rejection of colonial control and restrictions. He rejected the special taxes imposed on the Nuba tribes (the Daqniya tax), which was a tax that a person paid on his own behalf and which was considered humiliating and degrading to the dignity of the Nuba person. On the other hand, the collective memory of the Nuba peoples stored many negative attitudes and bitter experiences related to the slave trade during the era of Turkish-Egyptian rule, which instilled doubt in their souls and strengthened popular resistance to any form of foreign invasion, so they carried out many revolutions that we will quickly mention throughout the article.

The modern history of Sudan is filled with well-known female figures who fought, fought, and left clear marks in our lives. Among them was Mahira bint Aboud in the Shaiqiya region in northern Sudan, who launched a loud “Zaghrouda” that inflamed the men’s enthusiasm and aroused in them the fervor and courage to fight and confront the brutal Turkish invasion. Her role was mobilizing. In Kordofan (al-Ghurra or better, inside and outside), Rabiha al-Kananiyah had a well-known role with Imam Mahdi. As for the Nuba Mountains, we find Mandy, a unique female character with special qualities and characteristics, a bold woman and a unique fighter whose likes rarely exist. A woman whom history and historians did not do justice to, as there was no mention of her in modern Sudanese history books.

I wish I had a memory that could go back in time to see who Mandy is. But I will dig up my humble memory and recount some of what I heard about her.

Mandi is the daughter of Sultan Ajabna bin Aruga bin Saba, the thirteenth sultan of the Alama region (Al-Nimang), near the city of Dilling, which includes eight large regions: Al-Natal, Karmati, Kakra, Tandia, Salara, Kalara, Hajar Al-Sultan, and Al-Fous. This is the same area that Sultan Ajabna used as the theater of his military operations. He, along with his brave men and behind them, the struggling Princess Mandi, who was fighting fiercely, carrying her infant child on her back, along with the tribal knights, fought fierce battles against the greedy British invaders, which later aroused the ire of the English government, which tried to bring the Nemang region under its control. Her campaigns continued.

In 1908, the colonial forces entered into a fierce battle against the leader “Dargul” in the Al-Foss area. When the colonizer was unable to crush and defeat him, he reached an agreement with him stipulating that he stop the aggression and Dargol pay some compensation to the English. However, despite these arbitrary campaigns, the Naimang did not submit to the orders and instructions of the British, which prompted the latter to seriously think about launching campaigns and directing swift and fatal strikes against Sultan Ajabna.

In 1917, the English Inspector of the Dilling Center, Hatton, led an organized campaign against the Karmati and Tandi areas. However, he did not last long and was killed opposite the Karmati area by a bullet from one of the revolutionaries who were on Mount Hajar al-Sultan. Thus, the mission of the campaign, whose purpose was to annihilate the rebels in that area, failed.

The death of this inspector sparked the anger of the English authorities, and the colonizer prepared a large and organized campaign in November 1917, which was a second round against Sultan Ajabna. The equipment and equipment of this campaign was complete, consisting of thirty-one British officers, one hundred and fifty Egyptian and Sudanese officers, two thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven soldiers, and a large number of firearms, eight cannons and eighteen machine guns, in addition to rifles.

This force moved from the Al-Nimang area, where the General Operations Command was camped in the Al-Natal area under the command of Lieutenant Colonel L.K. Smith. From the Al-Natal area, three units moved to besiege Sultan Ajabna from three locations:

First - the Wulal area, located between the Kakra and Hajar al-Sultan areas, led by Major Van Delo VANDELEU.

Secondly - the Jabal Kalamu area, located between Al-Fouss and Hajar Al-Sultan, led by Major GRAHAM.

Third - the Natal area, led by Major WORTHINGTON WILMER.

With this precise plan, the siege was completely imposed on Sultan Ajabna, and he was cut off from water sources (wells), especially in the Salara region, where the Kudillo Bung wells are located.

Then Sultan Ajabna and his rebel forces were resisting with their utmost valor, and the tension between the colonial forces and the revolutionaries heated up to the point that led to the lifting of the siege imposed around them.

News and information leaked to the fighting princess, Mandy, about the worsening situation and the colonial forces’ seizure of water sources, in addition to the fact that the revolutionaries on the battlefield were in need of reinforcements and support that would enable them to break the siege completely. As soon as Princess Mandy heard this news, she gathered herself and took up the rifle, heading to the fighting site. Some tried to dissuade her from going, under the pretext that the situation was tense and critical, that the road was full of dangers, and that the siege was very tight from all sides. The princess became angry and revolted, and said: “Leave me alone, for this is not the time for talking.” Her eyes became red and became like a cauldron boiling with intense anger due to the people’s insistence on preventing her. So she picked up the gourd and hit the ground with it until it shattered. She said to everyone: “Make the way for me.” They made the way for her. It is worth noting that the smashing of the “pumpkin” in the Namang culture means that anger and insistence on doing something has reached its peak and peak, that is, a point where hopes and attempts at prevention are no longer useful.

The fighting princess hurried to join the ranks of the revolutionaries who had gathered under the leadership of Sultan Ajabna to repel the brutal attack. Her and those with her joining the regiment led by the Sultan was a strong morale boost. The fighting began with all ferocity and valor, as the revolutionaries repelled the attacks and repulsed the enemy’s advance in order to preserve the land from being usurped, and to protect the family and the clan.

It was truly a battle of honor and dignity in which the brave heroes of the 1917 Revolution fell, scenting the precious soil of the homeland with their pure and honorable blood. As fate would have it, Sultan Ajabna and his friend, companion and struggler “Kilkun” were arrested and sentenced to death by hanging. That was on 12/27/1917, where the two together demonstrated a wonderful heroic stance as they faced death with courage and composure and immortalized a wonderful lyrical epic that children and adults would sing about.

In February 1917, the rest of the fighters surrendered after their spiritual and military leadership, which represented the struggle of a generation written on the pages of history, was a wonderful epic that gave the colonizers a lesson that history will never forget.

The two sides were certain of different motives, as the colonizer led the battle out of control and colonialism, while the revolutionaries led it in defense of honor and the preservation of the land, armed with will and their deep-rooted love for freedom. In this battle, Princess Mendi won the admiration of the knights of the tribe for her courage and bravery, and they immortalized her through the folk songs chanted by the people of the region and the Dilling tribes. The popular song Mendi was adopted and recorded as a military march with the Sudan Defense Music Band to raise the spirits of the soldiers and fighters in the armed forces.

Comment

The revolutions of the Nuba Mountains, which were like the witnessed dawn of the Qur’an, and about which history remained silent with a clear conscience, and historians failed to write them down, if read to the ears of history would scream angrily at the historians who were unfair in formulating it.

When the colonizers entered the Nuba Mountains region, the heroes and revolutionaries among its people recorded the greatest heroics and wrote on the record of human history the greatest epics that will never be forgotten, the most important of which is: the Bardani Revolution in Talodi in 1908-1917; The Flour Revolution  1910-1913; The Heiban Revolution of 1911; The Taqwa Revolution of 1910-1911; The Green Terre Revolution of 1914-1915; The Kadugli Revolution; The Dayer Revolution of 1904; The Liri Revolution of 1906; The Hanaq Hanaq Revolution of 1906; The Killa Cardin Revolution of 1910; The Chat-Safiya Revolution of 1904; The Al-Mirawi Revolution (Al-Faki Ali Al-Mirawi) 1915; The Mandal Revolution 1904-1914; The Kandaro (Kadru) Revolution of 1906; The Venda Revolution of 1908; the Killa Kido Revolt of 1908-1909; The Tema Revolution of 1909-1910; The Boy’s Revolution of 1914; The Delmar Revolution of 1914; The Nemang Dargul Revolution of 1908; The Nemang Sultan Ajabna Revolution of 1917; And the Liri Revolution of 1929.

The National Movement in the Nuba Mountains made outstanding national contributions that deserve to be chronicled and written in the lines of Sudanese history. These revolutions, like others, aimed to liberate the national will from foreign control.

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