Andriana
Andriana is a title of nobility in the Malagasy language and often traditionally formed part of the names of Malagasy noblemen, princes and kings. Historically, many Malagasy ethnic groups lived in highly stratified caste-based social orders in which the andriana were the spiritual or political leaders. Among the Merina of the central highlands of Madagascar, the emergence of a noble class is attributed to its decree by Andriamanelo[1] (1540–1575), later subdivided into four sub-castes by King Ralambo[2] (1575–1612) and eventually six sub-castes by King Andriamasinavalona[3] (1675–1710).
The use of the word andriana to denote nobility occurs among numerous Malagasy ethnic groups including the Zafiraminia, the Merina, the Betsileo, the Betsimisaraka, the Tsimihety, the Bezanozano, the Betsimisaraka, the Antambahoaka and the Antemoro. Linguistic evidence suggests its origin is traceable back to an ancient Javanese nobility title. Since the French colonial regime abolished and supplanted the Merina royal house as rulers of Madagascar, incorporation of andriana into individual names has become elective and no longer meaningfully designates a member of a noble class.
Etymology
According to K.A. Adelaar, the Malagasy title andriana probably originated from the ancient Javanese nobility title Rahadyan (Ra-hadi-an), meaning "Lord" or "Master."[4] In Malagasy the term became Rohandryan/Roandriana, mainly used in the Southeastern part of the island among the Zafiraminia, Antemoro and Antambahoaka ethnic groups[5]; in the central Highlands among the Merina, Betsileo, Bezanozano, and Sihanaka the term became became 'Randryan/Andriana.[6]
Other propositions have also been given on the possible etymology of Andriana, though none has seriously challenged the principal hypothesis cited above, which is based on solid linguistic arguments. Nonetheless, these alternative hypotheses include the Sanskrit Aryan, meaning "noble" [5]; the Sanskrit Raja, meaning "king" or "prince" [4]; the Sanskrit Kshatriya, the noble caste in India, a term formed from the Malay word satria meaning "knight" or "warrior"; or the Malay and modern Javanese Raden, which itself also probably derives from the Old Javanese Rahadyan defined above.[4]
In Madagascar, the name of a Malagasy sovereign, prince or nobleman was often historically composed by placing "Andriana" as a prefix to the remainder of the name. For example:
- Andrianampoinimerina (a great Merina king) = "Andriana" + "Nampoinimerina"
- Andriamisara (a great Sakalava warrior) = "Andriana" + "Misara".
In Madagascar today, names beginning with the Andria prefix are common. However, unlike in Western cultures where children automatically inherit the family name of a parent, Malagasy parents are free to choose their child's first and last name as they please. Following the end of the monarchy in Madagascar, many parents have chosen to give their children names including the andriana prefix, despite lacking any family connection to the former aristocracy.
Sub-castes among the Merina
King Andriamanelo[1] (1540–1575) is credited with establishing the andriana as a separate class in early Merina society. This class was sub-divided into four ranks by his son, King Ralambo[2] (1575–1612) and further divided into six sub-castes by Ralambo's great-great-grandson King Andriamasinavalona[3] (1675–1710) based on locality and genealogical proximity to the ruling family, the Zanakandriana. In rank order, these sub-castes are[7][8]:
- Zazamarolahy (or Marolahy): Direct descendants of the sovereign. It is among the small, elite sub-group of these called the Zanakandriana that the next ruler was selected.
- Andriamasinavalona: Noble descendants of the four sons of King Andriamasinavalona who were not assigned to rule one of the four sub-divisions of Imerina that had been made the fiefs of his other four sons.
- Andriantompokondrindra (or Zanatompo): Descendents of King Andriantompokondrindra, the oldest son of King Ralambo, who was passed over for the kingship in favor of his brother Andrianjaka (reportedly due to a game of fanorona).[7]
- Andrianamboninolona ("Princes Above the People") or Zanakambony ("Sons Above"): Descendents of those who accompanied King Andrianjaka on his conquest of Antananarivo[9]
- Andriandranando (or Zafinadriandranando)
- Zanadralambo
The Andriantompokoindrindra, the Andrianamboninolona and the Andriandranando are often subsumed under the label Andrianteloray.
Lifestyle in Imerina
The Andriana benefited from numerous privileges in precolonial Madagascar. Land ownership in Imerina was reserved for the andriana class, who ruled over fiefs called menakely. The populace under the rule of an andriana lord owed him - and the king - a certain amount of free labor each year (fanompoana) for public works such as the construction of dikes, rice paddies, roads and town walls. Posts of privilege within the government, such as judges or royal advisers, were likewise reserved for certain groups of andriana.[10]
The valiha, the national instrument of Madagascar, was originally an instrument of the masses but became to be affiliated in the 19th century with the noble class.[11] The valiha featured heavily in the music of the Merina royal court performed at palaces such as Ambohimanga or the Rova at Antananarivo. The strings of the valiha were more easily plucked with the fingernails, which were commonly grown long for this purpose; long fingernails became fashionable and symbolic of belonging to the andriana class within the Kingdom of Madagascar.[11]
At Antananarivo, only andriana tombs were allowed to be constructed within town limits. Hovas (freemen) and slaves were required to bury their dead beyond the city walls. The highest ranks of andriana were permitted to distinguish their tombs by the construction of a small, windowless wooden tomb house on top of it, called a trano masina (sacred house) for the Zanakandriana and Zazamarolahy and trano manara (cold house) for the Andriamasinavalona.[7] This tradition originated when the subjects of Merina king Ralambo built the first trano masina on his tomb in honor of his memory.[10] The specification of the trano masina for the two highest Andriana sub-castes and the trano manara for the next two was declared by King Andrianampoinimerina in the early 19th century.[12]
Andriana were also subjected to certain restrictions. Marriage outside the caste was forbidden by law among the lowest three ranks of andriana, and a high-ranking woman who married a lower-ranking man would take on her husband's lower rank, while the inverse would not cause a high-ranking man to lose status but he would be unable to transfer his rank or property to his children. For these reasons, intermarriage across andriana caste divisions was relatively infrequent.[7]
Andriana in post-imperial Madagascar
The Andriana, along with the other castes, played a important part in the independence of Madagascar. For instance, Joseph Ravoahangy-Andrianavalona, a Merina nationalist and deputy, was Andriamasinavalona[13]. The secret nationalist organization V.V.S. (Vy Vato Sakelika) was composed of some Andriana of the intelligentsia.
A 1968 study showed that 14% of the population of Imerina was Andriana.
Tantara ny Andriana
Much of the known genealogical history of the Andriana of Imerina comes from Father François Callet's book Tantara ny Andriana ("History of the Nobles"). This collection of oral tradition about the history of the Merina Dynasty was originally written in Malagasy and published between 1878 and 1881. Callet summarized and translated it in French under the title Tantara ny Andriana (Histoire des rois) in 1908.[6] Tantara ny Andriana constitutes the core material for the historians studying the Merina history, and has been commented, criticised, and challenged since ever by numerous historians from Madagascar, Europe, and North America. For examples, refer to Rasamimanana (1930)[14], Ravelojaona et al. (1937)[15], Ramilison (1951)[16], Kent (1970)[10], Berg (1988)[17] or Larson (2000)[18]. The work is complemented by oral traditions of other tribes collected by Malagasy historians.
Andriana gallery
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An Andriantompokoindrindra
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Ancient Andriana tomb with trano manara or trano masina -
The former Ratsimamanga palace in Antananarivo once belonged to a great Andriana family
See also
- History of Madagascar
- History of the Merinas
- History of the Betsileos
- History of the Sakalavas
- List of Malagasy monarchs
References
- ↑ a b Miller, D. and Rowlands, M. Domination and Resistance. Psychology Press, 1995.
- ↑ a b Raison-Jourde, Françoise. Les Souverains de Madagascar. Karthala Editions, 1983. Vorlage:Fr
- ↑ a b Ogot, B.A. Africa from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century. UNESCO, 1992.
- ↑ a b c K.A. Adelaar: The Indonesian migrations to Madagascar: Making sense of the multidisciplinary evidence. in Adelaar, Austronesian diaspora and the ethnogenesis of people in Indonesian Archipelago, LIPI PRESS, 2006 (santafe.edu [PDF]).
- ↑ a b Paul Ottino: La hiérarchie sociale et l'alliance dans le royaume de Matacassi. In: Bulletin de l'Académie Malgache. IV. Jahrgang, Nr. 4, 1973, S. 53 – 89 (ird.fr [PDF]). Vorlage:Fr
- ↑ a b F. Callet: Tantara ny Andriana (Histoire des rois). Imprimerie Catholique, 1908.
- ↑ a b c d Standing, H.F. (1885). "The Tribal Divisions of the Hova Malagasy," in The Antananarivo Annual and Madagascar Magazine, (3)12, pp.354-363.
- ↑ Revue Mensuelle. Notes, reconnaissances et explorations, Vol. 4. Imprimerie officiel de Tananarive, 1898. Vorlage:Fr
- ↑ "Madagascar." The Royal Arc. Françoise Raison-Jourde. Accessed on December 19, 2010.
- ↑ a b c Kent, R.K. "Madagascar and Africa II: The Sakalava, Maroserana, Dady and Tromba before 1700." The Journal of African History, 9(4), 1968, 517-546. Referenzfehler: Ungültiges
<ref>-Tag. Der Name „Kent“ wurde mehrere Male mit einem unterschiedlichen Inhalt definiert. - ↑ a b Geo Shaw: Music among the Malagasy. In: The Musical Standard. 17. Jahrgang, Nr. 797, 8. November 1879, S. 297 (google.com [abgerufen am 15. November 2010]).
- ↑ Jean Frémigacci: Histoire d'Afrique. Hrsg.: Jean-Pierre Chrétien. Editions Karthala, 1999, ISBN 2865379043, 9782865379040(?!) – (google.com [abgerufen am 1. Dezember 2010]). Vorlage:Fr
- ↑ Biographie de Joseph Ravoahangy. Abgerufen am 23. November 2010. Vorlage:Fr
- ↑ & Razafindrazaka Rasamimanana: Ny Andriantopokoindrindra: Fanasoavana ny tantaran'i Madagasikara. Librairie Mixte, 1930.
- ↑ Randzavola, Rajaonah G. Ravelojaona: Firaketana ny Fiteny sy ny Zavatra Malagasy. Antananarivo:Imprimerie Tanananarivienne, 1937.
- ↑ Emmanuel Ramilison: Ny loharanon'ny andriana nanjaka teto Imerina : Andriantomara-Andriamamilazabe. Imprimerie Ankehitriny, 1951.
- ↑ Gerald M. Berg: Sacred Acquisition: Andrianampoinimerina at Ambohimanga, 1777-1790. In: The Journal of African History. 29. Jahrgang, Nr. 2, 1988, S. 191 – 211.
- ↑ Pier M. Larson: History and Memory in the Age of Enslavement. Becoming Merina in Highland Madagascar, 1770-1822. Social History of Africa Series. Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Heinemann, 414 p., 2000, ISBN 0-325-00217-7.