Why is son jara exiled

It is challenged briefly when Son-Jara is found to be crippled, but he eventually overcomes his handicap and displays his extraordinary strength by wielding a giant iron staff.

Perhaps the importance of predestination is best represented in the inevitable battle between Son-Jara and Sumamuru. Son-Jara must defeat the sorcerer-king to fulfill his destiny, and his victory over the latter is not perceived as a victory of good over evil but as a completion of his predestined task.

The theme of the supernatural surfaces throughout the story. He inherits occult power from his mother, Sogolon, the wraith of the Buffalo-Woman; and he derives grace and knowledge from his father, the descendant of Muslim migrants tracing their ancestry back to Bilal, the second convert of muhammad.

Due to his lineage, Son-Jara possesses the ability to wield occult powers without succumbing to evil. The epic was written centuries ago when people were so tied to their cultures and preserved it in all ways. Centuries ago, there was very few or no writing material present and therefore the epics were orally recited. Only oral tradition was present and therefore Sundiata told the story of his life and all the experiences that he went through orally. The epic of Sundiata has been recognized as a presentation of the rich and prosperous culture and heritage of the African people.

This is because of the rich culture that was present in Mali during the era of Sundiata and the ways in which the Mali people preserved their culture. Culture played a great role in the way Sundiata ruled his people and therefore it also contributed so much in the way he narrated the epic.

The aspects of culture are greatly brought out in the epic. Sisoko, Johnson and Bird state that the epic describes the traditional practices and the rituals of the people of Mali and they are all derived from the tradition of Sundiata. Son-jara was a Muslim but also an African and therefore he blended both the African tradition and the Muslim tradition into one culture version of one religion imported from another.

Son-jara inherited his religion from his father who was a Muslim and whose family brought Islam to the sub Saharan Africa. He also inherited the great spiritual powers of his mother who was a pagan and a magical sorceress. He invested in these two spiritual powers from the different traditions and the blend helped him rule his people effectively and with great prowess, courage and power. The epic of Son-jara is largely the life of Sundiata or Son-jara, the struggles he went through and his life as the ruler of Mali.

It was orally presented by Son-jara himself and over the years it has been adapted for performances and also it has been documented and rewritten many times.

Sisoko, Johnson and Bird state that Son-jara was born out of a prophecy from a hunter who prophesized that if the king gave birth to a son with an ugly woman then the son will one day become a king. Son-jara struggled through out his childhood because of his inability to walk. He fought this weakness and many other vices until he became the leader of the empire for example he requested an iron rod from a blacksmith to help him pull himself up and walk and try to stop the harsh treatment that they were going through from the new leader.

They sent the mother of Sundiata and her two daughters to exile form the country. This troubled Sundiata and made him rise against the leader and his son by forming revolts and a strong army that was against the rule of the new leader who was called Sassouma Berete. She could also turn into a talking dog and her magical prowess was also strong. After the harsh treatment from the king who took over and his son, she turned into a buffalo and started to attack men who were under the rule of the king.

She was captured and sent to exile with her two daughters. The epic describes how Son-jara came to be in power and how his cultural and religious blend had a great impact in his leadership. He was born into a royal life, was honored with being a griot at a young age, was exiled, and came back to help his people. Both Son-Jara and Moses were born to be great and despite the efforts of others, they strived and came out on top. As history will tell you, and as in the epic, the importance of born right and order plays a huge role.

Birth order and birth right to rule the kingdom, become an issue in the epic and is the beginning to the co-wives rivalry and the sibling rivalry. Fata Magan, already having his first wife, he meet and married a woman named Sugulun Konde. Now, having two wives he bears children with both and they as described to be giving birth at the same time. Indeed The Berete woman give birth to a son. Old Women! However, her and her maidens decide to eat while eating, Sugulun gives birth to Son-Jara.

He changes loyalty to Son-Jara after Sumamuru steals his one wife, despite the fact that Sumamuru already has wives. He excludes her, exiles her, and cuts off her breasts. After she turns into a buffalo and starts killing his people, his land has to be rescued by the two Dan Mansa brothers. They are powerful sorceresses who teach Son-Jara magic. Her anger that Son-Jara will supplant her son makes her curse him to be crippled, and he remains that way for nine years.

Later, she is behind his banishment. They trade her to her future husband and the father of Son-Jara, Fata Magan.