Khombisile

Khombisile is a ritual practice of both the Imbesu and Ingubu people's of M'Biruna which involves the paramount chief of the tribe displaying the tribes wealth upon his person. This is done through the application of beef fat to his body by his wives who then cover him from head to toe in diamonds and other precious stones which he then parades in front of his assembled warriors.

## Etymology

Khombisile is the Imbesu word "a showing" or "display" and refers to the actual act of displaying the tribal wealth as opposed to the treasury itself as some sources claim. The spelling is often rendered as Kombizili in the Ingubu dialect.

## History

It has been claimed that Khombisile dates to before the Komontu migrations and was once a common practice amongst the various Komontu tribes, although there is no evidence of it outside the Imbesu and Ingubu people, or indeed in any oral tradition of other Komontu groups. Another theory suggests that the ritual began during the migrations when diamonds were attached to the chiefs with beef fat to be carried by them during the migrations, this has however been ridiculed as an impractical method of secure transport and also ignoring the complete lack of evidence of diamonds being used in any way by the Imbesu prior to the reign on Gandang.

The first recorded example of the ritual is in the praise song of Gandang, the Imbesu chieftain who conquered the Amaveni. The usual tribute paid by a defeated tribe was the finest heads of cattle and other livestock, however the Amaveni were predominantly crop growers and fishermen and so offered the diamonds they collected for trade as tribute to Gandang. The chieftain is said to have first scoffed that pretty stones had no value to a warrior, however his indunas who sought peace after Gandangs long wars of conquest persuaded him that the stones held great value to the Amaveni and foreign traders and to own them would make him the most powerful chief. Initially Gandang was said to have the stones lain out before him when he received homage from his subjects before having his wives coat his head in beef fat and display the stones thusly.

From Gandang onwards it appears that successive paramount chiefs of the Imbesu received further diamonds either through trade, conquest or as tribute and Khombisile developed from the coating of the head, to the upper body and eventually the entirety of the chief. It is a matter of some debate as to how often the ritual was observed during this period, it is evident that the chiefs took homage from their people once a year but numerous peoples were conquered during this period and it is probable each surrender ceremony saw the chieftain in his full glory. A minority view amongst some is that the chiefs of this period would have their head nearly permanently covered in diamonds, but only on special occasions would their entire body be decorated so. As the number of diamonds grew it became custom for the main indunas of the chief to also receive a small number of diamonds which they displayed during the ceremony upon their breasts and hands, however this seems to have ended during the reign of Kuphela who was first to gather all the stones into the now legendary beer pots.

Kuphela was a jealous chief and a greedy one, content not only to claim a record 486 wives and every bull with horns of 30 inches or more as his own, he demanded that all precious stones in the land be forfeit to him and when this was done his placed them into 5 one gallon beer pots which were then kept guarded inside his own sleeping quarters. He also limited the ritual to a single display in a year when all the subjugated people and warriors would assemble to see him in his glory. Such was the length of Kuphela's reign it became accepted that Khombisile would only occur once a year, usually in late December during the summer equinox.

Kuphela's death saw great upheaval in the Imbesu tribes as his numerous sons fought to succeed him, which eventually led to the independence of the Ingubu branch of the tribe. Kuphela's son Dingiswayo declared he was the chosen heir but was rejected by the Indaba and in his frustration he and his supporters raided the royal palace and managed to escape with one of the five beer pots of diamonds and the three largest stones. Since the tribal split both the paramount chief of the Imbesu and Ingubu has continued the tradition of the annual Khombisile.

During the M'Birunan Civil War the Imbesu found themselves severely persecuted and the four remaining beer pots were hidden from the Ingubu dominated M'Birunan Army throughout the war and the ritual was not observed. With the signing of the Nkomo Accords in 2008 the current Imbesu chief Mzilikazi held a triumphal Khombisile before his people and has since continued to hold it upon the date of the Accords signing, 28th July, as opposed to the traditional December date. The Ingubu continue to hold the ceremony upon the summer equinox and both ceremonies have become minor tourist attractions although this is discouraged by both tribes as it is seen as commercialising an important cultural practice.

## Purpose

The actual purpose of Khombisile has long been debated by scholars with views ranging from a quasi-religious ceremony to a simple display of the power and the wealth of the chief.

The idea of Khombisile as a religious rite was pushed mainly by early Belisarian scholars who believed that in covering himself in diamonds the chief was attempting to become or display himself as a god, or in some versions as the living embodiment of the sun upon the earth. However there is no evidence of a religious element to Khombisile in either Imbesu or Ingubu literary or oral traditions and this view is now widely seen as outdated and simply mistaken.

The display of the fabulous diamond wealth of the tribe is often cited as the purpose of the ritual, but this does not fit with the history of the Imbesu and Ingubu tribes. Both tribal societies are based upon their cattle and place little value upon money or precious metals and gemstones. The truest display of the chieftains wealth was the size of his herd and breeding bulls, and all important transactions, such as dowries, were paid out in heads of cattle.

Most Komontu scholars do agree that the ritual does have it's basis in a display of wealth and power, however it was not aimed at the members of the tribe itself but at outsiders and foreigners. Many of the tribes subjugated by the Imbesu when they conquered M'Biruna did value precious stones and paid these as tribute to the victorious warriors who in turn gave them to their chief. It is theorised then that when defeated chiefs were summoned to pay homage to the Imbesu chief he displayed their captured wealth as a sign of his dominance. This then extended to demonstrate the power of the chief to foreign traders who sought diamonds and gold from M'Birunan mines.

## Value

The majority of the stones are those of the first water, i.e. those which appear after the first washing during processing, and thus are unusually large for a collection of gemstones including over 100 recorded examples of 60 carats or more, and three of approximately 100 carats which are currently held by the Ingubu tribe. However many of the larger stones are not of gem grade and are suitable only for industrial usage were they ever to be sold. In spite of this the majority of the smaller stones are gem grade and are regarded as probably the single largest accumulation of diamonds in Ajax.

Such is their preponderance their actual value is hard to ascertain. First nobody except the paramount chiefs of the Imbesu and the Ingube, and their wives, are actually aware of the true number of diamonds, and no independent assessor has been allowed to examine either of the two collections. Thus the estimate of five 1 gallon beer pots filled with diamonds is all assessors have to work with, without knowing how many carats or the grade of the majority of the diamonds. Secondly such is the number of the diamonds that their sale on the market would likely crash diamond prices region wide making a true value hard to establish.

In spite of these problems numerous estimates have been made as to the value of the collections, ranging from £800 million to £10 billion. The lower estimates assume that the stones on show are the highest quality and the majority of the collection either does not exist or is predominantly industrial grade stones or indeed simply small pieces of quartz and feldspar. The higher estimates suggest that the entire collection is mainly gem quality and only a small portion is ever displayed. A more realistic estimate of the value would likely be £3 billion according to most commentators. However such discussions are purely academic as the collection is unlikely to ever be sold, and if it were the diamond market would be so unpredictable as to make any estimate worthless.

As the majority of the diamonds are still held by the Imbesu people in de facto independent Agysimba it has been theorised that they could form a store of value for an Agysimban Central Bank and independent currency.