Twice ToldCallet, Tantara ny Andriana, 1908: the Ramanenjana at the palace
- Language
- Malagasy
- Reading
- OCR, checked against the page image
- Translation
- ours
- Retrieved
- 5 October 2026
Tantara ny Andriana eto Madagascar, “history of the kings in Madagascar”, is a collection of Malagasy historical texts put together by François Callet from Malagasy manuscripts and published at Antananarivo in 1908. The pages on the Ramanenjana are in Malagasy, with no named teller and no date for the account. The passage below is the part about the sick people who came to the king’s compound, the king’s order about them, and what they did with the fruit they took. The page before it (p. 640) has the story of the dead Queen Ranavalona leaving Ambondrombe, and the tellers’ remark that the Ramanenjana made the Merina believe again that the dead go to Ambondrombe.
Ary misy koa, hony, ny marary Ramanenjana niditra tany anaty rova nanao hoe: « Aiza Radama II? » — Dia niteny ny mpiambina nanao hoe: « Ato anaty rova. » — Dia niteny indray ny marary: « Avelao aho hiditra, fa asain-dreny ny mankaty amy ny. » Dia lazainy ny mpiambina amindRadama izany teny izany; dia navela ny hiditra ny marary; dia niteny ny marary eo anatrehan dRadama II nanao hoe: « Sarasara Tompo ko e! trarantitra Tompo ko e! mifanantera amy ny reny nao. » — Dia taitra Radama amy ny teny hoe mifanantera amy ny reny nao. — « Moa, hoy Radama anakampo ny, tsy maty ny reny ko! » — Dia niteny ny marary nanao hoe: « Tompokolahy ô! reny nao etsy Mahamasina miandry anao. » Taitra indray Radama II nandre izany, ka nasai’ny ho samborina ny marary, fa teo Mahamasina tsy nisy na inona na inona akory, afatsy ny marary be dia be manodidina ny vato masina, sy ny mpihira ny marary. Ary rahefa voa fatotra ny marary, dia saikia maty, dia nasain-dRadama nalefa, ka nihirana ela vao natanjaka.
Dia manatitra ny vokatry ny tany, ka maka voankazo na fary na akondro… dia tsy matahotra ny tsilo akory izy ireny; fa matetika mifefy ny saha n’olona ka be tsilo manodidina, ka manitsaka ny tsilo be iny izy, ka tsy maratra ny tena ny rehetra amy ny izany, fa atao ny izay ahazoa’ ny ny vokatra ny tany ho entina amy ny andriana; fa raha tany miaro ny tomponjavatra, dia alai’ny hiany, fa ny havana no mandoa vola; fa tamy ny Radama II namoaka didy izy nanao hoe, « raha misakana ny marary dia atao ko meloka, fa tsy sakanana izy, fa avela haka izay tia’ny halaina ireo, fa olona marary, » dia eny amy ny vato masina eny Mahamasina, no mametraka ny zavatra alaina, fa tsy dia hani’ny tsy akory, fa atao ny eny ambony ny vatomasina, eny antendrombohitra, eny andoha fasana; indraindray enti’ny mody ka apetra’ny eo an-jorofirarázana; ary rahefa manatitra ny fary na zavatra hafa vokatry ny tany, dia miafa ny sasany.
Translation
And they say there were also some of the sick, with the Ramanenjana, who went into the rova and said: “Where is Radama II?” The guard said: “He is inside the rova.” The sick person spoke again: “Let me in, for his mother has sent me here to him.” The guards told Radama these words, and the sick person was allowed in. Before Radama II the sick person said: “Greetings, my lord! Long life, my lord! May you grow old with your mother.” Radama was startled at the words “grow old with your mother.” “But,” Radama said to himself, “my mother is dead!” Then the sick person said: “Sir, your mother is waiting for you at Mahamasina.” Radama II was startled again to hear it and ordered the sick person seized, because at Mahamasina there was nothing at all, only a great number of sick people around the sacred stone and those who sang for them. And when the sick person had been tied up and was nearly dead, Radama ordered the person released, and they sang for the person a long time before the person regained strength.
They bring the fruits of the land, taking fruit, or sugar cane, or bananas… and they have no fear of thorns at all. Owners often fence their fields with thick thorns, but the sick walk across the thorns and their bodies are not hurt by it. Whatever they can get of the fruits of the land is to be carried to the king. If the owner is guarding the land, they simply take it, and their relatives pay money. For Radama II issued an order, saying: “If anyone obstructs the sick, I will hold them guilty; do not obstruct them, let them take what they want to take, for they are sick people.” And they put what they take on the sacred stone at Mahamasina, not eating it at all; they put it on top of the sacred stone, on hilltops, at the head of tombs. Sometimes they carry it home and set it in the ancestors’ corner. And when they have brought sugar cane or other fruits of the land, some of them are eased.
Notes
- “Marary” means a sick person and does not say whether the person is a man or a woman. David Graeber (On Kings, 2017, pp. 332 to 333) prints a translation of both paragraphs from the same page and renders the sick as women; our reading keeps the Malagasy word’s neutrality. His English and ours agree on the sense, apart from small points: “mifanantera” is “grow old together” in his version, which we follow loosely, and “avela haka izay tia’ny halaina” is “let them take whatever they like”.
- “Rova” is the royal compound at Antananarivo; “jorofirarazana” is rendered “Corner of the Ancestors” by Graeber (2017, p. 333); the page itself does not explain it.
- The OCR printed “hony” and the apostrophes as the page does. The reading was checked against the page image word by word for the two paragraphs above; the elided forms (amindRadama, dRadama, n’olona) follow the print.
- The page prints the account as what “they say” (“hony”); nobody is named as the source, and nothing dates it. Radama II’s thought (“my mother is dead!”) is the teller’s, not a record of what he said.
- On p. 642 the same account gives the song of the dancers’ singers. It begins “Izahay maikia e e e!”, “We are in a hurry”, which matches the Jesuit accounts’ cry “izahay maikia” (“nous sommes pressés”).