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The Akan Concept of the Soulby Sam K. Akesson

MAN'S STRUGGLE to understand himself is universal. From primitiveman to modem man, from ancient civilization to our modern rocketry,man has attempted to explore the mystery of the " self " within him,

aware that the physical-substance does not explain his mysterious essence.Science has practically brought nature under man's control by penetrating

into the many mysteries of his physical being; yet, despite the advancesscience has made, it has not in any way been able to say what the soul is.Surgeons can draw blood from many parts of the body, but no surgeon hasmade a soul bleed or heard it expostulate, as Dante has. Physicists have devisedformulae for the vast and for the infinitesmal, able to harness nuclear energyand to measure the weight of an atom, but they have not attempted, as Platohas, to formulate or probe the indwelling spirit. The quest for the soul willprobably never come into the province of science.

The answers of Christian theology, as of other religions, are enshrined inmystery. Christian theology has refined man's ideas of pagan antiquity,especially in its notions of the effects upon' the soul of sin and its con-sequences ; but the mystery still remains, for the Christian explanation of thesoul docs not say exactly what the ' 'personality " of the soul is. The oldprimitive belief that a soul has the personality of its owner, but can beseparated from the body (as experienced in a dream), and that it is indestruc-tible and survives and lives on forever when the organs of the body nolonger function, is still a view widely, if not universally, held.

This study intends to present the concept of the soul as propounded bythe Akans of Ghana and to show the influence of this concept on the lifeand thought of the Akan peoples.

The belief in immortality, in the soul's survival after death, is a conceptAkans do not repudiate. It is natural for the Akan to hold the conceptbecause the belief in immortality has its very origin in the word the Akanuses for soul. The Akan term for soul, KRA or OKRA (meaning " goodbye ")reflects the origin of the concept. Leaving aside for the moment the Akanidea that the souls of new-born children are either emanations of ancestralsouls or reincarnated former lives, I would like us to examine further theconnotations of the " goodbye " which attend the Akan word KRA for thesoul of man.

According to the Akan, the soul (KRA or OKRA) of a man existed withNyame, God, long before it became incarnated. This soul may be the soulor the spirit of a kinsman or ymiftimy* of another person, but one whobelongs to the same tribe. In the past, marriage was strictly endogamousamong Akans; therefore, if a child did not resemble somebody who diedin the kinship group, that child might be regarded as a reincarnate of thehusband's (the father's) kinship group. (My oldest daughter, for example,

THE AKAN CONCBPT OF THE SOUL 281

is believed to have the characteristics of my paternal aunt.) Whatever linethe soul may have come from, that soul existed with Nyame, God, and theday a person is bora is the day on which he takes upon himself the humanframe in order to make his existence real in the physical world of man.According to Christaller "when he [the soul] is thus dismissed in heaven,he takes with him his errand, Lc. his destination or future fate is fixedbeforehand; from this the nam<» KRA or OKRA seems to be drawn. In lifethe KRA is considered partly as a separate being, distinct from the person,who protects him (ME KRA DI MAKYI), gives him good or bad advice,causes his undertakings to prosper or slights and neglects him and, therefore,in the case of prosperity, receives thanks and thank-offerings like a fetish.When the person is about to die, the KRA leaves him gradually, before hebreathes his last, but may be called or drawn back. When he has entirelyleft (whereby the person dies), he is no more called KRA, but SESA orOSAMANG."1 In whatever way the concept might be explained, the generalbelief is that the soul is not the body one sees ; it is a separate entity whoseanatomical pnthrnnffrnrnt the Akan is not definite nor is he clear in his mindwhat the anatomy of the soul is. The best the Akan can say is that thesoul permeates the system as if it were a drink of whisky.1 The soul is a stuffof some kind ; it is in the blood ; in the breath ; in the hair; in the fingerand toe dippings ; it is in every part of the human body.

To the Akan the soul is a life-force which animates the body; it is thatwhich makes man a living person. If an Akan baby starts to yawn, hismother makes a funny, glottal sound to attract the soul to stay. Sometimesthe mother gently covers the gaping mouth of the baby to keep the soulfrom taking its leave. Shouts are never allowed where children are resting.Shouts are believed to scare away or make the souls of children flee. Thoughthe KRA is invisible, it is known through the activities of the living person.The nature of the soul is determined by the character and the actions of theliving person. Maxims such as ME KRA NNYE, which literally means " Ihave a bad soul " ( l a m not lucky), or ME KRA AYEW ME HO, meaning" my soul has fled away from me " when one becomes petrified with fear,are indications of the activities of the soul at such times.

The label by which Nyame knows the living Akan is the natal name theperson bears. A natal """"• is, therefore, the secret name an Akan would,in the past, not divulge to anyone. Since the soul of the living Akan existedwith Nyame long before it became incarnated and since God is bis father,for in the Akan concept of humanity it is only a father who gives names tochildren, the living Akan has the personality, the substance of Nyame'simmortality. The Akan proverb NIPA NYINA YE YAME MMA OBI NYEASASE BA meaning " All men are Onyame's offspring; no one is the offspring

1 Dictionary of the ASANTE and FANTI Language by the late Rev. J. G.Christaller (Second Edition).

1 William Howells, The Heathens.

282 AFRICAN AFFAIRS

of earth " or NYAME NWU NA M'AWU or NYAME BEWU NA MA WUmeaning " If God could die, I would die,"1 is a justification of the nature ofimmortality the Akan believes in. Dream-life may be said to be a contributionto the concept of the immortality Akans hold. Dead friends and relativesreappear to the Akan in dreams. In his dream-life the Akan holds conversationwith his dead relative but " this conception of a posthumous life to theexperiences of dreams "' is only additional fart to make the primary factor,the " goodbye " concept—the pre-existence concept—more positive, more realand meaningful.

Days are not only a measure of time by which Akans arc able to reckonweeks into months and months into years. They are not only the meansby which the Akan determines his age, but they are like gateways or entrancesthrough which the soul of the Akan takes his place in the arena of the livingpeople. Each day has, therefore, a specific name for the Akan according tothe day on which he entered the world through birth. As already indicated,that name is not only secret but is also sacred, for it is the nam* the Akanworships ; it is the name by which the Akan is known to Nyame and thegods, the tutelar deities. In the past, when Christianity was first introducedin Ghana, candidates for baptism were given names from the Bible. Thosenames were names by which pastors and members of the Christian communitycalled the people. Many Akan Christians, in these days, prefer to go by theirclan names, last names. The natal name an Akan bears is bis godly orreligious name, so to speak. The natal name carries similar meaning as thename a Christian may bear. There arc seven souls (or natal names) corres-ponding to the seven days of the week. Like the names in the Bible, eachnatal name has a strong appellation or honorific I was born on Thursday.My natal name is YAO (YAW) or KWAW and I am a child of Jupiter (THOR,JOVE). My honorific is ABERAW which signifies STRENGTH. I cite belowthe table of natal names and their significance in Akan life and thought : '

Day

English Akan

Sunday Kwasida

MondayTuesday

DwodaBenada

Natal Name

Malt Ftmal*

Kwasi Akosua

Kwadwo AdwoaKwabem Abena

Honorific ** Child of

Tutelar Akan Strut Classic Senst

Wednesday Wukuda Kwaku Akua

Thursday Yaoda Yao(Y«w) YaaFriday Fida Kofi AfuaSaturday Memenda Kwame Ama

Awusi

AwaAbena(ben)Aku(Okuning)AberawAnAmen

(under) Sunthe tunpeace ennonfire or heat Man (war)

fame Mercury woden)

strength Jupiter (Thor)G°|ve)growth Venus (Freya)Most Saturn (Amon ofancient Egypt)(seasoned)

1J . B. Danquah, The Akan Doctrine of God.4 William Howells, The Heathens.1 J. B. Danquah, The Akan Doctrine of God.

THE AKAN CONCBPT OF THE SOUL 283

There is more to the natal means than one might imagine Each of thenatal day names has its own attribute or secret name. The Akan is addressedon the talking drums or on the horns during religious ceremonies by his secretname and not his clan name or surname. My surname is AKA which themissionary who baptized me when I was an infant unfortunately Anglicizedinto Akesson. The suffix " son " indicates that I am the son of AKA- At areligious ceremony I would not be addressed as AKA, for that is the namecreated for me by the living. I would be addressed by my secret name YAO

(or YAW) and its appropriate attribute PEREKO, "The Aggressor" or" Eager for War ". A natal name is the name with which an Akan comes intothe world from the spirit-world of Nyarne. It is the name which belongs tothe soul of the Akan. It is the name with which the soul of the Akan couldbe conjured or harmed by his enemy. The following is the list of theattributes:

1. Sunday child KWASI is known as BODUA, " Tail of the Beast."2. Monday child KWADWO is known as OKOTO, " Suppliant."3. Tuesday child KWABENA is known as OGYAM, " The

Compassionate."4. Wednesday child KWAKU is known as NTONI, " Champion " or

" Vicarious Hero ".5. Thursday child YAW is known as PEREKO, " The Aggressor " or

" Eager for War."6. Friday child KOFI is known as OKYIN, " Wanderer."7. Saturday child KWAME is known as ATOAPOMA, " Ever-Ready

Shooter " and also OTUNANKADURO, " Maker of Serpent'sAntidote."

The fact of immortality, as the evidence of Akan religion shows, is wellestablished in the relationship between each natal day name (each soul) andits corresponding deity. The incapriciousness and the constancy of the cycleof the days of the week may have contributed to the knowledge of whichAkans are aware that death is not a complete but a temporary annihilationor cessation of life.

We have seen that there are seven human souls in the Akan world foreither sex. We have also seen that the souls of new-born children are largelythose of the ancestral souls. In other words, souls are emanations of deadkinsmen or those souls themselves reincarnated. " But", as Emile Durkheimhas stated, " in order that they may either reincarnate themselves, or periodic-ally give off new emanations, they must have survived their first holders."We would surmise, therefore, that Akans explain the existence of the livingby postulating the theory of the survival of the dead. Since there are sevensouls for each group of sex, Akan God does not appear to be able to createadditional souls out of nothing.

284 AFRICAN AFFADtS

Ridiculous as this may seem, does it not indicate a completion of creationwhich the Bible story of Creation affirms ? Almost every creature repeatsitself in one way or the other. In the animal world each species eitherrepeats itself or becomes extinct through some natural catastrophy or throughuncontrolled hunting (of game animals) for human consumption. In the plantworld each species of plant repeats itself. Akans who are born into the Akanworld can only be those who have existed before; "they are new formsof those who have been."*

Put briefly, the belief in the immortality of the soul, as is held by Akans,explains a major factor in Akan life; it is the concept which explains theperpetuity of the clan, the tribe. Individuals may die, but that does notaffect the group; the clan lives on; it survives death. Death, to the Akan,is incapable of making void the existence of the Akan clan, for " though thegroup may not be immortal in the absolute sense of the word, still it istrue that it endures longer than the individuals and that it is born andincarnated afresh in each new generation."7

According to the Akan all AKRA, souls, are equal in quality, in substance,and in form for all AKRA come from one source, NYAME. But when theKRA enters the world of the living he assumes a physical and social roleappropriate for him in the Akan tribal or clan hierarchy. That KRA couldbe NANA, PROGENITOR or grandfather. Since there is a hierarchy inAkan life, it is obvious that all Akra are not equal in status. Akans, therefore,distinguish between two sorts of souls, namely, the souls of those of theancestors and those AKRA of individuals who may die without ascendingto the throne created for the post of NANA. These latter souls compose theactive body of the clan, the tribe in the life and history of Akan peoples.The souls of Nananom, ancestors, survive death; they live on forever for theyare uncreated. They do not perish for they live in the shrines (clan-ttools).The living Akan serve them with food and drink and worship them. Accordingto the doctrine of the Akan, each soul upon departing from the living, Le.upon death, returns to God by whose permission he came to live amongthe living. In other words, each Akan soul goes back to the source fromwhich he came, but not all souls live on forever after they have thus reportedthemselves to Nyame. A maternal cousin of mine died about ten years ago.He left behind him three children (sons) and nephews and nieces in thematernal line, but never have I seen any of them offering him a drink ofwine. My cousin did not rise to the office of Nana; therefore, since he isnot remembered by the living he is extinct, Akans make their supplicationsto the spirit of ancestors; those souls who held positions in the hierarchyof Akan life. The following pattern of Akan prayer explains more fully whatI have indicated above :

* EmQe Durkheim, Elementary Forms of Religious Life.

'Ibid.

THB AKAN CONCEPT OF THE SOUL 285

" Twaduampong Kwame, " God on whom men leanBegye nsa nom. And do not fall;Nananom nsamanfo, Whose day is Saturday,Mommegye nsa nom. Receive this wine and drink.Asase Yaa, Spirits of the ancestors,Begye nsa nom, etc., etc." Receive this wine and drink.

Spirit of the Earth goddess.Receive this wine and drink, etc., etc."

The soul of the individual non-Nana is not mentioned in the prayer.In supporting the importance of the immortality of the ancestors, Emilie

Durkheim writes that the ancestors " are the only ones whose immortality isnecessary to explain the permanence of the group; for it is upon them, andupon them alone, that it is incumbent to assure the perpetuity of the clan,for every conception is their wort"8 Emile Durkheim goes on to say that" in this connection, the others have no part to play. So souls are not saidto be immortal except in so far as this immortality is useful in renderingintelligible the continuity of the collective life."* This is the extent to whichAkan sociological aspect of the soul can go. We will now try to eraminf.another important feature of the soul, namely, the conscious and the sub-conscious personality aspects.

In our examination of the Akan concept of immortality we saw that inAkan theology the soul has some of the spiritual substance of the SupremeBeing, Nyame, for the word KRA which connotes " goodbye " has its originin the pre-existence concept the Akan has of the soul. Since Nyame isperfect, the perfection of the soul before entering into the material world,through birth, is well established. The following Akan expression establishesthe fact of God's perfection :

ODOMANKOMA BOO ADEE NO,ABOO NO KRONKRON KRONKRON

By translation this means "The Creator (God) created the "thing" holy(perfect)." The inference is that because Nyame is himself perfect, he couldnot create anything imperfect. The " thing " to which the Maxim refers isthe KRA, the soul. The Akan concept of man seems to run parallel to theHebrew conception of man, namely, that " God breathed into the nostrils ofman and man became a living soul." What seems to be obscure in theAkan concept of T"»" is the origin of the human body into which the Okraenters. In the Hebrew account of creation it is clearly stated in Genesis2 : 7 that God made man out of clay. In other words, the origin of thehuman body is accounted for even though it is not accepted as scientificfact It does seem, however, that the world of the ancestors has all the

1 Emile Durkheim, Elementary Forms of Religious Life.'Ibid.

286 AFRICAN AFFAIRS

bodies of dead kinsmen and the soul of the Akan who is given permissionby Nyame enters into one of those bodies to reappear or take his abodeamong the living. Whatever way one may explain the origin of the Akanconcept of the human body, one thing is dear. Like the Hebrews, Akanspostulate that man is composed of three elements : the HONAM (the body),the SUNSUM (the spirit, personality, the ego), and the KRA (or OKRA),the soul. Of the trichotomy the first is most distinguishable, namely, the body.But the distinction between the KRA and the SUNSUM is not quite clearnor is it easy to follow. The origin and meaning of the Soul is well establishedin the connotations of " goodbye " for the KRA's departure from Nyame.That the KRA is closely bound to the human body and that it is ordinarilya prisoner there in the body but at the same time is profoundly distinct fromit since it can enjoy a large degree of independence, is what Akans believe.But when we come to examine the activities of the KRA and the SUNSUMthere we find Akans using the two terms interchangeably and synonymously.However, the following hypothesis throws some light on the distinctionbetween the life-soul (the KRA) and the personality-soul (the SUNSUM) inthe minds of Akans.

We stated earlier that the KRA is closely connected with the parts of theorgans of the body especially the blood. This is true of the Akans of Ghanawho inherit through the matrilineal line and therefore belong to the ABUSUAor the blood-clan—the vessel of the KRA. With this assumption, there isfound a distinction between the KRA and the SUNSUM. The latter seemsto be a functional element after the KRA has taken its residence in man.The Sunsum, in a sense, belongs to or exists in the material world and itbecome a functional part of man only when man has become a living soul.Sunsum is therefore a conscious counterpart of the soul of the Akan. KRA isworshipped; is given offerings. Among some of the Akan tribes each personhas an altar for his KRA. Sunsum is not worshipped. Sunsum is that partof the Akan which fights the evils which try to contaminate the KRA.Sunsum tries to conquer the weaknesses to which the Akan is exposed. This,as Dr. Danquah observes, leads "to the Akan postulate of the Okara asstanding over and other than the Sunsum, the one in the spiritual worldready to enter the personality for heightened mental action, the other, (Sunsum)in the material world, charged with the duty of preparing for the entry ofthe Okara—To the Akan, then, Sunsum is a form of consciousness or embodiesone, but it is very partial and inadequate expression of the full capacities ofthe Okara who, or which, remains beneath or above the gates of consciousnessever waiting for the door to be opened for entry.""

In his description of the Sunsum, Dr. Busia writes, " A man's Sumsum ishis ego, his personality, his distinctive character—a father transmits hisSunsum to the child; this is what moulds the child's personality anddisposition—the Sunsum (is) the personal power, the cast of countenance, or

10 J. B. Danquah : Akan Doctrine of God.

THE AKAN CONCEPT OF THB SOUL 287

personality of man." In Akan psychology, therefore, the life-soul comes fromthe Abusua, the blood-dan of the maternal ancestors of the Akan and thepersonality-soul, the Sunsum, from the father. Rattray defines the Akanpersonality-soul in these words : the Sunsum is " that spiritual element ina man or woman upon which depends not life, Le. breath, for that is theKRA—but that force, personal magnetism, character, personality, power, soul,call it what you will, upon which depend health, wealth, worldly power,success in any venture, in fact, everything that makes life worth living."11

The following Akan expressions throw more light on what Akans conceiveto be the Sunsum, the personality-soul. If a person has a " strong personality "the Akan says : " NE SUNSUM YE DURU " mining his personality-soulis heavy or " NE SUNSUM YE DEN " meaning his personality-soul is strong.The feeble, frail physique of a person is an indication of a weak KRA butnot a weak personality-soul. The well being of the Akan depends, to a largeextent, on the right relationship between the KRA, the life-soul, and theSUNSUM, the personality-soul. If there is a conflict between the two, inother words, if the equilibrium is disturbed as a result of a sinful act orwrong-doing, the life-soul may decide to evacuate its casket. I have knownsome Akans who have withered or pined away because of a disturbed con-science. A little worry, some mental disturbance is sure to make the Akanbecome ill. The awareness the Akan has of the purity of the KRA makeshim become sensitive to wrong-doing. Dr. Debrunner has concluded that" anger, bitterness, and resentment against others, especially if allowed torankle without finding speech, are commonly recognized causes of illness. Itis believed to be hopeless to expect health in the presence of rancorousthoughts. That some consciences are tenderer than others is expressed bysaying that if a man has a good KRA and he disgraces it, he often dies.""

I propose now to make a comparison among the three spiritual entities inthe Akan world of thought. It is interesting to note that Akans confine theKRA only to human beings. Animals have organs like men; they haveblood ; they breathe ; and in many respects they act as human beings ; yet,Akans do not ascribe souls to animals. These attributes, personality-soul andlife-soul, belong to the realm of human beings only. But, as we shallpresently see, animals have SASA and the SASA concept is shared by manalso. ' Sasa ", writes Rattray, " is the invisible spiritual power of a personor nnimnl̂ which disturbs the mind of the living, or works a spell or mischiefupon them, so that they suffer in various ways. Persons who are always takinglife have to be particularly careful to guard against Sasa influence, and it isamong them that its action is mainly seen, e.g. among executioners, hunters,butchers and, as a later development—among sawyers—who cut down thegreat forest trees (believed to be abodes of spirits)."" What the psychologist

11 Rattray : Ashanti, p. 46.u Dr. Debrunaer, Witchcraft in Ghana.11 Rattray : Ashanti.

288 AFRICAN AFFAIRS

would label as remorse which might make a murderer confess to the crimehe committed the Akan would attribute a similar effect to the influence ofthe Sasa spirit of the murdered. The Sasa of a deceased person is that partof his spirit which is conscious of the cause or nature of his death. As Ihave already mentioned, the Sasa spirit is hostile to the living, and until theappropriate medicine or fetish has been applied, the Sasa of the deceasedis believed to haunt this " enemy ", the murderer. As a matter of fact, Sasahas no form like a ghost-soul which we shall presently examine. Sasa causesthe remorse which comes upon the person who shed the blood of his neighbouror killed the big wild game, namely, the Elephant, the Bongo, the Lion orthe Leopard, or felled the great forest tree, e.g., the Odum or Odii tree whichis believed to be the abode of a tutelar deity. It is the source of the uncannyfeeling which incapacitates the executioner, the murderer, or the hunter. Thefeeling brings dread in its train and very often makes one collapse or makesone go made, or commit suicide. The Akan expression, NE SASA ANNYANO, meaning, literally, " his revengeful spirit has got him or his Sasa hasrendered him weak ", describes the inability of the " enemy " to exert himselfon account of the strange atmosphere the Sasa spirit has produced. We haveexamined this part of the Akan concept of the spirit in order to show theimportance of the KRA concept which is the property of man alone.

In our discussion of the Akan concept of man we saw that Akans believethat man has a triple nature. In life, an Akan is Kra (soul), Sunsum (per-sonality-soul), and Honam (die body). Upon deadi when the Kra becomesdisincarnated the Akan becomes Osamang with ethereal body. The threeaspects, namely, Kra, Sunsum, and Osamang of man have slight shades ofdifference. In the first, the life-force, Kra, returns to Nyame from whence itcome as soon as man ceases to breathe. Kra is not like the Sunsum, thepersonality-soul which, though residing in the body may leave at will andhave independent experience in free space as in dream-adventures. Thelife-soul doss not seem to have influence over other souls as the Sunsum.In its terrestrial life the main function of the KRA is to animate man tofunction and to enable him to accomplish his daily tasks. Since the vegetativeorganism of man is the garb for the KRA, the KRA is the great reservoir ofitrength, the life-principle which makes the body capable of casting a shadowupon the reflection of the sun, the moon, or a light. The KRA, therefore,makes the individuality of the Akan recognizable; hence, it is forbidden totread upon, or to hit, or to harm or disturb the shadow of the Akan. Ashadow is not a reflection of the human frame but is Sunsum, a spirit, andtherefore has the senses and is susceptible to pain. The Sunsum, the duplicateof the body of the Akan, ceases to be a shadow when the vegetative organismcease to function. The Sunsum then becomes actualized through the etherealbody, the ghost-body. Upon the death of the Akan, the Sunsum does nolonger depend upon the body for its existence. A ghost-soul is therefore theSunsum with an ethereal body; it is believed to be the exact form of thehuman'body of the deceased. Put briefly, Osamang is an aparidon, a spectre,and is a name used for the activities of the dead but not the' Jiving person.

THE AKAN CONCEPT OF THE SOUL 289

But considering the existence of the spirits of the ancestors, it appears Akansascribe to them not only ethereal bodies, but the exact corporeal structurewhich was visible to the living when they were in the material world. Thisaccounts for the reason why food and drink are offered to them;

In his account of the ancestors, Dr. Danquah writes : " it is upon thestandard of morality set by the manner of life of the good spirit, called Nana,that members of his family and his descendants look for guidance in thatmoral life. It is also to this spirit that offerings are made, for whom purificationceremonies are performed, to whom prayers are directed, librations pouredand maflhcd yams offered."

Wcsterman describes ancestor worship in the following way: " not only dothose who have died live again; they live together as they did here, andso the whole community is guaranteed survival in death, as are individualswho make it up. Much more than this, however, ancestor worship putsbefore the people the importance of their community life—it makes them fedthat their ancestors are interested in them, and in what they are each doingto maintain the village; it presents them with a means of feeling theimportance of responsibility and the goodwill of each man for th; commonweaL"1' The belief in the materiality of the ghost-soul is evident in theconscious awareness of the physical activities the living Akan has of thedeparted. It is gratifying to note that the disembodied soul is not ostracisedfrom nor forgotten by the society to which he belonged when he was in thematerial world nor is he regarded as alien in his new sphere of existence. Thedeparted is a citizen of the new world, the ghost-world, as well as the old,the world of the living Akans. He is believed to have knowledge of his pastand of his descendants, for he benefits from their ministrations. This pervadesthe popular thought of the Akans.

In the preceding discussion, it was shown that Akans appear to be clear indistinguishing between the KRA, the life-soul and the ghost-soul, Osamang.The KRA is the impersonal, vital basis of life which comes directly fromNyame and which retraces its steps back to God when it is disembodied. Whenthe KRA becomes liberated from the body, the Sunsum, the personality-soulor the spirit, the duplicate of the animated body, becomes a personal factoractualized in the material body of which he was the shadow at one time.The Sunsum thus becomes Osamang, a ghost-soul. It enjoys two powers,namely, bodily (material) and ethereal (inmateriaT) powers. It enjoys, noipartially, but the whole of th'e mental faculties with which the living personis endowed. In that capacity the Sunsum is less substantial and less strictlysubject to limitations of time and space. The Akan word OSAMANG isdescriptive of th: privileged powers which death grants the ghost-soul of thedeceased Akan. Tht root word SA means " to run after " ; the suffix MANGmeans " the body of inhabitants of a country united under the same govern-

u Westennan : The African Today and Tomorrow.

290 AFRICAN AFFA1HS

ment, a nation, tribe, people or state."" The name OSAMANG could beunderstood as the person from the body of inhabitants who run after theviolator of the customs. The prefix " 0 " is the third person singular in theAkan grammar. The ghost-souls or the spirits of the dead watch the affairsof the state with keen eyes, and it is well known that they do not let amember of a community who may break a taboo go unpunished. Literallyspeaking, Osamang runs after those who violate the customs laid down bythe ancestors.

Dr. Danquah's description of the Akans' conception of ASAMAN (HADES)clarifies in detail the state of the Nether-world, the nature of its citizens, andthe extent of their influence. " Death ", writes Dr. Danquah, " is a painfulprocess of transition from an unhappy material world to a spiritual ghostlyworld called ASAMAN (HADES); equally unhappy, but where the un-happiness is rendered tolerable by the enhanced freedom of thought andpower. In Asaman there is the self-same monarchy that a man was subjectto when clad in his mortal self, and a person dies only to find his immortalself in the clutches of those judges and magistrates whose successors hadjudged and ruled him when clothed in that outer garment of the soul. It iseasy, according to Akan belief, for the spirit of a dead person to demand thepresence of a living person in Asasam for the settlement of an outstandingcontroversy between them ; it is easy, in due season, for spirits to materializeand communicate with their living relations in either a bodily form or inan invisible but audible spiritual phenomenon . The spirits of the deadhave powers over the will and thoughts of the living (ateasefo), and they caneither direct a living person to mischief, prevent a living person from doingmischief, or guard the footsteps of a living relation from falling into impendingdanger.""

The traditional concept of the soul as the supernatural part of man iswidely held by men of almost every religion. What is peculiar to the Akanconcept is the transition which the soul, the KRA, undergoes to become aghost-soul and still continues to give guidance to the ATEASEFO, the living,in the new capacity, the ethereal form, he assumes. The introduction of thetrichotomy of human personality into Honam (body), Sunsum (spirit), andKRA (life-soul) makes the Akan concept a sound theological if not scientifictheory. Despite its corporeality, the ghost-soul is capable of displayingvanishing feats according to the Akan belief. This requires further examina-tion.

In life, the KRA clads itself with the earthly garment, the body. Withoutthe vegetative organism, the KRA does not exist. In life, therefore, the life-soul uses the body for its activities; hence, it is a distinct entity, separatefrom the body. But upon the death of the Akan the KRA discards the veil

'»J. G. Christaller, Dictionary of ASANTI and FANTI LANGUAGE, SecondEdition.

" Dr. Danquah, The Gold Coast Akan.

THB AKAN CONCEPT OF THE SOUL 291

and the Sunsum, the shadow, which is a reflection of the body in life,replaces it. This Sunsum, the ghost-soul, does not inhabit the body, is nota separate entity distinct from the body as the KRA, but has a dualisticpersonality, a two-fold entity, namely ethereal and corporeal. In other words,the dualism of man, physical and spiritual, does not break down at death.The Akan is still a dual personality : body and soul (with the spirit as the" child " of the soul in life) and ghost-spirit at death. Upon the death ofthe Akan the body ceases to be the veil of the soul; the body becomesenergized with ethereal substance capable of making its entrance into or exitfrom closid doors.

Is this awareness Akans have of the ghost-soul not a projection of theirown imagination motivated by the impressions made on them by the deadwhile in the flesh ? The fact that the dead appears to his relations in theconsanguine group and to those who knew him intimately is, to me, anindication that the whole phenomenon of the soul's becoming ethereal sub-stance with a corporeal body is a projection made possible by the impressionsthe dead made on the living. The life span is three score and ten ; therefore,human beings live a long time. In the orbit of man's life, the combinationof the qualities of character and mind, the personality, does not cease to makeitself felt by impressing upon the sympathies of those of his equals and thoserelations of his with whom he shares traditional beliefs. The constancy ofman's relationship with friends and relatives make the latter adapt themselvesto his familiar form—they may either love or hate him according to how hisdisposition may be. Death suddenly breaks the relationship and makes theeffect on bis circle not merely a sorrowful one but a real psychologicalamputation. The family, the clan, the whole group loses the protection itenjoyed and the security it got from the deceased kin. The Akan expression :ODUPON ATUTU meaning "The great tree is fallen" is descriptive ofthe feeling of hopelessness and loss which the death of the Akan brings uponthe people. The elaborate and lengthy funeral ceremony prolongs the feelingof bereavement preoccupying the bereaved with the one who has disappeared.This preoccupation so works upon the imagination of the bereaved that thebereaved feel the disembodied presence. " The body ", writes Howell, " nomatter how beautifully it might be mummified, is no real comfort; what wehave lost is the person himself. It is practically beyond belief that anythingso alive as his personality, so highly organized, so valuable to us, perhapsso learned or so gifted, has in a moment disintegrated. Somehow it must stillexist, as it was. We abhor to think otherwise."17

r William Howell, The Heathens, pp. 146 - 147.