Personal Names in Text

This is not meant to be a comprehensive list, but provided for the convenience of the reader. Characters only mentioned in one section of the text, for instance, are not included for this reason.

Andriamaharo: andriana of Antahasoa, Betafo. The “head of 100,” or local administrator of fanompoana, in Betafo in the mid-nineteenth century. He is also said to have been the owner of the local hail charm (“Leafy One,” or Ravololona), and founder of the Protestant church. It is he who is said to have had a famous conflict with Rainitamaina.

Andriamasoandro: ancestor of the deme directly to Betafo’s west. They were descended from the royal lines of the old Imamo kingdom, and traditional rivals of the Andrianamboninolona of Betafo.

Andriamboninolona: ancestor of the 5th grade of nobility in the old Merina kingdom, distant ancestor of the population of Betafo.

Andrianambololona: legendary founder of Betafo in the eighteenth century. Of the noble ancestry of the Andrianamboninolona (q.v.) His tomb is in the middle of tampon-tanana, and his name “Lord Leafy One” is the same as the hail charm, Ravololona.

Andrianampoinimerina: the ruler who unified the warring principalities of the northern highlands to create the Merina kingdom at the very end of the eighteenth century.

Andriantonga: andriana of tampon-tanana, Betafo. Of Betafo’s most prominent family at the time, he became a local administrator under the French, and a notoriously demanding and abusive one.

Andriantsihanika: ancestor of the “Zanak’Antitra,” perhaps the most famous ancestry in the region west of the capital. His descendants are scattered throughout the region but especially concentrated in Amboanana. He is said to have willingly given up andriana status to become a commoner. His tomb, between Antananarivo and Arivonimamo, is a major site of pilgrimage and his spirit is often invoked by Zanadrano.

Armand: mainty of Andrianony and Arivonimamo, eldest son of Ranaivo the Bolt, and after his premature death the effective head of one of Andrianony’s more energetic and prosperous lineages. He attended college at Ankatso in the capital and was engaged in the banana business, as well as being active in a local Trotskyite political movement (the MFM).

Augustin: mainty, prominent political figure of Betafo (Andrianony), had been President Fokontany at the age of 32 (hence his nickname Ikoto Prez, or “Kid President”) with the ruling party AREMA. Managed most of the fields of absentee andriana, especially after his successful destruction of his principle rival Sely.

Chantal: young woman from Arivonimamo, currently engaged in her year of “national service,” who became one of my effective research assistants.

Claude: andriana of tampon-tanana Betafo. Husband of Miadana, son of Elizabeth. One of the few scions of the famous lines of tampon-tanana andriana to actually return to Betafo, having been forced to retire early from a civil service job owing to a series of stomach operations.

Dada Leva: mainty of Kianja, a village not far from Betafo. An elderly astrologer, he is the favored curer from andriana suspicious of Ratsizafy, and Ratsizafy’s declared rival.

Damien (a.k.a. Dami): andriana of tampon-tanana Betafo, eldest son of Miadana and Claude.

Elizabeth: andriana of Antananarivo, mother of Claude. Of one of Betafo’s most prominent andriana families, she rarely visits Betafo itself.

Haingo: andriana of Andrianony, Betafo. The eldest daughter of Miadana and Claude, she is married to Norbert’s son Soanaivo.

Ingahibe. See Ratsizafy.

Ingahirainy: mainty of Andrianony, Betafo, and perhaps the only person in Betafo who is universally conceded to be an elder; though he is also said to be shy and dislikes to play too much of a public role.

Irina: andriana of Antanety, Betafo. Daughter of Ramanana, one of the more prominent in her suspicions of Ratsizafy.

Jean-Marie: mainty of Andrianony, Betafo. Of the same lineage as Augustin, he is also a close friend and ally of their family.

Juliette: mainty of Andrianony, Betafo. Wife of Norbert. Suspected of horrible things, especially by Miadana’s family.

Lailoza: A legendary ancient ruler of Imamo, or according to others, merely the son of a ruler, who oppressed his subjects and was ultimately destroyed by his own father. Since his death he has become more benevolent and his tomb atop mount Ambohitrambo is still a place of pilgrimage and mediumship. Rainibe appears to be a medium of Lailoza. Some feel there is a connection between him and Betafo’s andriana.

Manambe: the wealthiest man in the region around Arivonimamo. He is also the most famous client of Ratsizafy, and relies on him for a variety of protection medicine. Widely rumored to have a Kalanoro.

Mariel: Betafo’s schoolteacher. An andriana from another part of Imerina.

Miadana: andriana, tampon-tanana Betafo. Wife of Claude, and matriarch of one of the most prominent family of andriana returnees to the ancestral lands there. Having lived most of her life in the capital, she is unused to rural ways, and was enthusiastic about communicating everything she herself had to figure out about rural life.

Narcisse: andriana, tampon-tanana Betafo. Younger son of Miadana and Claude.

Nety: mainty, of Andrianony, Betafo, and Arivonimamo. Wife of Armand.

Nivo: andriana, tampon-tanana Betafo. A younger daughter of Miadana and Claude.

Noely: according to many at least, mainty, Morafeno, Betafo. The younger of Ratsizafy’s two sons, and an accomplished expert in medicine in his own right.

Norbert: mainty, Andrianony, Betafo. One of the most notorious opponents of the andriana of Betafo.

Pano: according to many at least, mainty, Morafeno, Betafo. The oldest son of Ratsizafy and purportive heir to the hail medicine.

Rahoby: the main living descendant of Rakotonarivo Auguste, the last occupant of the mansion of Atsimonkady. An engineer based in the capital but who worked frequently in France, he briefly conceived an abortive project of rebuilding the mansion. He died in France during the time I was in Betafo and was buried in the Telo Milahatra.

Rainibe: mainty of Anjakalambo, Betafo. Patriarch of an extended family there, widely rumored to be a Zanadrano (medium) and to propitiate his own Vazimba spirit in the nearby rice fields.

Rajaona: andriana of Belanitra, Betafo. The President Fokontany in 1990.

Rakoto: mainty of Andranomadinika, the poorer, mostly mainty, quarter of Arivonimamo. A young curer, nephew of Ratsizafy, he has a somewhat dubious reputation as an expert in love charms. He claims that he will someday succeed to Ratsizafy’s hail medicine through a “contest of skill” with his children.

Rakoto the Rat (Rakotovoalavo): mainty of Andrianony, Betafo. Born a slave in the nineteenth century, Rakoto appears to have had through the help of andriana allies in Avarakady managed to get an education through the local school and ultimately to pass into government service. He was endlessly abused by his former teacher Ralaitsivery, and finally, in 1902, hired bandits to kill him, whereon he was exiled to French Guyana.

Rakotojaona: Mariel’s husband, and friend of Armand, a Trotskyite activist and promoter of craft cooperatives, temporarily located in Arivonimamo as his wife teaches in Betafo.

Rakotonarivo Auguste: andriana of Atsimonkady, Betafo. Widely remembered as a brilliant eccentric and amateur historian, Rakotonarivo was a descendant of one of Betafo’s great families who dropped out of medical school and returned to the countryside. He died in the ’70s after having sold off most of his family’s inheritance.

Rakotovao: andriana of Antsahavory; a smith, the former pastor of Betafo and keeper of the official deme history.

Ralaitsivery: andriana from tampon-tanana Betafo. Son of Rasoavelo 6 Honors, the local constable, he was Betafo’s schoolteacher and official book-keeper in the late nineteenth century. While unlike his brother Andriantonga he did not receive a government position under the French, is said to have revived the poison ordeal in the early years of French rule. In 1902 he was murdered by bandits hired by Rakoto the Rat (qv.).

Ramanana: andriana of Antanety, Betafo. Mother of Irina and most of the andriana heads of household of Antanety. Since the death of her husband probably the most important andriana elder of the eastern fokontany Betafo, though like Ingahirainy, she does not take much of a public, political role.

Ramena: andriana of Ambaribe, Betafo. In 1990 catechist for Betafo’s Catholic community, and secretly a Zanadrano widely suspected of having a familiar Vazimba spirit. An arch-rival of Ratsizafy.

Rainitaba: mainty of the former settlement of Antandrok’omby, Betafo. A freed slave of long ago said, after death, to have turned into a snake and left his tomb, and ultimately, to have returned to his natal Betsileo.

Rainitamaina: the most famous of Betafo’s mainty ancestors. According to his descendants, who include Ratsizafy and Armand, he was never actually a slave but was a wandering astrologer and purveyor of hail medicine from Betsileo, settled in Anosy, who the andriana of Betafo attempted, but ultimately failed, to enslave. The resulting magical battle left his family in charge of the hail medicine in the eastern part of Betafo. Ratsizafy identifies so closely with him that many actually see the two as effectively identical.

Ranaivo the Bolt (Ranaivo Karetsaka): andriana of Avarakady, Betafo. Often away on business, Ranaivo considers himself the keeper of the story of Rakoto the Rat and the murder of Ralaitsivery.

Ranaivo the Nail (Ranaivo le Fantsika): mainty of Andrianony, Betafo. Father of Armand.

Rasoavelo 6 Honors: andriana of tampon-tanana Betafo during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A minor officer in the Merina army, and later local constable, he was father of Andriantonga and Ralaitsivery and thereby, ancestor of one of its most important noble lines.

Ratsiraka: President of the Republic of Madagascar during the time covered in this book, head of the party AREMA (Avant Garde de la Revolution Malgache).

Ratsizafy: mainty of Morafeno, Betafo. Famous astrologer and curer, and keeper of Dry Rock, the hail medicine, he is perhaps Betafo’s most prominent, and certainly most colorful, political figure.

Razafy: mainty of Anjakalambo, Betafo. Wife of Rainibe.

Razanajoary: andriana of Belanitra, Betafo, married to Ratsizafy, mother of Pano and Noely. Her family are Ratsizafy’s main allies among Betafo’s andriana.

Roelizaka: andriana of tampon-tanana Betafo, recently deceased. He was the last surviving resident of tampon-tanana who was actually born there.

Sely: andriana of tampon-tanana Betafo. Former organizer of sharecropping known for his aristocratic airs, he underwent a catastrophic fall from grace in the months immediately following the disastrous ordeal of 1987.

Soanaivo: mainty of Andrianony, Betafo. Eldest surviving son of Norbert, disowned. Married to Miadana’s daughter Haingo.