Masalanabo Modjadji
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{About|the 2nd Rain Queen|the 7th Rain Queen with same name|Masalanabo Modjadji VII}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name = Masalanabo Modjadji II
| succession = Rain Queen of Balobedu
| coronation =
| reign = 1854–1894
| predecessor = Maselekwane Modjadji
| successor = Khesetoane
| house = Modjadji
| birth_date =
| birth_place = Limpopo, South Africa
| death_date = 1894
| death_place = Limpopo, South Africa
| spouse = Princess Leakhali Modjadji
| spouse-type = Great Wife
| mother = Maselekwane Modjadji
}}
Masalanabo Modjadji II (died 1894) was the second Rain Queen of the South African Balobedu people.
Reign
Masalanabo reigned from 1854 to 1894. She was preceded by Maselekwane Modjadji I.
During the native "location policies" of the early 1890s, Commandant-General Piet Joubert (1834–1900) surrounded the Rain Queen's home until she was forced to give herself up. Historian Louis Changuion wrote, "It would be the first time that white people would see the Rain Queen." However, what happened was not what they had expected. "After four days," Changuion continues, an elderly black woman was carried out on a litter, accompanied by her chief indunas, to negotiate with the white people. It was a great disappointment to the men watching the proceedings{{spaced ndash}}of 'She-who-must-be-obeyed' there was no trace. She was not the white woman of the legends. It is told that Joubert presented her with a "kappie" (bonnet) and a blanket."
According to the book Realm of a rain-queen, Joubert was shown not the real Rain Queen, but an impersonator.{{Cite book|last=J. D. Krige|first=E. Jensen Krige|title=The Realm of a Rain-Queen. A Study of the Pattern of Lovedu Society|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1943}}
A mysterious figure who only rarely appeared in public, Masalanabo had no children. She died childless{{Cite book|last=Molefi Kete Asante (ed.)|first=Ama Mazama (ed.)|title=Encyclopedia of African Religion|publisher=SAGE Publications|year=2008}}
At some point the royal council designated the daughter of "great wife" and sister Princess Leakhali as heir to the throne. Khesethoane inherited the throne. Princess Leakhali was a commoner through his father and she was born out of wedlock . Also the father of
Queen Khesetoane was a commoner. Masalanabo committed ritual suicide in 1894, after having named Leakhali as her successor.
She was succeeded by Khetoane Modjadji III.
Legacy
Among other female authorities in Africa, Masalanabo Modjadji is said to be the inspiration for H. Rider Haggard's novel She: A History of Adventure.{{Cite book |last=Cohen |first=C |title=Rider Haggard: His life and works |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK |year=1968 |isbn=1349006025 |location=United Kingdom}} However, the praise for the influence of female authority on the book is not without criticism. Critics argue that the representation of womanhood in the book and similar works in the field of literary tourism did not only mirror and further imperialist initiatives but "She is also a thinly disguised allegorical admonition to recognize and dispel the threat that the New Woman posed to late-Victorian society".{{Cite journal |last=Murphy |first=Patricia |date=1999 |title=The Gendering of History in She |url=http://muse.jhu.edu/content/crossref/journals/studies_in_english_literature/v039/39.4murphy.html |journal=SEL: Studies in English Literature 1500–1900 |language=en |volume=39 |issue=4 |pages=747–772 |doi=10.1353/sel.1999.0036 |pmid=20169694 |s2cid=36100703 |issn=1522-9270|url-access=subscription }}
References
{{Reflist}}
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{{succession box |
| title = Rain Queen of Balobedu
| years = 1854–1894
| before = Maselekwane Modjadji
| after = Khesetoane
|}}
{{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Modjadji, Masalanabo}}
Category:Year of birth missing
Category:19th-century women monarchs
Category:19th-century monarchs in Africa
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