Jwarha in the sources
Jwara (Jwarha) was, in Soga’s account, the heir of the right-hand house of the early Xhosa chief Nkosiyamntu, about 1575, younger than Cira and older than Tshawe. The name is of a lineage of the royal house, and we found no separate clan history for it.
What the sources say
Right-hand house. Soga describes the three houses of Nkosiyamntu, son of Malangana: the great house under Cira, the right-hand house under Jwara and the iqadi under Tshawe (p. 36; p. 104). He uses the three houses as evidence that the houses of a chief’s principal wives had specific names “at a time much earlier than that of Ngconde or Palo”, with at least 125 years separating Nkosiyamntu from Ngconde (p. 36). See Cirha and Tshawe.
Cautions
The Jwara line is attested only as a name in Soga’s genealogy; no source we read gives a clan, a people or praises for it. Soga was a Xhosa-born mission doctor and historian who wrote in 1930 from tribal informants and the older colonial histories; his tables are partly garbled in the machine-read text, and he often says that a clan’s place in the genealogy is uncertain.
Izithakazelo and totem
We found no Jwara praise poem or totem in the sources we read. If your family carries the name Jwarha and recites praises, we would like to record them, with your permission and credited to you.
Sources and further reading
Do you belong to the Jwarha? Tell us your izithakazelo and what elders say about the family’s history, and we will add it, credited to you. Share what you know or WhatsApp 065 138 8213.