Kôngo and Hindu Perceptions of Reincarnation and their Reinterpretation of African Cultures

Abstract

The issue of reincarnation has always been handled as an answer to the question: do Africans believe in reincarnation? This paper shows that the main issue should rather be: do Africans believe in the law of reincarnation? Through the analysis of the differential cosmological conceptions of reincarnation in Kôngo culture and Hinduism the author arrives to the conclusion that contrary to Hinduism reincarnation is not a law in the African Kôngo worldview. This conclusion leads the author to revisit what is assumed to be the doctrine of reincarnation or transmigration of soul, in some African cultures and to show that it alludes rather the transmigration of spirit, the natural means for an ancestor to come back through a sharing of his qualities with a newborn and even for being his protector.