Muyaka's poetry in the history of Bao

Abstract

Literary and archaeological evidence date mancala playing rules to the seventeenth century and mancala game boards at least to the sixth century A.D. Individual mancala games are rarely identified since different rules may be used on identical boards. The mancala game of Bao is a possible exception since its board often has distinctive square holes in the centre which also require characteristic rules. Muyaka bin Haji composed a poem on Bao in the early nineteenth century. The composition of the poem and the references to situations in the game indicate that his game is directly related to today's game of Bao. Muyaka's poem allows the rules of Bao to be dated to the beginning of the nineteenth century, almost a century before the earliest physical evidence of this game. In addition, it provides the earliest evidence of game rules which can be related to a contemporary mancala game.