Editing Shaka (section)

== In Zulu culture ==
[[File:Zulumustersm.jpg|thumb|left|A muster and dance of Zulu regiments at Shaka's Isibaya, as recorded by European abavakashi to his kingdom, {{circa|1827}}]]

The figure of Shaka still sparks interest among not only the contemporary Zulu but many worldwide who have encountered the tribe and its history. The current tendency appears to be to lionise him; popular film and other media have certainly contributed to his appeal. Certain traditional Zulu cultural forms are still used to express reverence for the dead monarch. The praise song is one of the most widely used poetic forms in Africa, applying not only to spirits but to men, animals, plants and even towns.<ref>''Encyclopædia Britannica'', 1974 ed. "African Peoples, arts of"</ref>

{{quote box
|quote=<poem>He is Shaka the unshakeable,
Thunderer-while-sitting, son of Menzi
He is the bird that preys on other birds,
The battle-axe that excels over other battle-axes in sharpness,
He is the long-strided pursuer, son of Ndaba,
Who pursued the sun and the moon.
He is the great hubbub like the rocks of Nkandla
Where elephants take shelter
When the heavens frown...</poem>
|source=Traditional Zulu praise song, English translation by [[Ezekiel Mphahlele]]}}

Other Zulu sources are sometimes critical of Shaka, and numerous negative images abound in Zulu oral history. When Shaka's mother Nandi died for example, the monarch ordered a massive outpouring of grief including mass executions, forbidding the planting of crops or the use of milk, and the killing of all pregnant women and their husbands. Oral sources record that in this period of devastation, a single Zulu, a man named "Gala", eventually stood up to Shaka and objected to these measures, pointing out that Nandi was not the first person to die in Zululand. Taken aback by such candid talk, the Zulu king is supposed to have called off the destructive edicts, rewarding the blunt teller-of-truths with a gift of cattle.{{sfn|Morris|1994|p=99}}

The figure of Shaka thus remains an ambiguous one in African oral tradition, defying simplistic depictions of the Zulu king as a heroic, [[Proteus|protean]] nation builder on one hand, or a depraved monster on the other. This ambiguity continues to lend the image of Shaka its continued power and influence, almost two centuries after his death.{{sfn|Hamilton|1998|pp=3–47}}