Nandi (c. 1760-1827) was a daughter of a past chief of the Langeni tribe and the mother of the legendary Shaka, King of the Zulus.
Shaka's father was Senzangakona, chieftain of the Zulu clan, which was small and insignificant at the time. After giving birth to her illegitimate son, Nandi spent many hard years being shuffled back and forth between the Zulus and her own tribe. During that time she also had to protect her son from famine, assassination attempts, and his own destructive temper.
Despite the hard times they endured together, or perhaps because of them, Shaka loved his mother almost to the point of worship. When Nandi died of dysentery on October 10, 1827, Shaka put on his war regalia and proceeded to scream his anguish. The entire tribe of 15,000 Zulus erupted into wailing and shrieking. On Shaka’s orders, several people were executed on the spot, and a general massacre broke out. Tradition held that upon the death of someone of Nandi’s stature, several servants and attendants would be wounded or killed, but in this case, the event became a cover for many people to settle old scores. No fewer than 7,000 people died in the massacre.
Nandi, who would be Senzangakhona’s third wife, conceived Shaka while still betrothed and, according to tradition, attributed her growing belly to a shaka, or intestinal beetle.
Shaka was one of many ambitious chiefs who tried to take advantage of the mounting confusion, and thereby added to it.
Shaka recognized that the Cape Colony was the other major power of the region, and saw that the British could prove either useful allies or dangerous enemies.
Shaka also introduced a larger, heavier shield made of cowhide and taught each warrior how to use the shield's left side to hook the enemy's shield to the right, exposing his ribs for a fatal spear stab.
Although Shaka made preliminary contacts with Europeans from the British Empire, he was killed by his half-brother and successor Dingane with help from another brother Umthlangana (Mahlangane) and his induna (advisor) Mbopa before he could test his strategic brilliance against an army equipped with flintlock muskets.
Shaka's name was derived from the Zulu word iShaka - an intestinal beetle on which menstrual irregularities were usually blamed - as Nandi was said to be suffering from this because of her out-of-wedlock pregnancy.
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