An Nkisi (plural Minkisi, also Nkishi/Minkishi), literally translates as "(sacred) medicine." The term Nkisi is the general name for a variety of objects used throughout the Congo Basin in Central Africa thought to contain spiritual powers.

Close communication with the dead and belief in the efficacy of their powers are closely associated with Minkisi. Among the peoples of the Congo Basin, especially the Bakongo and the Songye, all exceptional human powers are believed to result from some sort of communication with the dead. People known as banganga (singular: nganga) work as healers, diviners, and mediators who defend the living against witchcraft and provide them with remedies against diseases resulting either from witchcraft or the demands of bakisi (spirits), emissaries from the land of the dead. Image of Kinshasa and Brazzaville, taken by NASA; the Congo River is visible in the center of the photograph Length 4,380 km Elevation of the source m Average discharge 41,800 m³/s Area watershed 3,680,000 km² Origin Mouth Atlantic Ocean Basin countries Dem. ... The Bakongo people (aka. ... Banganga is a place in the Malabar Hill area of Mumbai City. ...

Banganga harness the powers of bakisi and the dead by making minkisi. Minkisi are primarily containers - ceramic vessels, gourds, animal horns, shells, bundles, or any other object that can contain spiritually-charged substances. Even graves themselves, as the home of the dead and hence the home of bakisi, can be considered as minkisi. In fact, minkisi have even been described as portable graves, and many include earth or relics from the grave of a powerful individual as a prime ingredient. The powers of the dead thus infuse the object and allow the nganga to control it.

Minkisi serve many purposes. Some are used in divination practices. Many are used for healing, while others provide success in hunting, trade, or sex. Important minkisi are often credited with powers in multiple domains. Most famously, minkisi may also take the form of anthropomorphic or zoomorphic wooden carvings, and it is these that have principally interested art historians. Anthropomorphism, also referred to as personification or prosopopeia, is the attribution of human characteristics to inanimate objects, animals, forces of nature, and others. ... Categories: Animal stubs ...

References

Visona, Poynor, Cole, and Harris. "A History of Art in Africa," 2001.