David Conrad in his “Empires of Medieval West Africa” recounts that the Kingdom of Wagadu prospered under the rule of Diabe Cisse’. In those years a virgin from one of the four provinces of the Kingdom was to be sacrificed to Bida, the guardian serpent, which, in exchange, would ensure both the abundance of gold and rainfall. When a young aristocratic man, to save his girlfriend, cut Bida’s head off, Bida’s head flew in the sky, Bida cast a curse on Wagadu, gold and rain vanished and the Kingdom of Wagadu fell into ruin (p.27).

In his beautiful book Conrad uncovers the Origins and the Meaning of Wagadu’s name, explains the ritual sacrifice and the sacrality of Pythons in West Africa (before the arrival of Islam and Christianity) and suggests that in this legendary tale one could find the explanation for why the Soninke left this area.

While Conrad is correct on each of these points, it is much less clear whether Bida was actually a python. Bida lived in a cave and at the death of the old king of Wagadu, it would come out of the cave, smelled those who aspired to become the new king, chose the new king who would try to pluck as fast as possible as many feathers from Bida–because his reign would last for a number of years equal to the number of feathers he had taken from Bida (a story that Conrad recounts on p. 81 of his volume; see also El Bekri, Description de l’Afrique Septentrionale (1965)).

While we have no reason to dispute that in the Pre-Christian and Pre-Islamic era, West African people were worshipping snakes/pythons, that West Africa underwent a process of desertification and pauperization or underdevelopment – though not just because of Bida’s curse – what is remarkable in EL Bekri’s original account is the fact that Bida is a feathered snake.

In the Aztec tradition, Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent (just like Bida) was also the prosperity of the people as he had shared the secrets of agriculture with them. It is rather curious that two civilizations which, for all we know, did not have any contact or any means to influence one another, both shared the notion of a feathered snake god that was instrumental in securing the well being and the prosperity of the people.

References

The Myth of Bida God of the Kingdom of Wagadu (Ancient Ghana 2nd – 11th Centuries AD) | ASJP