IMANA The god of the Banyarwanda people of Ruanda, Imana was seen as almighty and benevolent, intervening in one of the legends of those people in the altercation between a man who always borrowed beans from different people, but wriggled out of repaying the debt. However, this once his creditor was Death, who insisted on reimbursement, and would have taken the man's soul, had not Imana interfered. Imana and Death coexisted. At the beginning the god hunted Death, a kind of wild animal, and Imana ordered men to stay indoors, that Death should not have a hiding place. The quarry, however, sought the protection of an old woman, under whose skirt he hid. Imana, in order to punish the woman, decided that Death could remain with men. Another legend concerning man's loss of immortality blames women also;in this, there was a family consisting of a husband, wife and mother-in-law. The wife disliked the mother-in-law intensely, and was very happy when the latter died. Three days after the funeral she visited the grave and found it full of cracks, as if the dead woman were about to rise. She returned with a heavy pestle, pounded down the earth and cried "Stay dead!" One the following two days the same happened, and again the woman ordered the mother-in-law to remain dead. The third night no cracks were seen, and this signified the end of mankind's chances of revival.