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2015-02-11

An early sketch (1956) by Weidjuret of the winter road between Memmegehha and Hwna.	Weidjuret was a Mahhalian politician and author, born September 15, 1900, in Rewk Mahhal, and died September 13, 2000, in Hwna, Puh Kingdom. Like most Mahhalians, he only had one name, but ancestrally he belonged to a small land-holding clan named Memmegehha in the remote, downcoastal part of Hwna Municipality. Thus when he was required to, in foreign countries, he did as most Mahhalians and listed this clan name as his "last name." This is why many international editions of his writing and translations often incorrectly cite his name as Memmegehha. Weidjuret was a noted politician, translator, author and artist, who is best known within Mahhal for having been the youngest Prime Minister in modern Mahhalian history, but is best known outside of Mahhal for his role in translating, interpreting and popularizing a vast swathe Mahhalian literature and culture for non-Mahhalians. This latter was possible because he was raised and educated abroad (in Wiwaxia and the Ardisphere, and thus was one of only a few Mahhalian intellectuals to be truly multi-lingual and "multi-cultural." Despite his foreign upbringing, however, he was also a committed nationalist and patriot, thus rather than deprecating his native culture, he worked hard to disseminate positive views of it in a time when for most of the world Mahhal was an unknown cypher. More . . .

A replica of a sculpture of Hhenkiwlur-du which stands in the antepalace in Rewk Mahhal.	Hhenkiwlur-dw (the ending -dw is an honorific meaning "lord" or "hero" but is always used with this name) is a semi-legendary figure from ancient Mahhalian history, considered the first great hero in Mahhalian history. There is strong historical evidence that a real chieftan named Hhenkiwlur lived in the 6th century BCE, but most Mahhalian legend places his lifetime several hundred years earlier. There are several epic poems that treat the history and deeds of Hhenkiwlur and his tribe. An excellent Ingerish translation of the poem was published by the Mahhalian author Weidjuret Memmegehha in the 1950s. More . . .