was known in her youth as Ramaitsoanala ("Green Forest"), was the daughter of the Vazimba water goddess Ivorombe ("Great Bird"). With the assistance of her celestial mother, Ramaitsoanala confronted and overcame numerous obstacles. After her marriage to Andriamanelo (whereupon she assumed the name Queen Randapavola), one of these obstacles took the form of reproductive difficulties: six consecutive times Randapavola miscarried or lost her children in infancy. When she was pregnant with her seventh child, the queen was especially afraid for her unborn child because the number seven was traditionally associated with death. This time, Randapavola sought the guidance of an astrologer to protect the unborn child from an evil fate. On his advice she chose to defy the tradition of delivering the baby at her parents' home village of Ambohidrabiby, rather choosing the village of Alasora, to the north of Antananarivo, because this cardinal direction embodied great power. According to the tale, the queen gave birth in a house built to resemble a boat (called a kisambosambo) evocative of the transoceanic origins of the Malagasy people. There, Randapavola took the name Rasolobe upon delivering a healthy son, Ralambo, on the first day of the first month of the year (Alahamady), the most auspicious date for the birth of a sovereign. Reign Ralambo's many enduring and significant political and cultural achievements of his reign have earned him a heroic and near mythical status among the greatest ancient sovereigns of Merina history. Ralambo was the first to assign the name of Imerina ("Land of the Merina people") to the central highland territories where he ruled. He moved his capital from Alasora to Ambohidrabiby, location of the former capital of his maternal grandfather King Rabiby. The first sub-divisions of the andriana noble caste were created when Ralambo split it into four ranks. He introduced the traditions of circumcision and family intermarriage (such as between parent and step-child, or between half-siblings) among Merina nobles, these practices having already existed among certain other Malagasy ethnic groups. The practice of sanctifying deceased Merina sovereigns is also believed to have originated with this king. Ralambo is credited with introducing the tradition of polygamy in Imerina. The Merina legend of the origin of this practice was recorded in the 19th-century collection of Merina andriana oral history and genealogy entitled Tantara ny Andriana eto Madagasikara. According to this source, Ralambo had already married once when his servant encountered the