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Concept
Oduduwa
Summary
Oduduwa was a Yoruba divine king, legendary founder of the Ife Empire and a creator deity (orisha) in the Yoruba religion. According to tradition, he was the holder of the title of the Olofin of Ile-Ife, the Yoruba holy city. He ruled briefly in Ife, and also served as the progenitor of a number of independent royal dynasties in Yorubaland.
In Yoruba religious traditions, Oduduwa is seen as a divine or semi-divine being that was sent by the creator deity, Olodumare, from heaven to create the earth upon the waters. These beliefs are held by Yoruba traditionalists to be the cornerstone of their story of creation. Obatala, Oduduwa's sibling, and Oduduwa here are represented symbolically by a calabash, with Obatala taking the top and Oduduwa taking the bottom. In this narrative, Oduduwa is also known as Olofin Otete, the one who took the Basket of Existence from Olodumare.
Historical accounts hold that he migrated intot the Ife valley from Oke Ora, a community to Ife's east. The time and length of his reign are not certain, but Yoruba spirituality believes that Oduduwa is believed to be as old as time itself.
Oduduwa was the first ruler of a unified Ife, which before him had existed as a group of loosely allied communities of thirteen Elu. He is also the founding father of various independent royal dynasties in Yorubaland, and is today venerated as “the hero, the warrior, the leader, and the father of the Yoruba race”.
The etymological derivation of the Yoruba name “Oduduwa” is: Odu-ti-o-da-uwa (i.e. Odu-ti-o-da-iwa).
This translates literally to: The great repository which brings forth existence.
Ife tradition, which modern Yoruba historians accord precedence, relates that Oduduwa was a personage who migrated from the community of Oke Ora, a hilltop abode to the east of the original Ife confederacy of communities known as the Elu. Leadership of the confederal agreement that existed between the thirteen communities of what would become Ife was structured to be rotational between the Obas of each community taking turns at chairmanship.
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