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    Jesus Sampaio
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    Odun Ifa

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    Odun ifa 60-120

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    Odun Ifa

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
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    95 views61 pages

    Odun Ifa 60-120

    Uploaded by

    Jesus Sampaio
    Odun Ifa

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    of 61
    Invrodetion Compassionate Lord that changes man's fortune from bad to geod, “To kom thee isto become immortal, Lod whore Kingdom hat n0 end, Perfection of wisdom, Infinity of knowledge. Lmperfect devotion to Thee lead to ati Lord, iF only we could know Thee sigh, How rmooth oar ie would ran) Readers who have good Yorsba wil find Lijd’s masterly commentaries CGrunmil's ork a most rewarding exercise. Chie Faghemi Ajsnaku's Yoruba text from which [make the transition blow is also very much tothe point ‘And nh ous ru isl Dru satan ols ropes bil eer Hes Goes pc ‘itr sleet md ony cae Orta dead ‘Bmp twa br aad rans ws sour soon he pops wham the Omg endowed wh Sn of gover Ac fs» wa of Ora eng tthe Gr te tne Ge sep tly bane ot thn ah malo ld epee ‘Ale dni rote an einen eb hy lowe ie wae (S1Cai thy me cl pepe dove th he pone fhe Opn This hymns he Cope or loa in rnc tere There isan Ita vere from Bj’ Ogbe | 2} which prover unmistakably that the Ori the divinities are ealy deified buman beings. Here i is 4a Is (Grune sayes Beis human beings we dsify ae Orixa I eply True indeed iis my Lond, Aghonairegu, (Orin are deified human beings Grunmil says: OrixaeAla, you must know, war once + human beng mse ‘When he brought blessings tothe world men began. to worship him as god Even to this day men revere his memory and suppliete the Omnipoteat in bis mame (Ogun was once 2 human being ogo was once human being And v9 thote who attsia wisdom on exh, “They are thoe indeed whom we worships gods. ‘The Oria are deed human beings. 11.3: The Traditional View: Popular Etymology “The Traditional view ie the theological view but it also promotes a popular interpretation of the meaning of Ja devived from analysis of words is pertinent hereto aote the alternative amas for Ifa such as Qruacaila, Ela, ‘Kebonmiregun, Edu, Bara Peta, Qbariea, Ara Ado, Ara Qwo, Ara Ibn Babe Uexin Qye, Opitan Olvfe. Lucas inclusion of Cladumare aan slernative name for Ifa is patently incorrect! No Bibalawo (ls pris) ‘would cal aby The Omnipotent’s name, Oladumare Iowa would have the mame Els signify another divinity distinc from ‘Orunmila™ As agsinst Mowa's view several fz vers asert that fy Quimula and Bla are interchangeable eames, Introduction CC the names fr Ifa lined above some are easly explained and require 20 convoluted etymology fla meant ‘Saviour or ‘Redeemer’: Edu means “The Back on’ in reference to Tas symbo, the black pal-nuts; Bere etx means ‘Lord of Ipe ety reputed to have been founded by a. Oba is King, among divine’ Ava Ado, Ara Quy, Avelbin refer to Qranmila's sown Tovstes ofthese aames; Babul tzimgy¢ means Grand:knigh ofthe ety of Seg Eating) my, Op Ol mci ea of im Ie remains to expin the names fa, Qranmila and Agbonmingion. This is ‘herein len of certain koawledge on ths matter, poplar etymology has been overworked We shoul note of coute thas Ia esse as the name ofthe system or ofthe ivinty while Qrommila is wed uaiguly 5 the name ofthe divinity, ever forthe system. Ld derives the ame Ifa fom this sentence "Ent be fn aye 1 0 Pani er i a mas pee a's ‘coho sae om ca nd veshnin Be oo hl eed fla “The meaning is forced ou ofthe sentence by clever though unconvincing ‘nord play on the Yoruba verb a" mearing te draw ou” Interpreted as“ Chew ont of danger” "Ye" is then taken as “a seo; hence Ifa means “taviour', Otuaba Awopeis ging tothe Old Testament derives “fa from the Hebeew "Epo" “Eph” the dining parapberaalia ofthe Hebrew High Dies Skinner ins well researched but tendentious book assers that: ta, tin Ae lr, by ee og lhe met he Ga “The argument against this mistaken view is presented later inthis chapter. Some authors analyse the name Qranmie as “Qran lo me aia" (only Heaven Iowa who willbe saved). "This tether contsved analysis that explains o dun ta rothing, Equally fanciful is Chief Faghomi Ajanake’s_ derivation ‘Agbomireguo” fromthe sentence: “Agbon yi mani iregun o! (How this palmrce enjoys longevity). He justifies this by quoting a myth about the flood wherein only the palmtree survived destruction, che palm-ree being Iha's symbol. None of thse exymologial gasses cally amount to much and the prodentatitade to adopt is summed up by Wande Abimbola is these wort "om pou ewe te eymalgy of ach sce man» fi, Orme ‘ely ce he rca fhe Sx npr seit 1~2: The Analytical View Without questioning its possible divine provenance, the analytial view cxantnes Haar a hutnan inition — and employs evidential eriteria simile those employed in the examination of other reveled religions such 35 Boddhism, Islam or Chrinianiy ln thie regard ewo questions ste penne: 1. What ave the historical and geographic parameters of Ih? 2 Who was Qrunmil? Let us consider the answers to the it question 2s given by some authorities on Is Studies Johoson’s account ie conteadctory in pars. Fest he tats: ‘tala pd by King Ono wa tonne ne fr Now, Onighog is placed 9th in Johnson's kinglit of the Yoruba, afer (Odladuws. The would pce his reign in the 14h century A.D. Further on, Johason write: ate initia ory yt TORN SR “his would place the dae in the late 18th and ealy 10h ceauries, A.D Johnson then complicates mates by sting that thw il tin he Cory by she orb or ata me Sei Hele” Ia woud be 560 BC. $80 A.D, D.O. Epes iver dat of 50-3000 BO. forthe ongin of He deer thw syns 0 ste very od They oid Orn in Hee Sor ane nem ny art 3908) Ad asin: ihe ein oof se Yer dhe ple fab ah to th presen ne ‘hfe ng ect eae epreson lB, a8 nis oF Oe ge ‘Montene haya se than he hao” = That isa eat from $000 B.C, 1-0. Lacs’ derivation of from Ancient Egypt using comparative linguistic ‘uments rater lacks convictions The rh of i Mayme owes Laas os beso Aris Ep. le inh sine ih rsdn Woe fhe Ron apr” " In an essay surprisingly lacking i objective scholarship Ade Obayemi derives I from NupeLand. Obsyem's comparative table of the names for Odus in Nope, ume and central Yoru are given below. 6 dun Ie Obayemi’s Comparative Table [Nope Meaning ama | Cental Yoruba 1. fRuse — |Soko (God) Jocohue —fieosun 2. ees on 5. stun [mi groueettome) — |Ofan ome sri jokin Ose 5. Byako [ex loyeku Joye Jo [shikan [Seulement Fes ovika Ogbe 7. fai i seiko i lod s. [Gori |edika's Hous) fogort veri J. |Rakpan |xata Bagi Joxure Ceursnpon 10, fikan | Nyiza Howe loyinkon | a 1, [outa | Kas Bagh JOgenta——[Ogunde 2 Jes Mans Howse oh los. 13. [turn |Yeko lowes = Jura 14. [Bris |Rosd or path Broce ete 15. |Bars — |Wan da mi deogeno [Odea [Obara 16 Jona [He reaches he JOkone ——_JOkaaron howe he following points should be noted 1. Obayemi does not indicate ue ranking status of the Odie the Nupe and jum systems tallow valid comparison wit the Yoruba ranking order Ineroduetion 2 He doesnot mark the configrations, thus making ‘omparizon between the names of the Od dificult to cvalate 3. His table doesnot explin why the Yoruba system is derived from the Nupe aad aot vice sere Even those unfamiliar with eal ofthe lf system can ee a glance tha all that thie table show’ is phonetic conespondence of some {oot all) names of ‘Od — nothing more. This is the sor of ustdy linguistic argument sondemaed by Obayemi in the work of [0. Lucas. Obayemi writes, conmeating on the comparative table, Thin al dot ot mm ah on eo and ends with » categorical non sepuitur “thoes tht ee a a he Yon omind om Nop es recor se aetna dang arog aa othe soe ‘orb paine, Mees oh th of Yorba” Stiphen Skinner, Australian researcher in magic and the occult sciences following the Englishman Burton and French writer Bernard Maypol, before his timey has forcefully argued in a recent very controverial book* that lx ss introduced into Yorubsland between the th and 1ith centuries AD. frem Arabic North Africa. What is Skinner's evidence for tis asertion? 1s based on: 1. Etymological correspondence between Arabi “Afar” and Yoruba “if. omer Si i 8 Fer ee Rae i Pl i I 2 External similarities between Arabic "AL RAML* ard ‘Yoruba "ls" 3. Similarity in the technique of Arabic and Yoruba divination systems ~2.1 Exymological Correspondence ‘a The Hier ad Gegrapic Parantr ft "In fac,” wrote Skinner", “dst, Arabic oar, i probably che origin of the ame ofthe god lf.” ‘Skinner should have gone further to derive che name of I's rtelary god “Oran from Arabic ‘Al Ram” (he science of divination by sand cating. “The simple crisis ofthis arguments that phonetic corespondence betwee one or We Arabic word and Yoruba equivalents ic not nffiient pron af the

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