Erinle

Erinlẹ

Erinlẹ

Deity in the Yoruba religion

For the surname, see Erinle (surname).

In the Yoruba tradition, Erinlẹ was a great hunter who became an orisha.

Quick Facts Other names, Venerated in ...

He is said to have conducted the first Olobu of Ilobu to the site of the town of Ilobu, and to have protected the people of the town from Fulani invasions.[1] He is usually described as a hunter but sometimes as a herbalist or a farmer. It is said that one day he sank into the earth near Ilobu and became a river. He is known all over Yorùbáland.[2] The cult of Erinlẹ is found in towns throughout the former Oyo Empire. His shrines contain smooth, round stones from the Erinlẹ River.[1] The name may be derived from erin (elephant) and ilẹ (earth), or from erin and ile (house).[2] He is known as Inle by the Lukumi in Cuba and as Ode Inle, and sometimes as Oxossi Ibualamo in Brazilian Candomblé. The Erinlẹ River, a tributary of the Osun River, takes his name.

Notes

  1. [1]
    Drewal et al. 1989, p. 167.
  2. [2]
    Witte 1982, p. 161.

References

  • Drewal, Henry John; Pemberton, John; Abiodun, Rowland; Wardwell, Allen (1989). Yoruba: nine centuries of African art and thought (PDF). Center for African Art. ISBN 978-0-8109-1794-1.
  • Witte, H. (1982). "Mud-fish symbolism in Yoruba iconography". Commemorative Figures. Brill Archive. ISBN 978-90-04-06779-0. Retrieved 2014-08-21.



Stub icon

This article about Afro-American religion is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Stub icon

This article about Traditional African religion is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Stub icon

This article about a deity is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Erinle, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.