The first Devotee of Obatala
Ifa says that the first devotee of Obatala was ONIYAGBE who lived in a town called DOROMI – AWISE and was married to a woman named OMOJINKUN.
Tradition impart to us that this couple farmed and planted corn in proportion to the land given to them by their ancestors.
Omojinkun, the wife of ONIYAGBE was barren and they tried all possible means to have a child but to no avail.
One day ONIYAGBE took his wife to consult IFA with a reputable IFA priest in the land.
It was there ODU IRETE AAYA or IRETE MEJI appeared and in this odu we read the following:
I I
I I
II II
I I
Ogbori ngbiri, a tehin dopo
Ona taa ba to ri
Nii se ni siba sibo
Ohun rere ni yowo obi ninu aso
Ohun buburu ni yowo ofa ninu apo
Lodifa fun ako aaya
Lodifa fun abo aaya
Lojo, ti won lo oko iwaje
Ako aaya ni
Koloko o ma kuu
Ki igi ogunbere ma faya
Ti o ba di iwoyi amodun
Ki a ribi jo
Gbantete, gbantete
Abo aaya ni boloko le ku ko ku
Bi igi ogunbere le yak o ya
Bi o ba di iwoyi amodun
A o ri ibomiran jo
Gbantete, gbatete
Translation:
The heavenly destiny could bring surplus and prosperity
Unknown path never walked before
Could bring confusion
Mentally, physically and spiritually
Good words bring good things from the pocket, that is good word bring harmony, luck
Peace and serenity
Evil utterance attract evil manifestation
This divine IFA –oracle for the male ape
This divine IFA –oracle for the female ape
When they were going to the forest of plantation and harvest
The male monkey says
‘’the owner of the farm should not die
And the tree of ogunbere should not fall
So that by this time of next year
I shall be able to dance
Gbantete, Gbantete’’
While the female monkey offered contrary opinion
‘’ If the owner of the farm could die
Let him die
And the tree of ogunbere (leucaena leucocephala) should fall
Let it fall
So that by this time of next year
We shall look for another farm to eat and harvest
We shall also seek another tree to pluck its fruit”
After the IFA priest had chanted the IFA verse he instructed ONIYAGBE that on getting to his farm the day after he should hide himself to witness a strange phenomenon at his farm.
Whatever happened he was told to inform the Ifa priest of so he could be able to prescribe the necessary sacrifice to overcome the evil establishment.
What he saw that night was two apes who liked to eat the corn in ONIYAGBE’s farm. Very early in the morning ONIYAGBE went to his farm and he saw the two apes, a male and a female.
Upon seeing them he hid to witness the mystical phenomenon. The male ape started first to pluck the corn, using both hands to pluck, like he used to do in past while he jumped from tree to tree saying
KI OLOKO MA KUU OOO
KI IGI OGUNBERE MA FAYA
BI O BA DI IWOYI AMODUN
KI A RI IBI JO GBANTETE – GBANTETE
Meaning
The owner of the farm should not die
And the tree of OGUNBERE should not fall
By this time of next year
I shall be able to dance
Gbantete gbantete (the rhythmic sound of the drum)
The owner of the farm, ONIYAGBE, was overwhelmed with happiness on hearing the strong words of the male monkey.
After this the female monkey followed suit, plucked the corn with the left and right hand and ate all what she needed and jumped from tree to tree saying
BI OLOKO LE KU KO KU
BI IGI OGUNBERE LE YA KO YA
BI O BA DI IWOYI AMODUN
A O RI IBOMIRAN JO
GBANTETE – GBANTETE
Meaning
If the owner of the farm could die
Let him die
If the tree of OGUNBERE (leucaena leu cocephala) could fall
Let it be
By this time of next year
We shall look for another farm to eat and harvest
We shall also seek another tree to stand on
Gbantete, gbantete
When the owner of the farm heard this he got furious. He pulled out his gun and shot the female ape and killed her.
ONIYAGBE later opened the bowel of the female monkey and removed the placenta in her womb. He encountered another phenomenon in her womb called SESEFUN.
He took the SESEFUN to the IFA priest. On getting to the house of the priest, there was another round of divination in which he was told that his prayer had been answered and his wife would conceive and he would need to do another set of sacrifices.
ONIYAGBE was asked to bring a plain white cloth to be tied to PEREGUN TREE (DRACAENA FRANGRANS OR DRACAENA ARBOREA).
He should place a pot under this tree and always pour water on the tree and the water would be dropped into the pot.
The chief priest told the wife that the water in the pot should be the water to be taken every morning (both for drinking and for bathing) and the SESEFUN the husband found in the womb of the female ape must be kept inside the pot with the water.
The wife of Oniyagbe did all the rituals according to the instruction of the Babalawo and in a short time she conceived and gave birth to a beautiful child. She bathed the baby with the spiritual water in the pot as instructed by the IFA priest while the cloth wrapped on the PEREGUN tree was the only clothing used by the baby.
In reality, when a child use such spiritual water and divine cloth, the child will be called the child of OBATALA because the materials are the emblem of ORISAALA ALASO FUNFUN – white cloth, SESEFUN – these children are given names like ABIAPE, that is , they have come with divine names which is derived from divinity and thus informs their destiny
Source of Article: https://www.orisa.com.ng
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This Article was written by AJE NLA the son of OBATALA with +2347031178647.
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