Oranmiyan was the youngest child of Oduduwa, but exceedingly mysterious. In fact, more mysterious than Oduduwa himself. Oranmiyan had two complexions, he was very fair on one side & very dark on the other, something you would call 'vitiligo' today but very extreme. Oranmiyan was also a giant. So huge in size that what you know as 'Opa Oranmiyan' (the photo attached) today wasn't a monument built after him in remembrance, but it was actually Oranmiyan's own walking stick when he was alive. When the whites came & examined it scientifically, they acknowledged it must have been around since at least the year 1300. Before Oranmiyan would get back from Egypt, Oduduwa had died. He thus inherited the crown, & became the 5th Ooni of Ife.
Oranmiyan is the founder of the Oyo Empire & since his time till date, there have been 44 Oyo kings(Alaafin). Sango Olukoso (god of thunder) was the 3rd Alaafin of Oyo). Oranmiyan also founded Benin City. When he got there as a prince, he married Ẹrinmwide & gave birth to a son called "Eweka". After a while, he came up with some policies that the Benin chiefs didn't like. They were angry at him, so he left them alone. He called the place "Ile-Ibinu" in Yoruba meaning, " the land of anger or vexation". Eweka would later change this to " Ubinu ", still meaning "anger". When the Portuguese would come, they interpreted it to what you call "Benin" today, just as Eko was named "Lagos".
Oranmiyan was also the husband of Moremi Ajasoro. Back home at Ile-Ife. Oranmiyan was a fierce war lord. No battle every overcame him. He fought the Fulani's too(I hope you can see that our issues with the Northerners didn't start today). Upon one of his war adventures, he gave one of his wives certain incantations to pronounce that if they had an emergency, they should call on it that he would appear from wherever he was and come to their rescue. After about a year & they didn't see him, they got worried & decided to call him. He appeared immediately & started to kill every thing that had breath that he saw. When he got to his home, they calmed him, stating that he was killing his own people.
He got very bitter, angry, heart broken & dejected. He said but he told them to only call him if they had an emergency, they said they got worried cos he told them he would only be gone for 4 days but it had been a year. Oranmiyan could not forgive himself. He mounted his walking stick where you see it today, made chants & blessed it. The staff in its fullness turned into the stone sculpture you see today & told them that anything anyone needed, he or she should come believing, hold the staff & ask in prayers that it would be granted. People testify to the potency in the staff till date. Oranmiyan then walked into his house & turned himself into a stone statue.
Apart from this very statue, there are no other statues or likeness of Oranmiyan anywhere & only royalty can walk in to see him. There is a festival in Ile-Ife every year, when it's about time, the priest would walk in to see Oranmiyan, the statue would turn pale-white all over, this is the signal that it is time, then the town would prepare for the celebration. This happens only once in a year. If a king wants to go see Oranmiyan as his descendant, he would walk from the Opa Oranmiyan into the house where Oranmiyan himself is on the blood of an animal.
#nigeria #africa
No comments:
Post a Comment