Erinle

In Prandi’s glossary, Erinle is the “orixá da caça, pai do orixá Logum Edé” (orisha of hunting, father of Logun Ede), and the same as Inle. The glossary adds that he is forgotten in Brazil, where Oshosi took his place in many myths, and that he is rarely worshipped in Cuba (Prandi, Mitologia dos Orixás, glossary, entry “Erinlé”). Verger places him in Yoruba land: in Ijesha there is a river called Erinle and a god of hunting with the same name, whose main temple is in Ilobu (Verger, Orixás, p. 52). The same passage says that in Brazil and in Cuba he is known as Inlé (Verger, Orixás, p. 52). Bastide, who describes the Candomblé of Bahia in the 1950s, lists Inlé among the four Oshosis and says he is increasingly forgotten, because he no longer “comes down” in Brazil (Bastide, O Candomblé da Bahia, p. 204). This page follows the spelling of the sources, and the count decides. Erinlé is the form used most by the Brazilian work that cites him most (Prandi: Erinlé 90 occurrences, Inlé 8); Verger uses both, and the title of his section is “Inlé (Erinle)” (Orixás, p. 52). Inle dominates the Cuban sources (Tratado Enciclopédico de Ifá: Inle 842, Erinle 15; Angarica: Inle 60; Cabrera: Inle 18 and Inlé 5), while Mason writes Erinlè (75 occurrences). The two forms are treated here as the same orisha because Prandi and Verger say so expressly (Prandi, glossary, entries “Erinlé” and “Inlé”; Verger, Orixás, p. 52). Each sentence says which tradition it speaks of.

In the myths gathered by Prandi, Erinle is a hunter and warrior (Prandi, myth “Erinlé transforma-se em rio e encontra Oxum”), the great elephant hunter (Prandi, myth “Erinlé é chamado Ibualama”) and the most beautiful of hunters (Prandi, myth “Erinlé tem a língua cortada por Iemanjá”). His domain is twofold, forest and water: at the end of one myth the hunter enters the river and becomes the river (Prandi, myth “Erinlé é acusado de roubar cabras e ovelhas”). For Africa, Verger describes the symbol of Erinle: a piece of wrought iron with a bird fixed on a central rod, surrounded by sixteen other rods, each with its own bird (Verger, Orixás, p. 52). Mason, speaking of the Lukumí of Cuba, describes him as always beneficial, a consolidating force for all houses, and as the original orisha of medicine, who is said to have left that role to Osanyin; with Osanyin and Orunmila he would share the use of the iron staff with birds (Mason, Orin Òrìṣà, p. 88 of the PDF). Angarica, also in Cuba, says that Inle preceded Ozain in the tasks of medicine, when he was known as the greatest expert in herbs (Angarica, Manual del Oriaté, p. 14), and calls him a spirit of goodness, hunter, fisherman and healer (Angarica, Manual del Oriaté, p. 26). As for day and correspondences, the only indication with a page that we saw is Cabrera’s: Friday is a day dominated by Inle, Babalú Ayé, Obbamoro and Osain (Cabrera, El Monte, p. 48 of the PDF); she also links him to San Rafael, the physician (Cabrera, El Monte, p. 31 of the PDF). Colors and number do not appear with a page in the sources we consulted for this page, so they are left out.

River and Oshun. Erinle, hunter and warrior, became a friend of Orunmila and borrowed money from him. When Orunmila had to return to Ifé, Erinle could not pay, and the offerings the babalawo prescribed were too expensive. Ashamed, he left his weapons at the place where he hunted and disappeared into the ground. His children, guided by Orunmila, offered roosters; the small jar overflowed and formed a river. In Edê, the Erinle river meets the Oshun river, and from their union Logun Ede is born; later, at the place called Ibualama, devotees founded a temple for him (Prandi, myth “Erinlé transforma-se em rio e encontra Oxum”). The cut tongue. Erinle was the most beautiful of hunters. Yemoja abducted him, took him to the bottom of the sea and then returned him to the world; because he had seen the mysteries of the sea, she cut out his tongue so that he would not tell them. Since then Erinle speaks through Yemoja (Prandi, myth “Erinlé tem a língua cortada por Iemanjá”). The accusation. In Ijebu, envious enemies stole goats and sheep from the king and blamed the hunter. He brought the skins and tusks of the wild animals he had hunted, and the king acknowledged his innocence. Saddened, Erinle stopped hunting, entered a river and was never seen again (Prandi, myth “Erinlé é acusado de roubar cabras e ovelhas”). Deep water. A woman passing by a river heard Erinle order her to go in deeper; the voice was that of the river itself, complaining that she brought no offering. Later, when he was worshipped as an orisha, his followers called him Ibualama, which Prandi translates as “deep water” (Prandi, myth “Erinlé é chamado Ibualama”). Logun Ede. Oshun Iponda fell in love with Erinle; to win him she disguised herself as a woman of the forest with honey and leaves, but the river water undid the disguise and he abandoned her. From her Logun Ede was born, half river, half forest (Prandi, myth “Logum Edé nasce de Oxum e Erinlé”). In another myth, father and son hunt together without knowing it; a spell blinds them, Logun Ede restores Erinle’s sight, and from the reunion with Oshun the river Inlé is born (Prandi, myth “Logum Edé devolve a visão a Erinlé”). Prandi thus records Erinle as the father of Logun Ede; in the glossary Oshosi also appears as a possible father. A Cuban source. Mason collects a story attributed to Àyìde Odúnláàmì: Erinlè had a farm of corn and beans and lived there with his sons; with no water to drink, he told his eldest son that they would soon see water and would not see him again, and asked to be worshipped at the place where he entered the earth, near Ìlóòbú, with beans and dried corn (Mason, Orin Òrìṣà, p. 89 of the PDF).

What the sources record about worship depends on the tradition. In Africa, according to Verger, the worship of Erinle takes place on the banks of deep places (ibù) of the river; each has a name, but it is always Erinle who is adored. Verger notes offerings of acarajé, yams, bananas, corn and roasted beans, all with palm oil (Verger, Orixás, p. 52). In Brazil, one of the river’s deep places, Ibualama, is the object of a cult mainly in Bahia, where, in the dances, he holds Oshosi’s iron bow and arrow and a kind of whip, the bilala (Verger, Orixás, p. 53). In Cuba, Mason says Erinlè likes fish sacrificed alive in the water and is praised as Baba wa mbe ní ìsàlè-omi (Mason, Orin Òrìṣà, p. 89 of the PDF). Angarica states that Inle “se hace a través de Yemayá” and that the fish is his symbol (Angarica, Manual del Oriaté, p. 27). Cabrera says Inle is a chaste saint, demanding about the morals of his children and devotees, little mentioned because he is feared (Cabrera, El Monte, p. 32 of the PDF). Each of these sentences speaks of Cuba, and none says “the children of Erinle are like this”: what is said holds for the tradition and the informant of each work. What each case calls for belongs at the babalawo's table — not to a website.

The symbols the sources give Erinle always appear tied to an account. In Africa, the bird on the iron rod, surrounded by sixteen rods (Verger, Orixás, p. 52). In Cuba, Mason records the staff with a bird replaced by a shepherd’s crook with two intertwined water snakes, which represent Àbatà, his wife (“the pond”); a fishhook, a fishing arrow and two iron hunter’s bracelets are tied to it, and the orisha lives in a vessel with stones and river water (Mason, Orin Òrìṣà, p. 89 of the PDF). Angarica speaks of an ozún in the form of a small metal staff with sixteen points like thorns, which he associates with the sixteen Oddu of the Diloggún, and of a fish as the symbol (Angarica, Manual del Oriaté, p. 27). In Prandi’s myths, the signs are the small water jar and the ofá left on the ground (Prandi, myth “Erinlé transforma-se em rio e encontra Oxum”), the bilala with which Erinle whips his own body (Prandi, myth “Erinlé é acusado de roubar cabras e ovelhas”) and the roosters set free alive, which no one dares to kill (Prandi, myth “Erinlé transforma-se em rio e encontra Oxum”). Mason translates the name Erinlè as “elephant on the land” and notes alternative pronunciations (Mason, Orin Òrìṣà, p. 89 of the PDF). Colors and number have no page in the sources we saw; the gap is stated.

In the sources, Erinle gathers images that do not easily fit together: the hunter who no longer hunts, the river born from a small jar, the most beautiful of hunters without a tongue, the fisherman and healer of the Cuban sources. The works diverge on who he is for each people and on how present he is in worship today; Prandi and Bastide give him as forgotten in Brazil, while Cabrera, Angarica and Mason speak of a living presence in the tradition of Cuba. That divergence is part of what there is to study. This text is a study of the cited sources, not a consultation. Those who wish to go further can read Prandi’s myths in full and the pages of Verger, Mason, Angarica and Cabrera indicated above.