Odù Ifá

Common card · No. 400033

The Odu Ifá (Yoruba alphabet: Odù Ifá), also called the Ifa Literary Corpus is a large collection of allegorical and literal historical proverbs (Òwe), poetic verses (Ẹsẹ̀) and stories (Àlọ́/Pàtàkì) that serves as the central religious scripture of Iṣẹṣe. The Odu Ifa is an oral corpus (a collection of texts) passed down originally in Yoruba language through generations, believed by the Yoruba to have been revealed by the deity of wisdom, Ọrunmila, to humanity. The Odu Ifá is made up of 256 chapters called Odus, each consisting of around 800 verses called Ẹsẹ̀. The exact number of ẹsẹ is continuously increasing. Each Odu is represented with a unique binary signature. The 16 major odus are called Oju Odu, and the others Ọmọ Odu. It is closely associated with Ifá and it is used during divination. While the Odù Ifá is still majorly recited in its oral form, many written versions have also been published.

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