Editing Oduduwa (section)

==Alternative views==
===Oduduwa and his/her role in creation ===
{{Main|Primordial Goddess}}

Yoruba religious traditions about the dawn of time claim that Oduduwa was [[Olodumare]]'s favorite [[Orisa]]. As such, he (or she, as the primordial Oduduwa originally represented the Divine Feminine aspect and Obatala the Divine Masculine) was sent from heaven to create the earth upon the waters, a mission he/she had usurped from his/her consort and sibling Obatala,<ref name="patricia"/> who had been equipped with a snail shell filled with sand and a rooster to scatter the said sand in order to create land. These beliefs, held by Yoruba traditionalists, are said to be the cornerstone of their story of creation. Obatala and Oduduwa here are represented symbolically by a [[calabash]], with Obatala taking the top and Oduduwa taking the bottom. In this narrative, Oduduwa is also known as ''Olofin Otete'', the one who took the Basket of Existence from Olodumare.<ref name="Washington 2014 25–28">{{Cite book|title=The Architects of Existence|last=Washington|first=Teresa|publisher=Oyas Tornado|year=2014|isbn=978-0991073016|location=United States|pages=25–28}}</ref>

Another depiction of Oduduwa as being the wife of Obatala is presented in Odu Ifa Osa Meji, a verse of the [[Ifa|Ifa oracle]]. In this Odu, Obatala discovers the secret of his wife and steals the masquerade's robes from her to wear it himself. This is suggested to be a historical representation of a switch from [[matriarchy]] to [[patriarchy]].<ref name="Washington 2014 25–28"/>

This cosmological tradition has sometimes been blended with the tradition of the historical Oduduwa. According to others, the historical Oduduwa is considered to be named after the earlier version of Oduduwa, who is female and related to the Earth called Ile.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Lawal|first=Babatunde|date=1995|title=À Yà Gbó, À Yà Tó: New Perspectives on Edan Ògbóni|url=http://www.obafemio.com/uploads/5/1/4/2/5142021/ogboni-lawal.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151027215245/http://www.obafemio.com/uploads/5/1/4/2/5142021/ogboni-lawal.pdf |archive-date=2015-10-27 |url-status=live|journal=African Arts|volume=28|issue=1|pages=36–49|doi=10.2307/3337249|jstor=3337249}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ayelekumari.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/ketumyths-women.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191018014717/https://ayelekumari.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/ketumyths-women.pdf |archive-date=2019-10-18 |url-status=live|title=Ketu Myths and the Status of Women|last=Babatunde|first=E.D.|date=1980|website=Ayelekumari.com|access-date=October 18, 2019}}</ref>

The earlier traditions of either a gender-fluid or an expressly female Oduduwa are seen in the spirit's representation in the Gelede tradition. Initiates of Gelede receive a shrine to Oduduwa along with a Gelede costume and mask. This speaks to Oduduwa as being associated with the divine ancestral mothers that are known as Awon iya wa or [[Iyami Aje|Iyami]]. Here, Oduduwa is revered as the mother of the Yoruba.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Gelede: Art and Female Power among the Yoruba|last=Drewal|first=Margaret and Henry|publisher=Indiana University Press|year=1993|isbn=0253205654|pages=232–234}}</ref>

===Non-Yoruba views===
Certain other people have claimed a connection to Oduduwa. According to the [[Kanuri people|Kanuri]], [[Yauri Emirate|Yauri]], [[Gobir]], Acipu, [[Jukun people (West Africa)|Jukun]] and [[Borgu]] tribes, whose founding ancestors were said to be Oduduwa's brothers<ref>History of the Yorubas by Samuel Johnson 1921</ref> (as recorded in the 19th century by [[Samuel Johnson (Nigerian historian)|Samuel Johnson]]), Oduduwa was the son of Damerudu, whom Yoruba call ''Lamurudu'', a prince who was himself the son of the magician [[Kisra legend|King Kisra]]. Kisra and his allies are said to have fought [[Muhammad]] in the [[Battle of Badr]] and Kisra was forced to migrate from Arabia into Africa after losing the war to the jihadists in 624 AD. According to the legend, he and his followers founded many kingdoms and ruling dynasties along their migration route into West Africa.<ref>A. Matthews " The Kisra legend) "https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00020185008706819?journalCode=cast20</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ztExAAAAIAAJ&q=oduduwa|title=This is Ile-Ife|date=17 June 2018|last1=Eluyemi|first1=Omotoso}}).</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hn0uAQAAIAAJ&q=oduduwa+13+communities+ife|title=Milestones and concepts in Yoruba history and culture|year=2018|last1=Akinjogbin|first1=I. A.|publisher=Olu-Akin Publishers |isbn=9789763331392}}</ref> This tradition is a variant of the belief, popular amongst some Muslims, that held that Oduduwa was a prince originating from [[Mecca]]. However, it is thought by some scholars to derive from the later influences on Yoruba culture of Islam and other Abrahamic religions and conflicts with other traditions in the Yoruba traditional corpus.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Esu Elegbara: Chance, Uncertainly In Yoruba Mythology|last=Ogundipe|first=Ayodele|publisher=Kwara State University Press|year=2012|isbn=9789789275908|location=Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria|pages=15|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KVNjDwAAQBAJ&q=Oduduwa+mecca+islamic+influence&pg=PA15}}</ref><ref name="Bascom, p. 10">Bascom, ''Yoruba'', p. 10; Stride, Ifeka: "Peoples and Empires", p. 290.</ref>