Note 100 — Chapter IV

Mr. Bowen says that ‘Iyangba herself is Obatala. The two are one, or, in other words, Obatala is an androgyne, representing the productive energy of nature, or the generative principle, as distinguished from the creative power of God.’ But this explanation appears extra Indo-European. On the other hand the Rev. Mr. Crowther calls Obbatalla ‘the great goddess of Yoruba, supposed to be the framer of the human body in the womb.’ The fact that this diety is male, female, and hermaphrodite, is a fair specimen of pagan vagueness.