Erinle

Erinle (in the scholarly tonal orthography Ẹrinlẹ̀, also recorded in Afro-Atlantic sources as Inlẹ̀, Inle or Eyinle) is the noble, aristocratic orisha of river hunting, of riverine botanical medicine and of fishing, and the sacred patron of the city of Ilobu, in Osun State, Nigeria. He embodies the harmonious meeting of two ecological domains traditionally kept apart: the primeval forest (igbó), where he acts as a master hunter armed with bow and arrow (ọfà), and the clear currents of freshwater rivers (odò), where he presides over sacramental fishing and medicinal fish. In the historical chronicles gathered by the Reverend Samuel Johnson and in the research of Pierre Verger, Erinle was a historical prince and warrior hero of Ilobu who, at the end of his civil campaigns and prodigious cures, did not meet an ordinary death but voluntarily sank into the running waters, transforming himself into the Erinle River (a tributary of the Osun River). In Candomblé Ketu and Jeje in Bahia he is worshipped under the prestigious title Oxóssi Ibualama or Erinlé, associated with royalty, the buffalo horn and turquoise-blue and coral beads; in Cuban Santería (Regla de Ocha), Inle is revered as the supreme and compassionate physician, patron of healers and fishermen, traditionally syncretized with the Archangel Saint Raphael.

7 min read · Reviewed on September 30, 2026 · How we research

The harpoon, the healing herbs, the river and the elephant

Primary sources

• Samuel Johnson, The History of the Yorubas. translation: Lagos: CMS Bookshops (1921), historical chronicles of Ilobu and the transfiguration of Erinle.
• Pierre Fatumbi Verger, Notes sur le culte des orisha et vodun à Bahia et au Dahomey. translation: Dakar: Mémoires IFAN 51 (1957), orikis and insignia of the river hunter.
• Lydia Cabrera, El Monte: Igbo-Finda, Ewe Orisha, Vititi Nfinda. translation: Havana: Ediciones CR (1954), patakis and rites of Inle and Abata.

Studies

• Robert Farris Thompson, Flash of the Spirit: African and Afro-American Art and Philosophy. New York: Vintage Books (1983), analysis of Erinle's metal staff, 1983.
• Rowland Abiodun, Yoruba Art and Language: Seeking the African in African Art. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2014), iconography and the sacred fish, 2014.
• William Bascom, The Yoruba of Southwestern Nigeria. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston (1969), ethnography of the deities of hunting and rivers, 1969.
• Edison Carneiro, Candomblés da Bahia. Rio de Janeiro: Edições de Ouro (1961), traditional rites to the orixás of the hunt and to Erinlé, 1961.