Key Info

- Eldest Orisha

- Father figure and "king of kings" who presides over the other Orisha 

- Creator of the sky and mankind 

- Protects the military and those with disabilities

Brief Bio

Obatala is an orisha in the Yoruba religion that is believed to have been given the task to create the Earth but failed the task by being drunk on palm wine and was outperformed by his little brother Oduduwa. He was instead given the job of creating human beings. This was authorized by his father, Olorun, which gave Obatala the name sculptor of mankind.

Obatala had worked on his task with the assistance of Oshun. He is believed to be successful at creating human beings with water and clay, but during the creation phase he had become drunk with palm wine due to thirst. This caused him to create human beings with disabilities. When he became sober and saw his mistake, he vowed to never drink again and reinvented himself as "The Great White God", protector of people with disabilities.

While there exists an Obatala in the Yoruba pantheon, the understanding of the qualities of the Obatala god was merged into the human Obatala that ruled in Ife upon his posthumous deification. Thus, the human Obatala who was the king at Ife was admitted to the Yoruba pantheon as an aspect of the primordial divinity of the same name.