Advent of the Second (Oba) Dynasty: Another Assessment of a Benin History Key Point

Abstract

There is no other theme in precolonial Benin Kingdom studies around which so many lances have been broken as that of consolidation of the present-day Second (Oba) dynasty and the person of its founder Oranmiyan (Oranyan in Yoruba). The main reason for this is the existence of considerable disagreements between numerous Bini and Yoruba versions of the oral historical tradition. Besides this, the story of Oranmiyan is one of the Bini and Yoruba oral history pages most tightly connected with mythology. This fact becomes especially important if one takes into account that the oral tradition is no doubt the main (though not the only) source on the consolidation of the Oba Dynasty in Benin. The key point on which different Bini and Yoruba traditions openly contradict each other, and which scholars debate, is the origin of the Dynasty. Who initiated its founding: Bini or Yoruba? Was it a request or a conquest? Are the characters of the oral tradition relations historical figures? Finally, what were historical, sociocultural, and political circumstances of the Oba accession?If one disengages from details, three groups of traditional versions that describe the origin and life of Oranmiyan (including its period connected with Benin) can be distinguished. These groups may be designated as the Yoruba one, the Benin “official” (i.e., traditionally recognized by Oba themselves and most widely spread among common Bini) and Benin “apocryphal” traditions. In the meantime it should be borne in mind that Bini and Yoruba native gatherers and publishers of the oral historical tradition could influence each other. For example, the Yoruba Johnson could influence the Bini Egharevba, while the latter in his turn could influence another Yoruba, Fabunmi, and so on.