THE RISE AND FALL OF IKENGA by Onyeji Nnaji

THE IGBO LEGEND OF THE COSMOS

The Igbo solemnly believe in the interpolated relationship amidst the cosmic entity and the human being on earth. Igbo cosmology speaks more of the descendancy at the initial time and letter, the ascendancy of the Igbo fathers. Ikenga prominently has occupied this mythology. Therefore, to the Igbo he becomes the legend of the cosmos. Ike-Ani, popularly known as Ikenga was rated as the celestial hero and architect of the cosmos in the Igbo cosmology.

Osuagwu (2010) has rightly articulated that:

The Igbo composite personality is Ikenga, where Ike = Force, Nga = Motif;  Ikenga = Force Motif; Driving Force). The chi supplies the vision; the onwe(self) supplies "will", but only righteousness can sustain the union and guarantee success. Igbo ethics is anchored on the need to avoid unrighteousness that could divorce the "onwe" from the "chi" and dissolve the Ikenga; the chi as a spark of God avoids the possibility of pollution by evil deeds, (p. 14)

Ikenga descended from the heartland Igbo race (the Umudiala). Among the heartland Igbo, he was the grandson of Aba, the father of Ani-Aku. Aba was the first of the gods to take the daughters of men for a wife. His unions with the daughters of men paid him with giants as opposed to his stature (size); for the Umudiala generally were little people (pygmies). The first among his giant sons was Ani-Aku. He gave him the name in praise of the earth (Ani). He saw his son as the wealth from the soil because his wife was mortal (a product of the soil). 

Aba was separated from his people and he founded a new place for his family. When he died as was destined of him after a hundred and twenty years, his descendants called the land after his name. His descendants were dibias and hunters. Aba became populated grossly after more people became involved in the business with the daughters of men. Being found in this, they separated themselves and joined the deviants in the land of Aba. Through this means Aba became more popular among the Umudiala. The Abas were hunters, travelers and explorers. Through such means they founded lands at distant places and settled in them. Remarkable enough, all their lands were called after their ancestral name, Aba.

Ani-Aku was more popular than his father and all his brethren, but Ike-Ani was much more popular among the Igbo race. Ike, perhaps for his superhuman character among the god-men dominated the entire nuances about Igbo celestial cosmography. Chukwukadibia made the following remark about Ikenga:

Task which Ikenga is said to have accomplished during the Igbo  mythical age, earning it the great title of Owa Ota (shield breaker/ pathfinder/ greatest of all adventurers = Owata i.e. cosmic compass or map maker). Till today, this adventurous and path-finding spirit is still encouraged in the now mostly ritualized Uzo Iyi festival of Igbo people. The rectangle motif is also employed to illuminate the mystic structure of our galaxy's central sun (Ose Or a  Ugbo). This star which is of a "spiral-barred" shape was highly regarded and extensively observed in ancient times. In fact, till this day, the knowledge of its very existence and the essential relationship which it shares with our sun reoccurs in nearly all ritualized practices of Igbo sacred science. For the non-Dibia, one of the few instances where its direct invocation may be observed is in the divinatory chants uttered by Ndi Dibia Afa during Afa Akpukpala divination sessions

This perhaps were born out of the fact that he was believed to have conquered the celestial orb and announced himself unequivocally as the legend of the cosmos. As one of the sons of Ani-Aku, Ike-Ani was an exceptional hunter whose holy lifestyle set him on the journey of no return. He was the first to enter the forbidden land alive. According to the anonymous book in the internet entitled The Book of Creation by the Suns of Fire, it was revealed that he was given the promise by God as a recompense for his exceptional life. Since the day he entered the forbidden land he was seen no more. Therefore, his brethren called him Ikenga to sustain his celestial tour. For this single role,Nga, Ike-Ani was called different names associated with the cosmic obb. Some oral artists in the traditional Igbo referred to him as the symbol of affinity that emerged as a result of the primordial periodic contacts of our planet with Mars. For such, he was called Ikenga-Nwa-Ojeluputa-Ngwu, literally, Ikenga, Son of Ojeluputa Ngwu/Jeluputa/Juputa/Jupiter. These distinct primordial twilight periods in the formation of life on our planet are called Odii-Ijite-Aka or Ijite-Abani-Agwu. The Igbo designed Ikenga to reflect this extra ordinary force/quality. Therefore, Ikenga was designed with erect horns or proboscis; exhibiting the two-sharpened-knives also known as Onataluchi Ngono with which it was by armed by its Chi (Agali n'Abo). Ikenga horned figure holding knife and horn.

Igbo cosmology is centered on the number, four, which is represented by the symbol “X”. This is demonstrated when Ikenga was called to minds. Accordingly, when Igbo men greet traditionally (Iri-Aka-Ito), they dramatize this principle in the “X” symbol (four branches) which their arms form. The Ho (three) in hi Aka Ito symbolically stands for the male principle or the dynamism ofIkenga. When added to four it gives us seven, the number of the human being in Igbo and African cosmology. Thus the formed “X” materializes Divine Perfection, or the principle of Mmadu bu Nwa Chukwu (the human being is the child of the Supreme Spirit). In other words, it refers to the primal unity of God and human beings which is achieved at the number ten. The cosmogonic pact made between Chukwu andthe four primordial forces, the proof of which has been the rising direction of the Sun, is of fundamental importance to Dibia work.

With regard to Obi Chukwu (God’s abode), it is observed that both the given name and geometric choice of the rectangle (aba n'ano, mgbatiri ano, ukwu aja n'ano = Four Traingles) for this cosmological notion has remained a characteristic principle of Igbo traditional architecture. But besides its anatomical and aesthetic implications, the ukwu aja n'ano symbolism here also embodies the Igbo sacred numeric value of four (ano, ino, nno) and signifies its primordial role in the sacred deed of creation (Okike). In fact, in this particular setting, ukwu aja n'ano signifies the four primordial forces at work during the immediate first stage of creation, as will be later shown. The Igbo-Ukwu bronze roped vase depicts this particular stage of creation among other things (See Plates 3a and b). It should also be stated here that the Ite Ona as seen above is, indeed, a bright legacy of the ancient Igbo ritual tradition of Oshishi Ite, in which it was held that portions boiled in bronze pots were impacted with the noted enduring quality of bronze (Onali/Ona OH).

This mystery was publicly experienced by all during the Igbo annual festival of Ita Atu, during which the ancient Igbo Sage-King (Eze Atu/Eze Agwu) and his consort, the Queen-Mother Nono-Atu- Mma/Nono-Atu-Nne performed before all the Noble Ritual of Ikwunite- Ekwu-Itenani – lit. Rejuvenation of the Nine Great Mystical Tripod Cauldrons of Potency, which was both an advanced mystic ritual of socio-political cohesion as it was a testimony of the king's mastery of the elements and the sacred sciences undergirding the culture.