The àmúlù — the 240 non-meji combinations

Ifá odu

Tradition · Yoruba Ifa
Alternate Names
AmuluÀmúlùamulu oducombined oduthe 240
Kind
Structure
Themes
CombinationNamingLeg orderJunior figures
Meaning

An àmúlù is an odù whose two legs are different figures, and there are 240 of them: 256 minus the 16 doubles. They are named by naming both legs in order, joined by a hyphen or simply written together — Ọ̀gbẹ̀-Ọ̀yẹ̀kú, Ìwòrì-Òṣé, Òtúrá-Ìrẹ̀tẹ̀ — with the right-hand leg named first. Names are frequently contracted in speech and in print: Ọ̀gbẹ̀-Ọ̀yẹ̀kú is commonly written and said Ọ̀gbẹ̀-Yẹ̀kú, Ìrosùn-Ọ̀gbẹ̀ as Ìrosùn-Ọ̀gbẹ̀, and the Diaspora books often drop the hyphen altogether. The order of the two names is not decoration: Ọ̀gbẹ̀-Ọ̀yẹ̀kú and Ọ̀yẹ̀kú-Ọ̀gbẹ̀ are different odù, two apart in the 256, with different verses.

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