Some of you will know that I am working on a theory that all the major world religions stemmed from, and are corrupted versions of, the Vedic teachings. However, up until now, I've not been able to establish a link with Judaism.
But anyway, in my research of tracking metaphysical thinking across Mesopotamia into Egypt, Palestine and Greece, I've recently become interested in the Canaanite Godhead 'El', known to the Amorites (who ruled Mesopotamia around 1900 BC) as 'Il' or 'Ila'.
My interest was triggered because there is a very powerful goddess called Ila in the Rig-veda, and although the Canaanite/Amorite Ila is male, we know that, around 6,000 BC, most societies were matriarchal and goddess-worshipping to the extent that the Supreme Godhead was female.
The Rig-veda can only be dated to a later date, around 3,000 BC, (this isn't the orthodox view - but is the view of anyone who can think straight! ) so that takes us into patriarchal times. So it would make sense that a male Supreme Godhead (Indra) would be the top deity in this post-matriarchal times, with Ila and another two goddesses (Saraswati and Mahi) subsumed into a triumvirate under him.
However, I recently read in the Srimad Bhagavatham that Bharata-varsa used to be known as Ilavrta-varsha. So then I looked up 'vrta' in a Sanskrit dictionary and got two interpretations: 1) surrounded by and 2) recommended way of doing things. (I'm reading no 2. as the same as 'dharma'.) So my interpretation of Ilavrta-varsha is "the land of those who follow the spiritual rules of Ila"
Therefore this could mean that around 8-6,000 BC when the different tribes were massing in the Antatolia regions and were worshipping a female Godhead, this Godhead could have been Ila. Then, as the tribes migrated south and west, they took Ila with them and in patriarchal times, developed her into a male Ila and eventually El.
Most respected Biblical scholars agree that El is the precursor for Yahweh, in fact, many of the stories about Yahweh can be seen to be lifted straight from Canaanite hymns - meaning this could turn out to be my 'missing link'!
So if anyone can help me any further on this, by offering more information about Ila or Ilavrta-varsha, or any aspect at all in this area, I should be very grateful!
One thing that I'd like to know is the date that Ilavrta-varsha turned into Bharata-varsha. I know the story of how it happened, but I don't have any dates.
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