Saturday, January 11, 2014

325. Ila and Ilantila

Ilantila is a village in Belthangadi Taluk. The village name is quite interesting as the word ila repeats twice in the place name. The suffix –ila represents a habitation as in place names Kedila, Baltila, Bardila, Manila, Uchila, Panapila, Nettila, etc. The term -ila is apparently related to the word illu (=house) present in Tulu and Telugu. Thus the word Ilantila means ila within ila;   (since, ant generally means within), wherein possibly it means habitation within the (larger) land mass . Alternately it could also mean a row of houses or house after a house.

Ila, the Earth
The word Ila or Ile in Kannada and Sanskrit generally means the Earth or landmass.  The Indian legends of Manu have also envisaged personification of  Goddess Ila Devi after a major deluge. Incidentally, the Ile   is an Earth Goddess according to West African (Yoruba) tribal mythology. Further, in Arabic language the word Ilah   represents God and the Ilahi means my God. The root word Ile from the ancient West African mythology could have been carried by the migrating people and adopted in early Indian languages.

Ila Villages in India
The northern Tamil part of Srilanka is known as Ilam or Elam. Besides, there are hundreds of villages all over India that carry the prefix of Ila. Some of these villages are:
Andhra Pradesh: Ilapur, Ilaparru, Ilapkuru, Ilapvulur, Ilavera, Ilavaram, Ilaganur, Ilaspur.etc
Chattisgarh: Ila, Ilaspur. etc
Gujarat:  Ilav, Ilampur, etc
Jharkhand: Ilaki, Ilami, Ilaspur. etc
Karnataka: Ilal, Ilval, Ilapur, Ilantila, Iladoni, Ilatore, etc.
Madhya Pradesh: Ilahipur, Ilaskhedi, Ilahi, Ilamkhedi etc.
Maharastra: Ilakhi, Ilane. etc
Orissa:  Ilaspur, Ilajanga. etc
Rajasthan: Ilahipura. etc
Tamilnadu: Ilamangalam, Ilangiyanur, Ilaiyalur, Ilandabanur, Ilayathgudi, Ilankhudi, Ilandamngalam, Ilaknnivayal, Ilanyangudi, Ilamnur, Ilangiyendal, Ilandikulam, Ilaiathanvayal, Ilankakoor, Ilanchembur, Ilambuvanam, Ilangulam, etc.
West Bengal: Ilaspur, Ilam, Ilamkuri,Ilampur, Ilamdanga, Ilashpur etc.

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