Similarities Between Hebrew And Egyptian Religion

The Hindu Concept of the World

When reading the Hindu writings about reality, there were many apparent similarities when compared to Egyptian and Hebrew ideas. Along with these similarities however, came many distinct differences. While reading A Hindu Creation Story: Rig Veda, I saw that the idea the Hindus had about there being nothing in the beginning, not even existence, until the One arose from the power of heat, was similar to Egyptian thought about the beginning of Ra, their sun god. From Purusa the world was fashioned, each of his body parts were made to represent sacrifices to create heaven, the sun, and the wind, ect. Ra was worshipped in Egyptian religion as creator and sustainer of the cosmos. He was said to have traveled in a bark along the sky by day and the underworld by night. These two similar ideas about Purusa and Ra being creators of these separate universes also help to compare them against one another, the reason being that both of these two creators could not have existed at the same creation, or they would have been the same god.
In the book Genesis, it tells of God creating the universe and man. The way in which God creates man is similar to how Purusa was sacrificed to make man, and the things man needed. Instead of Egyptian and Hindu ideas, Hebrew religion was monotheistic. The Hindu stories tell of multiple gods that sacrificed Purusa and the controlled various aspects of human life. Egyptians also had many different deities, each representing different parts of life, objects, and even cities. Hebrew was the first religion besides the time of Akhenaton that started the idea of