Contrary to the Christian missionaries who have identified Nanook the polar bear spirit as the supreme deity of the Inuit, Silla is much closer to this role.
[1] In many instances it refers “outer space”, “intellect”, “weather”, “sky”, “universe”:[1][2][3][4] there may be some correspondence with the presocratic concept of logos.
Among Copper Inuit, shamans were believed to obtain their power from this “Wind Indweller”, thus even their helping spirits were termed as silap inue.
[3]: 230 Among Siberian Yupik, [sɬam juɣwa] was depicted as a mighty hunter, catching game just like earthly men, but being capable of controlling whether people paid attention to customs and traditions.
[7][page needed] According to the interpretations of anthropologists, Silla is one of the oldest Inuit deities, but was recently (in the last thousand years) supplanted by Sedna, (the goddess of sea mammals) and the Caribou Mother (the goddess of caribou) when these became the major food sources of the Inuit.