UC-NRLF 
 
 ^B 2M7 SDfi 
 
I 
 
 IN MEMOmAM. 
 John Galen Howard 
 1864-1931 
 
 =J 
 
 m 
 
 ji 
 
 ill 
 
 ill 
 11 
 
 iili 
 i'lli!! 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 
 
i 
 
 ANNOTATIONS 
 
 ON THE 
 
 SACRED WRITINGS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 HINDUS. 
 
 BY 
 
 
 EDWARD SELLON. 
 
 Y 
 
 ^rtnfe6 for '^vxvate ^ixcxx(atxcn. 
 
 ■M 
 
Digitized by the Internet Arciiive 
 
 in 2007 witii funding from 
 
 IVIicrosoft Corporation 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/annotationsonsacOOsellrich 
 
ANNOTATIONS 
 
 e < ^ m I M il I "»" 
 
 ON THE 
 
 SACRED WHITINGS OF THE HINDUS 
 
 BEING AN EPITOME 
 
 OF SOME OF THE MOST REMARKABLE AND LEADING 
 TENETS IN THE FAITH OF THAT PEOPLE 
 
 Illustrating their Priapic Rites and Phallic Principles 
 
 BY 
 
 EDWARD ) SELLON, 
 
 Author of " The Monolithic Temples of India," etc., etc, 
 
 and Editor of an English translation of the " Gita- 
 
 Radhica-Krishna," a Sanskrit Poem. 
 
 New Edition. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 1902. 
 
 PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION. 
 
Only 150 copies of this work have been issued for private 
 circulation. This is No... I J*.,.. 
 
 GIFT 
 
c 
 
 ^5 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 It has been suggested to the Author of the 
 following pages, to compile a small treatise, 
 which, without professing to be an abridg- 
 ment of the Hindii Sacred Writings, s^hould 
 convey in a concise form ajl Epitome Si the 
 
 information that has been obtained with re- 
 spect to the leading dogmas ef- thc^'Brah- 
 
 muiicaL .Superstition, \ 
 
 When we reflect upon certain peculiarities 
 of the Religious Worship practised by the Hin- 
 diis ; on its great antiquity, on the fact, that 
 two thousand years before the Christian sera 
 it was, as at the present day, in full force ; 
 that it witnessed the rise, decline and fall of 
 the Idolatry of Egypt, and of the great 
 Western Mythology of Greece and Rome ; 
 that hitherto it has scarcely yielded in the 
 slightest degree to the adverse influence of 
 the Mohammedan race on the one hand, or 
 to European dictation on the other ; and 
 that it exercises, by its system of caste, a 
 powerful control over the manners, customs, 
 
 ivi839673 
 
( iv. ) 
 
 costume and social status of the entire Hindii 
 community, it becomes a subject fraught with 
 interest to every cultivated mind, and offers 
 an affecting but curious example of the power 
 of a hoary and terrible superstition in degrad- 
 ing and ensl aving so large a portion of the 
 human race. " 
 
 The sources from whence much of the 
 material in this compilation are derived, are 
 acknowledged in numerous notes. 
 
 It does not come within the compass of 
 this sketch to enumerate all the theological 
 dogmas contained in the Sacred Writings 
 of the Hindiis ; those only have been se- 
 lected for annotation and remark which seem 
 to have the most direct bearing on the object 
 in view, in THe erucldatibrf of ~ tlie worship of 
 Power — the Gnosticism of Ijadia.---. ^ 
 
ANNOTATIONS 
 
 ON THE 
 
 SACRED WRITINGS OF THE HINDUS. 
 
 The origin of the Religious Worship of the 
 Hindiis is lost in remote antiquity. For many 
 ages anterior to the time of Menu, their first 
 Lawgiver, all that has been handed down to 
 us by oral tradition seems to confirm the 
 hypothesis, that they were worshippers of 
 one God only, whom they designated Bruhm 
 Atma, " the Breathing Soul : " a spiritual 
 Supreme Being, coeval with the formation of 
 the world, without end, everlasting, permeating 
 all space, the beneficent disposer of events. 
 The worship of the Hindus at this period 
 was probably simple, and their ceremonies 
 few. In process of time, however, the date 
 of which cannot be correctly determined, 
 they appear to have adopted a material type 
 of emblem of Bruhm : a rude block of stone 
 began to be set up : this was the Phallus, 
 or, as they termed it, the Linga. This 
 
( 6 ) 
 
 emblem had reference to the procreative Power 
 seen throughout nature, and in that primaeval 
 age was regarded with the greatest awe and 
 veneration. To the influence of this image 
 was attributed the fructifying warmth which 
 brought to perfection the fruits of the earth 
 and contributed to the reproduction both of^ 
 man, animals, and everything that has life. 
 
 This simple and primitive Idolatry came, 
 by degrees, to diverge into the adoration of 
 the elements, particularly Fire ; and at length 
 developed itself by the institution of an emana- 
 tion from Bruhm Atma in his Triune capacity ; 
 as Creator, Preserver or Saviour, and De- 
 stroyer. These attributes were deified under 
 the names of Brahma, Vishnu and Siva, on 
 whom were conferred three Gunas or qualities, 
 viz.. Rajas (passion). Sat (purity), and Tumas 
 (darkness). This is the Trimurti* 
 
 The next step towards the formation of a 
 Pantheon was the institution of Avatas and 
 Avantaras, i.e., greater and lesser Incarna- 
 tions ; by which one or other of the Triad 
 imparted a portion of his divine essence both 
 to men (generally Bahurdurs or heroes) and 
 
 to brutes. The tendency to deify heroes, 
 
 , i 
 
 ♦ '* Trimurti, ' three formed/ Murti signifying also 
 an Image. Our vital souls are, according to the Vedanla, 
 no more than images or eidola of the Supreme Spirit." — 
 As. Res., vol. iii. 
 
( 7 
 
 and irrational creatures, was not peculiar, how- 
 ever, to the Hindiis, for the Assyrians, Etrus- 
 cans, Greeks and Romans had the same 
 custom, as had also the Egyptians in a much 
 more extended degree. 
 
 This system of Avatas was followed by 
 an almost universal deification, not only of 
 the elements and the heavenly bodies, but of 
 every recognised attribute of the Supreme 
 Being, and the Evil Spirit ; Omnipotence, 
 Beneficence, Virtue, Love, Vice, Anger, 
 Murder ; all receive a tangible form, until 
 at the present time the Hindii Pantheon 
 contains little short of a Million Gods and 
 Demi-gods. It is admitted, however, that 
 to many of these they pay only relative 
 honour. 
 
 It is a little remarkable that of this host of 
 Divinities, especially in Bengal, Siva is the 
 God whom they are especially delighted to 
 honour. As the Destroyer, and one who 
 revels in cruelty and bloodshed this teriible 
 deity, who has not inaptly been compared to 
 the Moloch of Scripture, of all their Divinities 
 suggests most our idea of the Devil. It may 
 therefore be concluded that the most exalted 
 notion of worship among the Hindus is a 
 service of Fear, The Brahmins say that the 
 other Gods are good and benevolent, and will 
 not hurt their creatures, but that Siva is power- 
 
( 8 ) 
 
 ful and cruel, and that it is necessary to appease 
 him. 
 
 Although this deity is sometimes represented 
 in the human form in his images, it is not 
 thus that he is most frequently adored. 
 The most popular representation of him is 
 unquestionably the Linga ; a smooth stone 
 rising out of another stone of finer texture, 
 simulacrum membri virilis, et pudendum Mu- 
 liebre. This emblem is identical with Siva in 
 his capacity of " Lord of all." 
 
 It is necessary, however, to observe here, 
 that Professor Wilson, while admitting that 
 " the Linga is perhaps the most ancient object 
 of homage adopted in India," adds, subse- 
 quently to the ritual of the Vedhas, wh'ch was 
 chiefly, if not wholly, addressed to the Ele- 
 ments, and particularly to fire. How far the 
 worship of the Linga is authorised by the 
 Vedhas is doubtful, but that it is the main 
 purport of several of the Puranas^ there can 
 be no doubt, "f 
 
 The universality of Linga puja (or worship) 
 at the period of the Mohammedan invasion of 
 India is well attested. The Idol destroyed 
 by Mahoud of Ghizni, notwithstanding the 
 
 * Puranas, the Modem Scriptures of the Hindus, as 
 distinguished from the Vedhas or more Ancient Scriptures. 
 
 t Wilson on Hindus Sects. — As. Res., vol. xvii. 
 
( 9 ) 
 
 remarkable stories related by the Mohammedan 
 chroniclers of a colossal image of human 
 form which the Brahmins offered immense 
 sums to save from destruction, but which 
 upon being shattered by a blow from Mahoud's 
 mace disgorged a vast treasure of gold and 
 precious stones of inestimable value, — and 
 the whole of which story Wilson proves is a 
 pure fiction, — was nothing more than one of 
 those mystical blocks of stone called Lingas.* 
 
 The worship of Siva under the type of the 
 Linga is almost the only form in which that 
 deity is reverenced. Its prevalence throughout 
 the whole tract of the Ganges as far as 
 Benares, is sufficiently conspicuous. In Bengal 
 the Lingam Temples are commonly erected in 
 a range of six, eight, or twelve on each side 
 of a Ghautf leading to the river. At Kalma 
 is a circular group of one hundred and eight 
 temples erected by the Rajah of Burdwan. 
 These temples, and indeed all those found in 
 
 * As. Res., vol. xvii., pp. 208, 209 and 210. 
 
 t Ghaut y " a high place,'* applied to a pass, such as 
 the Laulpet pass, where the traveller ascends from the 
 campaign country to the table-land of the Deccan : also, 
 and in this instance, signifying an artificial " high place," 
 constructed either of stone or marble, with an immense 
 flight of steps leading down to the river. There are 
 numerous Ghauts, or Ghats, of this description on the 
 banks of the Ganges, where the banks are too high to 
 allow the people to approach the stream with safety. 
 
( 10 ) 
 
 Bengal, consist of a simple chamber of a 
 square form surmounted by a pyramidal centre ; 
 the area of each is very small. The Linga of 
 black or white marble, and sometimes of ala- 
 baster slightly tinted and gilt, is placed in the 
 middle. 
 
 Speaking of Siva and Pawati, M. de Langle 
 says, '' Les deux divinites dont il s'agit, sont 
 tres sou vent et tres pieusement adorees, sous 
 la figure du Linga (le Phallus des anciens) et 
 de Tyoni, dans leur mysterieuse conjonction. 
 L'yoni se nomme aussi Bhaga (pudendum 
 muhebre), Madheri douce, et Argha, vase en 
 forme de bateau, dans lequel on offre des 
 fleurs a la divinite, tels sont les noms de 
 V Adhera-Sacti (energie le la conception vivi- 
 fiee par le Linga). Quand cette deesse est 
 representee par le symbole que je viens 
 d'indiquer, elle prend le nom de Devi (divine) 
 plus communement que ceux de Bhavani, 
 de Pracritri, Sec. Suivant les theologians 
 Hindous, une vive discussion s'eleva entre 
 Pavati (nee des montagnes) et Maha-deva 
 (le grand dieu), peu de temps apres leur 
 mariage, sur Tinfluence des sexes dans la 
 production des etres ; ils convinrent de creer 
 separement une race d'individus. Les enfants 
 de Mahadeva furent nombreux, et se de- 
 vouerent au culte de le divinite male ; mais 
 il manquoient d'intelligence et de force, et 
 
( II ) 
 
 lis etoient mal conformes, ceux de Parvati 
 ^toient beaux, bien fails et d'un excellent 
 naturel ; cependant, obsedes par les Lin- 
 gadja, ou enfants de Maha-deva, ils envinrent 
 aux mains avec eux, et les vainquirent. Maha- 
 deva alloit dans sa fureur aneantir d'un coup- 
 d'oeil les Yonidja vainqueurs si Parvati ne Teut 
 appaise. Les Brahmanes off rent aux Linga 
 des fleurs, et ont soin quand ils font leurs 
 ceremonies d'allumer sept lamps,* lesquelles, 
 selon Mathurin, vessiere de la croze, ressem- 
 blent au chandelier a sept branches des Juifs, 
 qu'on voit a Rome sur Tare Titus. Les femmes 
 portent des Lingas au cou et aux bras ; celles 
 qui desirent devenir fecondes rendent a cette 
 idole un culte tout particuher ; elles ont il 
 d'autant plus de confiance dans ses pretres que 
 ceux-ci font vceu de chastete/'t 
 
 The ojfferings are presented at the threshold. 
 
 Benares, however, is the peculiar seat of this 
 form of worship. The principal Deity, Siva, 
 there called Viweswarra, as observed already, 
 is a Linga ; and most of the chief objects of 
 pilgrimage are similar blocks of stone. No less 
 than forty-seven Lingas are visited, all of pre- 
 
 * De Langle is in error here. The Punchaty, as its 
 name implies, consists of five, not seven lamps. 
 
 t Monuments Anciens et Modems de rHindoustan.— 
 Par L. L. de Langle ; Paris, 2 vols, folio, 1810. 
 
( 12 ) 
 
 eminent sanctity ; but there are hundreds of 
 inferior note still worshipped, and thousands 
 whose fame and fashion have passed away. It 
 is a singular fact, that upon this adoration of 
 the procreative and sexual Sacti (or power) 
 seen throughout nature, hinges the whole gist 
 of the Hindii faith, and notwithstanding all 
 that has been said by half-informed persons 
 to the contrary, this puja does not appear 
 to be prejudicial to the morals of the people. 
 " Among a people of such exuberant fancy as 
 the Hindus," says Sir William Jones, "it is 
 natural that everything should receive form and 
 life. It is remarkable to what a degree their 
 works of imagination are pervaded by the idea 
 of sexuality. Indeed, it seems never to have 
 entered into the heads of the Hindii Legis- 
 lators and people that anything natural could 
 be offensively obscene, a singularity which 
 pervades all their writings, but is no proof 
 of the depravity of their morals, thence the 
 worship of the Linga by the followers of Siva, 
 and of the Yoni by the followers of Vishnu."* 
 We find amongst the sacred paintings of the 
 Hindus numerous representations of devotees, 
 both male and female, adoring the Linga, 
 
 * Sir W. Jones's Works, vol. ii., p. 311. 
 
 " It is unattended in Upper India by any indecent 
 or indelicate ceremonies." — ^Wilson on Hindii Sects. As. 
 Res., vol. xvii. 
 
( 13 ) 
 
 and a description of one of these pictures 
 will suffice for them all. The domestic 
 temple, in which the emblem is usually 
 placed, is a Dewal, a term derived from 
 Deva, a deity, and Havela, a house, i.e., the 
 " house of God/' Indeed, the natives have 
 no such word as " Pagoda " for their temples, 
 which are always called Dewals. 
 
 The worshipper is seated, dressed, and 
 arrayed in all her jewels, as directed by the 
 Ritual. In her right hand she holds a 
 Mala, or Rosary of one hundred and eight 
 round beads, which is not visible, as her 
 hand is placed within a bag of gold brocade 
 (Kampkab) called Gumuki, to keep off insects 
 or any adverse influence. Her langi or 
 bodice is yellow, her dress transparent mus- 
 lin edged with gold {upervastra) . In front 
 of her are the five lamps, called panchaty, 
 used in this Puja, viz., J art, or spouted 
 vessel for lustral water ; the Dippa, or Cup, 
 to sprinkle the flowers which she has offered, 
 and which are seen on the Linga : and. 
 lastly, the Gantha, or sacred bell, used fre- 
 quently during the recapitulation of the pre- 
 scribed Muntrus, or incantations. Nearly all 
 the Pujas are conducted with the frequent 
 ringing of bells, and the object of this is 
 twofold — first to wake up the attention at 
 particular parts of the service ; and secondly. 
 
( 14 ) 
 
 to scare away malignant Dewtas and evil 
 spirits ; precisely, in fact, for the same reasons 
 as they are used at the celebration of Mass 
 in Roman Catholic countries. 
 
 The Linga and the Earth are, according 
 to the Hindus, identical, and the mountain 
 of Meru is termed the " Navel of the Earth." 
 Mem is supposed to be the centre of the 
 universe, and is said to be 8,400 yojans high, 
 32,000 broad at the top, 16,000 at the bottom. 
 It is circular, and formed like an inverted 
 cone. This notion was not confined to India, 
 for when Cleanthes asserted that the earth 
 was in the shape of a cone,* this is to be 
 understood only of this mountain, the Meru 
 of India. Anaximenesf said that this column 
 was plain and of stone, exactly like Meru- 
 pargwette {Pawati) of the inhabitants of 
 Ceylon.J *' This mountain,'' says he, *' is 
 entirely of stone, 68,000 yojanas high, and 
 10,000 in circumference, and of the same 
 size from the top to the bottom." 
 
 In India the followers of Buddha § insist 
 that this mountain is like a drum, with a 
 swell in the middle, in the same form in fact 
 as the Tomtoms used in the East. In the 
 
 * As. Res., viii. 
 
 t Plutarch de placit. philosoph. 
 % Joinville As. Res., vol. vii. 
 § Trailoyeya-Derpana. 
 
( 15 ) 
 
 west, formerly, the same opinion had been 
 expressed by Lucippus, and the Buddhists 
 in India give that shape also to islands. 
 This figure is given as an emblem of the 
 re-union of the powers of nature. Meru is 
 the sacred and primeval Linga : and the 
 earth beneath is the mysterious Yoni ex- 
 panded, and open like the Padma or Lotus. 
 The convexity in the centre is the navel of 
 Vishnu, and the physiological mysteries of 
 their religion is often represented by the 
 emblem of the Lotus ; where the whole 
 flower signifies both the earth and the two 
 principles of its fecundation. The germ is 
 both Meru and the Linga ; the petals and 
 filaments are the mountains which encircle 
 Meru, and are also the type of the Yoni. 
 The four leaves of the Calyx are the four 
 vast regions turning towards the four cardinal 
 points. According to the two geographical 
 systems of the Hindiis, the first or more 
 ancient is (as set forth in the Puran) the 
 Earth described as a convex surface gradually 
 sloping towards the borders, and surrounded 
 by the ocean. The second, and more modern 
 system, is that adopted by their astronomers. 
 The followers of the Puranas consider the 
 Earth as a flat surface, or nearly so, their 
 knowledge does not extend much beyond the 
 old continent, or the superior hemisphere ; 
 
( i6 ) 
 
 but astronomers being acquainted with the 
 globular shape of the earth, and of course 
 with an inferior hemisphere, were under the 
 necessity of borrowing largely from the 
 superior part in order to fill up the inferior 
 one. 
 
 The leaves of the Lotus represent the 
 different islands in the ocean around Jambu, 
 and according to the Hindii system, the whole 
 earth floats upon the waters like a boat. The 
 Argha* of the Hindiis and the Cymbium of 
 the Egyptians are also emblems of the earth 
 
 ♦The three words Amba, Nabbi and Argha seemed 
 to have caused great confusion among the Greek mytho- 
 logists, who even ascribe to the earth all the fanciful shapes 
 of the Argha, which was intended at first as a mere 
 emblem. Hence they represented it in the form of a 
 boat, of a cup, or of a quoit with a boss in the centre, 
 sloping towards the circumference, where they placed the 
 ocean. — Agathem. book i. c. i. 
 
 Others described the earth as a square or parallelo- 
 gram, and Greece was supposed to lie on the summit, 
 with Delphi in the navel, or central part of the whole. — 
 Pind. Pyth., 6. Eurip. Ion., v., 233. 
 
 While the Jews, and even the early Christians, in- 
 sisted that the true navel of the earth was Jerusalem, and 
 the Mohammedans, Mecca. 
 
 The Argha is a type of the A'dhara-Sacti, or Power 
 of Conception, exerted and vivified by the Linga or 
 Phallus, one and the same with the ship Argo, which 
 was built, according to Orpheus, by Juno and Pallas, 
 and according to Apollonius, by Pallas and Argos, at the 
 instance of Juno. — Orph. Argon., v., 66, Apoll., lib. ii., 
 5, 1 190. As. Res., vol. iii. 
 
( 17 ) 
 
 and of the Yoni. The Argha, or C5mibium, 
 signifies a vessel, cup or dish, in which fruits 
 or flowers are offered to the deities, and ought 
 to be in the shape of a boat ; though many are 
 oval, circular, or even square. 
 
 Iswarra, or Bacchus, is styled Argha- 
 Nautha, or " Lord of the boat-shaped vessel " ; 
 and Osiris the Iswara, or Bacchus of Egypt, 
 according to Plutarch, was commander of the 
 ArgOy and was represented by the Egyptians 
 in a boat carried on the shoulders of a great 
 many men. The ship worshipped by the 
 Suevi, according to Tacitus, was the Argha, or 
 Argo, and the type of the pudendum muliebre. 
 " The Agha, or Yoni, with the Linga of 
 stone, is found all over India as an object of 
 worship. Flowers are offered to it, and the 
 water, which is poured on the Linga, runs 
 into the rim, which represents the Yoni, and 
 also the fossa navicularis, and instead of the 
 Linga, Iswarra is sometimes represented 
 standing in the middle, as Osiris in Egypt."* 
 
 Plutarch has said of the Egyptians, that 
 they had inserted nothing into their worship 
 without a reason, nothing merely fabulous, 
 nothing superstitious, as many suppose, but] 
 their institutions have either a reference to] 
 morals or something useful in life. The] 
 
 * As. Res., viii. 
 
( i8 ) 
 
 mass of mankind lost sight, however, of 
 morality in the multiplicity of rites, as it is 
 easier to practise ceremonies than to subdue 
 passions ; so it was in India and Egypt. 
 
 In the course of investigating the ceremonies 
 of the Hindlis, and in attempting to elucidate 
 their meaning, it will be found necessary to 
 draw an analogy between them and those of 
 the Egyptians. The resemblance is very 
 striking, they mutually serve to explain each 
 other. When the Sepoys, who accompanied 
 Lord Hutchinson in his Egyptian expedition, 
 saw the temple at Hadja Silsili they were 
 very indignant with the natives of the place 
 for allowing it to fall into decay, conceiving 
 it to be the temple of their own god, Siva, 
 a fact, to say the least of it, no less singular 
 than interesting. 
 
 The annihilation of the sect and worship 
 of Brahma, as the Iswarra or '* Supreme 
 Lord," is described at large in the Kasi- 
 Chandra of the Scanda Puran, where the 
 three powers are mentioned as contending 
 for precedence. Vishnu at last acknowledges 
 the superiority of Siva, but Brahma, on 
 account of his presumptuous obstinacy, had 
 one of his heads cut off by Siva, and his 
 puja, or worship, abolished. 
 
 The intent of this legend is evidently to 
 advance the claims of the Saiva sect, and if 
 
( 19 
 
 we substitute the contending facts for the 
 battle of the Deutas, or angels, the fable will 
 appear not quite destitute in historical fact, 
 nor wholly without foundation. 
 
 The contention of schismatics from the 
 same stock is always more inveterate than 
 where the difference is total. The sect of 
 Brahma claimed exclusive pre-eminence for 
 the object of their choice as being the 
 Creative Power, the I swart a, or '* Supreme 
 Lord." The two other sects joined against 
 the followers of Brahma. The sect of Siva, 
 being the most powerful, rendered theirs the 
 established religion, and claimed for Siva, in 
 his turn, the exclusive title of Iswarra. 
 The sect of Vishnu or Heri at length 
 emerged from its obscurity, and in concert 
 with the adorers of Sacti (or the female 
 power), destroyed and aboUshed the sect and 
 worship of Siva, and then Vishnu, Heri, 
 (or Krishna) became the Iswarra, or 
 '* Supreme Lord,'' and his worship became 
 the established religion. This appears to 
 have been the case in Egypt ; and notwith- 
 standing that all affinity between the two 
 systems has of late years been so strongly 
 denied, if we substitute Osiris for Brahma, 
 Horus for Vishnu, Typhon for Siva, and 
 Isis for the Sacti (or female power), the 
 narrative agrees in every respect. 
 
( 20 ) 
 
 Again, the Sun is one of the forms of 
 Vishnu (as Heri) ; Osiris and Horus are 
 both said to have been identical with the 
 Sun. The bull of Siva (Nandi) is the 
 same as the bulls Apis and Mnevis of 
 Memphis and Thebes. 
 
 He (Nandi) is the Vahan, or vehicle of 
 this divinity ; the Bull is the type of justice, 
 whose body is Parameswarra, and whose 
 every joint is virtue ; whose three horns 
 are the three Vedhs, and whose tail ends 
 where Aaherma, or injustice, begins. The 
 Phallus of Osiris* was an object of worship, 
 and is also the emblem of Siva. 
 
 Bacchus or Osiris was represented by an 
 equilateral triangle, and the sectarian mark 
 of the worshippers of Siva is this hiero- 
 glyphic. The worship of Bacchus was the 
 same as that which is paid to Siva, it 
 had the same obscenities, the same cruel 
 
 • " Now that Osiris is none other in reality than the 
 great principle of fecundity is further evident from their 
 manner of celebrating the Pramyha (a festival which has 
 been before observed to bear a resemblance to the Priapeia 
 of the Greeks), in which they carry about in procession and 
 expose to public view a statue of the God with a triple- 
 phallus, signifying hereby that he is a first principle, and 
 that every such principle, by means of its generative 
 faculty, multiplies what proceeds from or is produced by 
 it." — Plutar. de Iside et Osirides, xxxvi 
 
( 21 ) 
 
 bloodthirsty rites, and the same emblem of 
 the generative power. 
 
 The Hindu sacrifices to Durga, or Kali, 
 are a striking exemplification of this hypo- 
 thesis. Mr. Patterson informs us that '* When 
 the stroke is given which severs the head of 
 the victim from its body, the cymbals strike 
 up, the tumtums beat, the kranch, or 
 buccinum, is blown, and the whole assembly, 
 shouting, smear their faces with the blood ; 
 they roll themselves in it, and, dancing like 
 demons, accompany their dances with obscene 
 songs, allusions and gestures."* 
 
 The Abbe Pluche mentions the same 
 particulars of the assistants in the sacrifices 
 of Dyonisius or Bacchus. 
 
 Durga, Kali, or Maha Kali as the Sacti, 
 spouse or energetic will of Siva, the de- 
 structive power, bears a remarkable analogy 
 with the Moloch of Scripture, as well as 
 with Typhon, Saturn, Dis, Pluto, and other 
 divinities of the West. She is eternity, and 
 under this attribute is often represented as 
 trampling her lord Siva under foot ; some- 
 times in paintings we see her sitting upon 
 him in the act of coitus, by which we are 
 to understand that his worship will only last 
 to the end of the world, and then to pass 
 
 * As. Res., vol. viii. 
 
{ 22 ) 
 
 away for ever. She is represented in coitu 
 as typical of the creative power of Siva 
 during the period of his administration, she 
 being the medium, or Sacti, by which his 
 will is carried into operation. 
 
 Maha Kdli"^ delights in bloodshed and 
 cruelty, and human sacrifices are very accept- 
 able to her. In images and paintings she is 
 pourtrayed as holding in her four hands the 
 heads of victims streaming with blood. Over 
 her shoulders is thrown a necklace of human 
 skulls. She is seated on the sacred Padma, 
 or Lotus, and wears a golden tiara on her 
 head. Other representations there are of this 
 terrible divinity, in which her features are 
 distorted, hideous fangs project from her 
 mouth ; her fingers are armed with talons, 
 like a bird of prey, while her body is en- 
 twined with serpents. To Maha Kali is 
 attributed pestilence, rapine, lust, murder, and 
 all the ills of humanity. She is the pro- 
 tectress of murderers, thieves, prostitutes, 
 panders, and all evil doers. Under the name 
 of Bowani she is the special patroness of the 
 Thugs. \ The buffalo is sacrificed to her in 
 the absence of a human victim, while the 
 
 * Bhaydnana^ one of the names of this Goddess, is the 
 same as Phoebe. 
 
 t Thugs : Robbers who always strangle their victims 
 previous to plundering them. 
 
( 23 
 
 Brahminee bull and cow are held in the 
 utmost veneration. 
 
 When the attributes of the Supreme Being 
 began to be viewed in the light of distinct 
 individuals, mankind attached themselves to 
 the worship of the one or the other exclu- 
 sively, and arranged themselves into sects : 
 the worshippers of Siva introduced the 
 doctrine of the eternity of matter. In order 
 to reconcile the apparent contradiction of 
 assigning the attribute of creation to the 
 principle of Destruction, they asserted that 
 the dissolution and destruction of bodies was 
 not real with respect to matter, which was in 
 itself indestructible, although its modifications 
 were in a constant succession of mutation ; 
 that the power must necessarily unite in itself 
 the attributes of creation and apparent 
 destruction ; that this power and matter are 
 two distinct and co-existent principles in 
 nature ; the one active, the other passive ; 
 the one male, the other female ; and that 
 creation was the effect of the mysterious 
 union of the two. 
 
 This Union is worshipped under a variety 
 of names : Bhava, Bhavani, Mahadeva, 
 Mahamaya, &c. Thus the attribute of 
 creation was usurped from Brahma, by the 
 followers of Siva, to adorn and characterise 
 their favourite divinity. 
 
( 24 ) 
 
 This seems to have been a popular wor- 
 ship for a great length of time, out of which 
 sprang two sects : the one personified the 
 whole Universe and dispensations of provi- 
 dence (in the regulation of it) under the 
 name of Prakriti, and which we from the 
 Latin call nature. This sect retains the 
 Sacti only, and were the originators of the 
 S actus sects, or worshippers of Power, before 
 and hereafter to be alluded to. The other 
 sect took for their symbol the Male emblem 
 {Lingo) unconnected with the female Sacti 
 (or Yoni). There was also a third sect, who 
 adored both male and female. 
 
 According to Theodoret, Arnobius, and 
 Clemens of Alexandria, the Yoni of the 
 Hindus was the sole object of veneration in 
 the mysteries of Eleusis.* When the people 
 of Syracuse were sacrificing to goddesses, 
 they offered cakes in a certain form, called 
 mulloi ; | and in some temples, where the 
 priestesses were probably ventriloquists, they 
 so far imposed on the credulous multitude 
 who came to adore the Vulva, as to make 
 them believe that it spoke and gave oracles. 
 The Phallic rites were so well-known among 
 the Greeks that a metre consisting of 
 
 * Demosthenes of the Crown. 
 t Apuleius, p. 802. 
 
( 25 ) 
 
 three torches only derived its name there- 
 from. 
 
 In the opinion of those who compiled the 
 Puranas, Phallus was first publicly worshipped 
 by the name of Bdsewarra-Linga on the 
 banks of the Cumudoati, or Euphrates ; and 
 the Jews, according to Rabbi Aeha, seem 
 to have had some such idea, as may be 
 collected from what is said regarding the 
 different earths which formed the body of 
 Adam.* 
 
 * Gemara Sanhedrim, c. 30, cited by Ryland. 
 
 If reference be made to chap, iv., vol. iii., of Lewis's 
 Origines Hebrie, much curious information will be found 
 regarding the " Idolatry of the Hebrews/' which not only 
 plainly shows that they adored Phallus, but goes far to 
 confirm the hypothesis that the object of veneration in 
 the Ark of the Covenant was the emblem itself, or a type 
 of it. 
 
 At p. 23, vol. iii., we read that " The most ancient monu- 
 ments of Idolatry among the Gentiles, were consecrated 
 Pillars (Lingas ?) or Columns, which the Hebrews were 
 forbidden to erect as objects of divine homage and 
 adoration." Yet he adds, " This practice is conceived to 
 arise from an imitation of Jacob, who took a stone and set 
 if up," &c. Again, " This stone was held in great venera- 
 tion in future times by the Jews and removed to Jerusalem." 
 They were accustomed " to anoint this stone, and from the 
 word Bethel, the place where the pillar was erected, came 
 the word Baetylia among the Heathen, which signified rude 
 stones which they worshipped, either as symbols of Divinity, 
 or as true gods animated by some heavenly power." Indeed, 
 it would seem not improbable that the erection of the 
 Pillar of Jacob actually gave rise to the worship of Phallus 
 among some of the Pagan peoples. " For," says Lewis, " the 
 
( 26 ) 
 
 The extraordinary analogy between the 
 Sacti and Eleusinian mysteries is very strik- 
 ing. There is a Greek Vase in the Hamil- 
 tonian Collection'! at the British Museum, 
 which represents the) purification of a woman 
 who is a candidate ^ for the office of Sacti 
 
 learned Bochart asserts that the Phoenicians (at least as the 
 Jews think) first worshipped J/>^is very stone which Jacob 
 anointed, and afterwards consecrated others," &c. 
 I It is to little purpose that we are reminded that the 
 Jews were forbidden by their law to " make unto themselves 
 any graven image," for, as Lewis shows in the following 
 passage, there may be exceptions to this, as to every other 
 general rule. 
 
 " Notwithstanding," he says, " the severity of the Law 
 against the making of Images, yet, as Justin Martyr observes 
 in his Book against Trypho, it must be somewhat 
 mysterious, that God in the case of the Brazen Serpent 
 should command an image to be made, for which, he says, 
 one of the Jews confessed he never could hear a reason 
 from any of their Doctors." 
 
 The brazen serpent continued to be worshipped by the 
 Jews, and to have incense offered to that Idol, till the 
 reign of Hezekiah : 
 
 " For it being written in the Law of Moses, ' whosoever 
 looks upon it shall live,' they fancied they might obtain 
 blessings by its mediation, and therefore thought it worthy 
 to be worshipped. Our learned Dr. Jackson observes, 
 * that the pious Hezekiah was moved with the greater 
 indignation against the worship of this image, because in 
 truth it never was a type of our Saviour, but a figure of his 
 grand enemy,' " &c. 
 
 Then we find the Jews relapsing into Idolatry by the 
 adoration of the golden calf, set up too, not by a few 
 schismatics, but by the entire people, with Aaron at their 
 head. The calf superstition was doubtless a relic of what 
 
( 27 ) 
 
 (to use an Indian word), she is about to 
 be initiated into the greater mysteries. This 
 woman is naked and stands near a font, in 
 which her right hand is placed, her body 
 has aheady been washed with some soapy 
 substance, and scraped with the stirgil, which 
 
 they had seen in Egypt in the worship of Apis and Mnevis. 
 Next we have the golden calves set up by Jeroboam at Dan 
 and Bethel. 
 
 Then follows (Judges viii. 22, &c.) the worship of 
 Gideon's Ephod. 
 
 " Then Ephod made by Gideon with the spoil of the 
 Midianites became after his death an object of Idolatry." 
 — Ibid. p. 41. 
 
 We have also Micah's Images and Teraphim. 
 
 The Samaritan Temple upon Mount Gerizim. " The 
 Jews accuse the Samaritans of two instances of Idolatry 
 committed in this place : the first, that they worshipped 
 the Image of a Dove ; the other, that they paid divine 
 adoration to certain Teraphims or Idol Gods that were hid 
 under that mountain." — Ibid. p. 55. 
 
 We learn from St. Jerome (who received it by tradition 
 from the ancient Jews, and indeed it is so stated in 
 Numbers xxv. i, 2, &c. ; xxiii. 28, and numerous other 
 passages of the Old Testament), that the Jews adored 
 Baal Phegor (Baal Pheor), the Priapus of the Greeks and 
 Romans. " It was," he says, " principally worshipped by 
 women colentibus maxime jceminis Baal Phegor, oh obsceeeni 
 magnitudinem, quern nos Priapum possumus appellare." 
 
 *' The Adoration," Maimonides observes, " made to this 
 Idol called Pehor, consisted in discovering the mons veneris 
 before it." 
 
 Chemosh (probably the same as Baal Pheor) also re- 
 eeived the homage of the Jews, as also did Milcom, Molech, 
 Baal berith (or Cybele), and numerous others. 
 
 From all this it will be seen that the Jews feU into 
 
( 28 ) 
 
 is seen near her feet. The priest who assists 
 has a palm branch in his hand, which was 
 sometimes of gold. He finishes the purifi- 
 cation by an aspersion, and a prayer adapted 
 to the ceremony. 
 
 The painting on another Vase in the same 
 
 Idolatry, and Phallic Idolatry too ; consequently there will 
 not appear anything so very startling in the supposition that 
 the Ark of the Covenant contained a Phallus. We have 
 seen that the Stone of Jacob was held in peculiar " venera- 
 tion," was " worshipped " and " anointed ; " we know from 
 the Jewish records that the Ark was supposed to contain a 
 table of sto7te, and if it can be demonstrated that that stone 
 was phalUc, and yet identical with the sacred name Jehovah, 
 or Yehovah, which, written in unpointed Hebrew with four 
 letters, is lEVE or IHVH (the HE being merely an 
 aspirate and the same as E), this process leaves us the two 
 letters I and V (or in another of its forms U). Then, if we 
 add the I in the U, we have the " holy of holies,*' we also 
 have the Linga and Yoni and Argha of the Hindus, the 
 Iswarra or " supreme lord," and here we have the whole 
 secret of its mystic and arc-celestial import, confirmed in 
 itself by being identical with the Linyoni of the Ark of the 
 Covenant. 
 
 In Gregorie's Works,* pp. 120-21, is a passage to the 
 effect that " Noah daily prayed in the Ark before the Body of 
 Adam," i.e., before the Phallus (Adam being the primitive 
 Phallus, great Procreator of the human race). 
 
 " It may possibly seem strange," he says, " that this 
 orison should be daily said before the body of Adam," but 
 "it is a most confessed Tradition among the Eastern men 
 that Adam was commanded by God that his dead body 
 should be kept above ground till a fulness of time should 
 
 ♦ Gregorie's " Notes and Observations upon several passages 
 in Scripture." — Vol. i., 410., Lond., 1684. 
 
29 ) 
 
 collection is thus described by D'Hancarville 
 [vide Plate 29 of his Edit, of Greek and 
 Etruscan Vases] — " La peinture de ce Vase 
 blesse Thonnetete et la pudeur, on y voit 
 representees deux Bacchantes toutes nues 
 
 come to commit it to the middle of the earth * by a priest 
 of the Most High God." 
 
 " This body of Adam was embalmed and transmitted 
 from father to son, till at last it was delivered up by Lamech 
 into the hands of Noah." Again, " The middle of the Ark 
 was the place of prayer, and made holy by the presence of 
 Adam's body." — Ibid. p. 121. " And so soon as ever the 
 day began to break, Noah stood up towards the body of 
 Adam, &c., ;S:c., and prayed." 
 
 To return, however, to the tables of stone, and to the 
 Pillar of Jacob. Our modern notion of their form is a 
 diagram, or in other words, two head -stones placed side by 
 side. Now if we alter the position a little, allowing one to 
 recline horizontally, surmounted by the other perpendicular, 
 we shall obtain a complete Linga and Yoni, the " sacred 
 Name " of the holy of holies before mentioned, and the 
 Pillar or Mast in the Argha or boat as represented in the 
 Ark of the Egyptians. The treatment of the Wings of the 
 supporting doves, on each side of this ark, conveys to us a 
 pretty correct idea of where the Hebrews obtained their 
 Cherubim or Seraphim — only substituting a human head 
 and body for the birds. 
 
 Upon consulting the Hebrew dictionary of Gesenius 
 we shall find the word aroun and aron signifying an ark, 
 a chest. In Genesis i. 26, the word is used as a mummy 
 chest, or coffin, for Joseph in Egypt. The ark of the 
 covenant might in the same way be called the Coffin. 
 
 For the above reasons it is concluded that the object 
 of veneration in the Ark of the Covenant, of the Jews, was 
 a Phallus. 
 
 * Mount Moriah — the Meru of India. 
 
( 30 ) 
 
 qui vout se laver prohahlement avec du via 
 pour oindre leur corps et aupres d'elles un 
 Faune, or Silene. Ces deux femmes par 
 cette preparation et cette lustration prescrite 
 par la loi se disposent peutetre a assister 
 aux mysteres de Bacchus. Nous ne rappor- 
 terons pas ici les indecences lubriques que 
 se commetorient dans ces brutaux mysteres 
 et qui avex fondement on ete reprochees 
 aux Gentils par les apologistes de la Religion 
 Chretienne/' 
 
 It has already been remarked that the 
 secret of the Eleusian Mysteries is supposed 
 to have consisted in the adoration of the 
 Yoni ; and from the representations of the 
 initiation, just cited, bearing a striking 
 analogy to " the Sri chakra, the ring or full 
 initiation," as prescribed by the T antra 
 referred to by Wilson, even to the washing 
 of the body with wine, leaves but little 
 doubt of their identity of the rites. 
 
 The probability that Isis was the Sacti (or 
 Power) of Egypt* has already been shown ; 
 and how far its adoration was known to the 
 Assyrians is now to be considered. 
 
 * " Now Universal Nature, in its utmost and most per- 
 fect extent, may be considered as made up of these three 
 things, of Intelligence, of Matter, and of that which is the 
 result of both these, in the Greek language called Kostnos — 
 the first of these is the same with what Plato is wont to call 
 
( 31 ) 
 
 The numerous terra-cotta figures and images 
 in ivory, to which Layard has given the 
 general name of Venus (Kun), seem unques- 
 tionably to be an impersonation of Sacti, 
 or the female power, as the Yoni is rather 
 obtrusively represented in many of these 
 statuettes, while the fissure and other natural 
 appendages are absent in others. In the 
 former not only is the yoni pourtrayed, but 
 a certain ornament on the mons veneris is 
 curled, precisely in the same conventional 
 manner as is seen in the beards of the Male 
 Statues in the Assyrian antiquities ; while 
 in the latter, the true Venus, the fissure and 
 the appendages are omitted. 
 
 the Idea, the Father ; to the second of them he has given the 
 name of the Mother, the Nurse, and the place and Receptacle 
 of generation ; and to the latter of them that of the offspring 
 and the Production — so again with regard to the Egyptians, 
 there is good reason to conclude that they were wont 
 to liken this Universal Nature to what they called the most 
 beautiful and perfect Triangle; the same as does Plato 
 himself in that nuptial diagram, &c. — Now in this Triangle, 
 which is rectangular, the perpendicular side is imagined 
 equal to three, the base to four, and the hypothenuse, which 
 is equal to the other two containing sides, to five. In this 
 scheme, therefore, we must suppose that the Perpendicular 
 is designed by them to represent the Masculine nature, the 
 Base the Feminine, and that the Hypothenuse is to be 
 looked upon as the offspring of both ; and according^ the 
 first of them will aptly enough represent Osiris, or the 
 prime cause ; the second Isis, or the receptive power ; the 
 last, Orus, or the common effect of the other two." — 
 Plutarch de I side et Osirides, Ivi. 
 
( 32 ) 
 
 One is therefore led to believe that the 
 adoration of Sadi was a prominent feature 
 in the Assyrian worship. And this idea is 
 confirmed by a bas-relief of clay found at 
 Susa, which gives a nude figure having the 
 yoni depicted, and holding in her hands the 
 Argha* The attitude of this figure, and 
 the manner in which the Argha is placed 
 in her hands, resembles in a remarkable 
 manner the images of the Hindii goddess 
 Devi. 
 
 Camala or Laksmi is the Hindii Venus, 
 and generally draped. Radha, assumed to 
 be an incarnation of Laksmi (but as the 
 Sadi of Krishna, adored by the Sadas 
 Sects of Radhaballabhis) , is invariably nude, 
 with the Yoni uncovered. 
 
 For representations of (what may be 
 thought to be) the Assyrian Sadi (or im- 
 personation of the female generative principle) 
 the reader is referred to a collection of 
 Images in the Assyrian department of the 
 British Museum. 
 
 The Linga of the Assyrians was typified 
 by a cone (or the Membrum Virile in its 
 puerile form), numerous specimens of which 
 were found projecting from the walls of the 
 
 Originals in the British Museum. 
 
( 33 ) 
 
 Palace of Nimroud, of which examples may 
 also be seen at the British Museum. 
 
 The Assyrians do not appear, however 
 (like the Linyonijas of the Hindiis), to have 
 worshipped the Sacti in union, as we find 
 it taught in the Tantras, — at least no de- 
 lineations of the male and female conjunction 
 have been found as objects of worship. 
 
 Gorius, in his splendid work on Etruscan 
 Antiquities, gives a plate of two phalli, 
 bearing inscriptions, the form of which 
 objects resemble in too remarkable a degree 
 the Hindii Linga to be omitted here ; but 
 whether the square base from which these 
 emblems rise is to be regarded as a yoni 
 cannot readily be determined ; but the Hindii 
 Lingas are frequently (as at Elephanta, for 
 example) mounted on a square base, the 
 base being the Yoni. 
 
 Patterson has already been cited in con- 
 firmation of the assertion that the excitation 
 of '* obscene mirth '' is a principal object in 
 most of the Hindii Plays and Sacred Mys- 
 teries during the festival of Huli and the 
 Dusserah ; and the numerous libidines in- 
 terspersed among the engravings of d'Han- 
 carville's edition of the Hamiltonian Collection 
 of Vases, prove that such was also the case 
 in Greece and Etruria ; but from the circum- 
 stance of Parrhasius being the first painter 
 
( 34 ) 
 
 who delineated the representations called 
 lihidines in that part of the world, and from 
 the pediments of many of the most antique 
 cave temples of India, containing sculpture 
 of this description, one is led to the conclu- 
 sion that the practice arose in the East. 
 
 The clown and pantaloon of the modern 
 carnival and our pantomimes are simply 
 modified relics of antiquity : precisely similar 
 characters are found depicted on vases of 
 both Greek and Etruscan workmanship ; but 
 to suit the taste of that age these actors 
 to their grotesque masks and costumes added 
 an enormous phallus of red leather,^ which 
 Suidas termed ithiphalli. 
 
 The scenes represented on the ancient 
 stage are continued to the present day 
 throughout the East. 
 
 The pediments of their temples, both 
 ancient and modern, and their sacred cars 
 are loaded with lihidines, many of the com- 
 binations being of a most debasing character. 
 
 But it must be borne in mind that these 
 representations, whether of the character of 
 theatrical performances or in that of sculp- 
 ture, were regarded by the ancients as a 
 part of their religious system, as it is now 
 accepted by the Hindiis of the present day. 
 
 * Ruber Porectus. — Hor. 
 
( 35 ) 
 
 How far the general character and moral 
 tone of the Hindus will bear comparison 
 with the dwellers in the capitals of Europe 
 is a point which may safely be left to the 
 decision of those travellers who have had 
 an opportunity of visiting and residing among 
 both communities.* 
 
 Of the practices of the Ancients it is now 
 more difficult to form an accurate judgment, 
 nor is it easy to determine the precise 
 period when, from the natural corruption of 
 human nature, religious observances gradually 
 merged into licentious practices. It is well 
 known that the most able and eloquent 
 writers of antiquity flourished exactly at 
 that period when these innovations had 
 crept in ; and that they were most eloquent 
 in denouncing them. Modern notions of the 
 state of the manners and customs of these 
 times are mainly derived from those very 
 denunciations, and such corruptions will 
 always form an integral part of our nature. 
 We learn from the Vedhas, the most 
 
 * One of the most accomplished Oriental scholars of 
 our times, to whom the public is indebted for a Telugu 
 Dictionary, and a translation of the Bible into the same 
 language, a resident for thirty years in India, has recorded 
 his judgment that, on the questions of probity and moraUty, 
 Europeans (notwithstanding their boasted Christianity 
 and morality), as compared with the Hindus, " have not 
 much to boast of." 
 
( 36 ) 
 
 ancient and authoritative Scriptures of the 
 Hindiis, that " in the beginning the Breath- 
 ing Soul (Bruhm- Atma) moved upon the 
 face of the waters/' '' This world/' says 
 Menu, " was a chaos, undiscernible altogether, 
 when the Supreme Being, manifesting him- 
 self in five elements and other glorious 
 forms, perfectly dispelled the gloom." As 
 water is thus represented as the vehicle of 
 creation, and the Padma or Lotus is a 
 water plant from which each god at his 
 birth emerges, it will be seen why this 
 aquatic weed is held to be so peculiarly 
 sacred in the eyes of the Hindiis. The 
 Lotus is also a symbol of reproduction 
 and generation, the flower of concealment, 
 night, silence, mystery, and regarded with 
 nearly the same veneration as the Yoni 
 itself. In the poetical language of the 
 Hindiis the Padma, under its various appel- 
 lations, is frequently alluded to, and is held 
 in peculiar sanctity, not only in Hindustan, 
 but in Thibet, Nepaul, Siam, China, Burmah, 
 and Ceylon, where temples and the images 
 of the gods are decked with it. 
 
 The Hindiis adore the Lotus for other 
 reasons ; for example, because being able 
 to reproduce itself without the assistance 
 of the male pollen, it is a type of the 
 androgynous or hermaphroditic character of 
 
( 37 ) 
 
 the Deity. For the same reason this plant 
 was also held sacred by the Egyptian 
 priests. 
 
 Payne Knight's * account of the Lotus 
 is interesting. He says, " The lotus is the 
 nelumbo of Linnaeus. It grows in the 
 water, and amongst its broad leaves puts 
 forth a flower, in the centre of which is 
 formed the seed vessel, shaped like a bell 
 or inverted cone, punctuated in the top 
 with little cavities or cells in which the 
 seeds grow ; the orifices of these cells 
 being too small to let the seeds drop out 
 when ripe, they shoot forth into new plants 
 in the places where they were formed ; the 
 bulb of the vessel serving as a matrix to 
 nourish them until they acquire such a 
 degree of magnitude as to break it open 
 and release themselves. After which, Uke 
 other aquatic weeds, they take root where- 
 ever the current deposits them." 
 
 Twelve Lingas are particularly mentioned 
 in the Kedara Kalpa of the Nandi-upa- 
 puran, as being of peculiar sanctity. In 
 this Pur an y Siva is made to say, " I am 
 omnipresent, but I am especially in twelve 
 forms and places." 
 
 * A Dissertation on the Worship of Priapus, by R. 
 Payne Knight, Lond., 1786. 
 
( 38 ) 
 
 These he enumerates as follows — 
 
 I — Somanatha, in Samashtra, i.e., Sural. 
 
 2 — Malikijuna, or Sri Sala. 
 
 3 — MahakalUy or Ougein. 
 
 4 — Onikala. Shrine of Mahadeo (or Great 
 God, a name of Siva) at Onikala Mandatta. 
 
 5 — Amareswarra, in Ujayai, near the 
 Hill. 
 
 6 — Vaidyanath, at Deoghur, in Bengal. 
 (This temple is still in existence, and a 
 celebrated place of pilgrimage.) 
 
 7 — Ramdsa, at Sethubandha, on the island 
 of Ramissaram, between Ceylon and the 
 Continent. (Here the Linga is fabled to 
 have been set up by Rama.) This temple 
 is still in tolerable repair, and one of the 
 most magnificent in India, with a superb 
 gateway one hundred feet in height.* 
 
 8 — Bhomasandkara, in Dakini, which is 
 in all probability the same as Bhirmswarra, 
 a Linga worshipped at Dracharam, in the 
 Raja Mahendri district, and there venerated 
 as one of the chief of the twelve. 
 
 9 — Not known. 
 
 10 — Tryambaka, on the banks of the Gomati 
 {Goomtee ?). 
 
 II — Gantamessa — (site uncertain). 
 
 * For a print of it, vide " Monuments de I'Hindoustan, 
 par M. de Langle.*' Also, Daniel's Plates, Ind. Antiq. 
 
( 39 ) 
 
 12 — Kedaresa, or Kedaranath in the Hima- 
 laya. The last has been frequently visited 
 by travellers. 
 
 In each of these temples the only image of 
 Siva that attracted devotees was a Linga. 
 From this circumstance, and from what has 
 already been adduced, there can be Uttle 
 doubt that the religion of the Saivas, or 
 followers of Siva (comprising a large majority 
 of the Hindlis of Bengal), is little more 
 than a regular system of Phallic idolatry. 
 
 According to his followers — and he has 
 many even in the Deccan — Baswd Basavd, 
 or Baswapa, the supposed founder of the 
 faith, only restored the worship of Mahadeo, 
 and did not invent it. This man was the 
 son of Madija Rdya, a Brahman, and Madevi 
 his wife, inhabitants of Hinguleswur-pavati- 
 Agraharam, on the west side of Sri Saila, 
 and both devout worshippers of Siva 
 (Mahadeo) . 
 
 In recompense for their piety, Nandi, the 
 Sacred Bull of Siva, was born on earth, as 
 their ^on, becoming incarnate in that animal 
 by the command of Siva, who, on learning 
 from Nareda the decline of his religion and 
 the neglect with which his Lingas were 
 treated, manifested himself in a miraculous 
 manner to these two devout persons. Siva 
 in his human form, and accompanied by 
 
( 40 ) 
 
 Pawati his Sacti, came forth from the great 
 Sangameswarra Linga ; thus proving that his 
 divine essence even dwelt in these his 
 emblems.* 
 
 From this time the adoration of the 
 Linga, which had languished, again came 
 into vogue, and, as before observed, is the 
 principal and most venerated of all the 
 Hindii Idols of Bengal. 
 
 But it is not only the votaries of Siva 
 who adore their God under the symbolic 
 form of the Linga ; the Vaishnavas, or 
 followers of Vishnu, use the same medium. 
 They also are Lingayetts, one of the essen- 
 tial characteristics of which is wearing the 
 Type on some part of their dress or person. 
 The Linga is enclosed in a case either of 
 silver or copper, and worn suspended from 
 the neck, or on the arm as a bracelet {cada). 
 These amulets are intended to avert the 
 bad influence of the evil eye, and may be 
 compared to the Fascinum of the Romans 
 and the Jettatura of Modem Italy, f 
 
 * Vide Mackenzie's Collections, vol. ii., Halukanara 
 MSS. 
 
 t " Sequuntur turpia atque obscena quaedam fascina 
 exaere, quae Etruscae feminae collo suspensa gerere 
 consuevenint, ut sibi fecunditatem a Priapo Deo facilius 
 impetrarent. Ea etiam persaepe taurius capiti adiuncta 
 sunt : quae etiam puerorum — collo tamquam remedium 
 praebiave appenderunt, loco amuleti et fascini, quod Plinius 
 
( 41 ) 
 
 The Vaishnavas are divided into many 
 sects. They comprise the Ghoculasthas, the 
 Yonijas, the Ramani, and Radha-ballabis, 
 
 The Ghoculasthas adore Krishna, while the 
 Ramani worship Rama ; both have again 
 branched into three sects — one consists of 
 the exclusive worshippers of Krishna, and 
 these only are deemed true and orthodox 
 Vaishnavas, 
 
 Under the name of Gopala (the Shepherd), 
 Krishna is doubtless the same as the pastoral 
 Apollo, who fed the herds of Admetus, sur- 
 named Nomios by the Greeks. The de- 
 struction of Python by Apollo signifies the 
 purification of the atmosphere by the Sun 
 from mephitic exhalations consequent on the 
 deluge, and Krishna's victory over the 
 noxious Kalyanaga may be explained in 
 tha same manner. In honour of his triumph, 
 games and sports are annually held in India 
 [Huli], as the Pythic games were at stated 
 times exhibited in Greece. Like the Pythian 
 serpent in the temples of Apollo, Kalya 
 narga enjoys also his Apotheosis in those 
 
 infantium custodem adpellat — [Hist. Nat. lib. xxviii. civ.] — 
 Honim plane ingens numerus tota Etniria in Museis obvius 
 est : e quibus antiquis reliquiis, summam pudendamque 
 fuisse veterum Etnisorum superstitionem, probe dignoscere 
 licet." — Museum Etruscum exhibens insignia, &c., by 
 Antonio Francisco Gorius, vol. ii., p. 141, a.d. 144. 
 
( 42 ) 
 
 dedicated to the worship of Krishna. Nor 
 are arguments wanted towards identifjdng 
 Serpentarius, on our sphere, with his for- 
 midable foe, and the theatre of the warfare 
 the river Yamuna, with the Via Lactea. 
 Apollo and Krishna are both said to be 
 inventors of the flute, one was disappointed 
 by Daphne, who was turned into the 
 Laurus, hence sacred to Apollo. Krishna's 
 coy nymph was transformed into the Tulasi, 
 alike sacred to him. 
 
 As Parameswarra, Krishna is represented 
 of a black or dark blue colour. Now the 
 Tulasi is the black Ocymun, and all animals 
 or vegetables of a black or blue colour are 
 sacred to him. His Linga also is always 
 either black or dark blue, and may thus 
 be distinguished from that of Siva, which 
 is generally white. 
 
 This divinity, as Parameswarra is Jagan'- 
 nauth {Juggernaut), or " Lord of the Uni- 
 verse," and it was under the wheels of his 
 sacred car that so many misguided beings 
 annually immolated themselves. 
 
 Krishna, from his known amorous pro- 
 pensities, is a pecuHar favourite with the 
 Hindii women ; to which M. de Langle 
 makes the following naive allusion, in his 
 description of the character of this divinity : 
 " Au reste," he says, " on ne peut douter 
 
( 43 ) 
 
 de son extreme penchant pour le beau sexe ; 
 car, outre huit femmes, parmi lesquelles la 
 favorite nominee Rddhd est celebre par ses 
 graces et par sa beaut6, il eut i6 mille 
 concubines trouvees toutes vierges dans le 
 palais de Bhoum, demon (dzoura) k cinq 
 tetes, qu'il tua a cause de ses innoubrable 
 forfaits, Suivant quelques theologiens Hin- 
 dous, Radha, est une incarnation de Lakchmi 
 femme de Vichnon, incarne lui-meme sous 
 le nom de Krishna,'*"^ 
 
 To return, however, to the Vaishnavas, 
 Another of their sects adore Krishna and 
 his mistress Radha united. These are the 
 Lingionijas, whose worship is perhaps the 
 most free of all the Pujas. A third, the 
 Radha-ballubhis, dedicate their offerings to 
 Radha] only. The followers of these last- 
 
 * Monumens Ancien et Moderne de rHindoustan. 
 
 t Radha, Radhica, or Rukmeni, the favorite Mistress 
 of Krishna, was one of the nine Gopia (Shepherdesses or 
 Milkmaids), the inseparable companions of this Deity. 
 She is an Avata, or incarnation of Laksmi or Catnala, the 
 spouse of Vishnu, the universal mother of Nature, and the 
 impersonation of female beauty. She is the type of reUgion 
 and spiritual love to the deity. Her characteristics are set 
 forth in the Giia Govisida and Gita Radhica Krishna, the 
 latter Poem bearing a most striking resemblance to the 
 Canticles. 
 
 The loves of Krishna and Radha, which, in the writings 
 of the Hindus are constantly adverted to, are said to mean, 
 in their emblematical theology, the reciprocal attraction 
 
( 44 ) 
 
 mentioned sects have adopted the singular 
 practice of presenting to a naked girl the 
 oblation intended for the Goddess, consti- 
 tuting her the living impersonation of 
 Radha. But when a female is not to be 
 obtained for this purpose, the votive offer- 
 ings are made to an image of the Yoni, or 
 emblem of the feminine Power. These wor- 
 
 between the divine goodness and the human soul ; and are 
 told at large in the tenth book of the Bhdgavat. In like 
 manner is the Bhdgavat Geeta regarded by the Brahmins, 
 though it apparently consists of a dialogue between Krishna 
 and his follower Arjiln. We are informed that in this instance 
 Krishna is to be regarded as the Supreme Being, Arjiin as 
 the human soul. This mysticism abounds in all their 
 writings, but is not peculiar to the Hindiis. It is question- 
 able whether any of their sacred writings contain one-half of 
 the mysticism to be found in the Apocalypse of St. John. 
 
 " The separate Sects or rehgious systems that we find 
 among Hindiis should never be confounded. The creed 
 that honours Vishnu-Krishna as the Beneficent Power is 
 quite separate from the demon worship in which Siva- 
 Mahadeva is adored : and beyond this is the Tantra system 
 of Magic and the destroying Powers. Rukmeni is the wife, 
 not mistress, of Krishna. The wedding is described in the 
 Bhdgavat, which is a canonical scripture. In a later age 
 Radha, the mistress, not wife of Krishna, is the heroine of 
 a heretical work, the Devi Bhdgavat, or Tale of the good 
 Goddess : and she is declared to be nature, the mother of 
 all beings. The naked worship is quite separate, and apper- 
 tains to the Tantrica or Black Magic. The Brahma Vai- 
 vartta Puran, the Kalica Puran, and some others are dis- 
 owned by the orthodox Hindiis, as works of authority, who 
 pin their faith on the Bhdrrata, Bhdgavata, and Rdmdyan, 
 AU the other Puranas are rejected." 
 
( 45 
 
 shippers are called Yonijas, in contradistinc- 
 tion to the Lingayats, or adorers of the 
 Krishna ( Vishnu) Linga. 
 
 As the Saivas are all worshippers of 
 Siva and Bowanee (Pavati) conjointly, so 
 the Vaishnavas also offer up their prayers 
 to Laksmi-Nayarana, The exclusive adorers 
 of this Goddess are the S actus. 
 
 The cast mark of the Saivas and Sactas 
 consists of three horizontal lines on the 
 forehead,* with ashes obtained, if possible, 
 
 * The question of Sectarian Marks seems to have engaged 
 the attention of Maurice. He says, "There was another 
 remarkable symbol of Taut, or Mercury, prevalent in Egypt, 
 as well as in India. It was the letter T, or in other words 
 the cross, or Crux Hermis, in which form we find many of 
 the more ancient Pagados of India, as Benares and Mattra, 
 erected ; and many of the old Egyptian statues, as is weU 
 known to antiquaries, are represented bearing this symbol 
 in their hand or on their breasts. D'Hancarville, and the 
 generality of mythologists, explain this symbol as referring 
 to the gross physical worship to which the ancients were so 
 greatly addicted, and as an emblem of Jupiter Generator (or 
 Priapus), or the deity in his creative capacity, in Ancient 
 Egypt and India, and which Mr. Bruce frequently met with 
 in his travels through the Higher Eg5^t and Abyssinia. 
 I have elsewhere observed the very singular manner after 
 which the Latin Vulgate, and, according to Louth, probably 
 the ancient copies of the Septuagint, have rendered the 
 original of that passage in Ezekiel ix. 4, " / will set a mark 
 upon their forehead ;*' rendering it in their version, ** I will 
 mark them on the forehead with the letter Tau ; " which 
 affords room to suppose it was a symbol of a more sacred 
 (phallic ?) import than is generally imagined," &c. — Maurice, 
 Ind. Antiq., pp. 44, 45, Lond., 1801. 
 
( 46 
 
 from the hearth, on which a consecrated fire 
 is perpetually maintained. The adoration 
 of the Sacti"^ is quite in accordance with 
 the spirit of the mythological system of the 
 Hindiis. It has been computed that of the 
 Hindiis in Bengal, at least three- fourths 
 are Sactas, of the remaining fourth, three 
 parts are Vaishnavas, and one Saivas. 
 
 Independently of the homage paid to the 
 principal Deities, there are a great variety 
 of inferior beings, Dewtas, and demi-gods 
 of a malevolent character and formidable 
 aspect, who receive the worship of the 
 multitude. The bride of Siva, however, in 
 one or other of her many and varied forms, f 
 
 * Sactya Rites among Mussulmans, 
 
 According to Buckingham, " Between Zohaub and Ker- 
 manshah there are a people called Nessereah, who, like those 
 of the same name in Syria, pay divine honours to the Puden- 
 dum MuHebre, and hold feasts resembling ancient mys- 
 teries of Venus." 
 
 fin alluding to Bhavani (Pavati) as distinguished by a 
 variety of names implying Nature, and among others using 
 that of Shacti (a word that is usually and in this treatise 
 called Sacti), PaoUno in his Voyages, p. 327, gives an 
 account of the Magna Mater of the Hindus. " She 
 changes," he says, " and transforms herself into a thousand 
 shapes, and appears sometimes as a man and sometimes as 
 a woman. Her votaries paint the Medhra " (in Bengal 
 called yoni), " which is represented by two side strokes, and 
 a red one in the middle " (on the forehead). " This mark 
 represents the womb of Bhavani," in its conventional form. 
 — Paolino's Voyage to Malabar, 
 
( 47 ) 
 
 is by far the most popular goddess in 
 Bengal and along the Ganges. 
 
 The worship of the female generative 
 principle, as distinct from the Divinity, 
 appears to have originated in the literal 
 interpretation of the metaphorical language 
 of the Vedhas, in which Will, or purpose 
 to Create the Universe, is represented as 
 originating from the Creator and co-existent 
 with him as his bride, and part of himself. 
 We read in the Rig- Veda the following — 
 " That divine spirit breathed without affla- 
 tion, single, with {Swadha) her who is sus- 
 tained within him, other than her nothing 
 existed." Again, " First, desire was formed 
 in his mind, and desire became the original 
 productive seed.''* The Sdma- Veda also, 
 speaking of the divine cause of creation, 
 says, '* He felt not joy, being alone. He 
 wished for another, and instantly the desire 
 was gratified. He caused his body to part 
 in twain, and thus became male and female. 
 They united, and human beings were pro- 
 duced, f 
 
 Prakriti,l the mother of gods and men, 
 
 * As. Res., viii. 393. 
 
 t Idem, viii., 426. 
 
 J Prakriti is inherent Maya, because she beguiles all 
 beings.*' — As. Res., xvii. 
 
( 48 
 
 one with matter, the source of error, is 
 identified with Maya or delusion,* and co- 
 existent with the Omnipotent, and his Sacti, 
 his personified energy, his bride. According 
 to Wilson, " these mythological fancies have 
 principally been disseminated by the Puranas, 
 and were unknown anterior to those writ- 
 ings/' The whole subject is given in 
 extenso in the Brahma- Vaivaartta Pur an 
 (a Purana which is not considered orthodox), 
 under the head of Prakrita Khanda, in 
 which the legends having reference to the 
 modifications of the female principle are 
 narrated. It is further stated in this Pur an, 
 that Brahma, having determined to create 
 the universe, became androgynous, male and 
 female ; the right half having the sex and form 
 of a man ; the left, that of a woman. In his 
 images he is sometimes thus represented, 
 and is then termed Ardnari. " This is 
 Prakriti of one nature with Brahm ; 
 illusion, eternal, as the soul so is its active 
 
 * On the base of Minerva's statue at Sais, whom the 
 Egyptians regarded to be the same as Isis, a goddess who 
 bears so striking an analogy to the Hindii Prakriti or nature, 
 there was this inscription : " I am everything that has been, 
 that is, and that shall he : nor has any mortal ever yet been 
 able to discover what is under my veil." — Plutar. de Iside 
 et Osiride, s. ix. 
 
49 
 
 energy, as the faculty of burning is in 
 fire."* 
 
 In another passage of the Santa Vedha it 
 is said that Krishna, being alone invested 
 with the divine nature, began to create all 
 things by his own will, which became mani- 
 fest in Mula-Prakriti. 
 
 Wilson asserted f that " Krishna is un- 
 doubtedly a very modern intruder into the 
 Hindii Pantheon." In what sense the term 
 *' modern " is here used is impossible now 
 to determine, but the fact of Megasthenes J 
 having visited a temple of this divinity, 
 whom he calls Hercules, at Mathura on the 
 Jumna, the Matura Deorum of Ptolemy, 
 sufficiently proves that the worship of this 
 Divinity was instituted many years ante- 
 cedent to the Christian sera. It is therefore 
 presumed that Wilson spoke in the com- 
 parative degree, and intended to imply that, 
 as compared with other portions of the 
 Ritual, the Vedas for example, the deifica- 
 
 ♦ Thus in the Kuma-Puran, c.xii., we read, " His energy, 
 being the universal form of all the world, is Maya, for so 
 does the Lord, the best of males, and endowed with illusion 
 cause it to revolve. That SacH of which the essence is 
 illusion is omniform and eternal, and constantly displays 
 the universal shape of Mahesa." 
 
 t As. Res., vol. xvii. 214 — 220. 
 
 J Vide Arrian Ind. Hist., c. viii., also Strabo. 
 
( 50 ) 
 
 tion of Krishna is modern. However that 
 may be, a worship which, like that of 
 Krishna, has existed for two thousand years, 
 may be fairly regarded as part of their re- 
 ligious system. 
 
 Although the adoration of the Sacti is 
 authorized by some of the Puranas, the 
 rites and formulae are more clearly set 
 forth in a voluminous collection of books 
 called Tantras. These writings convey their 
 meaning in the similitude of dialogue 
 between Uma (or Siva) and Pavati. 
 
 The followers of the Tantras profess to 
 consider them as a fifth Vedh, and attribute 
 to them equal antiquity and superior 
 authority.* The observances they prescribe 
 have in Bengal almost superseded the origi- 
 nal Ritual, but the question of their date 
 is involved in considerable obscurity. From 
 the practices described in some of the 
 Puranas, particularly that of the Diksha, 
 or rite of initiation, from the Agni Pur an, 
 
 * Thus in the Siva T antra, Siva is made to say, " The 
 five scriptures issued from my five mouths, and were the 
 East, West, South, North, and Upper : these five are known 
 as the paths to final Hberation. There are many scrip- 
 tures, but none are equal to the Upper Scripture." 
 Kulluka Bhatta, commentating on the first verse of the 
 2nd ch. Menu, says, " The Scruti is twofold, Vaidika and 
 Tantrika, that is Tantra." 
 
( 51 ) 
 
 from the specification of formulae, com- 
 prising the mystical monosyllables of the 
 Tantras, in that and other similar com- 
 pilations ; and from the citation of some of 
 them by name in different puranas, we must 
 conclude that some of the Tantras are 
 prior to those authorities. 
 
 The Tantras are too numerous to specify 
 them further, but the curious reader will 
 find them under the heads of Syama 
 Rahasya, Anandra, Rudra, Yamala, Mandra, 
 Mahodahi, Sareda, Tilika, and Kalika- 
 Tantras* 
 
 Although any of the goddesses may be 
 objects of the Sacta worship, and the term 
 Sacti comprehends them all, yet the homage 
 of the Sactas is almost restricted, in Bengal, 
 to the consort of Siva. The Varnis, or 
 Vamacharis, worship Devi as well as all 
 goddesses. Their worship is derived from 
 a portion of the Tantras. 
 
 According to the immediate object of the 
 worshipper is the particular form of worship ; 
 but all the forms require the use of some or 
 all of the five Makaras f — Mdnsa, Matsya, 
 
 * Vide the Sanscrit copies of the Tantras in the British 
 and Indian Museums. 
 
 fThey are enumerated in the Sydma Rahasya. 
 " Mudra and Maitkuna are the five-fold Makdra which 
 takes away all sin." 
 
( 52 ) 
 
 MadyUy Maithuna, and Mudra — that is, flesh, 
 fish, wine, women, and certain mystical 
 gesticulations with the fingers. Suitable mun- 
 trus, or incantations, are also indispensable, 
 according to the end proposed, consisting 
 of various unmeaning monosyllabic combi- 
 nations of letters, of great imaginary 
 efficacy.* 
 
 When the object of worship is to acquire 
 an interview with, and control over, im- 
 pure spirits, a dead body is necessary. The 
 adept is also to be alone, at midnight, in a 
 cemetery or place where bodies are burnt. 
 Seated on the corpse he is to perform the 
 usual offerings, and if he do so without fear 
 or disgust, the Dhutas, the Yoginis, and 
 other male and female demons become his 
 slaves. 
 
 In this and many of the observances prac- 
 tised, solitude is enjoined, but all the prin- 
 cipal ceremonies comprehend the worship of 
 Sacti, or Power, and require, for that pur- 
 pose, the presence of a young and beautiful 
 girl, as the living representative of the 
 goddess, t This worship is mostly cele- 
 
 * " It is the combination of H and S called Prdsdda 
 Mantra, and described in the Kuldrnava." — Wilson, As. 
 Res. 
 
 I The female thus worshipped is ever after denominated 
 Yogini, i.e., " attached." This Sanscrit word is in the 
 
( 53 ) 
 
 brated in a mixed society ; the men ot 
 which represent Bhairavas, or Virus, and 
 the women, Bhanravis and Nayikas. The 
 Sacti is personified by a naked girl, to whom 
 meat and wine are offered, and then 
 distributed among the assistants. Here follows 
 the chanting of the Muntrus and sacred 
 texts, and the performance of the Mudra, 
 or gesticulations with the fingers. The 
 whole terminates with orgies amongst the 
 votaries of a very licentious description.* 
 This ceremony is entitled the Sri Chakra, 
 or PuRNABiSHEKA, THE RiNG or fuU Initia- 
 tion, f 
 
 dialects pronounced Jogi or Zogee, and is equivalent to 
 a secular nun, as these women are subsequently supported 
 by alms. The word from custom has become equivalent 
 with Sena, and thus is exactly the same as Duii or Dutica, 
 (doo-ty-car). The books of morality direct a faithful wife 
 to shun the society of Yogini, or females who have been 
 adored as Sacti. 
 
 The Sacti system bears a striking affinity with Epicu- 
 reanism. It teaches Materialism and the Atomic system 
 of chance. (Compare the Ananda Tanfram, c. xvii. with 
 Lucretius, lib. iii.) 
 
 The worship of women and the Sacia h'oma vidhi are 
 grounded on passages in the Veda which Orthodox Brah- 
 mins regard as of doubtful authority. (Vide Rig Vedam, 
 Bk. ii. c. viii. sections 13, 14, 2nd attham, 8th pannam, 
 ricks B. 14, which contain the Sucla Homa Mantram, &c.) 
 
 * Wilson, on Hin. Sects, vol. xvii., As Res. 
 
 t Ward, on the Vaisnavis, p. 309. 
 The leading rites of the Sakti Sodhana are described 
 in the Devi Radhasya, a section of the Rudra Ydmala, It 
 
( 54 ) 
 
 This method of adoring the Sacti is un- 
 questionably acknowledged by the texts 
 regarded by the Vanis as authorities for 
 the impurities practised. 
 
 The members of the sect are sworn to 
 secrecy, and will not therefore acknowledge 
 any participation in Sacta-Puja. Some years 
 ago, however, they began to throw off this 
 reserve, and at the present day they trouble 
 themselves very Httle to disguise their 
 initiation into its mysteries, but they do not 
 divulge in what those mysteries consist. 
 
 The Culanava has the following and 
 other similar passages : the Tantras abound 
 with them : 
 
 ** Many false pretenders to knowledge, 
 
 is therein stated that the object of worship should be either 
 " A dancing girl, a female devotee, a courtesan, Dhohee 
 woman, a barber's wife, a female of the Brahminical or 
 Sudra tribe, a flower girl, or a milk-maid. Appropriate 
 muntnis are to be used. She is to be placed naked, but 
 richly ornamented with jewels and flowers, on the left of a 
 circle described for the purpose, with various muntrus and 
 gesticulations, and it is to be rendered pure by the repe- 
 tition of different formulas, being finally sprinkled over 
 with wine by the peculiar mantra. 
 
 " The Sacti is now purified, but if not previously ini- 
 tiated, she is to be further made an adept by the communi- 
 cation of the Radical Mantra whispered thrice in her ear, 
 when the object of the ceremony is complete. The finale is 
 what might be anticipated, but accompanied throughout 
 by muntrus, and forms of meditation very foreign to the 
 scene." — Wilson, As. Res., vol. xvii. 225, on Hin. Sects. 
 
( 55 ) 
 
 and who have not been duly initiated, pre- 
 tend to practise the Caula rites ; but if 
 perfection be attained by drinking wine, 
 then every drunkard is a saint ; if virtue 
 consists in eating flesh, then every carni- 
 vorous animal in the world is virtuous ; if 
 eternal happiness be derived from the union 
 of the sexes, then all beings will be entitled 
 to it. A follower of the Cula doctrine is 
 blameless in my sight if he reproves those 
 of other creeds who quit their established 
 observances. Those of other sects who use 
 the articles of the Caula worship shall be 
 condemned to a metempsychosis during as 
 many years as there are hairs of the 
 body." 
 
 The Kauchiliias are another branch of the 
 Sactas sect ; their worship much resembles 
 that of the Caulas. They are, however, 
 distinguished by one particular rite not 
 practised by the others, and throw into con- 
 fusion all the ties of female relationship ; 
 natural restraints are wholly disregarded, and 
 a community of women among the votaries 
 inculcated.* 
 
 * This sect appears in the Sankara Vijaya as the 
 Uchchishtha Ganapati or Hairamba sect, who declare that 
 all men and all women are of one caste, and that their inter- 
 course is free from fault." — Vide Ward's Works, vol. ii. 5, 
 on the above subject. — Wilson on Hin. Sects, vol. xvii. 
 
( 56 ) 
 
 On the occasions of the performance of 
 divine worship the women and girls deposit 
 their julies, or bodices, in a box in charge 
 of the Gurii, or priest. At the close of the 
 rites, the male worshippers take each a julie 
 from the box, and the female to whom it 
 belongs, even were she his sister, becomes 
 his partner for the evening in these lascivious 
 orgies.* 
 
 Dancing formed an important part of the 
 ceremonial worship of most Eastern peoples. 
 Dancing girls were attached to the Egyptian 
 temples and to that of the Jews. David 
 also, we are told, " danced before the Lord 
 with all his might.'' And to every temple 
 of any importance in India we find a troup 
 of Nautch or dancing girls attached. 
 
 These women are generally procured when 
 quite young, and are early initiated into all 
 the mysteries of their profession. They are 
 instructed in dancing and vocal and instru- 
 mental music, their chief employment being 
 to chant the sacred hymns, and perform 
 nautches before the God, on the recurrence 
 of high festivals. But this is not the only 
 service required of them, for besides being 
 the acknowledged mistresses of the of&ci- 
 
 ♦ Yet these Sacteyas (or adorers of SacH) look upon ail 
 but themselves as " pasu jana," mere brutes ! 
 
( 57 ) 
 
 ating priests, it is their duty to prostitute 
 themselves in the courts of the temple to 
 all comers, and thus raise funds for the 
 enrichment of the place of worship to which 
 they belong. 
 
 Being always women of considerable per- 
 sonal attractions, which are heightened by 
 all the seductions of dress, jewels, accom- 
 plishments and art, they frequently receive 
 large sums in return for the favours they 
 grant, and fifty, one hundred, and even two 
 hundred rupees have been known to be paid 
 to these syrens in one night. Nor is this 
 very much to be wondered at, as they com- 
 prise among their number, perhaps, some of 
 the loveliest women in the world. 
 
 It has been said already that among the 
 classes from which a medium for Sacti is 
 selected, is the courtesan and dancing-girl 
 grade ; they are indeed more frequently 
 chosen for this honour than the others before 
 enumerated. A Nauich woman esteems it 
 a peculiar privilege to become the Radha 
 Dea on such occasions. It is an office indeed 
 which these adepts are, on every account, 
 better calculated to fulfil with satisfaction to 
 the sect of Sacteyas who require their aid, 
 than a more innocent and unsophisticated 
 girl. 
 
 The worship of Sacti (as already observed) 
 
( 58 ) 
 
 is the adoration of Power,* which the 
 Hindiis typify by the Yoni, or womb, the 
 Argha or Vulva, and by the leaves and 
 flowers of certain plants thought to resemble 
 it. Thus in the Anandra Tantrum, c. vi., 
 verse 13, we find an allusion to the 
 Aswattha, or sacred fig-tree (the leaf of 
 which is in the shape of a heart, and much 
 resembles the conventional form of the Yoni, 
 to which it is compared). 
 
 *' Aswattha patra sadrusam Yonidcidram cha 
 bhdjdnam. 
 
 Tdmra, rupya, suvaruaistu rachitam tal pra- 
 sasyate." 
 
 In Ananda Tantram, cap. vii. 148, and 
 other passages, reference is made to Bhaga- 
 mala. She appears to be the goddess who 
 presides over the pudendum muliehre, i.e., the 
 deified Vulva ; and the Sacti is thus per- 
 sonified. 
 
 In the mental adoration of Sacti a diagram 
 is framed, and the figure imagined to be 
 seen inside the Vulva. This is the Adha- 
 mukham, or lower face, i.e., the Yoni, 
 
 * In Egypt we learn that Typho sometimes bore the name 
 Seth, " by which they mean the Tyrannical and overbearing 
 Power, or, as the word frequently signifies, the Power that 
 overturns all things,and that overleaps all bounds." — Plutar. 
 de Iside et Osirides, xxxvi. 
 
( 59 ) 
 
 wherein the worshipper is to imagine 
 (mantapam) a chapel to be erected.* 
 
 All the forms of Sadi Puja require the 
 use of some or all of the five — Makaras f 
 Mansa, Matsya, Madya, Maithuna, and 
 Mudra — that is, flesh, fish, wine, women, and 
 certain mystical twistings or gesticulations 
 with the fingers. 
 
 Such are some of the peculiar features of 
 the worship of Power (or Gnosticism), J and 
 which, combined with the Linga Puja (or 
 adoration of Phallus), constitutes at the 
 present day one of the most popular dogmas 
 of the Hindus. 
 
 * Amanda Tantram. 
 
 t They are enumerated in the Syama Rahasya. "Mudra 
 and Maithuna are the five-fold Makdra, which takes away 
 all sin." 
 
 i Simon Magus is supposed to be the founder of Western 
 Gnosticism, he it was who corrupted the Nicolaitanes [vide 
 Apocalypse, ii. 6, 15]. They held sensual pleasure to be the 
 true creed. 
 
 In the Foreign Quarterly Review, p. 159, 580, the follow- 
 ing passage occurs : — " The grand object of the magic of the 
 Christians in the middle ages was to obtain the command 
 over the services of demons : such were the pursuits of 
 witches. But these were always looked upon as criminal. 
 The behef that men possess the power to control spirits 
 was not peculiar to the Gnostick Christians. The liturgies 
 of the Roman and Greek churches contain several rules on 
 these subjects." 
 
 The Memoirs of Scipio di Ricci, of Pistoja, reveal some 
 remarkable facts, plainly demonstrating that Sacteya ideas 
 had found their way into the monasteries and convents of 
 Italy in the latter part of the last century. 
 
^/"■"J -" 
 
'-.^ " 
 
 •^t ^-?^t'' 
 
 ^^^^^.> '^^ 
 
RETURN TO the circulation desl< of any 
 University of California Library 
 or to the 
 
 NORTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 BIdg. 400, Richmond Field Station 
 University of California 
 Richmond, CA 94804-4698 
 
 ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS 
 2-month loans may be renewed by calling 
 
 1-year loans may be recharged by bringing books 
 
 to NRLF 
 Renewals and recharges may be made 4 days 
 
 prior to due date 
 
 DUE AS STAIVIPED BELOW 
 
 APR 14 1993 
 
 SEPTT^^ 
 

 YB 72160 
 
 Hi 
 ill