mountain Geere Deive, Doohshemeishe.
He, who rising early in the morning shall repeat the names of these
twelve Jyotee Lings, will be freed from all his crimes, and shall
obtain his desires: and whoever, on any particular account, addresses
a particular Ling, he will succeed accordingly, and such person is not
freed from the crimes by the Dershene, or view of the twelve Jyotee
Lings. It is enjoined all the four casts to perform Pooja to those;
and, after Pooja, if they eat the sacrificial morsels they are
purified from their crimes on the spot. And if they worship any one of
these twelve Jyotee Lings for six months, Mooktee becomes their
destiny, and they are no more subject to birth: and, if ever a Meicke,
or Chandale, or deceiver, obtains Deersheene of the Jyotee, in another
generation he is born in the house of a Veidread Brahmin, and becomes
Mookte.
CHAPTER V.
The four kinds of Stone lingas--Siva under a form called
Muhakalu--Temporary images of Siva--Siva's wives--Siva's and
Parvati's quarrels--Siva and Doorga--Siva's names--The heaven
of Siva--Latsami---Power of the priests--Tamil
poetry--Indecent worship--Dancing girls at religious
ceremonies--Christian and Pagan idolatry--Religious
prostitution--Worship of the female--Development of indecent
practices--Saktipuja.
Mr. Ward informs us that besides the clay images of the linga, there
are four kinds of stone lingas which are set up in the Hindu temples.
"The first," he says, "is called swuyumbhoo, that is, the
self-existent linga. The second is named unadee, or that which has no
beginning. (At the time of a great drought, the Hindoos, after
performing its worship, throw very large quantities of water upon this
unadee-linga, in order to induce Siva to give them rain). The third
they call vanu-linga, because a king named Vanu first instituted this
worship. The fourth is the common, or factitious linga. These images
are all of stone, brought from the neighbourhood of the river
Gundhukee, which falls into the Ganges near Patna."
The Hindoos of every caste and of both sexes, make images of the linga
with the clay of the river Ganges, every morning, after bathing, and
worship it, making bows, presenting offerings, and repeating
incantations before it. This is most frequently done by the side of
the river.
Besides the linga, there is another form in which Siva is worshipped,
called Muhakalu. This is the image of a smoke-coloured boy, with three
eyes, his hair standing erect, clothed in red garments, his teeth very
large; he wears a necklace of human skulls, and a large juta; in one
hand he has a stick, and in another the foot of a bedstead; a half
moon appears on his forehead; he has a large belly; and presents a
very terrific appearance. Siva is called Muhakalu, because he destroys
all, or all is absorbed in him at the time of a kalpu, and afterwards
reproduced.
Images of this form of Siva were not made in Bengal, but a pan of
water, or an unadee-linga, was substituted, before which bloody
sacrifices were offered, and other ceremonies performed, in the month
Kartiku, at the new moon.
In the month Phalgoonu, every year, the Hindoos made the image of
Siva, and worshipped him for one day, throwing the image the next day
into the water. This worship was performed in the night, and was
accompanied with singing, dancing, music, feasting, &c. The image
worshipped was either that of Siva with five faces or that with one
face.
In the month Maghu a festival in honour of Siva is held for one day,
when the image of this god, sitting on a bull, with Parvutee his bride
on his knee, is worshipped in the principal towns in Bengal.
Siva had two wives, Sutee and Parvutee. Sutee was the daughter of king
Dukshu, and Parvutee the daughter of the mountain Himaluyu.
The fourth chapter of the Shreebhaguvutu, contains the history of
Dukshu, the son of Brahma; of his daughter Sutee, who was married to
the god Siva; of the abuse of Siva by Dukshu; of Siva's cursing
Dukshu; of the grand sacrifice of Dukshu; the gods all arrive at this
sacrifice; the daughters of Dukshu are also present; Sutee wishes to
go, but is forbidden of Siva her husband; Siva, however, at last
consents to her going; she goes, and while her father is abusing her
husband, she dies of grief; Siva on hearing of the death of his wife,
was transported with rage, and taking his juta from his head, threw it
on the ground with great force, and up sprang a monster, in the form
of a sunyasee, covered with ashes, having three flaming eyes, with a
trishoolu in his hand, wearing a tiger's skin, and a necklace of human
bones; and having a round red mark like a ball betwixt his eyebrows;
this monster asked Siva why he created him; Siva ordered him to go and
destroy Dukshu; this monster then took along with him armies of
pratus, bhootus, yukshus, pishacus, etc. (wandering spirits), and
destroyed Dukshu's sacrifice; Siva's great sorrow at the loss of
Sutee; the gods come to comfort him; Sutee is again born; her father's
name Heemaluyu, her mother's Manuku; Dukshu, after repairing the
injuries which Siva's juta-formed monster had made, completes his
sacrifice, etc.
A number of stories are contained in some of the Hindoo books
respecting the quarrels of Siva and Parvutu, some of them arising out
of the revels of the former, and the jealousy of the latter. These
quarrels resemble those of Jupiter and Juno. The chief fault of Juno
is said to have been jealousy. When Siva and Parvatu quarrelled, she
frequently upbraided him with his filthy condition as a yogee. When
they were about to be married, the mother of the girl, and the
neighbours poured the utmost abuse on Siva: the neighbours cried out,
"Ah! ah! ah! this image of gold, this most beautiful damsel, like whom
there is hardly such a beauty in the three worlds, to be given in
marriage to such a fellow--an old fellow with three eyes; without
teeth; clothed in a tiger's skin; covered with ashes; encircled with
snakes; with a necklace of human bones; with a human skull in his
hand; with a filthy juta, viz., a bunch of hair like a turban, twisted
round his head; who chews intoxicating drugs; has inflamed eyes; rides
naked on a bull, and wanders about like a madman. Ah! they have thrown
this beautiful daughter into the river!" In this manner the neighbours
exclaimed against the marriage, till at last, Narudu, who had excited
this hubbub, settled the matter, and the wedding was consummated.
* * * * *
On a certain occasion Siva ordered his servants Nundee and Bhringee to
prepare his bull that he might go a-begging; he himself bound the rag
round his loins, twisted snakes as ornaments round his wrists, made a
poita of three other snakes; put a tiger's skin on his back, a drum
and a trident in his right hand, and in his left a horn; his body was
covered with ashes. Thus arrayed he mounted his bull, Nundee going
before and Bhringee behind, and went into different places begging
from door to door. Where-ever he went, he saw the people happy and
contented, enjoying all the pleasures of life. At the sight of all
this happiness, Siva was full of grief, and said in his mind, "All
these people are surrounded with their friends and children, and are
happy; but after marrying, I have obtained nothing. I beg for my daily
bread." Having collected a little rice, etc., Siva returned home, full
of vexation. Doorga, his wife, gave him water to wash his feet, and
Siva ordered her to prepare an intoxicating beverage called siddhee,
and asked her whether she had prepared his food? She told him that she
had not yet kindled the fire. "What!" said Siva, "it is now two
o'clock in the afternoon, and you have not begun to prepare the
dinner?" Filled with anger, he began to use the most violent language:
"How is this? I have married a wife destitute of fortunate signs, and
I spend my life in misery. I see other families have bathed and sit
down to dinner by noon. I beg three times a day, and yet I cannot
obtain sufficient to support nature. It has always been said in the
three worlds, that he who obtains a lucky wife, will through her
become rich; through a lucky husband, sons are born. See now
(addressing himself to those present), I have two sons; but where are
the riches which a fortunate wife procures? I suppose that in marrying
the wife of Himaluyu (a mountain) every one is become hard as the rock
towards me. In constantly begging I have obtained the name of
Shunkuru, the beggar. A person marrying a lucky wife sits at his ease
in his house, and eats excellent food, and I go a-begging, and yet
starve. Narudu has given me such an unlucky wife, what shall I say to
him, a fellow without ancestry? He is not content unless he insult the
dead. I can no longer support my family by begging. I can support
myself, but how can I provide for so many?"
Doorga, hearing all this, was full of sorrow, and began to utter her
grief to her two maids Juya and Vijuya: "Hear! without thought, why
does he abuse me in this manner? If he call me an unlucky wife, why
did he marry me? When a person's fate is bad, they say his forehead is
on fire. Why does he call me unlucky? Is not his own forehead on fire,
and are we not suffering through his bad fate? True, I have neither a
beautiful form, nor excellent qualities, nor conduct, nor honour, nor
wisdom, nor learning, nor property, nor race, nor brother, nor friend,
nor father, nor mother, nor relations, nor ornaments; but, look at his
form; he covers himself with the ashes of the dead; at his qualities;
he is known as the smoker of intoxicating herbs (the drunkard); at his
conduct; he resides in cemeteries, and dwells with the bhootus;--at
his wisdom: amidst the assembled guests at his wedding he sat naked;
rides on a bull, and is hooted at by the children in the streets as a
fool;--at his learning; he does not know the names of his father and
mother; at his property, he owns a bull, a drum, and a tiger's
skin;--at his ornaments: he is covered with snakes;--at his honour: at
the time of marriage he was not able to obtain anything richer than a
tiger's skin for a garment, though he begged for something better. It
is true he has had two sons born, and on this account, I suppose, he
is filled with pride. But such sons, in the three worlds, were never
born before, and I hope will never be born again. Behold his eldest
son Kartiku, he drinks intoxicating beverage like his father; he is
full of rage if his food be delayed but a moment; what his father
begs, he, with his six mouths, devours; the peacock that carries him
devours the snakes with which his father clothes himself; his other
son Gunashu has four arms, an elephant's head, and eats like an
elephant; he is carried by a rat, which steals and eats the unshelled
rice brought by Siva. Thus the children and the father are equally
forsaken of fortune. The companions of Siva are either ghosts or
bhootus."
As soon as Siva had mounted his bull to go a-begging, Doorga said to
Juya and Vijuya, "I will stay no longer here. He tells me to keep my
hair clothed with dirt, and to cover my body with ashes. I will go to
my father's house, come along." The maids endeavoured to pacify her,
and to shew her the danger of leaving her husband. After a number of
expostulations, she was persuaded to assume the form of Unnu-poorna,
by which means the wealth of the whole world flowed into her lap. She
gave a splendid entertainment on mount Koilasu to all the gods, at the
close of which Siva arrived from a begging journey. Struck with
astonishment at what he saw, he was wonderfully pleased, and ate for
once till he was nearly surfeited. When he and Doorga were sitting
together on the evening of this feast, he apologised to his wife for
the unkind language he had used towards her, to prevent which in
future, he proposed that they should be united in one body. Doorga at
first strongly objected, but was at length persuaded to consent, and
Siva and Doorga became one, the right side (white) being Siva, and the
left side (yellow) Doorga. In this form an image is annually
worshipped in Bengal.
Other stories are told of Siva's descending to earth in the form of a
sunyasee, for the preservation of some one in distress, or to perform
religious austerities.
Amongst the fanciful names (a thousand in number) belonging to this god,
are the following:--Siva, the benefactor--Muhashwuru, the great
god--Ceshwuru, the glorious god--Chundrushakuru, he on whose forehead
is seen a half-moon---Bhootashu, he who is lord of the bhootus--Miriru,
he who purifies--Mirityoonjuyu, he who conquers death--Krittivasa, he
who wears a skin--Oogru, the furious--Shree-kuntu, he whose throat is
beautiful--Kupalubhrit, he whose alms dish is a skull--Smuruhuru, the
destroyer of Kama-davu, the god of love--Tripoorantuku, he who
destroyed an usooru named Tripooru--Gungadhuru, he who caught the
goddess Gunga in his bunch of hair--Vrishudhwujn, or he who rides on a
bull--Shoolee, he who wields the Trident--St'hanoo, the everlasting--Survu,
he who is everything--Gireeshu, lord of the hills--Undhuku-ripoo, he
who destroyed an usooru named Undhuku--Sunkurshunu, he who destroys
the world--Trilochunu, the three-eyed--Ruktupu, the drinker of
blood--Siddhusavitu, the drinker of an intoxicating beverage called
Siddhe.
The work called Krityu-tuttwu describes the heaven of this god as
situated on the mountain Koilasu, and called Shivu-pooru. It is said
to be ornamented with many kinds of gems and precious things, as
pearls, coral, gold, silver. On the mountain reside gods, the heavenly
choristers, dancers and courtezans, gods who act as servants to the
other gods, sacred sages, divine sages, great sages, and a number of
moonees. These persons constantly perform the worship of Siva and
Doorga, and the upsurus are continually employed in singing, dancing,
etc. The flowers of every season are always in bloom here, the winds
shvityu, sangundu, and mandyu--gentle winds accompanied with coolness
and sweetness--always blow on these flowers, and diffuse their
fragrance all over the mountain wherein many birds are constantly
singing and repeating the names of Doorga and Siva, where the waters
of the heavenly Ganges pass along in purling streams, where the six
seasons--the spring, the summer, the rainy, the sultry, the dewy, the
cold--at once exist, and where on a golden throne, adorned with
jewels, sit Siva and Doorga, holding conversation, in which Doorga
asks questions of her husband.
When the mountain Mervuva was whirled about in the sea, the motion
produced a foam which was like the cradle of a beautiful woman named
Latsami. This second Venus was bestowed on Vishnvu, preferably to the
Devetas, who were all in love with her. The Seivias, who assert that
Eswara is the sovereign God, say also, that he has a wife called
Parvati. They tell us that she had a double birth; first she was
daughter to Datsja, son of Brahma, and of Sarasvati his wife. Her
father gave her in marriage to Eswara, and some time after intended to
perform a Jagam or sacrifice, to which he invited the Devetas, such as
Deuendre, the Sun, the Moon, and the rest, but neglected Eswara, his
son-in-law. Parvati told him he should also have invited him, but he,
instead of agreeing with her, made her the following injurious
answer:--Eswara, says Datsja, is not worthy of that honour, he is a
fellow that subsists only on alms, and has no clothes to put on. We
are to suppose that Eswara was at that time _incog._, and veiled under
such a shape as made him unknown to all. Parvati inflamed with rage,
cried out to her father, I myself am therefore not worthy to assist at
it; and saying these words, she leaped into the fire that was prepared
for this solemnity. Eswara, exasperated in the highest degree at this
unhappy accident, was all over in a sweat, and one of the drops of it
happening to fall on the earth, Virrepadra sprung from it, who
immediately asked his father what commands he had for him. Eswara bid
him go and destroy the Jagam of Datsja, and was obeyed; for he killed
some of the guests, drove away others, cut off Datsja's head, kicked
the sun, and broke all his teeth, so that he had not one left, and
drubbed the moon so heartily, that her face was covered all over with
the marks of the blows he gave her, which continue to this day. The
Devetas implored Eswara's mercy, and obtained it; he was softened by
their entreaties, and restored Datsja to life, on whose body he fixed
the head of a he-goat instead of his own. Parvati being consumed in
the fire into which she had thrown herself, was indulged a new birth,
and was daughter of the mountain Chimawontam, who married her to
Eswara. Her husband was so passionately in love with her, that he gave
her half his body, so that she became half man and half woman; for
which reason the Brahmins call her Andhanari-Eswara, a name implying
such an union.
These people are of opinion, that both Vishnu and Eswara can procreate
children without the commerce of the other sex, since they ascribe to
them a power of getting them by the bare act of the will, so that they
suppose they only have them for dalliance sake. Eswara is represented
in the temples under a very immodest shape, expressing by an action,
the union of both sexes. This is grounded on a tradition which the
Brahmins themselves are partly ashamed of, and is as follows: It fell
out one day that a Moniswara came to visit Eswara in a place where the
latter used to caress Parvati. The Moniswara came at a very
unseasonable hour; in vain the porter shut the gate upon him, and even
told him the reason why he could not be admitted; for the Moniswara
was so enraged to find he must be forced to stay till Eswara should
please to shew himself, that he broke out into an imprecation, which
he immediately repented of. Eswara had overheard him, but pardoned him
when he found he was sorry for it. The Moniswara, not satisfied with
being pardoned for his offence, requested that all who should worship
the image of Lingam--the figure representing the union of the sexes in
the manner above mentioned, should reap greater advantages from it
than if they were to worship Eswara when represented with his whole
body. He obtained his desire, and it is to this circumstance that
those scandalous images under which Eswara is worshipped in the
Pagods, owe their original.[9]
[9] Picard, Ceremonies et Coutumes Religieuses.
* * * * *
Mahadeu signifies the sovereign God. He is represented under the shape
of a pillar which diminishes insensibly from its base to its extremity
at top. It is evident that this figure is the same as the Priapus of
other nations; and that the modern Indians, as well as those of
antiquity, have equally considered it as the God of Nature. Pictures
which have reached us from India exhibiting the interiors of the
Pagods of Mahadeu reveal beyond all doubt the nature of this pillar;
it cannot be mistaken for any else than what we have just suggested,
viz., the male organ of generation. It is of gigantic size, rising
many feet from the floor, and the most profound veneration is rendered
to it by the worshippers who completely uncover their feet before
passing the threshold.
Ixora (Mahadeu) bears also the name of Lingam. The Jogins wear the
Lingam about their necks; but it would be impossible for fancy, says
Picard, to invent anything more obscene, than the posture in which
they represent this double figure, to whom they assiduously offer the
first fruits of their meals. We ascribe to the notion the Indians
entertain that everything is formed by generation, the blind devotion
they pay to this Lingam, in which they confound the agent with the
means he employs. It will be impossible to justify them in any manner
on this head, but by considering it as a type or symbol, which still
cannot but be shocking to decency and good manners; some, however,
cannot help thinking that those who first invented these figures, were
naturally inclined to satiate by lust, what they exhibited for the
emblem of a Deity.
"It cannot be denied, but that the worship which is paid to nature,
may have migrated from the east into the west, together with the
symbolical figures under which they represented it; we are therefore
not to wonder, that the same idea should have discovered itself under
different names, to people who live at a great distance one from the
other; since, as they both received the object of their worship from
the same source, they were under a necessity of receiving the same
images with the same ceremonies. To do these people justice, nothing
can better express the fruitfulness of nature than the union of both
sexes, and the vigour of Priapus, whose name is very expressive;
however, it is surprising that men, who, if we except some of the most
brutal savages, have always paid some regard to decency, should be so
lost to all sense of it, as to carry in procession with great pomp and
solemnity, those parts of the body, which ought never to be revealed
but in cases of the highest necessity; and expose them publicly in the
roads, in houses and temples, as is the custom in India."[10]
[10] Picard, Ceremonies et Coutumes Religieuses.
Pietro Dello Valle, observes, that the gods of the Indians are always
represented naked, and that several figures in very indecent postures
are seen in the pagods; undoubtedly he saw the Lingam above-mentioned
there. The other figures might possibly represent the vows or homages
of the devout Indians, among whom the women do not scruple to
prostitute themselves in honour of the gods. Husbands behold with the
most profound humility these meritorious prostitutions, which so often
revive what we in Europe look upon as the greatest injury and affront;
so true it is, that false principles in religion easily destroy those
of common decency, and even frequently change the very ideas which
nature has implanted in us. As a husband is fully persuaded he has
been cuckolded by a god, he is therefore very well satisfied. The
Jognis is the idol's curate, and performs the ceremony in quality of
his proxy, while the devoutly patient husband, in the meantime, washes
the saint's feet, and pays him the utmost veneration. The people of
the house withdraw, and leave the lady to the saint's embraces. When
this institution was made, the crafty Indians undoubtedly insinuated
some hopes of future felicity at the same time. When we have once
found out the secret of gaining an ascendant over people's minds, can
it be a difficult matter to assure the female devotees, that,
_Si quelque chose les empeche
D'aller tout droit en paradis,
C'est d'epargner pour leurs maris,
Un bien dont ils n'ont plus que faire,
Quand ils ont pris leur necessaire._
La Fontaine dans ses Contes.
The sense of which is,
_If anything prevents their being immediately wafted to
Paradise, 'tis to reserve for their husbands a pleasure which
they have no farther occasion for, when they have had their
quantum of it._
We mention an instance which manifestly shews, that the Indians look
upon the obscene devotions just alluded to, as highly meritorious.
Over the gate of one of the cities of the little kingdom of
Sirinpatau, says Dellon in the preface to his Voyages, printed in
1709, stands a stone statue representing Sita, wife to Ram, one of
their gods, about as big as the life. On each side of her are three
famous Faquirs, or Penitents, naked, on their knees, their eyes lifted
up towards her, and holding with both hands what decency will not
permit me to mention. They pretend by this posture, to pay such an
homage, at they judge to be most grateful to this pretended
goddess.[11]
[11] Picard, Ceremonies et Contumes Religieuses.
* * * * *
Mr. R. C. Caldwell, writing in Johnson's Universal Cyclopaedia,
says:--"Of old, pious Hindus who spiritualised their religion, even
the grossest forms of it, linga-worship included, were not, lacking.
For instance, the great Tamilian poet, Sivavakkiar, writes as follows
(see the Indian Antiquary, Bombay, Apr., 1872, first paper on Tamil
Popular Poetry):
"My thoughts are flowers and ashes,
In my breast's fane enshrined,
My breath, too, is therein it,
A linga unconfined:
My senses, too, like incense
Rise, and like bright lamps shine,
There, too, my soul leaps ever
A dancing god divine."
This, is my opinion, is one of the finest stanzas penned by
Sivavakkiar. The drift of it is this:--You popular Hindus, you have
your temples,--you have your flowers, and sacred ashes,--you have your
phallus, or emblem of divine creative power,--you have also your
incense and lamps, and you have your divine dancer, Siva. I, too, have
my flowers and ashes, but they are of the mind! I, too, have my linga,
but it is my breath or spirit. I, too, have my incense and lamps, but
they are my five senses. And I, too, have my deity leaping in divine
sport within me, but that is my soul. In a word, mine is the true
spiritual worship.
"Here the sage speaks of his body as a metaphorical temple (using
language similar to that employed in the New Testament, 'Ye are the
temples of the Holy Ghost'); then he likens his thoughts to flowers
and ashes, which are used in the services of temples; lastly, he
declares that his breath or spirit--which as a part of universal life
has no bound or limit--is the true _linga_, creative, and a part of
the creation, of his own being."
* * * * *
The serious consequences of adopting erroneous principles, even such
as are commonly called metaphysical ones, seemingly the most remote
from practice, is perhaps in nothing more apparent than with respect
to the ideas which were in early ages entertained concerning _nature_,
when its attributes came to be objects of worship. As there must be a
concurrence of male and female powers for the production of all living
creatures, it was supposed that, in the great productive powers of
nature, there must be both male and female qualities. The Egyptians
had this idea, and accordingly several of their principal deities were
said to be both male and female. Having little idea of delicacy, they
represented those powers by the figures of the parts of generation.
The constant exhibition of these figures in their religious worship
could not but lead to much lewdness, first as an act of religion,
acceptable to their gods, and then in common life; though this might
be far from the intention of those who formed the plan of the popular
worship.
Hence, however, it is that, in the ancient heathen religions, we find
rites of the most opposite nature, the extreme of severity and cruelty
in some, and the extreme of indecency and sensual indulgence in
others. This is well known to have been the case in Egypt, the mother
of religion and of science, to a great part of the Western world. We
cannot without the utmost disgust and horror think of what, according
to the testimony of Herodotus, whose authority in this case cannot be
questioned, women did before the bull Apis, and especially with the
goat that was worshipped at Mendes, to say nothing of the peculiarly
indecent manner in which he says that in their religious processions,
they carried the phalli, and of their behaviour; when, in some of
their festivals, they went in boats along the Nile, and exhibited
themselves to the inhabitants of the villages on its borders. The Nile
itself, according to the testimony of Christian writers, was
worshipped with the most obscene and execrable rites, even Sodomitical
practices.
The idea that Plutarch gives us of the Egyptian rites is sufficiently
disgusting. "Many of their religious ceremonies," he says, "were of a
mournful cast, and celebrated with much austerity. Some of their
festivals and direful sacrifices were considered as unfortunate and
mournful days, and were celebrated by eating raw flesh, torn with
men's nails. On other days they fast, and smite their breasts, and in
several places filthy and indecent words are used during the
sacrifices. In their festivals and processions, the greater part act
ludicrous things both, speaking and thinking words of the most wicked
and lewd meaning, and that even of the gods themselves. But when they
consult their oracles they are advised to have pious thoughts in their
hearts, and words of good sound in their mouths."
No revels of the most irreligious persons could be more extravagant
and indecent than the festivals of Bacchus; and the same people who
sacrificed men, and even their own children, had places appropriated
to prostitution, even of both sexes, adjoining to their temples, the
profits arising from which were a part of their revenues.
The Hindoo religion has much in it in this respect, that is similar to
that of the ancient Egyptian. "Nothing," says De la Crose, "is more
revered by the Hindoos than the lingam. Their most solemn worship is
presented to their gods in this form. Lighted lamps are continually
burning before it, in the inmost recesses of their temples, surrounded
by other lamps with seven branches, like that of the Hebrews. Besides
those in the temples, they have small ones of stone or crystal, which
they hang to their necks, and fasten upon their heads. To these they
address almost all their prayers, and frequently have them buried with
them."
Captain Campbell, after describing the lascivious dancing of Hindoo
girls, who get their living by it, says, "that such enticements to
vice should make a part of the system of any society is to be
lamented: yet in all ceremonies and great occasions, whether religious
worship or domestic enjoyment, they make a part of the entertainment;
and the altars of their gods, and the purity of the magic rites, are
alike polluted by the introduction of the dancing girls. The impurity
of this custom, however, vanishes, when compared with the hideous
practice of introducing dancing boys."
With respect to the pagoda of Jaggernat, which he calls a curious and
grotesque monument of superstitious folly, he says, "it is an immense
barbarous structure of a kind of pyramidal form, embellished with
devices cut in stone work, not more singular than disgusting."
Christian idolaters, in forming types and figures of divine things,
always endeavour to represent them with personal beauty, as
proportionate to their divine nature as human skill can make it. Those
Pagans, on the contrary, in forming their idols, cast out every
vestige of beauty--everything that, by the consent of mankind, is
supposed to convey pleasing sensations; and, in their place,
substitute the most extravagant, unnatural deformity, the most
loathsome nastiness, the most disgusting obscenity. It is not in
language to convey an adequate idea of their temples and idols; and if
it was, no purpose could be answered by it, only the excitement of
painful and abominable sensations. To keep pace with the figures of
their idols, a chief Brahmin, by some accursed artificial means (by
herbs, I believe), has brought to a most unnatural form, and enormous
dimensions, that which decency forbids me to mention; and the pure and
spotless women who from infancy have been shut up from the sight of
men, even of their own brothers, are brought to kiss this disgusting
and misshapen monster, under the preposterous belief that it promotes
fecundity.
Tavernier mentions the same abominable custom, as also does Alexander
Hamilton, in his account of the East Indies.
In this pagoda, Capt. Campbell says, stands the figure of Jaggernat,
but it is nothing more than a black stone of an irregular pyramidal
form, having two rich diamonds in the top by way of eyes, and a nose
and mouth painted red. For this god, he says, five hundred priests are
employed in spoiling food.
Every pagoda, says La Crose, has a certain number of prostitutes
annexed to it, dedicated to its use by pompous and solemn ceremonies.
They choose the handsomest, and educate them in such a manner, that
when they come to a proper age they may bring the greatest gain to the
temple by the price of their prostitution. They can never marry, or
leave the idol; and their children, if they have any, are also
dedicated to it.
Some, says Mr. William Chambers, devote their own children to this
profession. This is customary in the Decan, but not with the Hindoos
of Bengal or Hindoostan proper. He says this custom was probably
derived from the religion of Buddha. But almost all the ancient
heathen religions had the same custom. It is described at large by
Herodotus, as it was practised at Babylon in his time; and it is
frequently alluded to in the Old Testament. Lucian in his Treatise on
the Syrian goddess, says that those women who refuse to cut off their
hair on her festival, must prostitute themselves during one day; and
that what they receive on that account is given to the goddess for a
sacrifice. In Malabar it is reckoned meritorious to bring up girls,
who are commonly bastards, for the service of the temples, and they
are taught music and dancing. When they are of a proper age, they go
through the ceremony of a marriage to the god.
The Shastrus declare that the daughters of Brahmins, till they are
eight years old, are objects of worship as forms of the goddess
Bhagavatee. Many persons performed the worship of these girls daily.
They took the daughter of some neighbouring brahmin, and placing her
on a seat, with flowers, paint, water, garlands, etc., performed her
worship, and then presented to her, if they were rich, offerings of
cloth, ornaments, etc. At the close, the worshipper offered incense,
and prostrated himself before this girl. At the worship of some of the
female deities also, the daughters of Brahmins have divine honours
paid to them. Many of the Tantra Shastrus, and particularly the
Roodru'yamulu, the Yoni-tantra, and the Neelu-tantra, contain
directions for a most extraordinary and disgusting puja, which is
understood in a private manner amongst the Hindoos by the name of
Chukru.
These Shastrus direct that the person or persons who wish to perform
this puja must first, in the night, take a woman as the object of
worship. If the person who performs this worship be a dukshinacharu,
he must take his own wife, and if a vamacharu, he must take the
daughter of a dancer, a kupalee, a washerman, a barber, a chundalu, or
of a mussulman, or a prostitute, and place her on a seat or mat; and
then bring boiled fish, flesh, fried peas, rice, spirituous liquors,
sweetmeats, flowers, and all the other offerings and things necessary
for the puja. These offerings, as well as the female, must next be
purified by the repeating of incantations. To this, succeeds the
worship of the person's guardian deity; and after this the worship of
the female, with all the ceremonies included in the term puja. The
female must be naked during the worship{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~}. Here indecencies not fit
to be recorded in the present age and country, are contained in the
directions of the shastru for this worship, relating to every part of
the body in turn. Ward said that the learned Brahmin who opened to him
these abominations, made several efforts--paused and began again, and
then paused again, before he could pronounce the shocking indecencies
prescribed by his own shastrus.
As the object of the worship was a living person, at the close of the
puja she partook of the offerings in the presence of the worshipper or
worshippers. Hence she drank of the spirituous liquors, ate of the
flesh, though it was that of the cow, and also of the other offerings.
The orts were to be eaten by the person or persons present, while
sitting together, however different their castes may be, nor might any
one despise any of the offerings, or refuse to eat of them; the
spirituous liquors were to be drunk by measure. The company while
eating had to put food also in each other's mouths.
Ward wrote:--"The person who performs the ceremonies, in the presence
of all, behaves towards this female in a manner which decency forbids
to be mentioned. The persons present must then perform puja in a
manner unutterably abominable, and here this most diabolical business
closes. At present persons performing these abominations are becoming
more and more numerous. They are called vamacharees. In proportion as
these things are becoming common, so much the more are the ways of
performing them more and more beastly. They are done in secret: but
that these practices are becoming very frequent among the Brahmins and
others is a fact known to all. The persons who perform these actions
agreeably to the rules of the Shastrus are very few. The generality do
those parts that belong to gluttony, drunkenness and whoredom only,
without being acquainted with all the minute rules and incantations of
the shastrus."
* * * * *
Pratapuchandra Ghosha, in reading a paper before the Asiatic Society
of Bengal, in September, 1870, said:--"In the earliest portraits of
the Aryan race, as delineated in the Vedas, we find their ideas and
their thoughts centred in their homes, their cattle, their fields, and
in the discomfiture of their enemies. Their wants were few, and their
prayers, therefore, were less varied; and their ceremonies were,
probably, equally simple. But this simplicity wore within itself the
seed of a very complex system of thought. Everything that was useful
in some way or other, everything that was beautiful or awful in
nature, or that excited unusual feelings, or suggested new ideas, was
estranged from the ordinary and associated with the supernatural. A
new current of thought soon after set in. In the freshness of
imagination during the primitive state of society, comparisons,
metaphors, and allegories, were soon changed into real entities, and
mythology rapidly gained ground in men's minds. Thus, the Puranas, by
a natural poetical idea, made the sun and the moon, which witness all
that is done on the earth, the spies of the divine ruler--a myth
describing the all-pervading nature of their rays. In the Vedas, they
are regarded as the universal witnesses of all ceremonies. The Rahu,
the ascending node, is derived from the verb literally meaning to
abandon, void, hence also black, darkness, shadow, etc., and is
represented in mythology as having no body, the _umbra_ of the
astronomers. The _umbra_ may be said to devour as it were the
luminaries. Later mythology makes Rahu a trunkless head, an ingenious
mythological adaptation of the umbra which devours, but inasmuch as it
has no body, the moon comes out from the throat. Again, poetic
imagination or extreme fear, personifies qualities, and that to such
an extraordinary extent, that while describing the bloodthirsty
vengeance of Sakti, she is said to have, in the _Chhinnamasta_
incarnation, cut off her own head from the trunk, and with the gaping
trunkless skull gluttonously drank her own blood which springs with
the warmth of life. However hideous the conception is, it is the
result of the license allowed to poets to use partial similitudes. To
such flights of unshackled imagination, the variously formed sphinxes
of the Chaldeans are but mere flutters of the wings. As allegories
illustrative of the concentration of force to overcome difficulties,
and the adaptation of means to a purpose, the achievements of Durga
offer many interesting instances. On the occasion of vanquishing the
mighty _Asuras_, Sumbha and Nisumbha, and their general, named
Mahishasura (the buffaloe-demon), the several gods are made to direct
their energy to their weapons for the purpose. The goddess Durga,
representative of this union, sprung forth with ten arms, fit to crush
several _Asuras_ at one fell swoop. Kali, another incarnation of
Sakti, in the war with Raktavija, a demon multiplying his race, as his
name implies, from the drops of blood flowing from his body, and
touching the earth, is represented as having licked up the blood as it
streamed forth from his person with a view to arrest that dreadful
propagation.
"Many of these myths, again, may be traced partly to oriental
hyperbole, and partly to the many-sided meanings of the words used in
describing them: figurative expressions were seized and new myths were
invented in illustration of them. Others again are illustrative of
national customs; thus the protruded tongue of Kali has been the theme
of several fanciful tales. With some, in the heat of the battle, Kali
was so maddened, that the gods despaired of the world, and sent Siva,
her husband to appease her. Siva crept among the dead soldiers lying
in the field, and contrived to pass under the feet of Kali, who no
sooner perceived her husband trampled under her feet, than she became
abashed, and in the fashion of the women of the country, bit her
tongue as expressive of her regret and indelicacy.
"It is amusing to follow the line of argument put forth in the Puranas
in support of these myths. In some instances, they approach so near
the ludicrous, that were it not for their thorough adaptability to the
state of native society of the time, their fallacies would have been
long ago exposed, and the whole Puranic system spurned and despised.
"Sakti is Force. Originally a sect of Hindoos worshipped force and
matter as eternal. The word being in the feminine gender, its
personification is a female divinity of supernatural powers, and every
occupation which called for great exercise of energy and power at once
selected her as tutelary goddess, and she is now the most popular of
all the three and thirty millions of the Hindu pantheon. _Saktaism_
has since imbibed so many brutal practices of cannibalism, human
sacrifices, and bacchanalian rites, that the very name of a Sakta,
inspires horror and disgust, nevertheless the unholy Tantras, which
propound and explain the principles of this doctrine, and give rules
for worshipping the different forms of Sakti, are increasing in number
and popularity. They were, until lately, comparatively unknown beyond
the frontier of Bengal, but copies of MSS. are now demanded from every
quarter of Hindustan. The Tantric system is of Bengali origin, and its
rites and customs are ultimately interwoven with those of the hill
tribes, especially those of Nepal and Assam. Demonology is a principal
feature in the Sakta faith, and the various nocturnal ceremonies are
fixed which were much in vogue in Bengal, even as late as about fifty
years ago."
* * * * *
The great feature of the religion taught by the Tantras is the worship
of Sakti--Divine power personified as a female, and individualised,
not only in the goddesses of mythology, but in every woman: to whom,
therefore, in her own person religious worship may be and is
occasionally addressed. The chief objects of adoration, however, are
the manifold forms of the bride of Siva; Parvati, Uma, Durga, Kali,
Syama, Vindhya-vasini, Jaganmata, and others. Besides the usual
practices of offerings, oblations, hymns, invocations, the ritual
comprises many mystical ceremonies and accompaniments, gesticulations
and diagrams, and the use in the commencement and close of the prayers
of various monosyllabic ejaculations of imagined mysterious import.
Even in its last exceptionable division it comprehends the performance
of magical ceremonies and rites, intended to obtain super-human
powers, and a command over the spirits of heaven, earth, and hell. The
popular division is, however, called by the Hindus themselves, the
_left-hand_ Sakta faith. It is to this that the bloody sacrifices
offered to Kali must be imputed; and all the barbarities and
indecencies perpetrated at the Durga Puja, the annual worship of
Durga, and the Churuk Puja, the swinging festival, are to be ascribed.
There are other atrocities which do not meet the public eye. This is
not a random foundationless charge, we have the books describing the
rites and ceremonies, some of them are in print, veiled necessarily in
the obscurity of the original language, but incontrovertible witnesses
of the veracity of the charge. Of course no respectable Hindu will
admit that he is a Vamachari, a follower of the left-hand ritual, or
that he is a member of a society in which meat is eaten, wine is
drunk, and abominations not to be named are practised. The imputation
will be indignantly denied, although, if the Tantras be believed,
"many a man who calls himself a Saiva, or a Vaishnava, is secretly a
Sakta, and a brother of the left-hand fraternity."[12]
[12] Wilson's Lectures.
The worshippers of Sakti have always been divided into two classes, a
right and a left-hand order, and three sub-divisions of the latter
were enumerated, who until lately were still well known--the
Purnabhishiktas, Akritarthas, Kritakrityasamas.
Time, and the presence of foreign rulers, it is evident to all
observers, have very much modified the character of much of the Hindu
worship; if the licentious practices of the Saktas are still as
prevalent as ever, which may well be questioned, they are, at least,
carefully concealed from observation, and if they are not exploded,
there are other observances of a more ferocious description, which
seem to have disappeared. The worship of Bhairava, still prevails
amongst the Saktas and the Jogis; but in upper India, at least, the
naked mendicant, smeared with funeral ashes, armed with a trident or a
sword, carrying a hollow skull in his hand, and half intoxicated with
the spirits which he has quaffed from that disgusting wine-cup,
prepared, in short, to perpetrate any act of violence and crime, the
Kapalika of former days, is now rarely, if ever, encountered.
A hundred years ago, the worshippers of the Sakti were exceedingly
numerous amongst all classes of Hindus, it was computed that of those
of Bengal, at least three-fourths were of this sect. The bride of Siva
in one or other of her many and varied forms, was by far the most
popular emblem in Bengal, and along the Ganges.
The worship of the female principal, as distinct from the divinity,
appears to have originated in the literal interpretation of the
metaphorical language of the Vedas, in which the 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. Thus in
the Rig Veda, it is said, "That divine spirit breathed without
afflation single, with her who is sustained within him; other than him
nothing existed." First desire was formed in his mind, and that became
the original productive seed, and the Sama Veda, speaking of the
divine cause of creation, says, "He felt not delight, being alone. He
wished another, and instantly became such. He caused his ownself to
fall in 'twain, and thus became husband and wife. He approached her,
and thus were human beings produced." In those passages it is not
unlikely that reference is made to the primitive tradition of the
origin of mankind, but there is also a figurative representation of
the first indication of wish or will in the Supreme Being. Being
devoid of all qualities whatever, he was alone, until he permitted the
wish to be multiplied to be generated with himself. This wish being
put into action, it is said, became united with its parent, and then
created beings were produced. Thus this first manifestation of divine
power is termed _Ichchhaupaa_, personified desire, and the creator is
designated as _Swechchamaya_, united with his own will; whilst in the
Vedanta philosophy, and the popular sects, such as that of Kabir, and
others, in which all created things are held to be illusory, the
Sakti, or active will of the deity, is always designated and spoken of
as Maya, or Mahamaya, original deceit or illusion.
CHAPTER VI.
Further account of Right-hand and Left-hand worship--The
practices of the Vamis or Vamacharis--The rite of Mantra
Sadhana--Ceremony of Sri Chakra--Claim of the priests to
supernatural power--Legends.
With regard to what have been called right-hand and left-hand worship
we proceed to develop a few further particulars on the authority of
certain statements made in the Calcutta Review for 1848. When the
worship of the Shakti is publicly performed, and in a manner quite
harmonious to the Vaidik or Puranik ritual, and free from all obscene
practices and impurities, it is termed the Dhakshina or right-hand
form of worship; and those who adopt this pure ritual are termed
Dhakshinacharis. The peculiarities of this sect were described at
length, many years ago, in a work compiled by Kasinath, and entitled
_Dhakshinachara_, _Tantra Raja_. According to this authority--the
ritual declared in the Tantras of the Dhakshinacharis is pure, and
conformable to the Vedas. Its leading parts are:--
1st.--_Auchmana._ The object of this, as well as some other ceremonies
that follow, is the purification of the worshippers. It consists in
taking up water from a copper vessel, with a small spoon of the same
metal, by the left hand, and pouring a small quantity of it on the
half-closed palm of the right hand: in sipping up this water thrice
with the lips, and in touching with the fingers in rapid succession,
the lips, the eyes, and other parts of the head, along with the
repetition of proper formulae. With respect to the quantity of water to
be sipped, it is directed and strictly enjoined that it must be such
as to run down the throat to the mouth of the oesophagus, and no
further.
2nd.--_Shasti Buchana._ This part of the ceremony is performed with
the view of rendering the result of adoration beneficial to the
worshipper. Mention is now made of the month, the age of the moon, and
the day in which the ceremony takes place, and then appropriate
mantras are repeated, such as, like good omens, are believed to
prognosticate happy results.
3rd.--_Sankalpa._ This is like the prayer part of a petition. In this
the adorer discloses the immediate object of his worship, mentioning
again by name the month, the fortnight, whether dark or bright, and
the age of the moon. He mentions also his own proper name and his
gotra, which is always the name of some rishi or saint. A fruit,
generally a betel-nut or a _haretaki_, is necessary, which is held in
the water contained in the copper vessel called Kosha.
4th.--_Ghatasthapana._ or the placing of a pot. This consists in
placing a pot or jar, generally made of earth, but sometimes of brass
or any pure metal, on a small elevation formed of mud,--the mud of the
thrice sanctifying Ganges is of course preferable to any other. The
jar is filled with water, a bunch of mango leaves, with a green
cocoanut, or a ripe plantain, is placed on its top, and the sectarial
mark called the yantra is painted with red lead on its front. This is
to serve for a temporary abode of the goddess, whose presence in it is
worshipfully solicited.
5th.--_Samanya Argha Sthapana._ This part of the devotion is opened by
offering prayers to the ten cardinal points, which, according to the
Hindus, are the East, South-east, South, South-west, West, North-west,
North, North-east, the Zenith, and the Nadir, presided over by Indra,
Agni, Yama, Nairit, Baruna, Bayu, Kubera, Isha or Mohadeva, Brahma and
Ananta. After this, what is called an Argha, composed of a small
quantity of soaked rice and a few blades of durva-grass, is to be
placed on a dumb-conch shell, on the left side of the worshipper; and
if, besides the worshipper, any Brahman, or Brahmans be present, a few
grains of rice must be given to each of them, after which, they all
throw the rice on the pot.
6th.--_Ashan Suddhi_, or literally the purification of the seat, but
technically, of the posture in which the worshipper is to sit or stand
while engaged in his devotion. This varies according to the immediate
object of worship. The Tantras prescribe eighty thousand different
sorts of postures. Some of these are impossible, others are very
painful, all are more or less ludicrous.
7th.--_Bhuta Shuddhi_, or the purification of the body. It is called
Bhuta Suddhi, for the body is believed to be composed of the five
elementary substances called bhuta, viz., earth, water, fire, air, and
ether. In this observance, the worshipper is to conceive, that his old
body is consumed, and that a new and purified one is put on. It is
declared that fire and nectar are deposited in every man's forehead;
and it is by this brain-fire that the old body is to be conceived to
be reduced to ashes, on which nectar being mentally sprinkled over, a
regenerated body must be conceived to come to existence by virtue of
the mantras.
8th and 9th.--_Pranayain_ and _Rishyadinyas_. These are introductory
prayers, inviting the presence of the goddess.
10th and 11th.--_Matrikanyas_ and _Barnanyas_. These are singular
rites, in which the worshipper repeats in order the letters of the
Sanskrit alphabet, each with the Anaswara combined, as ang, ang, kang,
khang, gang, ghang, and so on with the rest. And as he repeats these
letters, which are fifty in number, he touches fifty different parts
of his own body, according to directions minutely laid down in the
Tantras; and when an earthen image of the goddess is to be worshipped
for the first time, the officiating priest touches also the
corresponding parts of the idol.
12th.--_Dyana._ In this, the worshipper is required, by closing both
his eyes, to form the image of his guardian divinity in his mind, and
to fix his mental vision upon it for some time.
13th.---_Abahan_, _Chakshudan_, and _Pranpratistha_. When the worship
is performed without an image of the goddess, she is invoked to
vouchsafe her presence in the jar.
14th.--_Pujah_, or the presenting of offerings of rice, fruit,
incense, etc.
15th.--_Lelehi Mudra_, or the performance of the gesticulation called
Lelehi, which consists in putting the palm of the right hand upon the
back of the left, and shaking the fingers. There are no less than
sixty-four thousand different sorts of Mudra prescribed in the
Tantras.
16th.--_Abarana Pujah_, or the worship of the attendants of the
goddess.
17th.--_Mahakala Pujah_, or the adoration of Mahakala, a form of
Shiva.
18th.--_Balidan_, or the offering of sacrifice, commonly a blood
offering.
19th.--_Kabajan Patheth._ In praise of the exploits of the goddess.
20th.--_Homa._ Pouring clarified butter upon the consecrated fire,
made for the purpose on a bed of sand about one foot square. The ashes
are worn on the forehead, and the residue carefully deposited or
buried in a corner of the house.
The Vamis, or the left-hand worshippers, adopt a form of worship
contrary to that which is usual, and they not only worship the Shakti
of Siva in all her terrific forms, but pay adoration to her numerous
fiend-like attendants, the Yoginis, Dakinis, and the Sankinis.
The rites practised by the Vamis or Vamacharis are so grossly obscene,
as to cast into shade the worst inventions which the most impure
imagination can conceive. "In this last mentioned sect (the Shaktas),"
says a learned Sanskrit scholar, "as in most others, there is a
right-handed and decent path, and a left-handed and indecent mode of
worship, but the indecent worship of this sect is most grossly so, and
consists of unbridled debauchery, with wine and women. This profligate
sect is supposed to be numerous, though unavowed. In most parts of
India, if not in all, they are held in deserved detestation; and even
the decent Shaktas do not make public profession of their tenets, nor
wear on their foreheads the mark of the sect, lest they should be
suspected of belonging to the other branch of it." Solitude and
secrecy being strictly enjoined to the Vamis, they invariably
celebrate their rites at midnight, and in most unfrequented and
private places. They neither acknowledge their participation in these
most scandalous orgies, nor, as we have already remarked, confess that
they belong to any branch of the Shakta sect, although their reserve
in this respect is becoming every day more and more relaxed, if not of
all, at least, of many. Those, whose immediate object is the
attainment of super-human powers, or whose end is specific, aiming at
some particular boon or gift, are more strict on the point, lest they
reap no fruits of their devotion. They never admit a companion, nor
even one of their own fraternity, into the place of their worship.
Even when they are believed by the credulous Hindus to have become
Shiddas, that is, possessed of supernatural powers; or in other words,
when they have acquired sufficient art to impose upon their ignorant
and superstitious countrymen, and have established their reputation as
men capable of working miracles, they take every care not to disclose
the means through which they have attained the object of their wishes,
unless revealed by some accidental occurrence or unlooked-for
circumstance. Those whose object is of a general character, hold a
sort of convivial party, eating and drinking together in large
numbers, without any great fear of detection. But yet they always take
care to choose such secluded spots for the scenes of their devotion,
as lie quite concealed from the public view. They generally pass
unnoticed, and are traced out only when we make it our aim to detect
them by watching over their movements like a spy. At present, as their
chief desire appears to be only the gratification of sensual
appetites, they are at all times found to be more attentive to points
which have a direct reference to the indulgence of their favourite
passions, than to those minor injunctions which require of them
secrecy and solitude. These, however, they are obliged to observe, at
least in part, for their own account; for the abominations which,
under the name of religious rites, they practice, cannot but expose
them to disgrace and reproach, even among the degenerate Hindus.[13]
[13] Religious Sects of India by H. H. Wilson.
Guided by the same authority we present a brief summary of the
principal rites observed by the above sect. The drinking of spirituous
liquors, more or less, is with them, we are told, no less a habit than
a religious practice. They will perform no religious ceremony without
wine. In their various forms of daily worship, in the performance of
all their ceremonial rites, in the celebration of all their public
festivals, wine is indispensable. Every article of food which they
offer to their goddess, is sprinkled over with the intoxicating
liquor. Here it should be observed that the orthodox Vamis will never
touch any foreign liquor or wine, but use only the country doasta,
which they drink out of a cup formed either of the cocoa, or of a
human skull. The liquor is first offered to their especial divinity in
quart bottles or pints, but more frequently in _chaupalas_ and earthen
jars, and then distributed round the company, each member having a cup
exclusively his own. If there be no company, the worshipper pours the
liquor into his own cup and after certain motions and prayers, empties
it at a single draught. They call themselves and all other men that
drink wine, _birs_ or heroes, and those that abstain from drinking,
_pasus_, _i.e._, beasts. No sooner is a child born, than they pour
into its mouth a drop or two of wine; at the time of its Sankara,
called the _Anna prasana_, which takes place at the sixth moon from
its birth, if it be a male, or at the seventh moon, if it be a female,
they give it pieces of cork or _shola_ dipped in wine to be sucked, so
they habituate the child from its cradle, in the drinking of
spirituous liquors. At the time of the principal initiation, or
_mantra grahana_, that is, when the specific or Bij mantra is received
from the Guru, he and his new disciple drink together, the former at
intervals giving instructions to the latter as to the proper mode of
drinking. Whenever the spiritual guide visits a Kaula family, all its
members, men, women, and children, gather round him, and with great
cheers and feasting, drink his health as he drinks theirs. The fact
is, drinking is carried on to an infamous and degrading extent, their
principle is said to be, drink, and drink, and drink again, till you
fall flat on the ground; the moment you rise, drink again, and you
shall obtain final liberation.
In justice to some who are exceptions to this rule, we must observe
that all Vamacharis are not drunkards, though they all drink. Some of
the Tantras prescribe the exact quantity to be drunk. According to
their prescription, the least dose to be taken is an ounce, and the
largest not exceeding three ounces.
There is another variety of the Vamis who substitute certain mixtures
in the place of wine. These mixtures are declared in the Tantras to be
equivalent to wine, and to possess all its intrinsic virtues without
the power of intoxication; such as the juice of the cocoanut received
in a vessel made _kansa_: the juice of the water-lemon mixed with
sugar, and exposed to the sun; molasses dissolved in water, and
contained in a copper vessel, etc.
In all the ceremonies, which not only comprehend the worship of the
Shakti, but are performed for the attainment of some proposed object,
the presence of a female, as the living representative, and the type
of the goddess, is indispensably necessary. Such ceremonies are
specific in their nature, and are called _Shadhanas_. Some who are
more decent than the rest of the sect, join their wives in the
celebration of the gloomy rites of Kali. Others make their beloved
mistresses partners in their joint devotion. Here the rite assumes a
blacker aspect. The favourite concubine is disrobed, and placed by the
side or on the thigh of her paramour who is in the same condition. In
this situation, the usual calmness of the mind must be preserved, and
no evil lodged in it. Such is the requisition of the Shastras, say the
Vamis, when reproached for their brutal practices.
In this way is performed the rite called the _Mantra Sadhana_. It is,
as must be expected, carried on in great secrecy, and is said to lead
to the possession of supernatural powers. The religious part of it is
very simple, consisting merely of the repetition of the Mula mantra,
which may or may not be preceded by the usual mode of Shakta worship.
Hence it is called the _Mantra Sadhana_, to distinguish it from other
sorts of Sadhanas. After ten P.M., the devotee, under pretence of
going to bed, retires into a private chamber, where, calling his wife
or mistress, and procuring all the necessary articles of worship, such
as wine, grains, water, a string of beads, etc., he shuts the doors
and the windows of the room, and, sitting before a lighted lamp, joins
with his partner in drinking. The use of this preliminary is obvious.
When, by the power of the spirits, the veil of shame is withdrawn, he,
making his wife or mistress sit in the manner already described,
begins to repeat his mantra, and continues to do so till one, two, or
three o'clock in the morning. At intervals the glass is repeated, and
the ceremony is closed in a manner which decency does not allow us to
state.
We now come to the blackest part of the Vama worship. Nothing can be
more disgusting, nothing more abominable, nothing more scandalously
obscene, than the rite we are about to describe. The ceremony is
called Shi-Chakra, Purnabhisheka, the ring or full initiation. This
worship is mostly celebrated in mixed societies, composed of motley
groups of various castes, though not of creed. This is quite
extraordinary, since, according to the established laws of the caste
system, no Hindu is permitted to eat with an inferior. But here the
rule is at once done away with, and persons of high caste, low caste,
and no caste, sit, eat, and drink together. This is authorised by the
Shastras in the following text:--"While the Bhairavi Tantra (the
ceremony of the Chakra) is proceeding, all castes are Brahmans--when
it is concluded they are again distinct." Thus while the votaries of
the Shakti observe all the distinctions of caste in public, they
neglect them altogether in the performance of her orgies.
The principal part of the rite called the Chakra is Shakti Sadhana or
the purification of the female representing the Shakti. In the
ceremony termed mantra Sadhana, we have already noticed the
introduction of a female, the devotee always making his wife or
mistress partner in his devotion. This cannot be done in a mixed
society. For although the Vamis are so far degenerated as to perform
rites such as human nature, corrupt as it is, revolts from with
detestation, yet they have not sunk to that depth of depravity as to
give up their wives to the licentiousness of men of beastly conduct.
Neither is it the ordination of the Shastras. For this purpose they
prescribe females of various descriptions, particularly "a dancing
girl, a female devotee, a harlot, a washerwoman, or barber's wife, a
female of the Braminical or Sudra tribe, a flower girl, or a milk
maid." Some of the Tantras add a few more to the list, such as a
princess, the wife of a Kapali, or of a Chandal, of a Kulala, or of a
conch seller. Others increase the number to twenty-six, and a few even
to sixty-four. These females are distinguished by the name of Kula
Shakti. Selecting and procuring females from the preceding classes,
the Vamacharis are to assemble at midnight in some sequestered spot,
in eight, nine, or eleven couples, the men representing Bhairavas or
Viras, and the women Bhairavas or Nayikas. In some cases a single
female personating the Shakti is to be procured. In all cases, the
Kula Shakti is placed disrobed, but richly adorned with ornaments on
the left of a circle (chakra) described for the purpose, whence the
ceremony derives its name. Sometimes she is made to stand, totally
destitute of clothing, with protuberant tongue and dishevelled hair.
She is then purified by the recitation of many mantras and texts, and
by the performance of the mudra or gesticulations. Finally she is
sprinkled over with wine, and if not previously initiated, the Bij
mantra is thrice repeated in her ear. To this succeeds the worship of
the guardian divinity; and after this, that of the female, to whom are
now offered broiled fish, flesh, fried peas, rice, spirituous liquors,
sweetmeats, flowers, and other offerings, which are all purified by
the repeating of incantations and the sprinkling of wine. It is now
left to her choice to partake of the offerings, or to rest contented
simply with verbal worship. Most frequently she eats and drinks till
she is perfectly satisfied, and the refuse is shared by the persons
present. If, in any case, she refuses to touch or try either meat or
wine, her worshippers pour wine on her tongue while standing, and
receive it as it runs down her body in a vessel held below. This wine
is sprinkled over all the dishes which are now served among the
votaries.
Such is the preliminary called the purification of the Shakti. To this
succeeds the devotional part of the ceremony. The devotees are now to
repeat their radical mantra, but in a manner unutterably obscene. Then
follow things too abominable to enter the ears of men, or to be borne
by the feelings of an enlightened community; things, from which the
rudest savage would turn away his face with disgust.
* * * * *
Here the diabolical business closes.
The religious practices of the Shaktas being such as are believed to
lead to the possession of supernatural powers, many persons of this
sect, taking advantage of the religious blunders of the great mass of
the people, practice the most barefaced impositions. The credulity of
the Hindus becomes to many an inexhaustible source of wealth,
especially to those who are at the head of any religious
establishment, where any form of the Shakti is the presiding divinity.
These priests who day and night attend on the goddess, and perform
various mystical rites, gradually acquire the credit of having close
intimacy and secret communication with her; and then gifts, presents,
and votive offerings are incessantly poured on the altar. Under
pretence of healing diseases of children, and curing barrenness,
mothers and young women are induced to join in the worship of Kali,
when the worthy votaries of the black goddess, the priests, thank her
for having fulfilled the object of their wishes. Offerings are
presented, not only for receiving blessings, but also for personal
safety. Life and death are said to be in the hands of these Shiddhas.
They, if provoked, can sooner or later, kill the offender by the power
of their mantras. This deadly ceremony is called Maranuchchatan. There
is in one district, a temple dedicated to Shiddheswari, a form of
Kali, the late attending priest of which was a man universally
believed to be of no common rate. The belief yet prevails in the
neighbourhood, that once in the height of indignation he caused the
death of a rich native for having indirectly called him a drunkard.
The story runs thus:--At a feast given to the Brahmans by this native
gentleman, the priest of Shiddheswari was invited to his house,--the
latter, on account of the manifold duties of the temple, was late in
his attendance, on which the host, being displeased with his conduct,
said to him as he entered the door, "Well, Bhattacharjya, now I
believe the dimness of your eyes has vanished," alluding to his known
habit of drinking. At this raillery, the rage of the favourite of Kali
knew no bounds. He instantly returned to the temple and closed its
doors, strictly enjoining his servants not to disturb his meditation
before flames from the funeral pile of the wretched host ascended to
the skies. And, wonderful to relate, an hour had scarcely elapsed,
before the sons of the host came to the priest with clothes around
their necks, fell suppliant on their knees, and with folded hands
implored his mercy, saying, "O! Sir, save us and our family." The
priest smiling, asked them what was the matter, to which they replied,
weeping, "Our father is no more. No sooner had your holy feet left our
doors, than on a sudden blood came out rushing from his mouth, he fell
on the ground and expired. Save us, we entreat thee, and the rest of
his family, for we have not offended against thy holy divinity." On
this, the wrath of the priest was pacified, and he spoke to them in an
affectionate tone; "No fear, my children, you are safe, go home and
perform your father's funeral obsequies."
Another marvellous anecdote is told of him, as well as of many others
of similar character. When on one occasion he was bringing liquor
concealed in a water-pot, a person whose object was to expose him,
stopped him on the way and wanted to see what was in the pot. To this
he calmly replied, nothing but milk. Saying this, he poured out the
contents, and the liquor was found converted into milk. Such persons,
by taking advantage of the fears of the superstitious Hindus, extort
money and other presents from them.
Much of the splendour of the Hindu idolatry consists in the
celebration of the Shakta rites. The great festivals, which are
annually celebrated in Bengal, such as the Durga Puja, the Jagaddhari
and Kali Pujas, the Charak, the Basanti, Rutanti and Falahari Pujas,
are all Shaktya observances, and for the most part performed by the
worshippers of the Shakti. These festivals themselves, and the
exhibitions that accompany them, exert a pernicious influence over the
morals of the people. The spirit in which these religious days are
kept, the splendid and fascinating ceremonies connected with them, and
the merry exhibitions, including savage music and indecent dancing,
that form a part of the worship, cannot but captivate and corrupt the
heart and overpower the judgment of youth.
The Shakta processions are utterly abominable. One of them takes place
after the blood-offerings at public festivals. Of a similar character
are those which go before and follow the images, when carried to be
thrown into the river or into a pond. On these occasions the Shaktas
utter terms most grossly obscene, loudly and repeatedly, and make
gestures the most indecent that can be imagined; and all this before
their goddess and the public.
The habit of drinking wine, which prevails so widely among the
Shaktas, produces baneful effects on the minds of the Hindus. Leaving
the Kaulas as out of the question, since they themselves train up
their children in the habit of drinking, the Shaktas in general are
more forward in trying the qualities of the prohibited article than
any other sect of the orthodox Hindus, and their example stimulates
others to do the same. This is one of the reasons why the drinking of
spirituous liquors, which was almost unknown among the Hindus of yore,
has gradually become so prevalent among them, as at this day. The
tenets of the Shaktas open the way for the gratification of all the
sensual appetites, they hold out encouragement to drunkards, thieves
and dacoits; they present the means of satisfying every lustful
desire; they blunt the feelings by authorising the most cruel
practices, and lead men to commit abominations which place them on a
level with the beasts. The Shaktya worship is impure in itself,
obscene in its practices, and highly injurious to the life and
character of men.[14]
[14] See Calcutta Review for 1855.
CHAPTER VII.
Considerations respecting the origin of Phallic
worship--Comparisons between Indian and Egyptian practices and
doctrines.
For the bulk of the evidence respecting Phallic or Nature Worship, and
for illustrations of its original character and ultimate developments,
it is evident that India is the land to which we must chiefly look for
information: for this reason the majority of the preceding pages deal
with that part of the world. Historically perhaps there is
considerable difficulty in deciding as to where this worship
originated; its antiquity is so great, and its diffusion throughout
various countries so general and extensive, that it appears impossible
to say whether Greece, Rome, India, or Egypt was its earliest home or
birthplace.
There are some considerations, however, which render it probable that
it was in India where its earliest manifestations were exhibited.
Whatever impurities and abominations may have clustered round it in
comparatively modern times, the fact must not be lost sight of, that
in its earlier phases in that country nothing was associated with it
that was calculated to cause any offence to the most refined and
modest of minds. Very little judgment is needed to understand that the
tendency of practices thus appealing to the most easily excited of the
animal passions would be downward rather than upward, that instead of
growing pure and free from the taint of lustful desires, the almost
inevitable fruit would be impurity and licentious indulgence; it is
not likely therefore that the more respectable worship of early India
would be the product of the gross practices of the other nations we
have named. We can see clearly enough, we think, the origin of this
worship resting upon the highest aspirations of the human soul. In
endeavouring to frame a theological system and arrange a method of
worship to meet the cravings of the mind for intercourse with the
creative powers of the universe, men would be sure to fix their
thoughts upon those means and agents by which living beings and things
were brought into existence, and which, to say the least of it, acted
as secondary causes in the creative work. These, of course, would be
the generative organs of men and animals in general, and for want of
better and more exalted teaching, they would easily enough persuade
themselves that it was a proper thing to worship the power symbolized
by such objects, if they did not actually worship the objects
themselves. Perhaps originally, the first of these two ideas was all
that was intended or contemplated, for it is undeniable that many
cases have come under our notice in which men were really rendering
adoration to an unknown spiritual power when they appeared to be doing
nothing but worshipping a graven image.
There is no doubt the religious system of the Hindus is very ancient,
and it has been supposed by some that it was formed about the same
time as that of the Egyptians, from which that of the Greeks and other
western nations was in some measure derived. Many points of
resemblance have been observed between them, too many, and too
striking, to have been fortuitous. Even some of the inhabitants of
Ethiopia appear to have been of the same origin with those of
Hindostan, and both the Ethiopians and Egyptians seem to have had some
connection or intercourse with the Hindoos; but of what kind it was,
or when it subsisted, we have no certain account; and they appear to
have been so long separated, that at present they are in total
ignorance of each other.
According to Eusebius and Syncellus, some people from the river Indus
settled in the neighbourhood of Egypt in the reign of Amenophis, the
father of Sesostris, and many Egyptians, banished by their princes,
settled in other countries and went as far as India. It is also
supposed that many of the priests of Egypt left the country on the
invasion of it by Cambyses. But such circumstances as these are not
sufficient to account for the great resemblance between the two
systems. The Hindoos themselves say that their sacred books came from
the West, but they themselves, no doubt, as well as their books, came
from that quarter, and their sacred books, it is supposed, were
probably composed while the seat of the empire was in Persia.
There are a few Egyptian words similar to those in the ancient
language of Hindostan, which seem to shew that the two people had some
affinity to each other. _Brama_, pronounced _birouma_ in Malabar,
signifies man, and so did _pirouma_ in the language of Egypt. The name
of the river of Egypt, Nile, is probably Sanscrit, since _nila_ in
that language, signifies blue, and the ancients say it had its name
from that colour.
But circumstances of much more importance than these discover some
early connection between Hindostan and Egypt. The names and figures of
the twelve signs of the Zodiac among the Hindoos are nearly the same
with ours, which came from Egypt through Greece, and each of these
signs is divided into thirty degrees. Both the Egyptians and Hindoos
had also the same division of time into weeks, and they denominated
each of the days by the names of the same planets.
The resemblance between the Oriental and Occidental systems extends
much farther than Egypt. The office and power of the Druids in the
northern parts of Europe, did not differ much from those of the
Brahmins; and the Etruscans, from whom the Romans derived the greatest
part of their learning and religion, had a system which had a near
affinity with that of the Persians and Indians, and they wrote
alternately to the right hand and the left.
Several remarkable general principles were held alike by the ancient
Egyptians and the Hindoos. They both believed that the souls of men
existed in a prior state, and went into other bodies after death. They
had the same ideas of the body being a prison to the soul, and
imagined that they could purify and exalt the soul by the
mortification of the body; and from the idea of the great superiority
of spiritual to corporeal substances, they held all _matter_ in great
contempt. They also believed (according to La Croze) that plants had a
principle of animation.
Several religious ideas and customs were common to both countries. The
Egyptians of Thebais represented the world under the figure of an egg,
which came from the mouth of Cneph, and this resembled the first
production according to the Hindoo system. Several of the Egyptian
deities were both male and female, which corresponds with the figure
of the lingam with the Hindoos. This obscene figure, at least the
phallus, was much used in the Egyptian worship, and from Egypt it was
carried into Greece, where it was used in the mysteries of Bacchus. As
the Hindoos worshipped their god Siva under this figure, and carried
it in procession, the Egyptians and Greeks did the same with the
phallus. Also, the lascivious postures of the Egyptian women before
their god Apis, were the same as those of the Hindoo women before
their idols. The Hindoos also chose their sacred bulls by the same
marks as were used by the Egyptians.
Then, again, the account of the flight of the Egyptian gods, as given
by the Greeks, and their concealing themselves under the forms of
animals, bears some resemblance to the various transformations of
Vishnu. Also, the Egyptians worshipped the Nile and the Hindoos the
Ganges. Some of the Hindoo temples have the same remarkable form,
viz., that of a pyramid, or cone. That the pyramids of Egypt had some
religious use can hardly be doubted. All the pagodas are in that form,
or have towers of that form in the buildings which surround them. The
temples in Pegu are also of a conical form. Sir William Jones says
that the pyramids of Egypt, as well as those discovered in Ireland,
and probably also the tower of Babel, seem to have been intended for
images of Mahadeva, or Siva. One other thing, the onion, which was
held in veneration by the Egyptians, is not eaten by the Hindoos.
Not only do we find the same general principles, and the same, or
similar, religious customs, but some of the same gods among the
Hindoos, Egyptians, and Greeks. The Egyptian Cneph was the Supreme
intelligence, which was never lost sight of by the Hindoos. With the
Egyptians, Isis represented not only the moon, but sometimes the
powers of Nature, which were supposed to have been in a great measure
derived from the moon; and in Bengal and Japan, also, the same is
called Isari, or Isi, and is described as a goddess with many arms.
According to Sir William Jones, Iswara of the Hindoos is the Osiris of
the Egyptians, and Nared, a distinguished son of Brahma, resembles
Hermes, or Mercury. A statue of Jupiter had a third eye in its
forehead, and Siva has three eyes. Diodorus Siculus and Plutarch say
that Osiris signifies a person that has many eyes, and Siva is drawn
with an additional eye in his forehead, though the phallus is his
usual form. Osiris was said to have been killed by Typhon, and Chib
cut off the head of Brahma.
Indra of the Hindoos, called also Divespiter, is Jupiter, or
Diespiter; the bull of Iswara is the Apis, or Ap, of Egypt. Cartraya,
with six faces and many eyes, was the Egyptian Orus, and the Mars of
Italy. Sri, or Iris, called also Pedna, and Camala, was Ceres, and
according to Herodotus, she was the Egyptian Isis. Ganesu was Janus.
Visuacarman, the Indian forger of arms for the gods, was Vulcan. The
Rama of India is Dyonisus, called also Bromius by the Greeks: Krishnu
or Vishnu, is Apollo, and in Irish, it signifies the sun. According to
the Vedas and other sacred works, a bad genius, or giant, seizes on
the sun and moon when they are eclipsed, and the Egyptians ascribed
the same thing to their Typhon, who was said even to have swallowed
their god Horus, or the Sun.
The Egyptians at certain festivals carried the images of their gods in
procession. Herodotus says they drew one of them in a carriage with
four wheels, and the same was done by the Hindoos. The Egyptians held
cows in much greater veneration than any other animals; they were
sacred to Isis, and never sacrificed. Some superstitious respect was
also paid to horned cattle by the Persians. In an account of the
Zendavesta, Ormusd, the Supreme Being, directs Zerdusht to render
worship and praise to the _Supreme Ox_, and to the rain, of which the
angel Jashter, who subsists in the form of an ox, is the distributor.
The Hindoos made some use of the image of a bull, as Mr. Sonnerat
relates in his account of some of their Temples, though they never
carried their superstition in this respect so far as the Egyptians,
who made live bulls the immediate objects of their worship.
It may be said that in all this there is a great deal of mere
conjecture, and therefore of uncertainty; the evidence, however, upon
which it is founded, coming from a number of independent sources from
writers of repute, learning, and veracity--is not easily disposed of.
It seems conclusive that systems very like one another indeed
prevailed in different parts of the world, and though similar
situations may lead to similar sentiments, and corresponding
practices, the above mentioned similarity is too great, and extends to
too many particulars, to be thus accounted for. It is not at all
extraordinary that men who had no communication with each other should
be equally worshippers of the sun, moon, and stars, that they should
fancy deep caverns, or thick woods, to be haunted with spirits, that
particular rivers should have their several genii, or deities
dispensing their waters at their pleasure, as the sun, they might
suppose, did his heat, and the moon, the stars, and the planets their
peculiar influences; but that they should adopt the same rites in the
worship of these natural deities, and especially that they should give
them _attributes_, and even _names_, so nearly alike, is beyond the
effect of accident.
The conclusion we come to, and which we think is fully warranted by
all the circumstances, is, that the great mass of phallic worship
existing in different parts of the world began in India, and gradually
found its way into the western nations, becoming, as was perfectly
natural with such a system, more and more depraved as time went on,
and as it was found that it could be made subservient to the desires
and passions of licentious men.
Our frontispiece represents a pious female propitiating Mahadeva or
Siva in his generative character, indicated by the Linga, inserted in
its appropriate receptacle, the Argha, or Yoni. The engraving is taken
from a picture which Moor describes as being delicately executed, the
female being young, handsome, and elegantly dressed. She is performing
the ceremony of _Linga puja_, to which such frequent references is
made in these pages, and she has spread out in front of her the
various objects required in that service. The symbol is placed in one
of the many domestic temples, common at one time in India, known as
Dewal, or Devel, from Deva, a _deity_, and _havela_, a house,
literally a house of God. It is this erection which is ordinarily
written pagoda, by the English, a word not used in India. The stone of
the building is white, its lines gold, and it is surmounted by a gold
spire, called Sekra; when temples, or other things have a conical, or
pine-apple shaped termination, such ornament is called Kalasa. The
exterior of the temple is white, its interior, ash coloured, like its
patron deity, the Linga and Asgha are of black stone with gilt edges:
the Linga (the upright conical stone), which has mystical orange
coloured lines traced on it, is crowned with encircled folds of Bilva
flowers; and a chaplet of three strings of them, white with yellow
buds at regular distances, hangs pendent from the top of the Linga,
falling towards the termination or spout of the Argha. The Bilva is a
shrub consecrated to Mahadeva, who alone wears a chaplet of its
flowers, which are offered in sacrifice to no other deity. The various
implements used in the puja to Siva are, five lighted lamps; (or one
lamp with five wicks) a spouted vessel holding lustral water; a cup
for ghee; another cup for water with which to sprinkle the flowers;
and a bell rung at certain times to scare away evil spirits.
The woman sits on an embroidered carpet, called Asana: her right hand
is in a bag of gold brocade, the hand being supposed to hold a rosary
of round beads, 108 in number without the connecting ones.
This picture admirably illustrates the true character of the original
lingam-worship of India, and fully bears out all that has been said
respecting its original freedom from the indecencies which afterwards
became so flagrant and universal.
CHAPTER VIII.
Vocabulary of words of Indian and Sanscrit origin.
Abadi--An inhabited place.
Aban--The name of the eighth month.
Abashan--A low caste of labourers.
Abd--A slave.
Abdali--Fakirs of the bashara order.
Abdar--A servant who prepares water for domestic use.
Abdhut--A sect of religious mendicants.
Abhir--A caste employed as cowherds and shepherds.
Abkar--A maker of strong waters.
Abri--A building stone found at Kabul.
Achargya--A caste of Bengalese, said to have originated from the
Brahmins.
Acharya--A teacher.
Achatur--A caste of cultivators of the soil.
Adalat--A court of justice.
Adar--The ninth month.
Adbhutasanti--A burnt sacrifice used to counteract evil omens.
Adhipati---A ruler.
Adhwaryu--The third class of priests employed at a vedic sacrifice.
Adi Granth--The chief scripture of the Sikhs.
Adinath--The first arhat of the Jains.
Aditya--The sun.
Adlingadawar--A caste of agriculturists.
Advichinchi--A caste of cultivators of the land.
Afrit--A demon.
Agarwala--A trading caste.
Agasa--A caste of washermen.
Aghora--Religious mendicants who sometimes feed on human flesh.
Agiari--A temple in which perpetual fire is maintained.
Agni--The god of fire.
Aguri--A Bengalese caste of cultivators.
Ahri--One of the Himalayan gods.
Ahriman--The personification of evil in the Zoroastrian religion.
Akshamala--A string of beads.
Alifshai--The Benawa fakirs.
Amanth--A Bengalese caste employed as servants.
Amaras--Immortal.
Ambattan--A caste employed as barbers.
Amma Kodagas--A sect driven away by the Brahmins.
Anant--Endless, a name applied to Vishnu and other gods.
Andhyaru--A Parsi priest.
Andra--A Buddhist dynasty considered to have reigned in India from 31
B.C. to 429 A.D.
Anila--The god of fire.
Annapurna--The goddess who is said to feed the inhabitants of Benares.
Aranyaka--A part of the Veda, considered so holy that it may be read
only in the solitude of a forest.
Archaka--An officiating priest at a pagoda.
Ardha-matra--A mysterious word applicable to the deity.
Ardhanarisa--Name of Siva in his form as half male, half female.
Arja--A female mendicant.
Asani--A small seat, also a carpet used at prayers.
Asiloma--A demon who had swords instead of hair.
Asthal--A temple.
Asura--A spirit.
Atasil--The eight precepts binding on an upasaka.
Atharwa--The name of the fourth veda.
Aukamma--A village goddess.
Avasta--The Zoroastrian scriptures.
Ayenar--A god of India who is supposed to guard the fields from demons.
Azad--An order of fakirs.
Bagh--A garden.
Bahucharaji--A goddess worshipped in Gujarat.
Bahuta--An amulet worn on the arm by the worshippers of Narsingh.
Bai--A lady.
Baidni--A woman of the Baidya caste.
Baidya--A caste supposed to be the offspring of a Brahman father and
Vaisya mother.
Balai--A caste of Sudras.
Balaram--The elder brother of Krishna, sometimes an incarnation of
Vishnu.
Bana--An arrow.
Bandha--A slave or bondmen.
Barahan--A goddess who is supposed to cure swelled hands and feet.
Barat--The final ceremony of a marriage.
Barwa--A wise man of the Bhils.
Basani--A prostitute, or female dedicated to a god.
Basawa--The sacred bull.
Bashkala--A demon.
Benawa--A community of fakirs of the beshara order.
Beshara--Those fakirs who hold themselves above the law.
Bhadaria--Mendicant astrologers of Brahman origin.
Bhadu--A low class of Uriya Brahmans.
Bhagat--A worshipper.
Bhagvan--The divine spirit.
Bhagwat--A name for God.
Bhairawa--A name of Siva.
Bhairawanath--A name of Siva.
Bhairon--_same as_ Bhaironath.
Bhakta--A devotee.
Bhavin--A woman devoted to the service of the Temple.
Bhikhu--A religious mendicant.
Bhopi--A priest of a village temple.
Bhu--The earth.
Bhut--The spirit of the dead; a goblin.
Bhuteswara--A name of Siva as destroyer.
Bhutya--Devotees of Bhawani.
Bilwa--The bel tree.
Bisheswar--A name of Siva, alluding to his having swallowed poison.
Boa--A Temple.
Bo-tree--The pipal.
Brahma--The Creator.
Brahman--The first of the Hindu castes.
Brahmani--A woman of Brahman caste.
Broto--A vow.
Budibudaki--A religious beggar who smears himself with ashes.
Burha-Deo--The great God.
But--The name of a devi.
Catanar--A priest of the Syrian Church.
Chakra--The weapon of Vishnu.
Chattur--A consecrated cake of cow-dung.
Chhandas--A sacred hymn.
Chhandoga--A name of the udgatri priest.
Chillah--A forty days' fast.
Chitpawan--A subdivision of the Maharashtra Brahmans.
Chitragupta--The first of the ministers of Yama.
Cholipanth--A sect of Panjabis allowing free sexual intercourse.
Chori--A marriage hall.
Churel--A hobgoblin in the form of a hideous woman.
Crore--Ten millions.
Dada--An elderly person, or a paternal grandfather.
Dadupanthi--A Vaishnawa sect founded by Dadu.
Daftar--A register.
Dagoba--A dome-like structure built over the relics of a saint.
Dain--A witch.
Daitya--A demon.
Daiwatapka--Parsi betrothal ceremony.
Dakaut--Braminical astrological mendicants.
Dakiri--A female imp who feeds upon human flesh.
Dachocha--A caste said to be descended from a Brahman father and a Gauli
mother.
Dakshina--A cow fit to be given to a Brahman.
Danawa--A demon.
Dargah--The tomb of a saint.
Dasi--A woman dedicated to a temple.
Dastur--A Parsi high priest.
Devi--A goddess; especially Durga.
Devrukhi--The room of a temple where the idol stands.
Dewa--A god.
Dewanga--One who wears the emblem of Siva.
Dewasthan--A temple.
Dewata--A deity.
Dhumra--A giant.
Dinesha--Lord of the day.
Diwar---Divinity of a village, for whom a portion of the grain is set
apart at each harvest.
Dobe--A brahma who has studied two of the four Vedas.
Durdhara--A leader in the army of demons.
Durga--The consort of Siva.
Durga-puga--The worship of Durga.
Durmukha--The name of a demon--the fury faced.
Dwaparayuga--The Third age of the world.
Eshana--One of the names of Siva.
Fakir--A Mohammedan religious mendicant.
Gabhara--The inner room of a temple where the idol stands.
Gadipati--Chief of a body of religious mendicants.
Ganesa--A god, the son of Siva.
Garudi--A snake charmer.
Gentoo--Another name for a Hindu.
Ghaus--A fakir of the highest sanctity.
Gomedha--The sacrifice of a cow.
Gondhal--A noisy festival in honour of Devi.
Gopura--Building over the gate of a temple.
Gorakhnath--A name of Siva.
Gosain--An ascetic.
Goshanashin--A Mohammedan ascetic.
Gramadewata--Tutelary deity of a village.
Granthi--A reader of the Granth, or Sikh Scriptures.
Grihadava--The tutelary god of a house.
Grihastha--A Brahman in the second asrama.
Guga--A saint to whom offerings are made to avert danger from snakes.
Guru--A religious teacher.
Haj--A pilgrimage.
Haji--One who has performed the Haj.
Hambali--One of the orthodox schools of Sunnis.
Har--A name of Siva.
Hara--The destroyer.
Harpuji--The worship of the plough.
Homa--An oblation made by pouring butter on a fire.
Hotri--The highest class of priest employed at a Vedic sacrifice.
Huttari--Festival in honour of the rice harvest.
Id-al-fitr--Festival of breaking fast.
Idgah--A place of prayer for Mussalmans.
Imam--The officiating priest of a mosque.
Indra--The king of the firmament.
Iravata--The elephant of Indra.
Ishna-namaz--Prayer of sunset.
Ishrak-namaz--Prayer at sunrise.
Ishtadewa--A favourite deity.
Iswara--A name of Siva.
Jag--A vigil kept by Sudras on the tenth night after a sudden death, in
order to summon the spirit of the deceased into the body of his son, or
other person, and reveal the cause of death, the place where his
treasures are hidden, or other matter desired to be known.--_J. T.
Melesworth._
Jagannath--A name of Vishnu.
Jajman--A patron.
Janardan--A name of Vishnu.
Janhavi--A name of the Ganges.
Jatra--A pilgrimage to a holy place.
Jin--A goblin.
Jivagar--A Buddhist ascetic.
Jnandewa-panthi--A supposed incarnation of Vishnu.
Kabir-panthi--A Vaishnawa sect, followers of Kabir.
Kailasa--The heaven of Siva.
Kali--The wife of Siva.
Kalki--The name of Vishnu in his tenth awatar, which is to take place at
the end of the present, or kali, age, when he will destroy the wicked
and inaugurate a new age of purity.--_Whitworth._
Karniji--A goddess worshipped in Bikaner.
Katayani--A name of the goddess Parvati.
Kesari--The name of the lion of Durga.
Keshava--One of the names of Vishnu.
Khatib--The preacher in the mosque on Fridays and feast-days.
Khirakasi--A sect of Hindus who renounced idolatry and Brahmanism.
Khodiar--The devi of one of seven sisters of the Charan caste.
Koti--A crore, or ten millions.
Kowmari--A appellation of Durga.
Kowshiki--A goddess that emanated from Parvati.
Kuber--The god of riches.
Lakshmi--Wife of Vishnu.
Linga--The phallus or emblematic representation of Siva.
Lingait--A sect of Saiwas who wear the emblem of the linga.
Lohana--The most numerous class of Hindus in Sindh.
Lokas--The world.
Madhu--The name of a demon.
Madhwacharya--A Vaishava sect.
Mahadeva--A name of Siva.
Mahajanwadi--A place where caste feasts are celebrated.
Mahakala--A name of Siva.
Maheswar--A name of Siva.
Manbhawa--A Vaishnava sect.
Mantra--Form of worship in the oldest part of the veda.
Manu--Man. Founder of the Manvantara.
Maruta--Wind. A god of the wind.
Masjid--A Mohommedan church.
Mastan--The Rasulshahi fakirs.
Mata--Name applied to various goddesses.
Matia--A believer.
Matsya--The first principal awater of Vishnu.
Mobed--A Parsi priest.
Mund--A demon.
Muni--A saint.
Mundphoda--The Gurzmar fakirs, who beat their heads until they bleed in
order to extort charity.
Musa Sohag--A body of fakirs who dress as women.
Mutawalli--The warden of a mosque.
Nadiya--A bull marked as sacred.
Naga--Naked.
Nageswaraswami--A serpent deity.
Nama--A mark worn on the forehead by followers of Vishnu.
Namadari--A Vaishnava.
Nandana--A beautiful garden in Indra's heaven.
Nanda Devi--A name of Durga.
Nandi--Siva's bull.
Narak--The place of punishment for souls.
Narakasur--A demon son of Bhumi, slain by Vishnu.
Narangkar--The maker of men.
Narayana--The divine spirit moving on the waters.
Narsinh--A form assumed by Vishnu in order to destroy the demon
Hiranyakasipu.
Nat--A spirit supposed to have the power to ward off evil.
Navar--A Parsi priest of low order.
Nazar--The evil eye.
Nimbarka--A Vaishavan sect worshipping Krishna and Riadha conjointly.
Nirwana--Having the fire of life extinguished.
Pagoda--A Hindu temple in the south of India.
Parameshvari--A name of Durga.
Paramahansa--A sect of Siva's devotees.
Pariah--An outcast from society.
Parvati--The consort of Siva.
Pasupati--A name of Siva.
Patala--The nether regions.
Pavaka--The god of fire.
Pinaki--A name of Siva.
Prakriti--A goddess.
Pundarikaksha--Lotus-eyed.
Purusha--Man; the human soul.
Rajasuya--A sacrifice performed at a coronation.
Rali--The deified spirit of a woman who drowned herself on being married
to a child.
Ramanandi--A sect of Vaisnavas.
Ramanuja--A Vaishawan sect in the south of India.
Ramban--A priest of high rank.
Rath--A war chariot.
Rig--The first Veda.
Rishi--A sage or hermit.
Rozah--A fast.
Rudra--The storm-god.
Sadhu--A saint.
Sadra--The sacred shirt worn by the Parsis.
Saduba--The name of a goddess.
Sakta--A worshipper of a sakti.
Sakti--Power.
Sama--The third Veda.
Sanhita--A collection of Vedic hymns.
Sannyasi--An ascetic.
Saptapadi--Seven steps taken round the sacred fire, part of a Hindu
marriage.
Saravasti--Goddess of eloquence and literature.
Sastri--A teacher.
Sattra--A sacrifice.
Sanra--A worshipper of the sun.
Savitri--One of the incarnations of Sarasvati.
Shakra--One of the denominations of Indra.
Shakti--Power.
Shambu--An appellation of Siva.
Siva--The third person of the Hindu triad.
Srawak--A Buddhist saint.
Sura--A deity.
Tarpana--Offering of water.
Trinetra--Three-eyed.
Ugni--God of fire.
Umbika--A name of Durga.
Vaishnavi--The consort of Vishnu.
Vanhi--One of the names of the god of fire.
Vidhi--One of the names of Brahma.
Vipra--A person who recites Vedas.
Vishnu--The second person of the Hindu triad, the preserver.
Vrutra--The name of a demon.
Yogini--A class of malicious female fiends.
Nature Worship and Mystical Series.
Cr. 8vo, Vellum, 7s. 6d. each, nett.
_Only a very limited number_, PRIVATELY PRINTED.
PHALLICISM.--A Description of the Worship of LINGAM-YONI in various
parts of the World, and in different Ages, with an Account of Ancient
and Modern Crosses, particularly of the CRUX ANSATA (or Handled Cross)
and other Symbols connected with the Mysteries of SEX WORSHIP. _(Only
in sets), or 10s. 6d. separately._
The importance of this subject, may be gleaned from the
following remarks of Major Gen. Forlong. "Our Queen rules
over, according to the latest census returns, some 100
millions of PURE-PHALLIC worshippers, that is three times the
population of these Islands, and if we say merely Phallo-Solar
worshippers, then 200 millions."
OPHIOLATREIA.--An Account of the Rites and Mysteries connected with
the Origin, Rise, and Development of SERPENT WORSHIP in various parts
of the World, enriched with Interesting Traditions, and a full
description of the celebrated Serpent Mounds and Temples, the whole
forming an exposition of one of the phases of PHALLIC, or SEX WORSHIP.
PHALLIC OBJECTS, MONUMENTS AND REMAINS; Illustrations of the Rise and
Development of the PHALLIC IDEA (Sex Worship), and its embodiment in
Works of Nature and Art. _Etched Frontispiece._
CULTUS ARBORUM.--A Descriptive Account of PHALLIC TREE WORSHIP, with
illustrative Legends, Superstitious Usages, etc.; exhibiting its
Origin and Development amongst the Eastern and Western Nations of the
World, from the earliest to modern times.
This work has a valuable bibliography which will be of the
greatest use and value to the student of Ancient Faiths. It
contains references to nearly five hundred works on Phallism
and kindred subjects.
FISHES, FLOWERS, AND FIRE as ELEMENTS AND DEITIES in the PHALLIC
FAITHS AND WORSHIP of the Ancient Religions of GREECE, BABYLON, ROME,
INDIA, etc., with illustrative Myths and Legends.
ARCHAIC ROCK INSCRIPTIONS; an Account of the Cup and Ring Marking on
the Sculptural Stones of the Old and New Worlds. _With etched
frontispiece._
"Let any one inspect the plates in works delineating the Hindu
Pantheon, and compare the drawings of the lingam-yoni with
many of the rock markings we have described, with those for
instance on the frontispiece of this book, and they will find
it difficult to avoid the conclusion that there is a manifest
and striking connection. The fact is, the phallic idea, has
prevailed all over the world to a far greater extent than many
have ever imagined, and superficial observers have passed by
many things as inexplicable which came properly within its
domain, and which thus recognised, would have been readily
understood. It is not, of course, to the gross forms of the
Priapus used in ancient Greek, Roman, or Egyptian Festivals
that we allude, but to the much more refined, and, if we may
so call it, modest lingam worship of India."--THE AUTHOR.
NATURE WORSHIP, or an Account of PHALLIC FAITHS and Practices, Ancient
and Modern, including the Adoration of the Male and Female Powers, and
the SACTI PUJA OF INDIAN GNOSTICISM, by the author of Phallicism,
_with etched frontispiece_.
The subject reaches from the earliest dawn of history through
long and eventful ages, down to the most modern times, and
touches almost every kingdom of the past and present, in the
four quarters of the earth. The unearthing of long-buried
statues, monuments, and mystifying inscriptions, has suggested
and provoked new lines of study among symbolical remains, and
the key to so much that for long was unreadable has been found
in the singular revelations of this peculiar worship.
MYSTERIES OF THE ROSIE CROSS, or the History of that Curious Sect of
the Middle Ages, known as the ROSICRUCIANS, with Examples of their
Pretensions and Claims.
In this work an attempt has been made to convey an
intelligible idea of the peculiar mystic sect of the
Rosicrucians. It is the first serious attempt to penetrate the
secret recesses of this occult body, whose strange beliefs and
curious practices have, ever since the days of Rosenkreutz,
been enveloped in a cloud of profound mystery.
Transcriber's Note
The spellings are inconsistent as presented in the original work.
End of Project Gutenberg's Phallic Miscellanies, by Hargrave Jennings