_Androgynous Deities--Theories respecting the Dual Sex of the
Deity--Sacredness of the Phallus--Sex Worship--The Eastern Desire for
Children--Sacred Prostitution--Hindu Law of Adoption and
Inheritance--Hindu Need of Offspring, and especially of a
Son--Obsequies of the Departed._
The phallic idea alluded to again and again in the preceding pages as
entering into the heathen conception of a trinity, the practice of
circumcision, and the use of the cross as a symbol, branches out in a
great variety of directions; at some of these we must cast a brief glance
in order that we may form a correct estimate of the subject.
Reference has been made to the androgynous nature ascribed to the Deity by
different nations, and here at once is opened up the whole subject of sex
worship. It is impossible to say how far back we should have to retrace
our footsteps in seeking for men's first ideas upon this matter; many
ages, it is certain. Forlong, speaking of a remote age and our
forefathers, says: "They began to see in life and all nature a God, a
Force, a Spirit; or, I should rather say, some nameless thing which no
language of those early days, if indeed of present, can describe. They
gave to the outward creative organs those devotional thoughts, time, and
praise which belonged to the Creator; they figured the living spirit in
the cold bodily forms of stone and tree, and so worshipped it. As we read
in early Jewish writings, their tribes, like all other early races, bowed
before Ashar and Ashe'ra, as others had long before that period worshipped
Belus and Uranus, Orus and Isis, Mahadeva, Siva, Sakti, and Parvati.
Jupiter and Yuno, or Juno, or rather the first ideas of these, must have
arisen in days long subsequent to this. All such steps in civilisation
are very slow indeed, and here they had to penetrate the hearts of
millions who could neither read nor write, nor yet follow the reader or
the preacher; so centuries would fleet past over such rude infantile
populations, acting no more on the inert pulpy mass than years, or even
months, now do; and if this were so after they began to realise the ideas
of a Bel and Ouranos, how much slower before that far-back stage was won.
Their first symbolisation seems clearly to have been the simple line,
pillar, or a stroke, as their male god; and a cup or circle as their
female; and lo! the dual and mystic =10= which early became a trinity, and
has stood before the world from that unknown time to this. In this mystic
male and female we have the first great androgynous god."
Alluding to this subject, an anonymous writer, believed to be a Roman
Catholic priest, some sixteen years ago, said:--"The primitive doctrine
that God created man in his own image, male and female, and consequently
that the divine nature comprised the two sexes within itself, fulfils all
the conditions requisite to constitute a catholic theological dogma,
inasmuch as it may truly be affirmed of it, that it has been held 'semper,
ubique, et ab omnibus,' being universal as the phenomenon to which it owes
its existence.
"How essential to the consistency of the Catholic system is this doctrine
of duality you may judge by the shortcomings of the theologies which
reject it. Unitarianism blunders alike in regard to the Trinity and the
Duality. Affecting to see in God a Father, it denies him the possibility
of having either spouse or offspring. More rational than such a creed as
this was the primitive worship of sex, as represented by the male and
female principles in nature. In no gross sense was the symbolism of such a
system conceived, gross as its practice may have become, and as it would
appear to the notions of modern conventionalism. For no religion is
founded upon intentional depravity. Searching back for the origin of life,
men stopped at the earliest point to which they could trace it, and
exalted the reproductive organs into symbols of the Creator. The practice
was at least calculated to procure respect for a side of nature liable
under an exclusively spiritual regime to be relegated to undue contempt.
"It appears certain that the names of the Hebrew deity bear the sense I
have indicated; El, the root of Elhoim, the name under which God was known
to the Israelites prior to their entry into Canaan, signifying the
masculine sex only; while Jahveh, or Jehovah, denotes both sexes in
combination. The religious rites practised by Abraham and Jacob prove
incontestably their adherence to this, even then, ancient mode of
symbolising deity; and though after the entry into Canaan, the leaders and
reformers of the Israelites strove to keep the people from exchanging the
worship of their own divinity for that of the exclusively feminine
principle worshipped by the Canaanites with unbridled licence under the
name of Ashera, yet the indigenous religion became closely incorporated
with the Jewish; and even Moses himself fell back upon it when, yielding
to a pressing emergency, he gave his sanction to the prevailing Tree and
Serpent worship by his elevation of a brazen serpent upon a pole or cross.
For all portions of this structure constitute the most universally
accepted symbols of sex in the world.
"It is to India that we must go for the earliest traces of these things.
The Jews originated nothing, though they were skilful appropriators and
adapters of other men's effects. Brahma, the first person in the Hindoo
Triad, was the original self-existent being, inappreciable by sense, who
commenced the work of creation by creating the waters with a thought, as
described in the Institutes of Manu. The waters, regarded as the source of
all subsequent life, became identified with the feminine principle in
nature--whence the origin of the mystic rite of baptism--and the
atmosphere was the divine breath or spirit. The description in Genesis of
the Spirit of God moving upon the face of the waters, indicates the
influence upon the Jews of the Hindoo theogony to which they had access
through Persia.
"The twofold name of Jehovah also finds a correspondence in the
Arddha-Nari, or incarnation of Brahma, who is represented in sculptures as
containing in himself the male and female organisms. And the worship of
the implements of fecundity continues popular in India to this day. The
same idea underlies much of the worship of the ancient Greeks, finding
expression in the symbols devoted to Apollo or the sun, and in their
androgynous sculptures. Aryan, Scandinavian, and Semitic religions were
alike pervaded by it, the male principle being represented by the sun, and
the female by the moon, which was variously personified by the virgins,
Ashtoreth or Astarte, Diana, and others, each of whom, except in the
Scandinavian mythology, where the sexes are reversed, had the moon for her
special symbol. Similarly, the allegory of Eden finds one of its keys in
the phenomena of sex, as is demonstrated by the ancient Syrian sculptures
of Ashera, or _the Grove_; and 'the tree of life in the midst of the
garden' forms the point of departure for beliefs which have lasted
thousands of years, and which have either spread from one source over, or
been independently originated in, every part of the habitable globe."[20]
It is evident that this worship is of the most extremely ancient character
and that it was based originally upon ideas that had nothing gross and
debasing in them. It is true that it at various times assumed indelicate
forms and was associated with much that was of the most degrading
character, but the first idea was only to use for religious purposes that
which seemed the most apt emblem of creation and regeneration. "Is it
strange," asks a lady writer, "that they regarded with reverence the great
mystery of human birth? Were they impure thus to regard it? Or, are we
impure that we do _not_ so regard it? Let us not smile at their mode of
tracing the infinite and incomprehensible cause throughout all the
mysteries of nature, lest by so doing we cast the shadow of our own
grossness on their patriarchal simplicity."
It became with this very much as it does with all symbolism, more or less,
that is to say from the worship of that which was symbolised, it
degenerated to the worship of the emblem itself.
But the ancient Egyptians exerted themselves considerably to restrain
within certain bounds of propriety the natural tendency of this worship
and we find them allowing it to embrace only the masculine side of
humanity, afterwards, as was perhaps only to be expected, the feminine was
introduced. Then, as particularly exhibited in the case of India, it
gradually became nothing more or less than a vehicle for satisfying the
licentious desires of the most degrading of both sexes.
It is wonderful, however, the extraordinary hold these ideas attained upon
the human mind, whether they entered into the religious conceptions of the
people, or pandered to vicious desires under the mere cloak of religion.
The Tetrabiblos of Ptolemy (four books relative to Starry Influences),
speaking of the countries India, Ariana, Gedrosia, Parthia, Media, Persia,
Babylon, Mesopotamia, and Assyria, says:--"Many of them practise
divination, and devote their genitals to their divinities because the
familiarity of these planets renders them very libidinous."
Nor must we forget the peculiar sacredness with which in the early Jewish
Church these organs were always regarded,--that is, the male organs.
Injury of them disqualified the unfortunate victim from ministering in the
congregation of the Lord, and the severest punishment was meted out to the
criminal who should be guilty of causing such injury. Thus in the book of
Deuteronomy, chap. xxv., 11, 12, we read:--"When men strive together one
with another, and the wife of the one draweth near for to deliver her
husband out of the hand of him that smiteth him, and putteth forth her
hand, and taketh him by the secrets: then thou shalt cut off her hand,
thine eye shall not pity her." And this was not to be an act of revenge on
the part of the injured man, but was to be the legal penalty duly enforced
by the civil magistrate. It is very extraordinary, for it appears that
such an injury inflicted upon an enemy--and evidently it meant the
disablement of the man from the act of sexual intercourse--was regarded as
even more serious than the actual taking of life in self-defence. The
degradation attached to the man thus mutilated was greater than could
otherwise be visited upon him--all respect for him vanished and he was
henceforward regarded as an abomination.
Such mutilation has always been common in heathen nations--similarly
regarded as amongst the Hebrews, but used as the greatest mark of
indignity possible to inflict upon an enemy--some of the Egyptian
bas-reliefs represent the King (Rameses II.) returning in triumph with
captives, many of whom are undergoing the operation of castration, while
in the corners of the scene are heaped up piles of the genital organs
which have been cut off by the victors. Some of the North American
Indians, particularly the Apaches of California and Arizona, have been
noted for their frequent use of the same barbarous practice on the
prisoners taken in war and upon the bodies of the slain.
We get a similar instance in Israelitish history as recorded in the first
book of Samuel, where Saul being afraid of David, sought a favourable
opportunity to get him slain by the Philistines. There is the story of the
love of Michal, Saul's daughter, for David, and the use Saul endeavoured
to make of that fact in carrying out his evil designs. The news that
Michal had thus fallen in love, pleased Saul, and he said, "I will give
him her, that she may be a snare to him and that the hand of the
Philistines may be against him." So David was told that the King would
make him his son-in-law. But it was customary in those times for the
bridegroom to _give_ a dowry instead of as at other times and in other
places, to _receive_ one, and David immediately raised the objection that
this was out of his power as he was but a poor man. This was Saul's
opportunity and his message was, "the King desireth not any dowry, but an
hundred foreskins of the Philistines. But Saul thought to make David fall
by the hand of the Philistines." Of course this involved the slaughter of
a hundred of the enemy, and Saul made sure in attempting such a task,
David would fall before odds so terribly against him. In commanding the
foreskins to be brought to him Saul made sure that they would be
Philistines who were slain, they being almost the only uncircumcised
people about him. This proposal, however, it seems, did not alarm David in
the least, he went forth at once on his terrible mission and actually
brought back thrice the number of foreskins required of him by the King.
This is not the only case on record of such a mutilation; mention is made
by Gill the commentator of an Asiatic writer who speaks of a people that
cut off the genital parts of men, and gave them to their wives for a
dowry.
So sacred was the organ in question deemed in ancient times, especially in
Israel, that it was used as the means of administering the most binding
form of oath then known. It is described as putting the hand upon the
thigh, and instances are found in Genesis xxiv., 2, and xlvii., 29. In the
former of these passages Abraham requires his elder servant to put his
hand under his thigh and take an oath respecting the wife he would seek
for his son Isaac. In the second passage, it is Jacob requiring his son
Joseph to perform a similar action; in each case what is meant is that the
genital organ, the symbol of the Creator and the object of worship among
all ancient nations was to be touched in the act of making the promise.
But, as we have pointed out, there is another side to this matter, the
worship of the male organ was only one part; the female organs of
generation were revered as symbols of the generative power of God. They
are usually represented emblematically by the shell, or Concha Veneris,
which was therefore worn by devout persons of antiquity, as it still
continues to be by pilgrims and many of the common women of Italy. The
union of both was expressed by the hand, mentioned in Sir William
Hamilton's letter, which, being a less explicit symbol, has escaped the
attention of the reformers, and is still worn as well as the shell by
women of Italy, though without being understood. It represented the act of
generation, which was considered as a solemn sacrament in honour of the
Creator.
Some of the forms used to represent the sacti or female principle, are
very peculiar yet familiar to many who may not understand them. Indeed, as
Inman says, "the moderns, who have not been initiated in the sacred
mysteries, and only know the emblems considered sacred, have need of both
anatomical knowledge and physiological lore ere they can see the meaning
of many a sign."
As already stated, the triangle with its apex uppermost represents the
phallic triad; with its base uppermost, the Mons Veneris, the Delta, or
the door by which all come into the world. Dr. Inman says:--"As a scholar,
I had learned that the Greek letter Delta ([symbol]) is expressive of the
female organ both in shape and idea. The selection of name and symbol was
judicious, for the word Daleth and Delta signify the door of a house and
the outlet of a river, while the figure reversed ([symbol]) represents
the fringe with which the human Delta is overshadowed"--this Delta is
simply another word for the part known as Concha, a shell. This Concha or
Shank is one of the most important of the Eastern symbols, and is found
repeated again and again in almost everything connected with the Hindu
Pantheon. Plate vi. of Moor's elaborately illustrated work on the Indian
deities represents it as seen in the hands of Vishnu and his consort. The
god is represented like all the solar deities with four hands, and
standing in an arched doorway. The head-dress is of serpents; in one of
the right hands is the diamond form the symbol of the Creator; in one of
the left hands is the large Concha and in the other right hand, the great
orb of the day; the shell is winged and has a phallic top.
This shell is said to have been the first priestly bell, and it is even
now the Hindoo church-bell, in addition to gongs and trumpets. It comes
specially into use when the priest performs his ceremonies before the
Lingam; it is blown when he is about to anoint the emblem, like a bell is
used in some Christian churches in the midst of ceremonies of particular
importance and solemnity.
The female principle, or sacred Sacti, is also represented by a figure
like that called a sistrum, a Hebrew musical instrument, sometimes
translated cornet. Inman contends in spite of much opposition from his
friends that this represents the mother who is still _virgo intacta_. He
points out that in some things it embodies a somewhat different idea to
the Yoni, the bars across it being bent so that they cannot be taken out,
this showing that the door is closed.
The secret of this peculiar worship seems to lie in the fact, ever so
prominent in all that has to do with the social and religious life of the
Eastern, of an intense desire for offspring. In harmony with this is the
frequent promise in the Scriptures of an abundance of children and the
declaration of happiness of the man so blessed. One instance may be noted
as recorded in Genesis xiii., 16, the promise to Abram: "I will make thy
seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the
earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered." None the less
fervent--perhaps even more so--is the desire of the Indian to possess and
leave behind him a progeny who shall not only succeed to his worldly
acquisitions, but by religious exercises help forward his happiness in the
region of the departed.
It is said that in this part of the world, a constant topic of
conversation amongst the men is their physical power to propagate their
race, and that upon this matter physicians are more frequently consulted
than upon any other. "Not only does the man think thus, but the female has
her thoughts directed to the same channel, and there has been a special
bell invented by Hindoo priests for childless females." Some kindred
belief seems to be held or suggested by the practices of the Mormon
community, in which large numbers of women are united in marriage to one
man. In Genesis xxx., Rachel seeing that she bore no children is described
as envying her sister, and saying to Jacob, "Give me children, or else I
die." Again 1 Samuel i., 10, 11: "And she (Hannah) was in bitterness of
soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore. And she vowed a vow, and
said, 'O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of
thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but will
give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the Lord,
&c.'" And so on; instances could be multiplied largely, but it is
unnecessary.
With many of the eastern women it was a matter of the highest consequence
that they have children, as failing to do so it was strictly within the
legal rights of the husband at once to put away his wife by a summary
divorce, or at any rate to take a concubine into his home in order that
he might not go childless; the woman who proved hopelessly barren became
an object of contempt or commiseration to all about her, and her life a
scene of prolonged shame and misery. And so, in certain parts of the
world, arose sex worship, the idea being that by the worship of the organs
of generation the misfortune of barrenness might be avoided. The priests
were not slow to avail themselves of a ready means of adding to their
reputation and influence and increasing their revenues, and women, who for
some cause or another had hitherto been without offspring, were encouraged
to visit the temples and make their proper offerings, and go through the
prescribed ceremonies for curing their sterility. As willing as the women
were for all this, were the men, and though sometimes the defect lay in
themselves physically, it is said that the arrangements at the temples
were such as almost invariably succeeded in making the wives mothers.
"If abundance of offspring was promised as a blessing," says Dr. Inman,
"it is clear to the physiologist that the pledge implies abundance of
vigour in the man as well as in the woman. With a husband incompetent, no
wife could be fruitful. The condition, therefore, of the necessary organs
was intimately associated with the divine blessing or curse, and the
impotent man then would as naturally go to the priest to be cured of his
infirmity as we of to-day go to the physician. We have evidence that
masses have been said, saints invoked, and offerings presented, for curing
the debility we refer to, in a church in Christianised Italy during the
last hundred years, and in France so late as the sixteenth
century,--evident relics of more ancient times."
"Whenever a votary applied to the oracle for help to enable him to perform
his duties as a prospective father, or to remove that frigidity which he
had been taught to believe was a proof of Divine displeasure, or an
evidence of his being bewitched by a malignant demon, it is natural to
believe that the priest would act partly as a man of sense, though chiefly
as a minister of God. He would go through, or enjoin attendance on certain
religious ceremonies--would sell a charmed image, or use some holy oil,
invented and blessed by a god or saint, as was done at Isernia--or he
would do something else."
Intimately connected with the worship of the male and female powers of
generation is the sacred prostitution which was practised so generally by
some of the ancient nations, and of which we have details in the classics.
The information given by Herodotus respecting the women of Babylonia reads
strange indeed to those who are acquainted only with modern codes of
morals, and to whom the special and essential features of phallic faiths
are unknown. This author describes it as a shameful custom, but he informs
us of it as an indisputable fact, that every woman born in the country was
compelled at least once in her life to go and sit in the precinct of
Venus, and there consort with a stranger. Rich and poor alike had to
conform to this rule--the ugly and the beautiful, the attractive and the
repulsive. A peculiarity of the custom was that once having entered the
sacred enclosure, the woman was not allowed to return home until she had
paid the debt which the law prescribed as due from her to the state; the
result of this was that those who were the happy possessors of personal
charms seldom were detained very long, while the plain-featured and
unattractive ones were sometimes several years before they could obtain
their release. We are told that the wealthier women, too proud to
associate with the lower class, though obliged to undergo the same ordeal,
would drive to the appointed place in covered carriages with a
considerable retinue of servants, there making as much display as possible
of their rank and wealth in order to overawe the commoner class of men,
and drive them to females of humbler rank; they sat in their carriages
while crowds of poorer people sat within the holy enclosure with wreaths
of string about their heads. The scene was at once strange and animated;
numbers of both sexes were coming and going; and lines of cords marked out
paths in all directions in which the women sat, and along which the
strangers passed in order to make their choice. Patiently or impatiently,
as the case may be, the female waited till some visitor, taking a fancy to
her, fixed upon her as his chosen sacrifice by throwing a piece of silver
into her lap and saying, "The goddess Mylitta prosper thee." (Mylitta
being the Assyrian name for Venus). The coin need not be of any particular
size or value, but it is obligatory upon her to receive it, because when
once thrown it is sacred. Nor could the woman exercise any choice as to
whom she could go with, the first who threw the coin had a legal title to
her, and the law compelled her submission. But having once obeyed the law,
she was free for the rest of her life, and nothing in the shape of a
bribe, however extensive, would persuade her to grant further favours to
any one.
There is an allusion to this custom in the book of Baruch (vi., 43), where
it is said:--"The women also with cords about them, sitting in the ways,
burn bran for perfume; but if any of them, drawn by some that passeth by,
lie with him, she reproaches her fellow that she was not thought worthy as
herself, nor her cords broken." Strabo in his sixteenth book testifies to
the same effect, and he says that the custom dated from the foundation of
the city of Babylon. The same writer states also that both Medes and
Armenians adopted all the sacred rites of the Persians, but that the
Armenians paid particular reverence to Anaitis, and built temples to her
honour in several places, especially in Acilisene. They dedicated there to
her service male and female slaves, and in this, Strabo says, there was
nothing remarkable, but that it was surprising that persons of the
highest rank in the nation consecrated their virgin daughters to the
goddess. It was customary for these women, after being prostituted a long
time at the temple of Anaitis, to be disposed of in marriage, no one
disdaining a connection with such a person. He mentions what Herodotus
says about the Lydian women, all of whom, he adds, prostituted themselves.
But they treated their paramours with much kindness, entertaining them
hospitably and frequently, making a return of more presents than they
received, being amply supplied with means derived from their wealthy
connexions. The Lydians indeed appear to have devoted themselves with the
most shameless effrontery, for they not only attended the sacred fetes
occasionally for the purpose, but practised prostitution for their own
benefit. A splendid monument to Alyattes, the father of Croesus, built by
the merchants, the artizans, and the courtesans, was chiefly paid for by
the contributions of the latter, which far exceeded those of the others
put together.
It has been asserted by some writers that sacred prostitution was not
practised in Egypt, but so much is known of the character of certain acts
of worship in that country that the statement is regarded as of little
worth. The worship of Osiris and Isis, which was very much like that of
Venus and Adonis, was attended with excesses that indicate a very
abandoned state of things. It is known that when the pilgrims were on
their way to the fetes of Isis at Bubastis, the females indulged in the
most indecent dances as the vessels passed the riverside villages, and
historians declare that those obscenities were only such as were about to
happen at the temple, which was visited each year by seven hundred
thousand pilgrims, who gave themselves up to incredible excesses.
It cannot be shewn that the motive leading to what is called sacred
prostitution was the same in all countries; in India, for example, it
appears to have had very much to do with the desire for children which we
have described as common with the easterns; so common was it that the one
object of woman's life was marriage and a family. This, and the more rapid
development of the female in that part of the world than in others, and
the impression that dying childless she would fail to fulfil her mission
lies at the basis of the early betrothals and marriages which appear so
repulsive and absurd to European ideas. There is a further desire,
however, than that of simply having children, especially in India; the
desire is for male children, and where these fail, it is common for a man
to adopt a son, and in this his motive is a religious one. According to
prevalent superstition, it is held that the future beatitude of the Hindu
depends upon the performance of his obsequies, and payment of his debts,
by a son, as a means of redeeming him from an instant state of suffering
after death. The dread is of a place called Put, a place of horror, to
which the manes of the childless are supposed to be doomed; there to be
tormented with hunger and thirst, for want of those oblations of food, and
libations of water, at prescribed periods, which it is the pious and
indispensable duty of a son to offer.
The "Laws of Manu" (Ch. ix., 138), state:--"A son delivers his father from
the hell called Put, he was therefore called puttra (a deliverer from Put)
by the Self-existent (Svayambhu) himself." The sage Mandagola is
represented as desiring admission to a region of bliss, but repulsed by
the guards who watch the abode of progenitors, because he had no male
issue. The "Laws of Manu" illustrate this by the special mention of heaven
being attained without it as of something extraordinary. Ch. v., 159,
"Many thousands of Brahmanas, who were chaste from their youth, have gone
to heaven without continuing their race."
Sir Thomas Strange, many years ago Chief Justice of Madras, wrote very
fully concerning the Hindu law of inheritance and adoption, and we learn
from this great authority that marriage failing in this, its most
important object (that is to say securing male issue), in order that
obsequies in particular might not go unperformed, and celestial bliss be
thereby forfeited, as well for ancestors as for the deceased, dying
without leaving legitimate issue begotten, the old law was provident to
excess, whence the different sorts of sons enumerated by different
authorities, all resolving themselves, with Manu, into twelve, that is the
legally begotten, and therefore not to be separately accounted:--all
formerly, in their turn and order, capable of succession, for the double
purpose of obsequies, and of inheritance. Failing a son, a Hindu's
obsequies may be performed by his widow; or in default of her, by a whole
brother or other heirs; but according to the conception belonging to the
subject, not with the same benefit as by a son. That a son, therefore, of
some description is, with him, in a spiritual sense, next to indispensable
is abundantly certain. As for obtaining one in a natural way, there is an
express ceremony that takes place at the expiration of the third month of
pregnancy, marking distinctly the importance of a son born, so is the
adopting of one as anxiously inculcated where prayers and ceremonies for
the desired issue have failed in their effect.
The extreme importance to the Hindu of having male offspring, and the
desire to get such children as the result of marriage rather than by
adoption--a practice allowed and inculcated as a last resort, has led to
that extensive prevalence of Lingam worship which is such a conspicuous
feature in India. In nearly every part of that vast empire are to be seen
reproductions of the emblem in an infinite variety of form, and so totally
free from the most remotely indecent character are they, that strangers
are as a rule totally ignorant of their meaning. We have even known,
within the last few years, specimens of the smaller emblems being put up
for sale in this country, of whose meaning the auctioneer professes
himself for the most part ignorant, volunteering no other statement than
that they were charms in some way connected with Hindu customs and
worship.
It is--being a representation of the male organ--represented, of course,
in a conical form, and is of every size, from half-an-inch to seventy
feet, and of all materials, such as stone, wood, clay, metal, &c. Lingas
are seen of enormous size; in the caves of Elephanta for instance, marking
unequivocally that the symbol in question is at any rate as ancient as the
temple, as they are of the same rock as the temple itself; both, as well
as the floor, roof, pillars, pilastres, and its numerous sculptured
figures, having been once one undistinguished mass of granite, which
excavated, chiselled, and polished, produced the cavern and forms that are
still contemplated with so much surprise and admiration. The magnitude of
the cones, too, further preclude the idea of subsequent introduction, and
together with gigantic statues of Siva and his consort, more frequent and
more colossal than those of any other deity, necessarily coeval with the
excavation, indicate his paramount adoration and the antiquity of his
sect. Lingas are seen also of diminutive size for domestic adoration, or
for personal use; some individuals always carrying one about with them,
and in some Brahman families, one is daily constructed in clay, placed
after due sanctification by appropriate ceremonies and prayers, in the
domestic shrine, or under a tree or shrub sacred to Siva, the Bilva more
especially, and honoured by the adoration of the females of the household.
It is rather singular that while many Hindus worship the deity of male and
female in one, there are distinct sects which worship either the Lingam or
the Yoni; the first being apparently the same as the phallic emblem of
the Greeks, the _membrum virile_: and the latter _pudendum muliebre_.
The interesting ceremony connected with the obsequies which we have just
said can be the most effectually performed by a male child, and which
gives rise to the intense longing both on the part of husband and wife for
such offspring, is called Sradha, and is of daily recurrence with
individuals who rigidly adhere to the ritual. It is offered in honour of
deceased ancestors, but not merely in honour of them, but for their
comfort; as the Manes, as well as the gods connected with them, enjoy,
like the gods of the Greeks, the incense of such offerings, which are also
of an expiatory nature, similar, it is said, to the masses of the Church
of Rome. Over these ceremonies of Sradhi presides Yama, in his character
of Sradhadeva, or lord of the obsequies. It is not within our province to
give a detailed account of these ceremonies, but owing to their connection
with the subject generally of our book, a brief outline will no doubt
prove interesting.
A dying man, when no hopes of his surviving remain, should be laid upon a
bed of cusa grass, either in the house or out of it, if he be a Sudra, but
in the open air, if he belong to another tribe. When he is at the point of
death, donations of cattle, land, gold, silver, or other things, according
to his ability, should be made by him; or if he be too weak, by another
person in his name. His head should be sprinkled with water drawn from the
Ganges, and smeared with clay brought from the same river. A Salagrama
stone ought to be placed near the dying man; holy strains from the Veda or
from the sacred poems should be repeated aloud in his ears; and leaves of
holy basil must be scattered over his head.
Passing over the ceremonial more especially connected with the burning of
the corpse as not particularly relative to our subject, we proceed. After
the body has been burnt, all who have touched or followed the corpse,
must walk round the pile keeping their left hands towards it, and taking
care not to look at the fire. They then walk in procession, according to
seniority, to a river or other running water, and after washing, and again
putting on their apparel, they advance into the stream. They then ask the
deceased's brother-in-law, or some other person able to give the proper
answer, "Shall we present water?" If the deceased were a hundred years
old, the answer must be simply, "do so:" but if he were not so aged, the
reply is "do so, but do not repeat the oblation." Upon this they all shift
the sacerdotal string to the right shoulder, and looking towards the
south, and being clad in a single garment without a mantle, they stir the
water with the ring finger of the left hand, saying, "waters, purify us."
With the same finger of the right hand, they throw up some water towards
the south, and after plunging once under the surface of the river, they
rub themselves with their hands. An oblation of water must be next
presented from the jointed palms of the hands, naming the deceased and the
family from which he sprung, and saving "may this oblation reach thee."
After finishing the usual libations of water to satisfy the manes of the
deceased, they quit the river and shift their wet clothes for other
apparel; they then sip water without swallowing it, and sitting down on
soft turf, alleviate their sorrow by the recital of such moral sentences
as the following, refraining at the same time from tears and
lamentation:--
1. Foolish is he, who seeks permanence in the human state, unsolid like
the stem of a plantain tree, transient like the foam of the sea.
2. When a body, formed of fine elements to receive the rewards of deeds
done in its own former person, reverts to its fine original principles;
what room is there for regret.
3. The earth is perishable; the ocean, the Gods themselves pass away: how
should not that bubble, mortal man, meet destruction.
4. All that is low, must finally perish; all that is elevated, must
ultimately fall; all compound bodies must end in dissolution; and life is
concluded with death.
5. Unwillingly do the manes of the deceased taste the tears and rheum shed
by their kinsmen: then do not wait, but diligently perform the obsequies
of the dead.
All the kinsmen of the deceased, within the sixth degree of consanguinity,
should fast for three days and nights; or one at the least. However if
that be impracticable, they may eat a single meal at night, purchasing the
food ready prepared, but on no account preparing the victuals at home. So
long as the mourning lasts, the nearest relations of the deceased must not
exceed the daily meal, nor eat flesh-meat, nor any food seasoned with
fictitious salt; they must use a plate made of leaves of any tree but the
plantain, or else take their food from the hands of some other persons;
they must not handle a knife or any other implement made of iron; nor
sleep upon a bedstead; nor adorn their persons; but remain squalid, and
refrain from perfumes and other gratifications: they must likewise omit
the daily ceremonies of ablution and divine worship. On the third and
fifth days, as also on the seventh and ninth, the kinsmen assemble, bathe
in the open air, offer tila and water to the deceased, and take a repast
together: they place lamps at cross roads, and in their own houses, and
likewise on the way to the cemetery; and they observe vigils in honour of
the deceased.
On the last day of mourning, or earlier in those countries where the
obsequies are expedited on the second or third day, the nearest kinsman of
the deceased gathers his ashes after offering a sradha singly for him.
In the first place, the kinsman smears with cow-dung the spots where the
oblation is to be presented; and after washing his hands and feet, sipping
water and taking up cusa grass in his hand, he sits down on a cushion
pointed towards the south, and placed upon a blade of cusa grass, the tip
of which must also point towards the south. He then places near him a
bundle of cusa grass, consecrated by pronouncing the word namah! or else
prepares a fire for oblations. Then lighting a lamp with clarified butter
or with oil of sesamum, and arranging the food and other things intended
to be offered, he must sprinkle himself with water, meditating on Vishnu,
surnamed the lotos-eyed, or revolving in his mind this verse, "Whether
pure or defiled, or wherever he may have gone, he, who re-enters the being
whose eyes are like the lotos, shall be pure externally and internally."
Shifting the sacerdotal cord on his right shoulder, he takes up a brush of
cusa grass and presents water together with tila and with blossoms, naming
the deceased and the family from which he sprung, and saying "may this
water for ablutions be acceptable to thee." Then saying "may this be
right," he pronounces a vow or solemn declaration. "This day I will offer
on a bundle of cusa grass (or, if such be the custom, 'on fire') a sradha
for a single person, with unboiled food, together with clarified butter
and with water, preparatory to the gathering of the bones of such a one
deceased." The priests answering "do so," he says "namo! namah!" while the
priests meditate the gayatri and thrice repeat, "Salutation to the Gods;
to the manes of ancestors, and to mighty saints; to Swaha [goddess of
fire]: to Swadha [the food of the manes]: salutation unto them for ever
and ever."
He then presents a cushion made of cusa grass, naming the deceased and
saying "may this be acceptable to thee;" and afterwards distributes meal
of sesamum, while the priests recite "May the demons and fierce giants
that sit on this consecrated spot, be dispersed; and the bloodthirsty
savages that inhabit the earth; may they go to any other place, to which
their inclinations may lead them."
Placing an oval vessel with its narrowest end towards the south, he takes
up two blades of grass; and breaking off a span's length, throws them into
the vessel; and after sprinkling them with water, makes a libation while
the priests say, "May divine waters be auspicious to us for accumulation,
for gain, and for refreshing draughts; may they listen to us, and grant
that we may be associated with good auspices." He then throws tila while
the priests say, "Thou art tila, sacred to Soma; framed by the divinity,
thou dost produce celestial bliss [for him, that makes oblations]; mixed
with water may thou long satisfy our ancestors with the food of the manes,
be this oblation efficacious." He afterwards silently casts into the
vessel, perfumes, flowers, and durva grass. Then taking up the vessel with
his left hand, putting two blades of grass on the cushion, with their tips
pointed to the north, he must pour the water from the argha thereon. The
priests meantime recite:--"The waters in heaven, in the atmosphere, and on
the earth, have been united [by their sweetness] with milk; may those
silver waters, worthy of oblation, be auspicious, salutary, and
exhilarating to us; and be happily offered: may this oblation be
efficacious." He adds namah, and pours out the water, naming the deceased
and saying, "may this argha be acceptable unto thee." Then oversetting the
vessel, and arranging in due order the unboiled rice condiments, clarified
butter, and the requisites, he scatters tila, while the priests recite
"Thrice did Vishnu step, &c." He next offers the rice, clarified butter,
water and condiments, while he touches the vessel with his left hand, and
names the deceased, saying, "may this raw food, with clarified butter and
condiments, together with water, be acceptable unto thee." After the
priests have repeated the gayatri preceded by the names of the worlds, he
pours honey or sugar upon the rice, while they recite this prayer, "may
the winds blow sweet, the rivers flow sweet, and salutary herbs be sweet,
unto us; may night be sweet, may the mornings pass sweetly; may the soil
of the earth, and heaven parent [of all productions], be sweet unto us;
may [Soma] king of herbs and trees be sweet: may the sun be sweet, may
kine be sweet unto us." He then says "namo! namah!" While the priests
recite "whatever may be deficient in this food; whatever may be imperfect
in this rite; whatever may be wanting in this form; may all that become
faultless."
He should then feed the Brahmanas, whom he has assembled, either silently
distributing food amongst them, or adding a respectful invitation to them
to eat. When he has given them water to rinse their mouths, he may
consider the deceased as fed through their intervention. The priests again
recite the gayatri and the prayer "may the winds blow sweet," &c., and add
the prescribed prayers, which should be followed by the music of
flageolets, lutes, drums, &c.
Taking in his left hand another vessel containing tila, blossoms and
water, and in his left hand a brush made of cusa grass, he sprinkles water
over the grass spread on the consecrated spot, naming the deceased and
saying "May this ablution be acceptable to thee:" he afterwards takes a
cake or ball or food mixed with clarified butter, and presents it saying,
"May this cake be acceptable to thee," and deals out the food with this
prayer; "Ancestors, rejoice; take your respective shares, and be strong as
bulls." Then walking round by the left to the northern side of the
consecrated spot, and meditating, "Ancestors, be glad; take your
respective shares, and be strong as bulls," he returns by the same road,
and again sprinkles water on the ground to wash the oblation, saying, "May
this ablution be acceptable to thee."
Next, touching his hip with his elbow, or else his right side, and having
sipped water, he must make six libations of water with the hollow palms of
his hands, saying, "Salvation unto thee, O deceased, and unto the
saddening [hot] season; salvation unto thee, O deceased, and unto the
month of tapas [or dewy season]; salvation unto thee, O deceased, and unto
that [season] which abounds with water; salvation unto thee, O deceased,
and to the nectar [of blossoms]; salvation unto thee, O deceased, and to
the terrible and angry [season]; salvation unto thee, O deceased, and to
female fire [or the sultry season]."
He next offers a thread on the funeral cake, holding the wet brush in his
hand, naming the deceased, and saying, "May this raiment be acceptable to
thee;" the priests add, "Fathers, this apparel is offered unto you." He
then silently strews perfumes, blossoms, resin, and betel leaves, as the
funeral cake, and places a lighted lamp on it. He sprinkles water on the
bundle of grass, saying, "May the waters be auspicious;" and offers rice,
adding, "May the blossoms be sweet: may the rice be harmless;" and then
pours water on it, naming the deceased and saying, "May this food and
drink be acceptable unto thee." In the next place he strews grass over the
funeral cake, and sprinkles water on it, reciting this prayer: "Waters! ye
are the food of our progenitors; satisfy my parents, ye who convey
nourishment, which is ambrosia, butter, milk, cattle, and distilled
liquor." Lastly, he smells some of the food, and poises in his hand the
funeral cakes, saying, "May this ball be wholesome food;" and concludes,
paying the officiating priest his fee with a formal declaration, "I do
give this fee (consisting of so much money) to such a one (a priest sprung
from such a family, and who uses such a veda and such a sacha of it), for
the purpose of fully completing the obsequies this day performed by me in
honour of one person singly, preparatory to the gathering of the bones of
such a one deceased."
After the priest has thrice said: "Salutation to the gods, to progenitors,
to mighty saints, &c.," he dismisses him; lights a lamp in honour of the
deceased; meditates on Heri with undiverted attention; casts the food, and
other things used at the obsequies, into the fire; and then proceeds to
the cemetery for the purpose of gathering the ashes of the deceased.
So long as mourning lasts after gathering the ashes, the near relations of
the deceased continue to offer water with the same formalities and prayers
as already mentioned, and to refrain from factitious salt, butter, &c. On
the last day of mourning, the nearest relation puts on neat apparel, and
causes his house and furniture to be cleaned; he then goes out of the
town, and after offering the tenth funeral cake, he makes ten libations of
water from the palms of his hands; causes the hair of his head and body to
be shaved, and his nails to be cut, and gives the barber the clothes which
were worn at the funeral of the deceased, and adds some other
remuneration. He then anoints his head and limbs, down to his feet, with
oil of sesamum; rubs all his limbs with meal of sesamum, and his head with
the ground pods of white mustard; he bathes, sips water, touches and
blesses various auspicious things, such as stones, clarified butter,
leaves of Nimba, white mustard, Durva grass, coral, a cow, gold, curds,
honey, a mirror, and a couch, and also touches a bamboo staff. He now
returns purified to his home, and thus completes the first obsequies of
the deceased.
The second series of obsequies, commencing on the day after the period of
mourning has elapsed, is opened by a lustration termed the consolatory
ceremony. The lustration consists in the consecration of four vessels of
water, and sprinkling therewith the house, the furniture, and the persons
belonging to the family. After lighting a fire, and blessing the attendant
Brahmanas, the priest fills four vessels with water, and, putting his hand
into the first, meditates the gayatri, before and after reciting the
following prayers: 1.--May generous waters be auspicious to us, for gain
and for refreshing draughts; may they approach towards us, that we may be
associated with good auspices. 2.--Earth afford us ease; be free from
thorns; be habitable. Widely extended as thou art, procure us happiness.
3.--O waters! since ye afford delight, grant us food, and the rapturous
sight [of the Supreme Being]. 4.--Like tender mothers, make us here
partakers of your most auspicious essence.
Putting his hand into the second vessel, the priest meditates the gayatri,
and the four prayers above quoted; adding some others, and concluding this
second consecration of water by once more meditating the gayatri.
Then taking a lump of sugar and a copper vessel in his left hand, biting
the sugar and spitting it out again, the priest sips water. Afterwards
putting his hand into the third vessel, he meditates the gayatri and the
four prayers above cited, interposing this: May Indra and Varuna [the
regents of the sky and of the ocean] accept our oblations, and grant us
happiness; may Indra and the cherishing sun grant us happiness in the
distribution of food; may Indra and the moon grant us the happiness of
attaining the road to celestial bliss, and the association of good
auspices.
It is customary immediately after this lustration to give away a vessel of
tila, and also a cow, for the sake of securing the passage of the deceased
over the Vaitarani, or river of hell: whence the cow, so given, is called
Vaitarani-dhenu. Afterwards a bed, with its furniture, is brought; and the
giver sits down near the Brahmana, who has been invited to receive the
present. After saying, "Salutation to this bed with its furniture;
salutation to this priest, to whim it is given," he pays due honour to the
Brahmana in the usual form of hospitality. He then pours water into his
hand, saying, "I give thee this bed with its furniture;" the priest
replies, "give it." Upon this he sprinkles it with water; and taking up
the cusa grass, tila, and water, delivers them to the priest, pouring the
water into his hand, with a formal declaration of the gift and its
purpose; and again delivers a bit of gold with cusa grass, &c., making a
similar formal declaration, 1.--This day, I, being desirous of obtaining
celestial bliss for such a one defunct, do give unto thee, such a one, a
Brahmana descended from such a family, to whom due honour has been shown,
this bed and furniture, which has been duly honoured, and which is sacred
to Vishnu. 2. This day I give unto thee (so and so) this gold, sacred to
fire, as a sacerdotal fee, for the sake of confirming the donation I have
made of this bed and furniture. The Brahmana both times replies "be it
well." Then lying upon the bed, and touching it with the upper part of his
middle finger, he meditates the gayatri with suitable prayers, adding
"This bed is sacred to Vishnu."
With similar ceremonies and declarations he next gives away to a Brahmana,
a golden image of the deceased, or else a golden idol, or both. Afterwards
he distributes other presents among Brahmanas for the greater honour of
the deceased. Of course, all this can only be done by rich people.
The principal remaining ceremonies consist chiefly of the obsequies called
sradhas. The first set of funeral ceremonies is adopted to effect, by
means of oblations, the reimbodying of the soul of the deceased, after
burning his corpse. The apparent scope of the second is to raise his shade
from this world (where it would else, according to the notions of the
Hindus, continue to roam among demons and evil spirits), up to heaven, and
there deify him, as it were, among the manes of departed ancestors. For
this end, a sradha should regularly be offered to the deceased on the day
after mourning expires; twelve other sradhas singly to the deceased in
twelve successive months: similar obsequies at the end of the third
fortnight, and also in the sixth month, and in the twelfth; and the
oblation called Sapindana, on the first anniversary of his decease. In
most provinces the periods for these sixteen ceremonies, and for the
concluding obsequies entitled Sapindana, are anticipated, and the whole is
completed on the second or third day. After which they are again performed
at the proper times, but in honour of the whole set of progenitors,
instead of the deceased singly. The obsequies intended to raise the shade
of the deceased to heaven are thus completed. Afterwards, a sradha is
annually offered to him on the anniversary of his decease.
What we have just described, elaborate as it looks, is simply an
abridgment of the long and complicated ceremonies attendant upon the
funeral and after obsequies of a rich man among the Hindus, but it is
enough for our purpose. It shows the vast importance attached to those
obsequies, and enables us to understand the desire on the part of these
Hindus to have children who will in a proper and acceptable manner carry
out these proceedings. We have already quoted from the sacred books to
show that a son was regarded as better able to perform those duties than
any other relation, and that failing such offspring in the ordinary course
of nature, it was obligatory upon the would be father to adopt one.
Dulaure and some other writers describe a variety of ceremonies which were
taken part in by the women in order to procure the children who would
satisfy the cravings of their husbands. It is probable that a good deal of
what took place at the shrines of heathen goddesses in other lands, arose
from this anxiety, and not altogether from a merely licentious habit of
character and disposition. It has been said, as we may have already
suggested perhaps, that the priests connected with some of the temples
resorted to by childless women for the cure of their misfortune, were
cunning enough to provide for what was wanted in a more practical way than
by the simple performance of certain ceremonies, and that where the
failure to produce children was due to some fault on the part of the
husband, means were at hand by which the woman soon found herself in the
desired condition. It is rather singular that something very similar was
found among the Jewish women in the time of Ezekiel, as we have found in
India; the Indian woman sacrificed her virginity at the shrine of the
Lingam, and in the 16th chapter of the prophet's book, verse 17, we
read:--"Thou didst take also thy fair jewels of my gold, and didst make to
thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them." The latter,
however, was evidently of a very different character to the former, being
nothing more or less than the impure worship of Priapus as carried on in
the orgies of Osiris, Bacchus, and Adonis, the images of the Hebrew women
being such as the Priapi used in those ceremonies; on no account must
those foolish and filthy practices be confounded with that act of worship
which men in primitively simple condition rendered to the agents employed
in the act of generation, which was innocently regarded as only one of the
operations of nature.
The moral of this part of the subject, and with which for the present we
take leave of it, is this, that the Eastern, from his views of the future
life, deems it absolutely necessary that he should leave offspring, either
real or adopted, behind him, to carry out the obligations imposed by his
religion, and that in order to attain in the possession of what is to him
such a blessing, he is called upon to propitiate in every possible manner
the physical agents and powers employed in the process,--hence the rise
and practice of phallic worship.
THE END.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] See Dudley's _Naology_.
[2] _Edin. Rev._, 1870, p. 239.
[3] Jewitt.
[4] Hawkins' _Sketch of the Creek Country_.
[5] _Myths of the New World._
[6] Jewitt in _Art Journal_, 1876.
[7] Quoted by Jewitt, in _Art Journal_, 1874.
[8] Lysons, _Our British Ancestors_.
[9] Cory, _Mytho. Inquiry_.
[10] Cory, _Mytho. Inquiry_.
[11] Faber, _Orig. Pag. Idol._
[12] Meyrick's _Cardigan_.
[13] Inman, _Anc. Faiths_. I.
[14] _Rivers of Life._
[15] Dr. Beke.
[16] Dr. F. A. Cox.
[17] Ewald, _Antiq. Israel_.
[18] _Mems. Anthrop. Soc. 1._
[19] Lewis. _Origines Heb._
[20] _Keys of the Creeds_, V.