CHAPTER XV.

THE INDIAN RELIGIONS.—ANNOTATIONS ON THE SACRED WRITINGS OF THE HINDUS.
Ir is our design to institute a parallel between the theological Ideas of the Indian peoples and their Invaders and Conquerors, the Mahommedans, and the Philoso- phical Theses, stigmatised and rejected as Heresies, of the Neo-Platonists, or Half-Christians, or Mytho-Mystics —in fact, of the Gnostics. All the foregoing is intimately allied with the conclusions of the Rosicrucians, in as far as these varying speculators (the Gnostics and the other sects) were following out, although they occasionally branched off upon side roads, the same objects which are reputed to have been, ALREADY, in the hands of the Secret Brotherhood of The “Illuminated,” or the Fra- ternity of the Red Cross.
The origin of the religious worship of the Hindus is lost in remote antiquity. All that has been handed down to us by oral tradition seems to confirm the hypothesis that for many ages anterior to the time of Menu, their first lawgiver, they were worshippers of one God only, whom they designated Briihm Atma, the “Breathing Soul,” a spiritual Supreme Being, coeval with the formation of the world, without end, everlasting, permeating all space, the beneficent disposer of events. The worship of the Hindus at this period was probably simple, and their ceremonies were few. In process of time, however, the date of which cannot be correctly determined, they appear
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178 _ Phallicism.
to have adopted a material type or emblem of Bruhm: a rude block of stone began to be set up. This was the Phallus, or, as they termed it, the Linca. This emblem had reference to the procreative power seen throughout nature, and in that primeval age was regarded with the greatest awe and veneration. To the influence of this image was attributed the fructifying warmth which brought to perfection the fruits of the earth and con- tributed to the reproduction cf man, animals, and every- thing that has life. This is the ‘deified attraction,” or “magical coming together,” of the Rosicrucians, and the deified “‘ gravity” of the statistical or realising philoso- phers.
This simple and primitive idolatry came by degrees to diverge into the adoration of the element of. Fire, and at length developed itself by institution of an emanation from Briihm Atma, or Brahm Atma, in his Triune capacity as Creator, Preserver or Saviour, and Destroyer. These attributes were deified under the names of Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva,'on whom were conferred three Gunas or “Qualities” —viz., Kajas (passion), Sat (purity), and Tumas (darkness). This is the Trimurti. The word “ Trimurti? means “ three-formed,” or “The Three.” > Murti is to be taken as signifying also an image or like- ness. Our vital souls are, according to the Védanta, no more than images of the Supreme Spirit. (Asi. Res., vol, ili.)
The next step towards the formation of a Pantheon was the institution of Avatas and Avantaras—i.e., greater and lesser Incarnations, by which one or other of the Triad imparted a portion of his divine essence both to men
(generally Bahurdurs or heroes) and to brutes. The
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tendency to deify heroes and irrational creatures was not peculiar, however, to the Hindus, for the Assyrians, Etruscans, Greeks, and Romans had the same custom, as had also the Egyptians in a much more extended degree.
The system of Avatas was followed by an almost universal deification, not only of the elements and the heavenly bodies, but of every recognised attribute of the Supreme Being and of the Evil Spirit. Omnipotence, Beneficence, Virtue, Love, Vice, Anger, Murder, all received a tangible form, until at the present time the Hindu pantheon contains little short of a million Gods and Demi-Gods. It is admitted, however, that to many of them they pay only relative honour. It is a little remark- able that of this host of divinities, especially in Bengal, Siva is the God whom they are especially delighted to honour. As the Destroyer, and one who revels in cruelty and bloodshed, this terrible deity, who has not inaptly been compared to the Moloch of Scripture, of all their divinities suggests most our idea of the Devil. It may therefore be concluded that the most exalted notion of worship among the Hindus is a service of Fear. - The Brahmins say that the other Gods are good and _ bene- volent and will not hurt their creatures, but Siva is powerful and cruel, and that it is necessary to appease him.
Although this deity is sometimes represented in the human form in his images, it 1s not thus that he is most frequently adored. ‘The most popular representation of him is unquestionably the Lixga, a smooth stone rising out of another stone of finer texture, similacrum membri virilis, et pudendum muliebre. ‘This emblem is identical with Siva in his capacity of “ Lord of All.”
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It is necessary, however, to observe here that Pro- fessor Wilson, while admitting that “the Linga is per- haps the most ancient object of homage adopted in India,” adds that it became popular “subsequently to the ritual of the Vedhas, which was chiefly, if not wholly, addressed to the Elements, and particularly to Fire’ Wow far the worship of the Linga is authorised by the Vedhas, Mr. Edward Sellon says, is doubtful.*
However this may be, it is abundantly clear that the Lingaic, or (which term covers the meaning generally) Phallic worship is the main purport of several of the Puranas.t Of this there cannot be a doubt.{ The universality of Linga-Puja (or worship) at the period of the Mahommedan invasion of India, is well attested. The Idol destroyed by Mahmoud at Ghizni (notwithstanding the remarkable stories related by the Mahommedan chroniclers of a colossal image of human form which the Brahmins offered immense sums to save from destruc- tion, and which, upon being shattered by a blow from Mahmoud’s mace, disgorged:a vast treasure of gold and precious stones of immense value, the whole of which story Wilson asserts is a pure -fiction,) was nothing more than one of those mystical blocks of stone called Lingas. Siva under the type of the Linga is practically almost the only form in which that deity is reverenced. The pre- valence of this worship throughout the whole tract of the Ganges, as far as Benares, is sufficiently conspicuous.
* In truth and in the abstract sense, it is precisely the same thing, only presented in another form. Phallic Worship is Fire-Worship.
t+ Puranas, the modern Scriptures of the Hindus, as distinguished from the Vedhas, or more ancient Scriptures.
t Wilson on Hindu sects (4s. Res., vol. xvii.)
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In Bengal the Lingam* Temples are commonly erected in a range of six, eight, or twelve, on each side of a Ghautt leading to the river. Kalma is a circular group of one hundred and eight temples erected by the Rajah of Burdwan. These temples, and, indeed, all those found in Bengal, consist of a simple chamber of a square form, surmounted by a pyramidal centre; the area of each 1s very small. The Linga of black or white marble, and sometimes of alabaster slightly tinted and gilt, is placed in the middle.
Speaking of Siva and Pawiti M. de Langlet says :— “Les deux divinités dont il s’agit, sont trés souvent et trés pieusement adorées sous la figure du Linga (le Phallus des anciens) et de Pyoni dans leur mystérieuse conjunc- tion. L’yoni se nomme Bhaga (pudendum muliebre), Madheri douce, et Argha, vase en forme de bateau, dans laquelle on offre des fleurs 4 la divinité; tels sont les noms de ? Adhera-Sacti (energie de la conception vivifiée par le Linga). Quand cette déesse est représentée par le symbole que je viens d’indiquer, elle prend le nom de Devi (divine), plus communément que ceux de Bhavani, de Pracriti, &c. Suivant les théologiens Hindous, une vive discussion s’éleva entre Pawdéti (née des montagnes),
* The Lin’gam, or Lingham (with the aspirate H), is everywhere the protuberant.
+ Ghaut, “a high place,” applied to a pass, such as the Laulpet Pass, where travellers ascend from the campaign country to the table- land of the Deccan ; also, and in this instance, signifying an artificial *‘high place,” constructed either of stone or marble, with an immense flight of steps leading down to a river. There are numerous ghauts of this description on the banks of the Ganges, where the banks are too high to allow the people to approach the stream with safety.
t As. Res., vol, xvii., pp. 208, 209, and 210.-
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et Maha-deva (le grand dieu), peu de temps aprés leur mariage, sur l’influence des sexes dans la production des étres; ils convinrent de créer séparément une race dindi- vidus. Les enfants de Maha-deva furent nombreux, et se dévouérent au culte de la divinité male; mais ils man- quaient d’intelligence et de force, et ils étaient mal con- formés. _Ceux de Pawati étoient beaux, bien faits et dun excellent naturel; cependant, obsédés par les Lin- gadja, ou enfants de Maha-deva, i\s envirent aux mains avec eux, et les vainquirent. Maha-deva allait dans sa fureur anéantir d’un coup d’ceil les Yonidja vainqueurs, si Pawati ne Peut appaisé. Les Brahmanes offrent aux Linga des fleurs, et ont soin quand ils font leurs céré- monies dallumer sept lampes, lesquelles selon Mathurin Veyssiere la Croze, resemblent au chandelier a sept branches des Juifs,* qu’on voit 4 Rome sur larc de Titus. Les femmes portent des Lingas au cou et aux bras; celles qui désirent devenir fecondes rendent 4a cette idole un culte tout particulier; elles ont dautant plus de confiance dans ses prétres que ceux-ci font voeu de chastetecny
The offerings are presented at the threshold. Benares is the peculiar seat of this form of worship. The prin- cipal deity, Siva, there called Viweswarra, as observed already, is a Linga; and most of the chief objects of pil- grimage are similar blocks of stone. No less than forty- seven Lingas are visited, all of pre-eminent sanctity ; but there are hundreds of inferior note still worshipped, and
* De Langlet is in error here. ‘The Punchaty, as its name implies, consists of five, not seven, lamps.
+ Monuments Anciens et Modernes de T Hindoustan, par L. L. de Langlet. Paris: 2 vols., fol., 1810,
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thousands whose fame and fashion have passed away. It is a singular fact, that upon this adoration of the pro- creative and sexual Sacti (or power) seen throughout nature, hinges the whole gist of Hindu faith, and not- withstanding all that has been said by half-informed per- sons to the contrary, this puja does not appear to be prejudicial to the morals of the people. “Among a people of such exuberant fancy as the Hindus,” says Sir William Jones, “it is natural that everything should receive form and life. It is remarkable to what a degree their works of imagination are pervaded by the idea of sexuality.
“Indeed, it seems never to have entered into the heads of the Hindu legislators and people that anything natural could be offensively obscene, a singularity which pervades all their writings, but is no proof of the depravity of their morals; thence the worship of the Linga by the followers of Siva, of the Yoni by the followers of Vishnu.” (Sir William ‘fones’s Works, vol. ii., p. 311.) “It is unattended in Upper India by any indecent or indelicate ceremonies.” (Wilson on the Hindu Seets, As. Res., vol. xvii.)
We find amongst the sacred paintings of the Hindus numerous representations of devotees, both male and female, adoring the Linga; and a description of one of these pictures will suffice for all, The domestic temple, in which the emblem is usually placed, is a dewal, a term derived from deva, a deity, and havela, a house— ie., the “ house of God.”’ Indeed, the natives have no such word as “ Pagoda” for their temples, which are always called Dewals.
The worshipper is seated, dressed, and arrayed in all her jewels, as directed by the ritual. In her right hand
184 Phallicism.
she holds a mala, or “ rosary,” of one hundred and eight round beads, which is not visible, as her hand is placed within a bag of gold brocade (kampkab), called gumuki, to keep off insects or any adverse influence. Her /angi, or bodice, is yellow, her dress transparent muslin edged with gold (upervastra). In front of her are the five lamps, called punchaty, used in this puja, together with the jari, or spouted vessel, for lustral water; the dippa, or cup, to sprinkle the flowers which she has offered, and which are seen on the Linga ; and, lastly, the gantha, or sacred bell, used frequently during the recapitulation of the prescribed muntras, or incantations. Nearly all the pujas are conducted with frequent ringing of bells, the object of which is: twofold, first to wake up the atten- tion at particular parts of the service; and, secondly, to scare away malignant dewas and evil spirits ; precisely, in fact, for the same reasons as they are used at the celebration of mass in Roman Catholic countries.
The Linga and the Earth are, according to the Hindus, identical, and the Mountain of Meru is termed the “ Navel of the Earth.” Meru is supposed to be the centre of the universe, and is said to be 8,400 yosans high, 32,000 broad at the top, 16,000 at the bottom. It is circular, and formed like an inverted cone. This notion was not confined to India, for when Cleanthes asserted that the earth was in the shape of a cone (4s. Res., viit.), this is to be understood only. of this mountain, Meru of India. Anaximenes (Plutarch de placit. philosoph.) said that this column was plain and of stone, exactly like Meru—the pargwette (Pawd4ti) of the inhabitants of Ceylon (Foin- ville, As. Res., vol. vii.). “This mountain,” says he, ‘is
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entirely of stone, 68,000 yosanas high, and 10,000 in circumference, and of the same size from the top to the bottom.”
In India the followers of Buddha (Trailoyeya-Derpana) insist that that mountain is like a drum, with a swell in the middle, in that same form as the tomtoms used in the East. In the West the same opinion was expressed by Leucippus, and the Buddhists in India give that shape also to islands. This figure is given as an emblem of the reunion of the powers of Nature. Meru is the sacred and primeval Linga: and the earth beneath is the mysterious Yoni expanded, and open like the Padma or Lotus. The convexity in the centre is the navel of Vishnu, and the physiological mysteries of their religion- are often repre- sented by the emblem of the Lotus; where the whole flower signifies both the earth and the two principles of its fecundation. ‘The germ is both Meru and the Linga; the petals and filaments are the mountains which en- circle Meru, and are also the type of the Yoni. The four leaves of the ca/ix are the four vast regions turning towards the four cardinal points. Of the two geogra- phical systems of the Hindus, the first or more ancient (as set forth in the Puranas) describes the Earth as a convex surface gradually sloping towards the borders, and surrounded by the ocean. The second, and more modern system, is that which has been adopted by their astro- nomers. The followers of the Puranas consider the earth as a flat surface, or nearly so, and their knowledge does not extend much beyond the old continent, or the superior hemisphere.
The leaves of the Lotus represent the different islands in the ocean around ‘Yambu, and, according to the Hindu
186 Phallicism.
system, the whole earth floats upon the waters like a boat.
The Argha* of the Hindus and the cymbium of the Egyptians are also emblems of the earth, and of the Yoni. ‘The Argha or Cymbium signifies a vessel, cup or dish, in which fruits or flowers are offered to the Deities, and ought to be in the shape of a boat; though ik are oval, circular, or even square.
Iswarra, or Bacchus, is styled Argha-Nautha, or “Lord,” the original contriver of the ‘ boat-shaped vessel ;” and Osiris the [swarra, or Bacchus of Egypt, according to Plutarch, was commander of the Argo, and was represented, by the Egyptians, in a boat, carried on the shoulders of a great many men. The ship worshipped by the Swevi, according to Tacitus, was the Argha, or Argo, the type of the pudendum muliebre. The Argha, or Yoni, with the Linga of stone, is to be found all over India as an object of worship. Flowers are offered to it,
* The three words Amba, Nabbi, and Argha seem to have caused great confusion among the Greek mythologists, who even ascribe to the earth all the fanciful shapes of the Argha, which was intended at first as a mere emblem. Hence they represented it in the form of a boat, of a cup, or of a quoit with a boss in the centre, sloping towards the circumference, where they placed the ocean.—Agathem., book i., c. i, Others describe the earth as a square or parallelogram, and Greece was supposed to lie on the summit, with Delphi in the navel, or central part of the whole.-—Pind. Pyth. 6. Eurip. [on., v. 233. The Jews, and even the early Christians, insisted that the true navel of the earth was Jerusalem, and the Mohammedans, Mecca. The Argha is a type of the Adhera-Sacti, or Power of Conception, exerted and vivified by the Linga or Phallus, one and the same with the ship Argo, which was built, according to Orpheus, by Juno and Pallas, and accord- ing to Apollonius, by Pallas and Argos, at the instance of Juno.— Orph. Argon. v., 66. Apoll., lib. i1., 5, 11y0. As. Res., vol. iii.
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and the water, which is poured on the Linga, runs into the rim which represents the Yoni, and also the fossa navicularis, and [swarra is sometimes represented standing instead of the Linga in the middle, as Osiris in Egypt. (As. Res., viii.)
Plutarch has said of the Egyptians, that they had inserted nothing into their worship without a reason. “Nothing merely fabulous is introduced, nothing super- Stitious, as many suppose; but their institutions have either a reference to morals or to something useful in life.” The mass of mankind lost sight, however, of morality in the multiplicity of rites, as it is easier to practise cere- monies than to subdue passions; so it was in India and Egypt.
In the course of investigating the ceremonies of the Hindus, and in attempting to elucidate their meaning, it will be found necessary to draw an analogy between them and those of the Egyptians. The resemblance is very striking; they mutually serve to explain each other. When the Sepoys, who accompanied Lord Hutchinson in his Egyptian expedition, saw the temple at Denderah, they were very indignant with the natives of the place for allowing it to fall into decay, conceiving it to be the temple of the consort of their own god, Siva; a fact, to say the least of it, no less singular than interesting. The religion of Egypt no doubt had its origin in India,
The annihilation of the sect and worship of Brahma, as the Jswarra or “Supreme Lord,” is described at large in the Kasichandra of the Scanda-Puran; where the three powers are mentioned as contending for precedence. Vishnu at last acknowledges the superiority of Siva; but Brahma, on account of his presumptuous obstinacy, had
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one of his heads cut off by Siva, and his pwya, or worship, was abolished.
The intent of this legend is evidently to advance the claims of the Siva sect; and if we substitute the con- tending facts for the battle of the Deutas, or angels, the fable will appear not quite destitute of historical fact, nor wholly without foundation.
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