INDIA (MYTHOLOGY. J 



Hindoo legislators, or people, Unit any thing natural 

 could be otiensively obscene a singularity which 

 pervades all their writings and conversation, but is no 

 proof of the depravity of their morals." Thence the 

 worship of the Linguin by the Sivanites, of the Yoni 

 by the VMmuvites. Ltngain is the symbol of the 

 male nature. The worship is thus historically derived. 

 Siva, by his voluptuousness, gave oiTence to seven 

 penitents, ami by their maledictions lost his virility ; 

 but, the punishment having been subsequently deemed 

 out of proportion to the transgression, the penitents 

 resolved to worship what they had previously cursed. 

 It i> worshipped in temples, roads, &c. Yoni is the 

 feminine with the masculine, in a figure, which is also 

 written with cow-dung on the forehead. Moreover, 

 like the eye, plants were, in this mythology, symbols 

 of perception and regeneration ; and plants and the 

 eye, forming a triangle, were united in the flower 

 called lotos. In language, lotos is the flower of con- 

 cealment, of night, of silence. In natural history, 

 it is the nymphcta nilu/cr (Lin.), in India called by 

 various names pedma, panceruha, tamarasa,nalina, 

 aravinda, maAolpala, camala, cuseshaya, sahasrapa- 

 tra, sarasa, sarasiruAa, rajiva, visaprasuna, pushcara 

 ambhanika, satrapa. Its seed is abundant, small, and 

 round ; it is either blue or red ; the flowers of the 

 former are a beautiful blue, but, if entirely unfolded, 

 somewhat less fragrant tlian the red rose-coloured 

 species, though of a very fine odour. The leaves 

 spring directly from the roots, deeply indented ; on 

 one side dark purple, reticulated ; on the other, green 

 and soft ; the petals very soft, long, and reed-shaped. 

 There is also a variety with the leaves purple on both 

 sides; dark crimson flowers; the chalice leaves richly 

 coloured within, and broad anthers ; less acute and 

 broader than the blue, with little odour. The wor- 

 ship of the lotos is still practised, as devoutly as ever, 

 in Hindoostan, Thibet, and Nepaul. Temples are 

 decked with itj as are also deities ; for a god, imme- 

 diately after his birth, always floats in the water on 

 a lotos. The Hindoos adore it because it is a water 

 plant, and water is the vehicle of creation. It is 

 also sacred among the Egyptians. As every thing in 

 India appears in the glow of life, and is endowed 

 with form, the moon, and sun, and stars have also 

 their gods. All the starry worlds are considered as 

 freeborn spirits and gods, which have become alien- 

 ated and separated from the original light, the cen- 

 tral sun of spirit, the Persian light-water, Arduisir ; 

 and from this light-water the milky-way has poured 

 forth in streams of stars (vars.) The adoration of 

 fire, stars, or the sun, is therefore an ancient worship, 

 as is that of water, too, in the above-mentioned idea. 

 For that reason, Ganga (the river Ganges) is sacred 

 to the Indians. It had its origin, according to one 

 fable, from the sweat of Siva's wife, Paroadi, or, ac- 

 cording to another, in the water in which the universe 

 swims. The earth also has its goddess, Prithivi ; the 

 air its god, Indra, Dewandra, one of the eight placed 

 as guardians of the earth by Vishnu, on his incarna- 

 tion as a boar, which eight are Indra, Aghni (fire), 

 Padurbati (judge of the infernal world), Nirurdi 

 (king of the infernal world), Varuna (water), Maril 

 (wind), Cubera (riches), and Eswara, who in the east 

 is Indra, in the south Aghni. The number of the 

 Develas (gods) is immense, and by some is rated at 

 333 millions. Of the inferior gods, or demons, we 

 shall only mention the Ginarers, the genii of musical 

 instruments, and the Ganduwers, or Gandharvas, 

 musicians of the air, who sing on the northern moun- 

 tain of Haimakutha (the cold, the dark), the spirits 

 of singing stars. These are good demons. The 

 tad are called Asoora, or Asors, at whose head stand 

 Moisasoor and Rhadoon, and they generally appear 

 to a terrible, gigantic form ; they inhabit the Patala. 



or Padalon (the infernal regions). The universe is 

 divided into fifteen districts, or circles, seven above 

 the earth, called Swega-Surgs, and seven below, 

 called Patala. The Patala are lighted by eight car- 

 buncles, on the heads of eight serpents. In the 

 midst, between the two divisions, is Mirtlok. The 

 ceremonies of Hindoo worship consist of visits 

 to the pagodas, ablutions and purifications, penance 

 and mortifications, good works, sacrifices, &c. Some 

 of their pagodas are of high antiquity and gigantic 

 conception, majestic appearance and tasteful archi- 

 tecture. The entrance is always made in a huge 

 pyramid, which gradually grows narrow as it ap- 

 proaches the top, where it runs out into a half moon. 

 The pyramid faces the east. In large pagodas, there 

 is always a spacious court, and, at its end a gate cor- 

 responding to the first, excepting that the pyramid is 

 not so high. Opposite the door, in the middle of the 

 second court, is placed on a pedestal, or in a cavity 

 of the wall, between four pillars, a cow, lying down; 

 sometimes a lingam, Hanuman, serpent, or some 

 other object of adoration. Sahstangam is the name 

 of the custom of falling on the face ; namaska- 

 ram, of the folding and raising of the hands to the 

 forehead. The edifice is divided into two or three 

 parts, of which the one is large, the other, for the 

 sacrifices, smaller ; the whole is formed of tiles, or 

 unhewn stone. On the Coromandel coast, there are 

 more splendid temples than in Bengal ; on the Mala- 

 bar coast, the style of construction is different. The 

 most celebrated pagodas are those of Elephanta and 

 Salsette ; those of Illura, or Elora (q. v.) ; the tem- 

 ples of Vishnu at Tirupadi, Schirangam, Kangiwaram, 

 and the temples of Siva at Tirunamalay, Tirvatur, 

 and Shalembron, Kandschipuram, Ramonathampu- 

 ram, Ramischwaram, and Caschi. The pagoda at 

 Elephanta, or Kalpuri, is considered as the oldest, 

 and derives the first name from an elephant hewn in 

 black stone, at the foot of a mountain, on the side of 

 Bombay. Several pagodas are there collected toge- 

 ther. The cisterns now used for watering cattle 

 were formerly appropriated to purifications. The 

 temples at Elora are hewn out of a chain of hills, in 

 the shape of a horse-shoe, and form a kind of Indian 

 pantheon. All the deities have there a temple, great 

 or small, and some of them a number. Two of the 

 largest are consecrated to the Trimnrti. It is a 

 colossal hieroglyph, and, like the pyramids, bears 

 witness to the absorbing influence of religion in 

 ancient times. Jagrenat's or Krishna's three pago- 

 das, at Jagrenat, whose towers are seen from the sea 

 at twenty miles' distance, and to reach which it is 

 necessary to go through a multitude of small pagodas, 

 with consecrated groves and ponds, are surrounded 

 by an immense, thick, square wall of black stone. 

 The image of the god is placed on the summit. It 

 derives great revenues from pilgrims. For the ablu- 

 tions previous to every act of worship, any water is 

 good, provided it be running, and especially that of 

 the Ganges. There are, therefore, ponds at all the 

 temples, unless these are situated on a river. Cow- 

 dung may be substituted for water, in the performance 

 of the ceremony. Passages from the Vedas, Vedangas, 

 etc., are first read. The idols are also washed with 

 water and with milk, and anointed with butter and 

 costly oils. Penance is either of the contemplative 

 kind, in which the penitent must mortify the appe- 

 tites, in order to devote himself wholly to the con- 

 templation of the divine nature, and be united with 

 God, or of the expiatory kind. The penitent form, 

 in some degree, monastic orders; and Fakirs, Jo- 

 gueys, Atits, Vairagis and Tapis, up to Vanaprashtas 

 and Sany asi, are the living images of penance. G ood 

 works consist in donations of cattle, or other things, 

 on festivals and solemn occasions. The principal 



