Chap. XXV. THE MADURA PAGODA. 417 



broad expanses of water, isolated masses of rock, and the 

 Pulney bills in the far distance. 



We passed from tbe cloister, and walked round the cor- 

 ridors wliicb surround tbe boly of holies containing the 

 Sohalinga, the sacred emblem of the God Siva, which no one 

 but a Brahmin can enter ; and the temple of Minakshi, liis 

 fish-eyed wife. The pillars in these corridors are curiously 

 carved in the form of dancing-girls, elephant-headed Gods, 

 Sivas, and bulls. Here I was decorated Avith garlands of 

 flowers by the warden of the temple, and I saw that there 

 was a flower-garden in a small enclosure near the cloister, to 

 supply oiferings of flowers for the ceremonial worship in the 

 temple. In the Hindu religion bright-coloured or fragrant 

 flowers take a prominent place as offerings to the gods. The 

 arrows of Kama, the God of Love, were tipped with five 

 flowers •} the asoha (Jonesia pinnata), a beautiful flower diver- 

 sified with orange, scarlet, and bright-yellow tints, is conse- 

 crated to Siva ; the lotus-flower, called hamata or padma, to 

 Vishnu and his wife Lakshmi ; a sweet-scented jasmine 

 (Jasminum undulatum) to Vishnu, and Mariama the Goddess 

 of Pariars ; the superb crimson Ixora Bandhuea is offered at 

 the shrines of Vishnu and Siva ; and the Nauclea Cadumba, 

 a stately tree, yields the hoKest flower in India.^ 



■* Namely the Michelia Champacca, 

 a golden-coloured flower with a strong 

 aromatic smell, also dedicated to 

 Krishna ; the mango - flower - called 

 amra ; the Pavonia odorata with a 

 sweet flower, called bulla ; iheStrijchiios 

 potatorum; and the Mesua ferea, a 

 guttiferous plant, with a flower white 

 outside, and yellow inside the tube, 

 with a smell like sweet-briar. 



5 While on the subject of sacred 

 Hindu plants, I may also mention the 

 soma juice, so often alluded to in the 

 Vedas, which comes from a leafless 

 asclepiad (Sarcostemma viminale) with 

 white flowers in terminal umbels. 



the Deccan : the holy kusa - grass 

 {Poa ctjnosuroides), made into ropes 

 in the N.W. provinces : the peepul- 

 tree, the banyan, the neem [Melia 

 Azadyraclita) : the Cratxva religiosa, 

 specially sacred to Siva : the Nerium 

 odorum, sacred to Vishnu and Siva : 

 the Cxsalpinia pulcherrima, sacred to 

 Siva : the Guettarda sjieciosa, sacred 

 to Siva and Vishnu : the Origanum 

 marjoranum, a labiate jjlant sacred to 

 Vishnu and Siva : the CnryophijUum 

 inophyllum, sacred to Vislinu and 

 Siva : the Pandanus odoratissimus, 

 sacred to Vishnu and Mariama, but 

 oflensive to Siva : the Artemisia 



which appear during the rains, in asfrial:a, sacred to Vishnu and Siva : 



2 E 



