254 Note on some primitive conceptions [AFP. 



ended with the erection of the Tatu pillar; and his 

 emblem was a tree, often stripped, of which facts more 

 anon. Juno was the wife of Jupiter, who was originally 

 worshipped as an oak his sole image on the Capitol 1 . 

 Hera was the wife of Zeus, who was represented by an 

 oak at Dodona 2 . So too Freya was the wife of Thor, 

 whose emblem is a hammer. The Asherah were symbols 

 of a goddess; the male and female elements are here 

 blended. Hindu mythology is so complex that to give 

 a single instance that is characteristic is difficult, for no 

 single deity in practice 8 is regarded as supreme, but we 

 may take the marriage between Lakshmi and Vishnu as 

 an example. Vishnu is frequently worshipped in the 

 guise of a pillar* the famous iron pillar at Delhi is a 

 well-known example or in the guise of a tree as, for 

 example, the sacred tree in the inner court of the great 

 temple at Puri 6 . Indeed Vishnu created the sacred 

 linga which formed the centre of the world 8 . His very 

 name, Vishnu, said in the Puranas to be derived from 

 the root vis, to enter, is suggestive. For the pillar, the 

 tree, the hammer, are ithyphallic symbols, representing 

 the power of generation, while the ring represents the 

 power of bringing forth. The one is causative, the other 

 mediatorial. 



We find traces of this perhaps in the very god-names 

 themselves. It is sometimes said that the 'I' which 



1 Fraser, Golden Bough, 11. p. 291, edn 1890. 



1 Ibid. ii. 291. 



3 Cf. Wilkins, Modern Hinduism, p. 39. "Another noticeable 

 feature of Hindu worship is the way in which each deity is ad- 

 dressed as superior to the rest. Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, Krishna, 

 Sakti, each, in turn, is regarded as the supreme, and the others 

 are said to have sprung from, or are manifestations of, the one 

 adored." 



* Fergusson, History of Indian and Eastern Architecture, p. 50. 



Wilkins, op. cit. pp. 112, 117. Ibid. p. 91. 



