KRISHNA BOODII SIVA — DOORGA. 219 



as passing through an equal variety of adventures, most of 

 them in the highest degree strange and unnatural ; but he 

 does not appear under so many characters, nor are his ex- 

 ploits on the whole so striking. Although the destroyer be 

 his proper appellation, it seems more applicable to Doorga, 

 his female partner, whose aspect and deeds do indeed com- 

 bine whatever is most awful and terrific. He is represented 

 as being of a silver colour, exhibiting various shapes, having 

 sometimes five faces, sometimes only one with three eyes. 

 Elsewhere he is seen naked riding on a bull, with serpents 

 hanging from his ears like jewels. Worship is rendered 

 to him by numerous votaries, who exalt him as the su- 

 preme deity, greater and more ancient than either Brama 

 or Vishnu. He is peculiarly revered in the mountain-ter- 

 ritory ; and, under the appellation of Mahadeo, is described 

 as throned in the most inaccessible precipices of the Him- 

 malehs. But the chief disgrace of his religion consists in 

 the lingam, a symbol resembling the phallus of the ancients, 

 which is not only displayed in the temples, but worn round 

 the necks of all his votaries. Yet it is remarkable that 

 these sectaries make a boast of leading more pure and even 

 austere lives than the generality of Hindoo devotees. 



Doorga is the chief among the female deities, and indeed 

 the most potent and warlike member of the Hindoo pan- 

 theon. The Greeks had Minerva, an armed and martial 

 goddess, whose prowess equalled that of their greatest 

 male divinities ; but she was a weak and pacific maiden 

 when compared with the spouse of the Indian destroyer. 

 The wars waged by the latter, and the giants who fell 

 beneath the might of her arm, form prominent themes in 

 the wild records of Hindoo mythology. Her original name 

 was Parvati ; but hearing that a giant named Doorga had 

 enslaved the gods, she resolved to destroy him. He is said 

 to have led into the field a hundred millions of chariots and 

 one hundred and twenty millions of elephants. In order 

 to meet this ovsrwhelming force, Parvati caused nine mil- 

 lions of warriors, and a corresponding supply of weapons, 

 to issue out of her own substance. The contest, however, 

 was ultimately decided by her personal struggle with the 

 giant, whose destruction she then succeeded in effecting. 

 In honour of this achievement, the gods conferred upon 

 their deliverer the name of the huge enemy whom she had 

 overcome. 



