THE HINDU RELIGION. 58 



Ling ; hence Si'va's title of ArghanaVh, and in 

 the Agama, Argha-I's'a, both meaning the Lord 



of the sacred Vessel Argha. . 



Vishnu is represented, in the tenth Avatar, as 

 the destroying power, thus ascribing to him the 

 attribute of Si'va. 



Vishnu is represented by the Vaishnavas with 

 four arms, and in each hand he bears a symbol. 

 These symbols seem intended to unite the three 

 great attributes in him, and to express his universal 

 supremacy. The Lotos typifies his creative power, 

 (in allusion to the Lotos which sprang from his na- 

 vel). The Sancha typifies his attributes of preser- 

 vation, and the mace that of destruction ; while 

 the Chacra expresses his universal supremacy, as 

 Chaci^a-Vart'u or Lord of the Ckacra, when applied 

 to a monarch, indicates universal empire; applied to 

 SiPundit, the possessor of the whole circle of Science. 



0/*Si'vA, as the Creative Power, and Bhava'ni'. 

 O/ Ca'l and — Ca'li'. 



When the personified attributes of the Deity 

 ceased to be considered as mere hieroglyphics; when 

 mankind beo-an to view them in the lioht of distinct 

 persons, and attaching themselves to the worship 

 of one or of the other exclusively, arranged them- 

 selves into sects, the worshippers of Si'va intro- 

 duced the doctrines of the eternity of matter, in 

 order to reconciie the apparent contradiction of as- 

 signing the attribute of creation to tlie principle of 

 destruction, they asserted, that the dissolution and 

 destruction of bodies v/as not real, with respect to 

 matter, which was indestructible itself, aittiough 

 its modifications were in a constant succession of 

 mutation; that the power which continually ope- 

 rates these changes, must necessarily unite in itself 



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