THE HINDU RELIGION. 55 



half male and half female, and denominated Hara- 

 Gauri', and Ardhana'ri' Is'wara. It is probable 

 that the idea of obscenity was not originally at- 

 tached to these symbols: and it is Hkely, that the 

 inventors themselves might not have fcfreseen the 

 disorders which this worship would occasion amongst 

 mankind.- Profligacy eagerly embraces w"hat flat- 

 ters its propensities, and ignorance follows blindly 

 wherever example excites : it is, therefore, no won- 

 der that a general corruption of manners should 

 ensue, increasing in proportion as the distance of 

 time involved the original meaning of the symbol in 

 darkness and oblivion. 0])scene mirth became the 

 principal feature of the popular superstition, and was, 

 even in after times, extended to, and intenniiigled 

 with, gloomy rites and bloody sacrifices. An he- 

 terogeneous mixture, which appears totally irre- 

 concileable, unless by tracing the steps which led 

 to it. It will appear that the ingrafting of a new 

 symbol, upon the old superstition, occasioned this 

 strange medley. The sect of Vishnu was not 

 wholly free from the propensity of the times to ob- 

 scene rites ; it had been united in interest with that 

 of Si'vA, in their league against the sect of Brah- 

 ma, as was expressed by an image, called Har- 

 Heri, half Si'vA and half Vishnu. This union 

 seems to have continued till the time when an em- 

 blem of an abstract idea, having been erected into 

 an object of worship, introduced a revolution in 

 religion, which had a violent and extended effect 

 upon the manners and opinions of mankind. 



It was then that a gloomy superstition arose, 

 which spread its baneful influence with rapidity 

 amongst mankind; which degraded the Deity into 

 an implacable tyrant; which filled its votaries with 

 imaginary terrors.; which prescribed dreadful rites ; 

 and exacted penances, mortifications, and expiatory 

 sacrifices. In short, it was the worship of Ca'l 



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