1879.] J. H. Eivett-Carnac — Appendix. 31 



a Bhagavat (worshipper of Bhagavan) in this iron age who has not in his 

 honse a conch-shell or a hell surmounted by a Garuda or the bird-god." 

 Such a bell as the above is used in the worship of Vasucleva ('Vishnu). 

 And although in the Sastras regarding the worship of Siva and Eama- 

 chandra, it is nowhere provided that the bell used in such service should 

 be adorned with figures of the snake and Hanuman (the monkey-god), the 

 vahanas of the two gods respectively, yet the bell-maker in his devoutness 

 has added these figures to the bell, thinking that such a bell would serve 

 the threefold worship of Siva, Vishnu and Ramchandra. The white paint 

 of sandal- wood paste on the lingam in the form of a circle or a semicircle 

 and a dot, is intended to represent the sacerdotal thread (poitd) and the 

 mark (phonta) and, in the case of the semicircle, the half moon which is 

 said to adorn the forehead of Siva. 



In the paper on Tree and Serpent worship published in Part I, No. 3 

 J. A. S. B for 1870, Ananta the serpent king is said to have a thousand 

 heads and four arms. In the Briddha Baudhayana quoted by Hemadri, 

 a Naga is ordinarily described to have five heads. 



f sn^Ttf wtoW 'qrw'm^ sfi^fr 



In the Visvakarma Sastra, Ananta is said to have a hundred thousand 

 heads, and the other secondary eight Nagas to have seven heads each. 



+ + + + ° + + + 



A Naga is said to have hoods and the body of a man, the lower 

 extremities being like those of a reptile. A sarpa or serpent is a reptile. 

 The three-headed or the nine-headed snakes are imaginative figures ; they 

 have no foundation in the Sastras. The figures of snakes forming backs of 

 the shrines exhibited are evidently artistic and ornamental ; they have no 

 direct connection with serpent worship. 



Cup-marks occurring in the vicinity of sepulchral monuments suggest 

 their origin in the Smritis, in which it is stated that, after the cremation 

 of the body, the son of the deceased is directed to offer water and milk, 

 «ft^ and ^t^:, to the manes of the departed, and the water and milk are 

 generally presented in unburnt clay cups, and it is not unoften that they 

 are poured in little hollows made with the finger on the soft ground of the 

 river side where the funeral ceremony is generally performed. May not 

 the cup-marks on stone slabs represent these water and milk cups offered 

 to the spirits of the departed ? 



The ant-hill has been known to be a resort of snakes where these 

 reptiles have been seen to coil themselves up for comfortable and warm 

 lodging. The eggs of ants and the queens of the same are well known 

 favoixrite food of snakes. 



