YONl. 



YONG-TONG, a . town of Corea ; 40 miles E. of 

 Het-lin. 



YONI, in Metaphyfict, the name of a myfterious fymbol 

 among the Hindoos ; which, although contemplated with 

 refpedl and awe by that fuperftitious race, is yet of fuch a 

 nature as not to be difculTed without difBculty in the living 

 language of a country which has happily (haken off the 

 trammels of prieftcraft ; and views with pity, mixed with 

 jull abhorrence, the idolatrous propenfities of thofe ftill 

 retained in mental bondage ; accompanied, as we lind they 

 were, among many ancient people, by the indecencies of 

 impure rites, fcarcely yet difufed, even in Europe, and 

 exifting in almoft undiminiflied groflhefs in the ftill un- 

 enlighted regions of ACa. 



The reader is fuppofed to be more or lefs aware of 

 the nature of the orgia incident to the worlhip of fuch 

 deities as Pan, Priapus, Bacchus, Venus, &c. We do 

 not here inquire particularly into the origin of fuch rites. 

 In their earlier ftages, they were probably an innocent 

 ebullition of gratitude for the experienced bounties of 

 nature. In the lapfe of time, a concourfe of people of 

 both fexes, warmed by exercife and beneficent feelings, 

 at a genial feafon moft likely of the year, found, as is 

 ever the cafe, their unreftrained devotion fubhmed into 

 enthufiafm ; and hurried by fuch feelings beyond the 

 fcope of unaflifted reafon, gave themfelves up to the ex- 

 travagances of myfticifm, and in the end to exceffes 

 which not only Chriftians, but the decent of every feft 

 and country muft unite in reprobating. Thefe Bacchic 

 phrenzies were accordingly fupprefled or mitigated as to 

 their oftenfible ufages and tangible abominations. Nature, 

 in the phrafeology of certain fefts, was no longer propi- 

 tiated through the indulgence of feelings of her own 

 prompting, excited farther by the prcfence of unequivocal 

 exhibitions. She, ftill perfonified, was more decently re- 

 prefented by certain fymbols fubftituted for the earlier 

 types. The cunning prieft no longer daring to exhibit 

 their obfcenities in fhamelefs nudity, permitted only a por- 

 tion of indecency to remain in the hands and eyes of their 

 deluded votaries, and concealed their origin and meaning in 

 the various myfteries and hieroglyphics denominated Bacchic, 

 EleuGnian, Phallus, Linga, Yoni, Cone, &c. &c. Some 

 notice of thefe things, and of the ordinary courfe and 

 confequences, will be found under the appropriate articles 

 of our work ; alfo in Mystery, Mystics, and others 

 thence referred to. 



By fuch people Nature was contemplated chiefly under 

 her attribute or property of fecundity ; and fymbols of 

 generative allufion were thofe under which her prolific 

 potencies were exhibited. Thofe prone, like the Hindoos, 

 to refolve almoft every thing into fexual allegory, of courfe 

 fancied the male and female pudenda omni-archetypal. 

 Thefe, in the early days of fuch perverted devotion, were 

 probably pourtrayed in India, as elfewhcre, without referve ; 

 but were, in moft cafes, foon correAed into the comparative 

 decency of the hieroglyphics ; and the deluded people were 

 cajoled by mummery and myftery, that became lefs and 

 lefs underftood, and therefore, perhaps, the more reverenced. 

 We have faid in moft cafes ; for in Egypt and Greece the 

 grolTnefs of Phallifm is known only in the remains of anti- 

 quity ; in India it doubtlefs exifts, but divefted of obtrufive 

 or confpicuous indeUcacy ; and too true it is that among 

 Chriftians was the primeval infamy of the fyn;bol and ufage 

 moft tenacioufly retained. We can but juft allude to the 

 difcovery of this curious though lamentable faft, by fir 

 William Hamilton, in the neighbourhood of Naples. His 



communication, with aniple commentary and illuftration 

 has been printed, but very properly not publifhed ; con- 

 cealed, though not fuppreffed ; and we therefore make no 

 dired reference to the fufRcieritly inftruftive, though too 

 difgraceful volume, in which this difgufting worfhip is 

 proved to exift in Chriftian Europe, and is traced almoft all 

 the world over. 



Among the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, the Phallus 

 and the Cone feem to have beei. the eariieft of the grofler 

 and correfted emblems ; the latter contained bodi the 

 Linga and Yoni, nature adlive and padive ; and fimilar, 

 familiar, or recondite meanings and allufions were thus 

 readily revived in the minds of the vulgar and the initiated, 

 fuitable to the efoteric or ifoteric nature of their capacities 

 and feehngs. Thefe fooleries, to give them no harftier ;,ame, 

 thus found to have exifted among the people juft mentioned, 

 and others, have, with great appearance of reafon, been 

 fuppofitively derived from the ftill more ancient ufages of 

 India. Much might be faid in fupport of this, were it 

 worth while ; and thus far the inquiry will probably be re- 

 paid, that it may bring to light many ftrange coincidences. 

 If fuch writers as Colebrooke, Wilford, Faber, and others, 

 who bend their minds to the developement and elucidation 

 of Eaftern hterature and myfteries, continue for a while in 

 the fame line of refeaich, we anticipate a confirmation 

 of the furmifes long entertained, that nearly all the learning, 

 fcience, and art, as well as the religion of Egypt and Greece, 

 originated in India, or at leaft with the Brahmans ; however 

 much they may have been improved or embellifhed by the 

 hands through which they reached us. 



India then, or the country of the Brahmans, wherever 

 that was, being in our judgment the region where the 

 fuperftitious praftices now under our confideration originated, 

 we may expeft to find its early hiftory teeming with allu- 

 fions to it. This is indeed the cafe ; though fuch allufions 

 are not, perhaps, found in its earllejl works on theology. 

 But as no people have changed fo little as the Brahmans 

 and their flock by the innovations of ftrangers, or the 

 lapfe of time, (for frequent fubjugations by conquefts feem 

 to affeft them but little, and perfecutions ferve only 

 to confirm their prejudices,) we may expeft to find their 

 religious inttitutions and praftices more in accordance with 

 thofe of their early days than the ufages of other people 

 who have not difdained to become wifer by the operation 

 of reafon and philofophy ; and who have been taught to 

 look on the folhes of their anceftors with the pity they 

 deferve. In India, we thus find certain hieroglyphics ftiU 

 receiving the external adoration fo little their due. There 

 we find the infidious Brahman ftill teaching his ignorant 

 fuppliant to fall down and worfhip the Linga and Yoni ; 

 fymbols, in whatever ftiape exhibited to the public eye, no 

 doubt fitter for the brothel than the temple. The former 

 of thefe is the attribute of Siva, the Maha-deva, or great 

 divinity prefiding over reproduction, or regeneration in the 

 abftraft ; and the other of his confort Devi, or Parvati, 

 the Magna-Mater, the Bona Dea of the Eaft. 



In preceding articles, we have neceflarily touched on the 

 charafter and attributes of the two juft mentioned grand 

 divinities of the Hindoos ; and refer our readers to Par- 

 vati and Siva for our remarks thereon, and to LiNGA. 

 for a brief notice of the Phallic worftiip of India. In this 

 article, we propofe to difcufs that ftill offered to the Juno, 

 the Venus, the Ifis, the many-named all-abforbing goddefs 

 of the Hindoos, whofe emblem is the Yoni. 



Writers on this fubjeft generally, perhaps unavoidably, 



commix their fpeculations on the Linga and Yoni. Crude 



L 2 nature 



