YONI. 



nature is perfonified, and called Pralcriti ; flie is declared to 

 be nature, or tlie earth, the womb of nature ; (he is thence 

 any thing conceiving or containing, or the power or 

 fakti of fuch faculties. In its firft ilate that poiver was 

 rather a tendency, an aptitude, and laid dormant until 

 excited by the bija, or vivifying principle, the aura of 

 nature perfonified in Siva, who in this charader is called 

 Parufha, or the primeval male. Here we find nature paffive 

 and aftive : the power or aptitude of nature is fymbo- 

 lized by the Yoni ; the vivifying principle by the Linga. 

 Prakriti is found to be one of the names and forms of Par- 

 vati, as Parufha is of Siva. Under thefe names we have 

 taken fome notice of their cliarafter ; but it is not eafy, in 

 the (hort articles to which, in thefe matters, we mufl re- 

 ftria ourfelves, to explain fully, were we able, the nature 

 and allufions of thefe abftraa perfonifications. 



The faculty or power of containing, of which the Yoni 

 is the type, is alfo called Argha by Hindoo myftics. The 

 name is given to a cup or difh, or -veffel., in which fruits 

 and flowers are offered in oblation. Thefe veffels, they 

 fay, ought always to be boat-Jhaped ; and fo they frequently 

 are, but fometimes round, oval, or fquare ; moltly, how- 

 ever, circular. All this is myfterious and profound. The 

 rim of the Argha is more efpecially the Yoni, while the 

 contents of the veffel reprefent the Linga, which is fome- 

 times more unequivocally figured by an image of Siva flanding 

 ereft in the centre of the Argha. Hence one of his names 

 is Arghanatha, or lord of the boat-fhaped veffel. We may 

 flop a moment here to remark how readily Bryant, Faber, 

 and the race of Noetics, would have recognized the ark, 

 in the arga or arka, or ark, as it may without much licence 

 be written, of the Hindoos. We do not hefitate to hint 

 our belief that many of the fables connefted with Colchis, 

 Juno, lo, Ionia, Jonah, &c. are traceable upwards to 

 Hindoo words : many alfo connefted with the names of 

 places or perfons, beginning with Col or Kal, or contain- 

 ing its root, that are fcattered in unmeaning profufion 

 through the geography and early biography of Europe. 

 But this is not the place to enlarge on this fubjeft. 



The Argha, as a type of the power of conception, excited 

 and vivified by the Linga or Phallus, Mr. Wilford (Af. 

 Ref. vol. iii. ) fuppofes to be one and the fame with the (hip 

 Argo, which, according to Orpheus (Argon, v. Ixvi. ), was 

 built by Juno and Pallas, or, according to A poUonius ( b. ii. ) , 

 by Pallas and Argus, at the inftance of Juno. The word 

 Yoni, as it is ufually pronounced, nearly refembles the name 

 of the principal Etrufcan goddefs ; and the Sanfl<rit phrafe 

 Arghanatha Ifwara feems accurately rendered by Plutarch 

 (on Ifis and Ofiris), when he afferts that Ofiris was com- 

 mander of the Argo. That the Sanftcrit words p'hala, 

 meaning fruit, andp'huHa, a flower, had ever the fenfe of 

 phallus, is not affirmed ; but as thefe are the cliief oblations 

 in the Argha, and are confefTed to be a reprefentation of the 

 Linga, their founds may eafily have been fo transferred. We 

 have feen, too, that Mahadeva himfelf, the prototype of the 

 Linga, is fometimes placed ereft in the Argha : this is to 

 complete a myftical triunion of powers ; for Vifhnu, the 

 principle of humidity and of confervation, is fymbolized by 

 a convexity or emboifment in the centre of the Argha, over 

 which the image of Mahadeva, or the p'hala and p'huUa, as 

 reprefenting the Linga or Phallus, are placed. The idea 

 that the Sanf]<rit p'hala or p'hulla may in fenfe as well as 

 found be cognate with and the fource of the Greek phal- 

 lus, derives itrength from the faft that Mahadeva, in his 

 charafter correfponding with that of Jupiter Marina, or 

 Neptune, bears, like his Roman kinfman, a trident, called 



Trifula, and fometimes Triphala, denoting trifurcation and 

 trifloreix:ence. Jupiter Triphylius is thus identified with 

 the three-eyed Siva, who in this form is named Trilokan 

 and Trifula. 



That the Sanfkrit language is very widely fpread, and is 

 traceable in various dialefts, we have the authority of Mr. 

 Colebrooke for believing. In the names of places, we are 

 inclined to think its extenfion is proved as much as in any 

 point : and we do not deem the idea very extravagant (fays 

 our correfpondent) that derives the name of Trafalgar, the 

 fcene of the lafl grand triumph of the Britifh Neptune, from 

 the mythological language of our fellow-fubjefts of India. 



To return to the Yoni or Argha, we have feen that the 

 veffel under the latter denomination is boat-fhaped, and a 

 type of the world. In the general Deluge, the generative 

 powers of nature, male and female, reduced to their fimpleft 

 elements, the Linga and Yoni, affumed this fhape for the 

 prefervation of mankind. Brahma, the creative power, is 

 reprefented to have been afleep at the bottom of the abyfs. 

 This alludes, we fuppofe, to the deftruftion of mankind ; 

 man being reprefented in the abftraft by Brahma. The 

 Yoni becoming boat-fliaped, the Linga was the maft, and 

 protefted by Vifhnu rode upon the waters. This, though 

 fufGciently grofs, is doubtlefs an arkite allegory. Every 

 thing hollow or concave having the property of containing, 

 remind myflics of their type the Argha or Yoni, as afpir- 

 ing objefts do of the Linga. Enthufiafls fee thefe two 

 principles ; that is, they fay, nature paflive and aftive, dor- 

 mant and revivified, every where and in every thing, — the earth, 

 the fea, a boat, a well, a pond, the hollow of the hand, clefts 

 in rocks, excavations, caves, commifTures of branches, &c. 

 partake of relationfhip with the one, — mountains, efpecially 

 if infulated and conical, pyramids, cones of any fort, fire, 

 a maft, a tree, efpecially if denuded of branches, obelifks, 

 &c. — all thefe conneft themfelves with ideas of Mahadeva 

 and the Linga. The earth is typified by a boat ; the Argha 

 of the Hindoos, and the Cimbiuni of the Egyptians. Ofiris 

 is reprefented in a boat carried by men : in India, Mahadeva 

 ereft in the Argha refers to the fame allegory. All over 

 India, the Argha, and Linga of f\one inferted in it, is found 

 an objeft of worfhip. It is ilrewed with flowers, and water 

 is poured on the Linga, and conveyed off by the rim or 

 Yoni ; the foifa navicularis or myftical boat of Ifis. 



Caves we have noticed as types of the Yoni, from their 

 property of hoUownefs or containing, and alfo from the 

 fhape of their mouth. It will be rccoUefted, that the moft 

 ancient oracle and place of worfhip at Delphos was that of 

 the earth in a cave, which was called Delphi ; an obfolete 

 Greek word, fynonymous, according to Mr. Wilford ( Af. 

 Ref. vol. vi.), with Yoni in Sanll<rit. Similar fuperftitions 

 have prevailed farther weftward. Perforations and clefts in 

 ftones and rocks were called Cunni Diaboli by early Chrif- 

 tians, who ufually beftowed the appellation of devils on the 

 deities of the heathens. One of the wonders of the peak 

 in Derbyfhire retains an appellation ftill coarfer : but Mr. 

 Wilford thinks improperly ; for this wonderful cave, or one 

 he fays very hke it, particularly noticed in the Puranas, is 

 declared to be the facred Yoni. The cleft called Guhya- 

 ftlian, in Nepal, anfwers fully and literally to the coarfe 

 appellation of its relative in Derbyfhire, (Guhya, or Podex,) 

 and is devoutly worfhipped by numerous pilgrims from all 

 parts of India. Perforated rocks or ftones, as well as the 

 mouths of caves, are myftically contemplated in India. A 

 regeneration is effefted Isy paffing through them ; or, if the 

 hole be too fmall, a hand or a foot thru ft through, with a 

 fufficient faith, will nearly aufwer the fame purpofe. 



It 



