20 J. H. Rivett-Carnac—The Snake Symbol in India. [No. 1, 
It might be expected that the Nag or Cobra would be seen at its best 
in the carvings or idols of Nageshwar, the Cobra or Snake Temple of 
Benares. But in this I was disappointed ; Nageshwar, as I saw it, consisted 
of two temples, or an inner and outer shrine, the one called Sideshwar, the 
other Nageshwar. In the outer or N&geshwar shrine was a large sized 
stone Mahadeo, of ordinary construction without the snake on it or round 
it. The old woman in charge of the temple, the priest being absent, 
assured me that a snake had once surmounted the Mahddeo, but .that the 
symbol had been worn away by much veneration. The story was most 
probably manufactured for the occasion in consequence of my manifest dis- 
appointment at the absence of the Nag. 
A Bull or Nandi and a Cobra faced the Mahddeo. The contents of 
the inner temple were peculiar. The Mahddeo consists of a broad black 
stone in shape something likea tumulus, It is sunk some little depth 
below the ground, and is surrounded by four stone slabs forming a small 
square tank. There was no yoni with this Mahddeo, the tank perhaps 
representing the yoni. On the top of the Mahadeo had been traced, 
with some sort of white pigment, a circle with a central dot or cup 
mark, exactly similar in shape to the circles with centres noticed in 
my paper on the Kumdon Rock-markings. These marks are common 
enough at Benares, and are to be seen painted on the bamboo umbrellas 
which line the ghats and are also dabbed about freely on the walls of 
buildings. Further enquiry has confirmed the opinion expressed by me 
and supported by Mr. Campbell of Islay in my paper on Kuméon rock 
markings, that, whatever it may have meant in Europe, in India the sign 
© means Mahadeo. There seems to be little doubt that at Nageshwar 
the snake god is Mahadeo himself, or that he is worshipped under that name, 
and that Nageshwar is a temple of Siva or Mahadeo in the form of a Nag 
or cobra. 
These same marks were to be seen on a Mahadeo in a small shrine 
under a tree close by. In front of Nageshwar were the graves of the Gosains 
of the temple. They resemble the graves of Chandeshwar in Kuméaon, 
noticed in my paper on the Kumdon Rock Markings. The Kumdaon 
graves were evidently the graves of Gosains of the Siva sect who I have 
since learnt are always buried, not burnt.* At Benares, as at Chandeshwar, 
* Vide Tod’s Rajasthan, Vol. I, p. 445. “The priests of Eklinga are termed 
“ Gosain or Goswami which signifies control over the senses. The distinguishing mark 
“of the faith of Siva is the crescent on the forehead. They bury their dead in a sit- 
“ting posture, and erect cairns over them which are generally conical in form. I 
“have seen a cemetery of these, each of yery small dimensions, which may be described 
