1879.] J. H. Rivett-Carnac—Appendiz. 31 
a Bhagavat (worshipper of Bhagavan) in this iron age who has not in his 
house a conch-shell or a bell surmounted by a Garuda or the bird-god.” 
Such a bell as the above is used in the worship of Vasudeva (Vishnu). 
And although in the Sastras regarding the worship of Siva and Rama- 
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 (phontd) 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. 
Guia Gates WUGEaded 
In the Visvakarma Sastra, Ananta is said to have a hundred thousand 
heads, and the other secondary eight Nagas to have seven heads each, 
HaVey aaa: Brahaasiyy: | 
ee ee ee ee oe 
fefaer area: saa afwaniaa: | 
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 kave 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, 
ait and Wit, 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 
favourite food of snakes. 
