from the Ancient Books op the Hindus. 365 



when, he afferts, that Osiris was Commander of the Argo (a). I cannot yet 

 affirm, that the words p'hala,. ox fruit, and/> 'bulla y or a flower, have ever the 

 fenfe of Phallus; but fruit and flowers are the chief oblations in the- argha, 

 and trip'hala is a name fometimes given, efpecially in the weft of India, to the 

 irifula, or trident, of Maha'de'va: in an effay on the geographical anti- 

 quities of India I mail mow, that the Jup ; iter Triphylius of the Panchoean 

 iilands was no other than Siva holding a trip'hala, who is reprefented alfo 

 with three eyes to denote a triple energy, as Vishnu and Prit'hivi' are feve- 

 rally typified by an equilateral triangle, (which likewife gives an idea of ca- 

 pacity) and conjointly, when their powers are fuppofed to be combined, by 

 two fuch equal triangles interfering each other.. 



The three fects, which have hztn mentioned, appear to have been diflincx 

 alfo in Greece, 1. According to Theodoret, Arnobius, and Clemens 

 ©f Alexandria, the Toni of the Hindus was the fole object of veneration in the 

 myfteries of Eleufis : when the people of Syracufe were facrificing to goddeffes, 

 they offered cakes in a certain fhape, called (xu^Ao/; and in fome temples, 

 where the priefteffes were probably ventriloquifts, they fo far impofed on the 

 credulous multitude, who came to adore the yoni, as to make them believe, 

 that it fpoke and gave oracles.. 2. The rites of the Phallus were fo well-known 

 among the Greeks, that a metre, confifting of three trochees only, derived its- 

 name from them %■ in the opinion of thofe, who compiled the Purdnas, the 

 Phallus was firfl publickly worshipped, by the name .of Bdlefwara-linga, on the 

 banks of the Cumudvati, or Euphrates ; and the Jews, according to Rabbi 

 Aeha, feem to have had fome fuch idea, as we may colled: from their ftrange 

 tale concerning the different earths, which formed the body of Adam, (b) 



(a) Pht. On I/it and Ofiris. ($) Gemara Sanhedrin C. 30. cited by Relanci. 



