194 SKETCH OF THE 



also perhaps the most ancient object of homage adopted in India, subse- 

 quently to the ritual of the Vedas, which was chiefly, if not wholly, ad- 

 dressed to the elements, and particularly to Fire. How far the worship 

 of the Linga is authorised by the Vedas, is doubtful, but it is the main 

 purport of several of the Puranas* There can be no doubt of its univer- 

 sality at the period of the Mohammedan invasion of India. The idol 

 destroyed by Mahmud, of Ghizni, was nothing more than a Linga, being, 

 according to Mirkhond, a block of stone, of four or five cubits long, and 

 proportionate thickness, j" It was, in fact, one of the twelve great Lingas, 



erected by the Raja of Bardwan. Each of the temples in Bengal, consists of a single chamber, of a 

 square form, surmounted by a pyramidal centre; the area of each is very small, the Linga, of black 

 or white marble, occupies the centre ; the offerings are presented at the threshold. Benares, how- 

 ever, is the peculiar seat of this form of worship : the principal deity Visweswara, as observed 

 already, is a Linga, and most of the chief objects of the pilgrimage are similar blocks of stone. 

 Particular divisions of the pilgrimage direct visiting forty-seven Lingas, all of pre-eminent 

 sanctity ; but there are hundreds of inferior note still worshipped, and thousands whose fame 

 and fashion have passed away. If we may believe Siva, indeed, he counted a hundred Pardrrdhyas 

 in Kdsi, of which, at the time he is supposed to tell this to Devi, he adds sixty crore, or six hundred 

 millions, were covered by the waters of the Ganges. A Pardrrdhya is said, by the commentator 

 on the Kdsi Khanda, in which this dialogue occurs, to contain as many years of mortals as are 

 equal to fifty of Brahma's years. Notwithstanding the acknowledged purport of this worship, it is 

 but justice to state, that it is unattended in Upper India by any indecent or indelicate ceremonies, 

 and it requires a rather lively imagination to trace any resemblance in its symbols to the objects 

 they are "supposed to represent. The absence of all indecency from public worship and religious 

 establishments in the Gangetic Provinces, was fully established by the Vindicator of the Hindus, 

 the late General Stuart, and in every thing relating to actual practice, better authority cannot be 

 desired. (Vindication, Part 1st, 99, and more particularly Part 2d, 135). 



* The Skanda Purdna, which contains the Kdsi Khanda, particularly inculcates the worship 

 of Siva in this form ; so do the Siva, Brahmanda, and Linga Puranas. 



-j- The following is the passage from the Rozet as Sefa, alluded to : 

 j^-^ j fc ljs*i 6& jj La» L^-w \ J m Ui' jja j& j J _jk <i tf las' \ j J CJ \u* _j~j «& & U- (j I j 



j\ alto JL\ £> *&+& \jj La.^. jl £t> ^^^ uwU^s j-jj S> J *i t^j* u J i—iiu* & tej &jp>* 



