HINDOO MYTHOLOGY. 9 
which is the emblem and instrument of his omniscience and omnipotence. 
Durga, the Nemesis of the Hindoos, is said by some to have issued from it. 
His head is adorned with the crescent and his locks with the Ganga, a 
beautiful female head, symbolizing humidity, one of the fertilizing princi- 
ples. Sometimes, to show the fearful light in which he is viewed, we find 
him wrapped up in a tiger or elephant skin, a necklace of skulls around his 
neck, with the trident in one hand and the battle-axe in another. His 
attributes are the Zengam, the trident which never misses the object at 
which it is thrown, and the snakes which he uses either as a girdle, neck- 
lace, or bracelet, or as a toy in his hands. It will not be difficult to 
recognise some of these attributes in each of the representations which we 
have given of him. /l.1, jig. 5, represents him as the destroying and 
reproducing power; this is indicated by the trident in his hands and the 
flame which rises like a tiara above his head, symbolizing warmth as a 
fertilizing principle. Pl. 2, jig. 8, exhibits him simply as a young man 
seated in Oriental fashion, and holding a long trident in one hand and the 
Indian sacrificial drum in the other. His wife Ama, or Bhavani, or Par- 
vati, is said to die at the end of every year, when he, in order to honor 
her, severs one of her legs and adds it to those already hanging on a string 
around his neck. 
Many incarnations, miracles, and heroic labors of Siva are recorded in 
the Hindoo legends, some of which are illustrated in our plates. The first 
of these is pl. 1, jig. 14, where he appears as Swwa Mahadeva at Caylasa, 
the torrid side of Mount Meru. He is seated upon a tiger-skin, with his 
‘back leaning on an oriental cushion; by his side is his wife Parvati, 
evidently pleased with the loving converse of her lord. A little in the rear 
stands the holy cow, from whose mouth gushes forth the father of waters. 
Again (fig. 17) we see him in the form of Audra, the king of the monkeys. 
In this capacity and form he showed himself a faithful and valuable 
auxiliary to Vishnu, during the latter’s Avatar as Rama. PJ. 2, fig. 13, 
represents him as the hermaphrodite, half man half woman, which is 
intended to indicate that he and Parvati are so closely united as to make 
but one person. The name given to him by his followers when he is found 
in this form is Parashiva or Parasata. Finally, jig. 14 represents him on 
the back of the giant M/uyelagin, crushing him, a position which we find 
explained in the myth wherein the origin and nature of the Zingam, the 
symbol of the triad, and the most important attribute of Siva, is told. This 
‘Lingam is also the most sacred symbol under which he is worshipped. It 
is the symbol of the universe imbued with the powers of the deity, allegori- 
cally represented as a column consisting of three component parts: the 
hardest being Brahma (earth); the second and softer, Vishnu (water and 
air); and the third and most delicate, Siva (light and fire). These three 
combined are represented as the fertilizing principle of the earth, and the 
column therefore appears inserted in the opening of a conch or sea-shell, 
symbolizing the earth, which rests on a rock symbolizing the durability of 
its nature (pl. 1, jig. 7). Siva is represented as the guardian of this 
column, before which he daily prays and sacrifices flowers, and hence the 
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