10 MYTHOLOGY AND RELIGIOUS RITES. 
Lingam has become his most sacred symbol. It is said to have arisen from 
a combat for the supremacy between the different elements or principles ; 
and according to the worshippers of Vishnu it originated under the follow- 
ing circumstances. 
Certain devotees, who had exhibited extraordinary sanctity, had been 
granted great powers and privileges on the condition of maintaining spotless 
purity in themselves and in their families. Siva determined to deprive 
them of their prerogatives; and with the assistance of Vishnu in the form 
of a lovely maiden, he succeeded in beguiling them. Smarting under the 
consequences of their transgression, the poor dupes sought only to revenge 
themselves upon the authors of their misfortunes. By their prayers and 
sacrifices they raised up the giant JMuyelagin, and arming him with the 
sacrificial fire, sent him to combat Siva; but the god, seizing the fire 
with his right hand, struck down the giant with the other, and trampled 
upon his prostrate foe (pl. 2, fig. 14). Enraged at this failure, the devotees 
now combined all their incantations, and directed them with terrible effect 
against their enemy. Enveloped in a volume of unquenchable fire, Siva 
did not escape without serious injury from the all-searching element, and 
furious at the indignity, he cast down the glowing fragments of his mutilated 
body with the full intention of destroying the whole earth by the fire which 
they would call forth ; but Vishnu caught them as they fell, and conveying 
them into the lap of Brahma, thus saved the world. The wrath of Siva 
was finally appeased by the promise that the mutilated portions of his im- 
mortal body should henceforth, as a symbol of the principle of life or of 
fertility, become an object of worship to all mankind. J. 1, jig. 7, repre- 
sents this symbol, or the Lingam. The pedestal, the recipient of the fertiliz- 
ing principle, is the symbol of Brahma ; and the oval cup-like form which it 
supports, forming the channel of communication, is the emblem of Vishnu, 
the Yoni, sometimes also represented (jig. 6) as a triangle. The Lingam is 
not recognised by the Vishnuites as a sacred symbol, but all other Hindoos 
worship it with zeal. The principal wife of Siva is Parvati. She is 
described (jig. 15) as seated upon a bull with a crescent around her head, 
and with rays seeking to penetrate the shadow caused by her body, which 
has reference to the allegory by which the cause of the eclipses is explained. 
Her name was the Daughter of the Mountain, or mistress of the lofty 
regions. But different names are sometimes given to her when she is wor- 
shipped as the presiding deity over objects. 
3. Hixpoo Turocony AnD THEeoLocy. ‘Thus far it was impossible to sepa- 
rate these branches from the Cosmogony of the Hindoos, for the gods which 
we have described were not only the creators to some extent, but also the law- 
givers of their creation. But now, having finished the history of the supe- 
rior gods involved in the creation, we can examine under the proper head 
the inferior gods and the good and bad spirits of which the theogony treats. 
The chief among these is Surya, pl. 1, fig. 19, the god of the sun; one of the 
eight celestial gods or guardians of the world. He is described as standing 
in a carriage drawn by seven horses, who are guided by Harun or Ariguna, 
the god of twilight, with rose-colored reins. The image of the sun crowns 
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