since the whole creation finds its origin and rest there, it receives the name linga"[1] In the introduction to his translation of the Vishnu-Purāna (p. Ixix) Professor H. H. Wilson makes the following remarks on the linga-worship in India : " The linga is twofold, external and internal. The ignorant who need a visible sign, worship Siva through a ' mark ' or ' type ' which is the proper meaning of the word linga of wood or stone ; but the wise look upon this outward emblem as nothing and contemplate in their minds the invisible inscrutable type which is Siva himself. Whatever may have been the origin of this form of worship in India, the notions upon which it was founded according to the impure fancies of European writers are not to be traced even in the Saiva Purānas." Mr. Havell thinks that it " was in all probability originally derived from the votive stūpa of Buddhism."[2] If Saivism is, however, granted to be older in its origin than Buddhism the Sākyas themselves among whom Buddha was born being mentioned as having Siva for their tutelar deity [3] this theory cannot be upheld. Various forms of the linga are worshipped, from the crude uncut conical gneiss usually believed to be svayambhū or self-born [4] to the highly polished and hand-made shaft of 8, 16, 32 or more facets of the Pallava period.
Lingas, whether self-born or artificial are equally venerated, the latter being associated as regards their origin with the Sun, Moon, the Lords of the quarters or ancient sages of by gone millenniums. The linga is generally fixed in a circular or quadrangular receptacle on a high monolithic pedestal known as yōni, pānivattam or āvadaiyar.
It is a common adage that Siva is as fond of bathing as Vishnu is fond of decoration and the surface of the pedestal which receives the linga is so fashioned as to drain off the large quantity of water [5] poured over the god every day from a copper vessel with a hole at its bottom, hung directly
- ↑ In Sivarahasya, a chapter of Saura-samhitā, it is stated that the linga has a fivefold significance and denotes the primeval energy of the Creator. At the end of the creation all gods find their resting place in the linga, -Brahmā being absorbed into the right, Janārdana (Vishnu) into the left and Gāyatri into the heart.
- ↑ Ideals of Indian Art, p. 87.
- ↑ See Epigraphia Indie a, Vol. V, p. 3.
- ↑ The Silparatna describes this to be a long or short shaft of shattered appearance, flat like a board and many cornered with crooked horns. Bāna is another kind of linga which is shaped by nature and not by the chisel.
- ↑ 5 According to the Mayamata all kinds of pedestals, whatever may be their pattern, must have a duct on tLeir left side to carry off the surface water. These ducts are to be well decorated.
