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to those who have watched the crescent moon rising over the great Himalayan snow-peaks, and seen the wonderful tints of violet-blue just below the snowline at sunrise. The five heads which he generally has are the five sacred rivers which flow from the Himalayas. In his temples at Benares he is only represented by the phallic emblems, the symbol of his reproductive power by which, as Ishwara, he created Brahmâ, Vishnu, and himself. The same symbol was used by the Egyptians in the worship of Osiris, and by the ancient Greeks to signify the first principle of animation.

It has been suspected that the lingam was borrowed by the Brahmins from the ritual of some non-Aryan cult, but if so, lingam-worship must have been incorporated with the Aryan religion at a very early period, as both the Aitareya and Taittiriya Upanishads contain references to it,' enjoining phallic worship as a step leading to a knowledge of the Absolute. it is a mistake to suppose that Shiva worship, as a whole, countenances sensuality. On the contrary, Shiva is always regarded as an example and type of austerity; the grosser forms of Hindu worship are chiefly found in the Sâkta sects, and in the cults of Vishnu.

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But

In the Madras Presidency Shiva is most frequently worshipped in his aspect as Natesa, "the Dancer", the Lord of Bliss, and manifestation of Purusha, Spirit". A splendid bronze, now in the Madras Museum, shows that Hindu sculptors have not always been so deficient in the higher qualities of artistic expression as is generally supposed. Shiva, sur

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1 Ait., p. 83, and Taitt., p 110. (Anandàsram Edit.)

MODERN HINDUISM

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rounded by a halo or glory of fire (representing the energy of heat by which Ishwara was evolved from the Supreme Brahman), is dancing on a prostrate

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Asura, a spirit of evil. In one hand he holds a drum to scare away evil spirits, and in another the sacrificial fire which leads to heaven. He wears a tiara, behind which a number of cobras issue, forming fantastic streamers on either side of his head.

In the Brahmanas the serpent is said to signify that the evil of the body can be put off by means of sacrifice, just as a serpent throws off its dead skin. It also symbolizes the doctrine of transmigration, the idea of the human soul obtaining release through a series of changes of the body. Perhaps, also, it symbolizes the reproductive power of Shiva, as the snake is popularly supposed to renew its body every time it casts its skin.

The movement and modelling of this ancient bronze are superb. There is something of classic feeling in the boldness of the generalization shown in the technique, and even the monstrous addition of four arms is treated with so much artistic skill as to make it inoffensive. There is no figure sculpture of this quality to be found in Benares except in the old Buddhist art, where the same feeling is sometimes shown. The iconoclastic zeal of Aurangzib, who enforced the strict Muhammadan law against the representation of animate nature in art, is still felt in all the art of northern India.

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CHAPTER V

IN THE CITY

The sacred character which Hindus ascribe to Benares is not confined to the precincts of the city. The influence of the patron deity extends to the whole area, shaped roughly like the crescent moon placed over Shiva's head, which is contained by the bank of the Ganges between its little tributaries, Barna on the north and Asi on the south, and by the Panchkôsi road. The latter describes a rough semicircle round the city, the centre being the Manikarnika well, the first place of pilgrimage, and the radius a distance of five kôs, or about ten miles.

The sacrificial virtue of Shiva's city is no doubt enhanced by the circumstance that the Ganges at this point takes a great sweep round, so that its current while it passes Benares is flowing in a northerly direction, or towards the Himalayas, where Shiva is said to dwell. The aspect of the river-front of the city. facing the rising sun was another point which may have guided the choice of the early Aryan or preAryan sun-worshippers. In ancient Hindu sculptures, Surya, the sun-god, is generally associated with the gods of the later Trimurti Brahmâ, Vishnu, and Shiva.

In the good old days the city was reached either

by the river or by the Grand Trunk road, and even now devout pilgrims approach it by the ways which millions of pious Hindus have followed for centuries on centuries, either by cart or boat, or on foot. A few devotees, in fulfilment of a vow, will painfully prostrate themselves at full length, and day after day, and month after month, mark the weary way with their bodies, believing that the penance will obtain for them a great store of merit, both in this existence and in the hereafter. At the first sight of the holy city they will salute it with shouts of "Jai! Jai! Kâsinath!" ("Hail! Hail! Lord of Kâsi!"), the latter being the name of the southern quarter, which is popularly applied to the whole city of Benares.

Europeans, and the great majority of Hindus, now come to Benares by the railway. It is amusing to see sometimes at Mogul Serai, the junction for the East Indian line, how the up-to-date Indian arriving from Calcutta, Bombay, or some other large AngloIndian city, will in an incredibly short time divest himself of his European environment and transform himself into the orthodox Hindu. You will see him first stepping out of the train, dressed in more or less correct European garb, and smoking a cigarette. He is accompanied by a servant, who deposits a steel trunk on the platform in front of him. Then, coram populo, but without the least suggestion of impropriety, he proceeds to take off coat, waistcoat, trousers, and boots, and taking out of the trunk a collection of spotless white drapery, speedily arrays himself in puggarce, dhotee, and the rest of the becoming costume of an Indian gentleman, while the cast-off garments are stowed away until his next return to European society.

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