The phallic idea alluded to again and again in the preceding pages as entering into the heathen conception of a trinity, the practice of circumcision, and the use of the cross as a symbol, branches out in a great variety of directions; at some of these we must cast a brief glance in order that we may form a correct estimate of the subject.

Reference has been made to the androgynous nature ascribed to the Deity by different nations, and here at once is opened up the whole subject of sex worship. It is impossible to say how far back we should have to retrace our footsteps in seeking for men’s first ideas upon this matter; many ages, it is certain. Forlong, speaking of a remote age and our forefathers, says: “They began to see in life and all nature a God, a Force, a Spirit; or, I should rather say, some nameless thing which no language of those early days, if indeed of present, can describe. They gave to the outward creative organs those devotional thoughts, time, and praise which belonged to the Creator; they figured the living spirit in the cold bodily forms of stone and tree, and so worshipped it. As we read in early Jewish writings, their tribes, like all other early races, bowed before Ashar and Ashe’ra, as others had long before that period worshipped Belus and Uranus, Orus and Isis, Mahadeva, Siva, Sakti, and Parvati. Jupiter and Yuno, or Juno, or rather the first ideas of these, must have arisen in days long subsequent to this. All such steps in civilisation are very slow indeed, and here they had to penetrate the hearts of millions who could neither read nor write, nor yet follow the reader or the preacher; so centuries would fleet past over such rude infantile populations, acting no more on the inert pulpy mass than years, or even months, now do; and if this were so after they began to realise the ideas of a Bel and Ouranos, how much slower before that far-back stage was won. Their first symbolisation seems clearly to have been the simple line, pillar, or a stroke, as their male god; and a cup or circle as their female; and lo! the dual and mystic 10 which early became a trinity, and has stood before the world from that unknown time to this. In this mystic male and female we have the first great androgynous god.”

Alluding to this subject, an anonymous writer, believed to be a Roman Catholic priest, some sixteen years ago, said:—“The primitive doctrine that God created man in his own image, male and female, and consequently that the divine nature comprised the two sexes within itself, fulfils all the conditions requisite to constitute a catholic theological dogma, inasmuch as it may truly be affirmed of it, that it has been held ‘semper, ubique, et ab omnibus,’ being universal as the phenomenon to which it owes its existence.

“How essential to the consistency of the Catholic system is this doctrine of duality you may judge by the shortcomings of the theologies which reject it. Unitarianism blunders alike in regard to the Trinity and the Duality. Affecting to see in God a Father, it denies him the possibility of having either spouse or offspring. More rational than such a creed as this was the primitive worship of sex, as represented by the male and female principles in nature. In no gross sense was the symbolism of such a system conceived, gross as its practice may have become, and as it would appear to the notions of modern conventionalism. For no religion is founded upon intentional depravity. Searching back for the origin of life, men stopped at the earliest point to which they could trace it, and exalted the reproductive organs into symbols of the Creator. The practice was at least calculated to procure respect for a side of nature liable under an exclusively spiritual regime to be relegated to undue contempt.

“It appears certain that the names of the Hebrew deity bear the sense I have indicated; El, the root of Elhoim, the name under which God was known to the Israelites prior to their entry into Canaan, signifying the masculine sex only; while Jahveh, or Jehovah, denotes both sexes in combination. The religious rites practised by Abraham and Jacob prove incontestably their adherence to this, even then, ancient mode of symbolising deity; and though after the entry into Canaan, the leaders and reformers of the Israelites strove to keep the people from exchanging the worship of their own divinity for that of the exclusively feminine principle worshipped by the Canaanites with unbridled licence under the name of Ashera, yet the indigenous religion became closely incorporated with the Jewish; and even Moses himself fell back upon it when, yielding to a pressing emergency, he gave his sanction to the prevailing Tree and Serpent worship by his elevation of a brazen serpent upon a pole or cross. For all portions of this structure constitute the most universally accepted symbols of sex in the world.

“It is to India that we must go for the earliest traces of these things. The Jews originated nothing, though they were skilful appropriators and adapters of other men’s effects. Brahma, the first person in the Hindoo Triad, was the original self-existent being, inappreciable by sense, who commenced the work of creation by creating the waters with a thought, as described in the Institutes of Manu. The waters, regarded as the source of all subsequent life, became identified with the feminine principle in nature—whence the origin of the mystic rite of baptism—and the atmosphere was the divine breath or spirit. The description in Genesis of the Spirit of God moving upon the face of the waters, indicates the influence upon the Jews of the Hindoo theogony to which they had access through Persia.

“The twofold name of Jehovah also finds a correspondence in the Arddha-Nari, or incarnation of Brahma, who is represented in sculptures as containing in himself the male and female organisms. And the worship of the implements of fecundity continues popular in India to this day. The same idea underlies much of the worship of the ancient Greeks, finding expression in the symbols devoted to Apollo or the sun, and in their androgynous sculptures. Aryan, Scandinavian, and Semitic religions were alike pervaded by it, the male principle being represented by the sun, and the female by the moon, which was variously personified by the virgins, Ashtoreth or Astarte, Diana, and others, each of whom, except in the Scandinavian mythology, where the sexes are reversed, had the moon for her special symbol. Similarly, the allegory of Eden finds one of its keys in the phenomena of sex, as is demonstrated by the ancient Syrian sculptures of Ashera, or the Grove; and ‘the tree of life in the midst of the garden’ forms the point of departure for beliefs which have lasted thousands of years, and which have either spread from one source over, or been independently originated in, every part of the habitable globe.”[20]

It is evident that this worship is of the most extremely ancient character and that it was based originally upon ideas that had nothing gross and debasing in them. It is true that it at various times assumed indelicate forms and was associated with much that was of the most degrading character, but the first idea was only to use for religious purposes that which seemed the most apt emblem of creation and regeneration. “Is it strange,” asks a lady writer, “that they regarded with reverence the great mystery of human birth? Were they impure thus to regard it? Or, are we impure that we do not so regard it? Let us not smile at their mode of tracing the infinite and incomprehensible cause throughout all the mysteries of nature, lest by so doing we cast the shadow of our own grossness on their patriarchal simplicity.”

It became with this very much as it does with all symbolism, more or less, that is to say from the worship of that which was symbolised, it degenerated to the worship of the emblem itself.

But the ancient Egyptians exerted themselves considerably to restrain within certain bounds of propriety the natural tendency of this worship and we find them allowing it to embrace only the masculine side of humanity, afterwards, as was perhaps only to be expected, the feminine was introduced. Then, as particularly exhibited in the case of India, it gradually became nothing more or less than a vehicle for satisfying the licentious desires of the most degrading of both sexes.

It is wonderful, however, the extraordinary hold these ideas attained upon the human mind, whether they entered into the religious conceptions of the people, or pandered to vicious desires under the mere cloak of religion. The Tetrabiblos of Ptolemy (four books relative to Starry Influences), speaking of the countries India, Ariana, Gedrosia, Parthia, Media, Persia, Babylon, Mesopotamia, and Assyria, says:—“Many of them practise divination, and devote their genitals to their divinities because the familiarity of these planets renders them very libidinous.”

Nor must we forget the peculiar sacredness with which in the early Jewish Church these organs were always regarded,—that is, the male organs. Injury of them disqualified the unfortunate victim from ministering in the congregation of the Lord, and the severest punishment was meted out to the criminal who should be guilty of causing such injury. Thus in the book of Deuteronomy, chap. xxv., 11, 12, we read:—“When men strive together one with another, and the wife of the one draweth near for to deliver her husband out of the hand of him that smiteth him, and putteth forth her hand, and taketh him by the secrets: then thou shalt cut off her hand, thine eye shall not pity her.” And this was not to be an act of revenge on the part of the injured man, but was to be the legal penalty duly enforced by the civil magistrate. It is very extraordinary, for it appears that such an injury inflicted upon an enemy—and evidently it meant the disablement of the man from the act of sexual intercourse—was regarded as even more serious than the actual taking of life in self-defence. The degradation attached to the man thus mutilated was greater than could otherwise be visited upon him—all respect for him vanished and he was henceforward regarded as an abomination.

Such mutilation has always been common in heathen nations—similarly regarded as amongst the Hebrews, but used as the greatest mark of indignity possible to inflict upon an enemy—some of the Egyptian bas-reliefs represent the King (Rameses II.) returning in triumph with captives, many of whom are undergoing the operation of castration, while in the corners of the scene are heaped up piles of the genital organs which have been cut off by the victors. Some of the North American Indians, particularly the Apaches of California and Arizona, have been noted for their frequent use of the same barbarous practice on the prisoners taken in war and upon the bodies of the slain.

We get a similar instance in Israelitish history as recorded in the first book of Samuel, where Saul being afraid of David, sought a favourable opportunity to get him slain by the Philistines. There is the story of the love of Michal, Saul’s daughter, for David, and the use Saul endeavoured to make of that fact in carrying out his evil designs. The news that Michal had thus fallen in love, pleased Saul, and he said, “I will give him her, that she may be a snare to him and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” So David was told that the King would make him his son-in-law. But it was customary in those times for the bridegroom to give a dowry instead of as at other times and in other places, to receive one, and David immediately raised the objection that this was out of his power as he was but a poor man. This was Saul’s opportunity and his message was, “the King desireth not any dowry, but an hundred foreskins of the Philistines. But Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines.” Of course this involved the slaughter of a hundred of the enemy, and Saul made sure in attempting such a task, David would fall before odds so terribly against him. In commanding the foreskins to be brought to him Saul made sure that they would be Philistines who were slain, they being almost the only uncircumcised people about him. This proposal, however, it seems, did not alarm David in the least, he went forth at once on his terrible mission and actually brought back thrice the number of foreskins required of him by the King. This is not the only case on record of such a mutilation; mention is made by Gill the commentator of an Asiatic writer who speaks of a people that cut off the genital parts of men, and gave them to their wives for a dowry.

So sacred was the organ in question deemed in ancient times, especially in Israel, that it was used as the means of administering the most binding form of oath then known. It is described as putting the hand upon the thigh, and instances are found in Genesis xxiv., 2, and xlvii., 29. In the former of these passages Abraham requires his elder servant to put his hand under his thigh and take an oath respecting the wife he would seek for his son Isaac. In the second passage, it is Jacob requiring his son Joseph to perform a similar action; in each case what is meant is that the genital organ, the symbol of the Creator and the object of worship among all ancient nations was to be touched in the act of making the promise.

But, as we have pointed out, there is another side to this matter, the worship of the male organ was only one part; the female organs of generation were revered as symbols of the generative power of God. They are usually represented emblematically by the shell, or Concha Veneris, which was therefore worn by devout persons of antiquity, as it still continues to be by pilgrims and many of the common women of Italy. The union of both was expressed by the hand, mentioned in Sir William Hamilton’s letter, which, being a less explicit symbol, has escaped the attention of the reformers, and is still worn as well as the shell by women of Italy, though without being understood. It represented the act of generation, which was considered as a solemn sacrament in honour of the Creator.

Some of the forms used to represent the sacti or female principle, are very peculiar yet familiar to many who may not understand them. Indeed, as Inman says, “the moderns, who have not been initiated in the sacred mysteries, and only know the emblems considered sacred, have need of both anatomical knowledge and physiological lore ere they can see the meaning of many a sign.”

As already stated, the triangle with its apex uppermost represents the phallic triad; with its base uppermost, the Mons Veneris, the Delta, or the door by which all come into the world. Dr. Inman says:—“As a scholar, I had learned that the Greek letter Delta ([symbol]) is expressive of the female organ both in shape and idea. The selection of name and symbol was judicious, for the word Daleth and Delta signify the door of a house and the outlet of a river, while the figure reversed ([symbol]) represents the fringe with which the human Delta is overshadowed”—this Delta is simply another word for the part known as Concha, a shell. This Concha or Shank is one of the most important of the Eastern symbols, and is found repeated again and again in almost everything connected with the Hindu Pantheon. Plate vi. of Moor’s elaborately illustrated work on the Indian deities represents it as seen in the hands of Vishnu and his consort. The god is represented like all the solar deities with four hands, and standing in an arched doorway. The head-dress is of serpents; in one of the right hands is the diamond form the symbol of the Creator; in one of the left hands is the large Concha and in the other right hand, the great orb of the day; the shell is winged and has a phallic top.

This shell is said to have been the first priestly bell, and it is even now the Hindoo church-bell, in addition to gongs and trumpets. It comes specially into use when the priest performs his ceremonies before the Lingam; it is blown when he is about to anoint the emblem, like a bell is used in some Christian churches in the midst of ceremonies of particular importance and solemnity.

The female principle, or sacred Sacti, is also represented by a figure like that called a sistrum, a Hebrew musical instrument, sometimes translated cornet. Inman contends in spite of much opposition from his friends that this represents the mother who is still virgo intacta. He points out that in some things it embodies a somewhat different idea to the Yoni, the bars across it being bent so that they cannot be taken out, this showing that the door is closed.

The secret of this peculiar worship seems to lie in the fact, ever so prominent in all that has to do with the social and religious life of the Eastern, of an intense desire for offspring. In harmony with this is the frequent promise in the Scriptures of an abundance of children and the declaration of happiness of the man so blessed. One instance may be noted as recorded in Genesis xiii., 16, the promise to Abram: “I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.” None the less fervent—perhaps even more so—is the desire of the Indian to possess and leave behind him a progeny who shall not only succeed to his worldly acquisitions, but by religious exercises help forward his happiness in the region of the departed.

It is said that in this part of the world, a constant topic of conversation amongst the men is their physical power to propagate their race, and that upon this matter physicians are more frequently consulted than upon any other. “Not only does the man think thus, but the female has her thoughts directed to the same channel, and there has been a special bell invented by Hindoo priests for childless females.” Some kindred belief seems to be held or suggested by the practices of the Mormon community, in which large numbers of women are united in marriage to one man. In Genesis xxx., Rachel seeing that she bore no children is described as envying her sister, and saying to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I die.” Again 1 Samuel i., 10, 11: “And she (Hannah) was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore. And she vowed a vow, and said, ‘O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but will give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the Lord, &c.’” And so on; instances could be multiplied largely, but it is unnecessary.

With many of the eastern women it was a matter of the highest consequence that they have children, as failing to do so it was strictly within the legal rights of the husband at once to put away his wife by a summary divorce, or at any rate to take a concubine into his home in order that he might not go childless; the woman who proved hopelessly barren became an object of contempt or commiseration to all about her, and her life a scene of prolonged shame and misery. And so, in certain parts of the world, arose sex worship, the idea being that by the worship of the organs of generation the misfortune of barrenness might be avoided. The priests were not slow to avail themselves of a ready means of adding to their reputation and influence and increasing their revenues, and women, who for some cause or another had hitherto been without offspring, were encouraged to visit the temples and make their proper offerings, and go through the prescribed ceremonies for curing their sterility. As willing as the women were for all this, were the men, and though sometimes the defect lay in themselves physically, it is said that the arrangements at the temples were such as almost invariably succeeded in making the wives mothers.

“If abundance of offspring was promised as a blessing,” says Dr. Inman, “it is clear to the physiologist that the pledge implies abundance of vigour in the man as well as in the woman. With a husband incompetent, no wife could be fruitful. The condition, therefore, of the necessary organs was intimately associated with the divine blessing or curse, and the impotent man then would as naturally go to the priest to be cured of his infirmity as we of to-day go to the physician. We have evidence that masses have been said, saints invoked, and offerings presented, for curing the debility we refer to, in a church in Christianised Italy during the last hundred years, and in France so late as the sixteenth century,—evident relics of more ancient times.”

“Whenever a votary applied to the oracle for help to enable him to perform his duties as a prospective father, or to remove that frigidity which he had been taught to believe was a proof of Divine displeasure, or an evidence of his being bewitched by a malignant demon, it is natural to believe that the priest would act partly as a man of sense, though chiefly as a minister of God. He would go through, or enjoin attendance on certain religious ceremonies—would sell a charmed image, or use some holy oil, invented and blessed by a god or saint, as was done at Isernia—or he would do something else.”

Intimately connected with the worship of the male and female powers of generation is the sacred prostitution which was practised so generally by some of the ancient nations, and of which we have details in the classics. The information given by Herodotus respecting the women of Babylonia reads strange indeed to those who are acquainted only with modern codes of morals, and to whom the special and essential features of phallic faiths are unknown. This author describes it as a shameful custom, but he informs us of it as an indisputable fact, that every woman born in the country was compelled at least once in her life to go and sit in the precinct of Venus, and there consort with a stranger. Rich and poor alike had to conform to this rule—the ugly and the beautiful, the attractive and the repulsive. A peculiarity of the custom was that once having entered the sacred enclosure, the woman was not allowed to return home until she had paid the debt which the law prescribed as due from her to the state; the result of this was that those who were the happy possessors of personal charms seldom were detained very long, while the plain-featured and unattractive ones were sometimes several years before they could obtain their release. We are told that the wealthier women, too proud to associate with the lower class, though obliged to undergo the same ordeal, would drive to the appointed place in covered carriages with a considerable retinue of servants, there making as much display as possible of their rank and wealth in order to overawe the commoner class of men, and drive them to females of humbler rank; they sat in their carriages while crowds of poorer people sat within the holy enclosure with wreaths of string about their heads. The scene was at once strange and animated; numbers of both sexes were coming and going; and lines of cords marked out paths in all directions in which the women sat, and along which the strangers passed in order to make their choice. Patiently or impatiently, as the case may be, the female waited till some visitor, taking a fancy to her, fixed upon her as his chosen sacrifice by throwing a piece of silver into her lap and saying, “The goddess Mylitta prosper thee.” (Mylitta being the Assyrian name for Venus). The coin need not be of any particular size or value, but it is obligatory upon her to receive it, because when once thrown it is sacred. Nor could the woman exercise any choice as to whom she could go with, the first who threw the coin had a legal title to her, and the law compelled her submission. But having once obeyed the law, she was free for the rest of her life, and nothing in the shape of a bribe, however extensive, would persuade her to grant further favours to any one.

There is an allusion to this custom in the book of Baruch (vi., 43), where it is said:—“The women also with cords about them, sitting in the ways, burn bran for perfume; but if any of them, drawn by some that passeth by, lie with him, she reproaches her fellow that she was not thought worthy as herself, nor her cords broken.” Strabo in his sixteenth book testifies to the same effect, and he says that the custom dated from the foundation of the city of Babylon. The same writer states also that both Medes and Armenians adopted all the sacred rites of the Persians, but that the Armenians paid particular reverence to Anaitis, and built temples to her honour in several places, especially in Acilisene. They dedicated there to her service male and female slaves, and in this, Strabo says, there was nothing remarkable, but that it was surprising that persons of the highest rank in the nation consecrated their virgin daughters to the goddess. It was customary for these women, after being prostituted a long time at the temple of Anaitis, to be disposed of in marriage, no one disdaining a connection with such a person. He mentions what Herodotus says about the Lydian women, all of whom, he adds, prostituted themselves. But they treated their paramours with much kindness, entertaining them hospitably and frequently, making a return of more presents than they received, being amply supplied with means derived from their wealthy connexions. The Lydians indeed appear to have devoted themselves with the most shameless effrontery, for they not only attended the sacred fÊtes occasionally for the purpose, but practised prostitution for their own benefit. A splendid monument to Alyattes, the father of Croesus, built by the merchants, the artizans, and the courtesans, was chiefly paid for by the contributions of the latter, which far exceeded those of the others put together.

It has been asserted by some writers that sacred prostitution was not practised in Egypt, but so much is known of the character of certain acts of worship in that country that the statement is regarded as of little worth. The worship of Osiris and Isis, which was very much like that of Venus and Adonis, was attended with excesses that indicate a very abandoned state of things. It is known that when the pilgrims were on their way to the fÊtes of Isis at Bubastis, the females indulged in the most indecent dances as the vessels passed the riverside villages, and historians declare that those obscenities were only such as were about to happen at the temple, which was visited each year by seven hundred thousand pilgrims, who gave themselves up to incredible excesses.

It cannot be shewn that the motive leading to what is called sacred prostitution was the same in all countries; in India, for example, it appears to have had very much to do with the desire for children which we have described as common with the easterns; so common was it that the one object of woman’s life was marriage and a family. This, and the more rapid development of the female in that part of the world than in others, and the impression that dying childless she would fail to fulfil her mission lies at the basis of the early betrothals and marriages which appear so repulsive and absurd to European ideas. There is a further desire, however, than that of simply having children, especially in India; the desire is for male children, and where these fail, it is common for a man to adopt a son, and in this his motive is a religious one. According to prevalent superstition, it is held that the future beatitude of the Hindu depends upon the performance of his obsequies, and payment of his debts, by a son, as a means of redeeming him from an instant state of suffering after death. The dread is of a place called Put, a place of horror, to which the manes of the childless are supposed to be doomed; there to be tormented with hunger and thirst, for want of those oblations of food, and libations of water, at prescribed periods, which it is the pious and indispensable duty of a son to offer.

The “Laws of Manu” (Ch. ix., 138), state:—“A son delivers his father from the hell called Put, he was therefore called puttra (a deliverer from Put) by the Self-existent (SvayambhÛ) himself.” The sage Mandagola is represented as desiring admission to a region of bliss, but repulsed by the guards who watch the abode of progenitors, because he had no male issue. The “Laws of Manu” illustrate this by the special mention of heaven being attained without it as of something extraordinary. Ch. v., 159, “Many thousands of Brahmanas, who were chaste from their youth, have gone to heaven without continuing their race.”Sir Thomas Strange, many years ago Chief Justice of Madras, wrote very fully concerning the Hindu law of inheritance and adoption, and we learn from this great authority that marriage failing in this, its most important object (that is to say securing male issue), in order that obsequies in particular might not go unperformed, and celestial bliss be thereby forfeited, as well for ancestors as for the deceased, dying without leaving legitimate issue begotten, the old law was provident to excess, whence the different sorts of sons enumerated by different authorities, all resolving themselves, with Manu, into twelve, that is the legally begotten, and therefore not to be separately accounted:—all formerly, in their turn and order, capable of succession, for the double purpose of obsequies, and of inheritance. Failing a son, a Hindu’s obsequies may be performed by his widow; or in default of her, by a whole brother or other heirs; but according to the conception belonging to the subject, not with the same benefit as by a son. That a son, therefore, of some description is, with him, in a spiritual sense, next to indispensable is abundantly certain. As for obtaining one in a natural way, there is an express ceremony that takes place at the expiration of the third month of pregnancy, marking distinctly the importance of a son born, so is the adopting of one as anxiously inculcated where prayers and ceremonies for the desired issue have failed in their effect.

The extreme importance to the Hindu of having male offspring, and the desire to get such children as the result of marriage rather than by adoption—a practice allowed and inculcated as a last resort, has led to that extensive prevalence of Lingam worship which is such a conspicuous feature in India. In nearly every part of that vast empire are to be seen reproductions of the emblem in an infinite variety of form, and so totally free from the most remotely indecent character are they, that strangers are as a rule totally ignorant of their meaning. We have even known, within the last few years, specimens of the smaller emblems being put up for sale in this country, of whose meaning the auctioneer professes himself for the most part ignorant, volunteering no other statement than that they were charms in some way connected with Hindu customs and worship.

It is—being a representation of the male organ—represented, of course, in a conical form, and is of every size, from half-an-inch to seventy feet, and of all materials, such as stone, wood, clay, metal, &c. Lingas are seen of enormous size; in the caves of Elephanta for instance, marking unequivocally that the symbol in question is at any rate as ancient as the temple, as they are of the same rock as the temple itself; both, as well as the floor, roof, pillars, pilastres, and its numerous sculptured figures, having been once one undistinguished mass of granite, which excavated, chiselled, and polished, produced the cavern and forms that are still contemplated with so much surprise and admiration. The magnitude of the cones, too, further preclude the idea of subsequent introduction, and together with gigantic statues of Siva and his consort, more frequent and more colossal than those of any other deity, necessarily coeval with the excavation, indicate his paramount adoration and the antiquity of his sect. Lingas are seen also of diminutive size for domestic adoration, or for personal use; some individuals always carrying one about with them, and in some Brahman families, one is daily constructed in clay, placed after due sanctification by appropriate ceremonies and prayers, in the domestic shrine, or under a tree or shrub sacred to Siva, the Bilva more especially, and honoured by the adoration of the females of the household.

It is rather singular that while many Hindus worship the deity of male and female in one, there are distinct sects which worship either the Lingam or the Yoni; the first being apparently the same as the phallic emblem of the Greeks, the membrum virile: and the latter pudendum muliebre.

The interesting ceremony connected with the obsequies which we have just said can be the most effectually performed by a male child, and which gives rise to the intense longing both on the part of husband and wife for such offspring, is called Sradha, and is of daily recurrence with individuals who rigidly adhere to the ritual. It is offered in honour of deceased ancestors, but not merely in honour of them, but for their comfort; as the Manes, as well as the gods connected with them, enjoy, like the gods of the Greeks, the incense of such offerings, which are also of an expiatory nature, similar, it is said, to the masses of the Church of Rome. Over these ceremonies of Sradhi presides Yama, in his character of Sradhadeva, or lord of the obsequies. It is not within our province to give a detailed account of these ceremonies, but owing to their connection with the subject generally of our book, a brief outline will no doubt prove interesting.

A dying man, when no hopes of his surviving remain, should be laid upon a bed of cusa grass, either in the house or out of it, if he be a Sudra, but in the open air, if he belong to another tribe. When he is at the point of death, donations of cattle, land, gold, silver, or other things, according to his ability, should be made by him; or if he be too weak, by another person in his name. His head should be sprinkled with water drawn from the Ganges, and smeared with clay brought from the same river. A Salagrama stone ought to be placed near the dying man; holy strains from the Veda or from the sacred poems should be repeated aloud in his ears; and leaves of holy basil must be scattered over his head.

Passing over the ceremonial more especially connected with the burning of the corpse as not particularly relative to our subject, we proceed. After the body has been burnt, all who have touched or followed the corpse, must walk round the pile keeping their left hands towards it, and taking care not to look at the fire. They then walk in procession, according to seniority, to a river or other running water, and after washing, and again putting on their apparel, they advance into the stream. They then ask the deceased’s brother-in-law, or some other person able to give the proper answer, “Shall we present water?” If the deceased were a hundred years old, the answer must be simply, “do so:” but if he were not so aged, the reply is “do so, but do not repeat the oblation.” Upon this they all shift the sacerdotal string to the right shoulder, and looking towards the south, and being clad in a single garment without a mantle, they stir the water with the ring finger of the left hand, saying, “waters, purify us.” With the same finger of the right hand, they throw up some water towards the south, and after plunging once under the surface of the river, they rub themselves with their hands. An oblation of water must be next presented from the jointed palms of the hands, naming the deceased and the family from which he sprung, and saving “may this oblation reach thee.”

After finishing the usual libations of water to satisfy the manes of the deceased, they quit the river and shift their wet clothes for other apparel; they then sip water without swallowing it, and sitting down on soft turf, alleviate their sorrow by the recital of such moral sentences as the following, refraining at the same time from tears and lamentation:—

1. Foolish is he, who seeks permanence in the human state, unsolid like the stem of a plantain tree, transient like the foam of the sea.

2. When a body, formed of fine elements to receive the rewards of deeds done in its own former person, reverts to its fine original principles; what room is there for regret.

3. The earth is perishable; the ocean, the Gods themselves pass away: how should not that bubble, mortal man, meet destruction.

4. All that is low, must finally perish; all that is elevated, must ultimately fall; all compound bodies must end in dissolution; and life is concluded with death.

5. Unwillingly do the manes of the deceased taste the tears and rheum shed by their kinsmen: then do not wait, but diligently perform the obsequies of the dead.

All the kinsmen of the deceased, within the sixth degree of consanguinity, should fast for three days and nights; or one at the least. However if that be impracticable, they may eat a single meal at night, purchasing the food ready prepared, but on no account preparing the victuals at home. So long as the mourning lasts, the nearest relations of the deceased must not exceed the daily meal, nor eat flesh-meat, nor any food seasoned with fictitious salt; they must use a plate made of leaves of any tree but the plantain, or else take their food from the hands of some other persons; they must not handle a knife or any other implement made of iron; nor sleep upon a bedstead; nor adorn their persons; but remain squalid, and refrain from perfumes and other gratifications: they must likewise omit the daily ceremonies of ablution and divine worship. On the third and fifth days, as also on the seventh and ninth, the kinsmen assemble, bathe in the open air, offer tila and water to the deceased, and take a repast together: they place lamps at cross roads, and in their own houses, and likewise on the way to the cemetery; and they observe vigils in honour of the deceased.

On the last day of mourning, or earlier in those countries where the obsequies are expedited on the second or third day, the nearest kinsman of the deceased gathers his ashes after offering a sradha singly for him.In the first place, the kinsman smears with cow-dung the spots where the oblation is to be presented; and after washing his hands and feet, sipping water and taking up cusa grass in his hand, he sits down on a cushion pointed towards the south, and placed upon a blade of cusa grass, the tip of which must also point towards the south. He then places near him a bundle of cusa grass, consecrated by pronouncing the word namah! or else prepares a fire for oblations. Then lighting a lamp with clarified butter or with oil of sesamum, and arranging the food and other things intended to be offered, he must sprinkle himself with water, meditating on Vishnu, surnamed the lotos-eyed, or revolving in his mind this verse, “Whether pure or defiled, or wherever he may have gone, he, who re-enters the being whose eyes are like the lotos, shall be pure externally and internally.” Shifting the sacerdotal cord on his right shoulder, he takes up a brush of cusa grass and presents water together with tila and with blossoms, naming the deceased and the family from which he sprung, and saying “may this water for ablutions be acceptable to thee.” Then saying “may this be right,” he pronounces a vow or solemn declaration. “This day I will offer on a bundle of cusa grass (or, if such be the custom, ‘on fire’) a sradha for a single person, with unboiled food, together with clarified butter and with water, preparatory to the gathering of the bones of such a one deceased.” The priests answering “do so,” he says “namÓ! namah!” while the priests meditate the gayatri and thrice repeat, “Salutation to the Gods; to the manes of ancestors, and to mighty saints; to SwÁhÁ [goddess of fire]: to SwÁdhÁ [the food of the manes]: salutation unto them for ever and ever.”

He then presents a cushion made of cusa grass, naming the deceased and saying “may this be acceptable to thee;” and afterwards distributes meal of sesamum, while the priests recite “May the demons and fierce giants that sit on this consecrated spot, be dispersed; and the bloodthirsty savages that inhabit the earth; may they go to any other place, to which their inclinations may lead them.”

Placing an oval vessel with its narrowest end towards the south, he takes up two blades of grass; and breaking off a span’s length, throws them into the vessel; and after sprinkling them with water, makes a libation while the priests say, “May divine waters be auspicious to us for accumulation, for gain, and for refreshing draughts; may they listen to us, and grant that we may be associated with good auspices.” He then throws tila while the priests say, “Thou art tila, sacred to Soma; framed by the divinity, thou dost produce celestial bliss [for him, that makes oblations]; mixed with water may thou long satisfy our ancestors with the food of the manes, be this oblation efficacious.” He afterwards silently casts into the vessel, perfumes, flowers, and durva grass. Then taking up the vessel with his left hand, putting two blades of grass on the cushion, with their tips pointed to the north, he must pour the water from the argha thereon. The priests meantime recite:—“The waters in heaven, in the atmosphere, and on the earth, have been united [by their sweetness] with milk; may those silver waters, worthy of oblation, be auspicious, salutary, and exhilarating to us; and be happily offered: may this oblation be efficacious.” He adds namah, and pours out the water, naming the deceased and saying, “may this argha be acceptable unto thee.” Then oversetting the vessel, and arranging in due order the unboiled rice condiments, clarified butter, and the requisites, he scatters tila, while the priests recite “Thrice did Vishnu step, &c.” He next offers the rice, clarified butter, water and condiments, while he touches the vessel with his left hand, and names the deceased, saying, “may this raw food, with clarified butter and condiments, together with water, be acceptable unto thee.” After the priests have repeated the gayatri preceded by the names of the worlds, he pours honey or sugar upon the rice, while they recite this prayer, “may the winds blow sweet, the rivers flow sweet, and salutary herbs be sweet, unto us; may night be sweet, may the mornings pass sweetly; may the soil of the earth, and heaven parent [of all productions], be sweet unto us; may [Soma] king of herbs and trees be sweet: may the sun be sweet, may kine be sweet unto us.” He then says “namÓ! namah!” While the priests recite “whatever may be deficient in this food; whatever may be imperfect in this rite; whatever may be wanting in this form; may all that become faultless.”

He should then feed the Brahmanas, whom he has assembled, either silently distributing food amongst them, or adding a respectful invitation to them to eat. When he has given them water to rinse their mouths, he may consider the deceased as fed through their intervention. The priests again recite the gayatri and the prayer “may the winds blow sweet,” &c., and add the prescribed prayers, which should be followed by the music of flageolets, lutes, drums, &c.

Taking in his left hand another vessel containing tila, blossoms and water, and in his left hand a brush made of cusa grass, he sprinkles water over the grass spread on the consecrated spot, naming the deceased and saying “May this ablution be acceptable to thee:” he afterwards takes a cake or ball or food mixed with clarified butter, and presents it saying, “May this cake be acceptable to thee,” and deals out the food with this prayer; “Ancestors, rejoice; take your respective shares, and be strong as bulls.” Then walking round by the left to the northern side of the consecrated spot, and meditating, “Ancestors, be glad; take your respective shares, and be strong as bulls,” he returns by the same road, and again sprinkles water on the ground to wash the oblation, saying, “May this ablution be acceptable to thee.”

Next, touching his hip with his elbow, or else his right side, and having sipped water, he must make six libations of water with the hollow palms of his hands, saying, “Salvation unto thee, O deceased, and unto the saddening [hot] season; salvation unto thee, O deceased, and unto the month of tapas [or dewy season]; salvation unto thee, O deceased, and unto that [season] which abounds with water; salvation unto thee, O deceased, and to the nectar [of blossoms]; salvation unto thee, O deceased, and to the terrible and angry [season]; salvation unto thee, O deceased, and to female fire [or the sultry season].”

He next offers a thread on the funeral cake, holding the wet brush in his hand, naming the deceased, and saying, “May this raiment be acceptable to thee;” the priests add, “Fathers, this apparel is offered unto you.” He then silently strews perfumes, blossoms, resin, and betel leaves, as the funeral cake, and places a lighted lamp on it. He sprinkles water on the bundle of grass, saying, “May the waters be auspicious;” and offers rice, adding, “May the blossoms be sweet: may the rice be harmless;” and then pours water on it, naming the deceased and saying, “May this food and drink be acceptable unto thee.” In the next place he strews grass over the funeral cake, and sprinkles water on it, reciting this prayer: “Waters! ye are the food of our progenitors; satisfy my parents, ye who convey nourishment, which is ambrosia, butter, milk, cattle, and distilled liquor.” Lastly, he smells some of the food, and poises in his hand the funeral cakes, saying, “May this ball be wholesome food;” and concludes, paying the officiating priest his fee with a formal declaration, “I do give this fee (consisting of so much money) to such a one (a priest sprung from such a family, and who uses such a veda and such a sacha of it), for the purpose of fully completing the obsequies this day performed by me in honour of one person singly, preparatory to the gathering of the bones of such a one deceased.”After the priest has thrice said: “Salutation to the gods, to progenitors, to mighty saints, &c.,” he dismisses him; lights a lamp in honour of the deceased; meditates on Heri with undiverted attention; casts the food, and other things used at the obsequies, into the fire; and then proceeds to the cemetery for the purpose of gathering the ashes of the deceased.

So long as mourning lasts after gathering the ashes, the near relations of the deceased continue to offer water with the same formalities and prayers as already mentioned, and to refrain from factitious salt, butter, &c. On the last day of mourning, the nearest relation puts on neat apparel, and causes his house and furniture to be cleaned; he then goes out of the town, and after offering the tenth funeral cake, he makes ten libations of water from the palms of his hands; causes the hair of his head and body to be shaved, and his nails to be cut, and gives the barber the clothes which were worn at the funeral of the deceased, and adds some other remuneration. He then anoints his head and limbs, down to his feet, with oil of sesamum; rubs all his limbs with meal of sesamum, and his head with the ground pods of white mustard; he bathes, sips water, touches and blesses various auspicious things, such as stones, clarified butter, leaves of Nimba, white mustard, Durva grass, coral, a cow, gold, curds, honey, a mirror, and a couch, and also touches a bamboo staff. He now returns purified to his home, and thus completes the first obsequies of the deceased.

The second series of obsequies, commencing on the day after the period of mourning has elapsed, is opened by a lustration termed the consolatory ceremony. The lustration consists in the consecration of four vessels of water, and sprinkling therewith the house, the furniture, and the persons belonging to the family. After lighting a fire, and blessing the attendant Brahmanas, the priest fills four vessels with water, and, putting his hand into the first, meditates the gayatri, before and after reciting the following prayers: 1.—May generous waters be auspicious to us, for gain and for refreshing draughts; may they approach towards us, that we may be associated with good auspices. 2.—Earth afford us ease; be free from thorns; be habitable. Widely extended as thou art, procure us happiness. 3.—O waters! since ye afford delight, grant us food, and the rapturous sight [of the Supreme Being]. 4.—Like tender mothers, make us here partakers of your most auspicious essence.

Putting his hand into the second vessel, the priest meditates the gayatri, and the four prayers above quoted; adding some others, and concluding this second consecration of water by once more meditating the gayatri.

Then taking a lump of sugar and a copper vessel in his left hand, biting the sugar and spitting it out again, the priest sips water. Afterwards putting his hand into the third vessel, he meditates the gayatri and the four prayers above cited, interposing this: May Indra and Varuna [the regents of the sky and of the ocean] accept our oblations, and grant us happiness; may Indra and the cherishing sun grant us happiness in the distribution of food; may Indra and the moon grant us the happiness of attaining the road to celestial bliss, and the association of good auspices.

It is customary immediately after this lustration to give away a vessel of tila, and also a cow, for the sake of securing the passage of the deceased over the Vaitarani, or river of hell: whence the cow, so given, is called Vaitarani-dhenu. Afterwards a bed, with its furniture, is brought; and the giver sits down near the Brahmana, who has been invited to receive the present. After saying, “Salutation to this bed with its furniture; salutation to this priest, to whim it is given,” he pays due honour to the Brahmana in the usual form of hospitality. He then pours water into his hand, saying, “I give thee this bed with its furniture;” the priest replies, “give it.” Upon this he sprinkles it with water; and taking up the cusa grass, tila, and water, delivers them to the priest, pouring the water into his hand, with a formal declaration of the gift and its purpose; and again delivers a bit of gold with cusa grass, &c., making a similar formal declaration, 1.—This day, I, being desirous of obtaining celestial bliss for such a one defunct, do give unto thee, such a one, a Brahmana descended from such a family, to whom due honour has been shown, this bed and furniture, which has been duly honoured, and which is sacred to Vishnu. 2. This day I give unto thee (so and so) this gold, sacred to fire, as a sacerdotal fee, for the sake of confirming the donation I have made of this bed and furniture. The Brahmana both times replies “be it well.” Then lying upon the bed, and touching it with the upper part of his middle finger, he meditates the gayatri with suitable prayers, adding “This bed is sacred to Vishnu.”

With similar ceremonies and declarations he next gives away to a Brahmana, a golden image of the deceased, or else a golden idol, or both. Afterwards he distributes other presents among Brahmanas for the greater honour of the deceased. Of course, all this can only be done by rich people.

The principal remaining ceremonies consist chiefly of the obsequies called sradhas. The first set of funeral ceremonies is adopted to effect, by means of oblations, the reimbodying of the soul of the deceased, after burning his corpse. The apparent scope of the second is to raise his shade from this world (where it would else, according to the notions of the Hindus, continue to roam among demons and evil spirits), up to heaven, and there deify him, as it were, among the manes of departed ancestors. For this end, a sradha should regularly be offered to the deceased on the day after mourning expires; twelve other sradhas singly to the deceased in twelve successive months: similar obsequies at the end of the third fortnight, and also in the sixth month, and in the twelfth; and the oblation called Sapindana, on the first anniversary of his decease. In most provinces the periods for these sixteen ceremonies, and for the concluding obsequies entitled Sapindana, are anticipated, and the whole is completed on the second or third day. After which they are again performed at the proper times, but in honour of the whole set of progenitors, instead of the deceased singly. The obsequies intended to raise the shade of the deceased to heaven are thus completed. Afterwards, a sradha is annually offered to him on the anniversary of his decease.

What we have just described, elaborate as it looks, is simply an abridgment of the long and complicated ceremonies attendant upon the funeral and after obsequies of a rich man among the Hindus, but it is enough for our purpose. It shows the vast importance attached to those obsequies, and enables us to understand the desire on the part of these Hindus to have children who will in a proper and acceptable manner carry out these proceedings. We have already quoted from the sacred books to show that a son was regarded as better able to perform those duties than any other relation, and that failing such offspring in the ordinary course of nature, it was obligatory upon the would be father to adopt one.

Dulaure and some other writers describe a variety of ceremonies which were taken part in by the women in order to procure the children who would satisfy the cravings of their husbands. It is probable that a good deal of what took place at the shrines of heathen goddesses in other lands, arose from this anxiety, and not altogether from a merely licentious habit of character and disposition. It has been said, as we may have already suggested perhaps, that the priests connected with some of the temples resorted to by childless women for the cure of their misfortune, were cunning enough to provide for what was wanted in a more practical way than by the simple performance of certain ceremonies, and that where the failure to produce children was due to some fault on the part of the husband, means were at hand by which the woman soon found herself in the desired condition. It is rather singular that something very similar was found among the Jewish women in the time of Ezekiel, as we have found in India; the Indian woman sacrificed her virginity at the shrine of the Lingam, and in the 16th chapter of the prophet’s book, verse 17, we read:—“Thou didst take also thy fair jewels of my gold, and didst make to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them.” The latter, however, was evidently of a very different character to the former, being nothing more or less than the impure worship of Priapus as carried on in the orgies of Osiris, Bacchus, and Adonis, the images of the Hebrew women being such as the Priapi used in those ceremonies; on no account must those foolish and filthy practices be confounded with that act of worship which men in primitively simple condition rendered to the agents employed in the act of generation, which was innocently regarded as only one of the operations of nature.

The moral of this part of the subject, and with which for the present we take leave of it, is this, that the Eastern, from his views of the future life, deems it absolutely necessary that he should leave offspring, either real or adopted, behind him, to carry out the obligations imposed by his religion, and that in order to attain in the possession of what is to him such a blessing, he is called upon to propitiate in every possible manner the physical agents and powers employed in the process,—hence the rise and practice of phallic worship.

THE END.

Footnotes:

[1] See Dudley’s Naology.

[2] Edin. Rev., 1870, p. 239.

[3] Jewitt.

[4] Hawkins’ Sketch of the Creek Country.

[5] Myths of the New World.

[6] Jewitt in Art Journal, 1876.

[7] Quoted by Jewitt, in Art Journal, 1874.

[8] Lysons, Our British Ancestors.

[9] Cory, Mytho. Inquiry.

[10] Cory, Mytho. Inquiry.

[11] Faber, Orig. Pag. Idol.

[12] Meyrick’s Cardigan.

[13] Inman, Anc. Faiths. I.

[14] Rivers of Life.

[15] Dr. Beke.

[16] Dr. F. A. Cox.

[17] Ewald, Antiq. Israel.

[18] Mems. Anthrop. Soc. 1.

[19] Lewis. Origines Heb.

[20] Keys of the Creeds, V.