Saivism

“ These facts point to this origin of the threshold altar of covenant and sacrifice.
At present in India the most widely recognized visible aid in worship is the representation of the linga and the yoni combined. This symbol nominally stands for Siva; but that seems to be only because Saivism predominates in modern Hindooism. The idea of this symbolic combination long antedates this prominence of Siva worship. [529]
A form of Booddhist prayer in Tibet, said to be repeated more frequently than any other known among men, is “the six-syllabled sentence, ‘Om mani padme Hūm,’–‘Om! ”

“ As a caste they are open-handed and devout. In many houses, one pie in every rupee of profit is regularly set aside for charitable and religious expenditure, and a whip round for a caste-fellow in difficulties is readily responded to. By religion they are fervent Saivites, and many of the men proclaim the fact by wearing a rudrāksham (Elcsocarpus Ganitrus) fruit, usually set in gold, round their necks. Of late years they have spent very large sums upon several of the famous Saivite shrines in the Madras Presidency, notably those at Chidambaram,* [2] Madura, and Tiruvannāmalai. ”

“ DŪRGĀ
condition of Northern India must have driven many Brahmans and craftsmen from Aryāvarta to take service under the powerful Hindu monarchs of the south. The few classic examples at Elephanta, Ellora, and elsewhere are several centuries earlier. In the south, also, the traditions of the Saiva temple images survive to the present day, whereas in Northern India the Saivas, probably under the compulsion of Muhammadan rulers, generally substituted the lingam for iconic symbols of Siva. ”

“ In fine, the tribute you demand from Hindus is repugnant to justice; it is equally foreign to good policy, as it must impoverish the country."
The appeal, needless to say, was fruitless; but after a long and mutually disastrous war a sort of peace was patched up between the Râjputs and the Moghuls, leaving Aurungzebe free to attempt yet once again to repress the irrepressible Siva-ji, who by this time had been crowned King of the Mahrattas, and had become a still more ardent Hindu, minutely scrupulous to ceremonial and caste. ”

“ For deep-seated in human nature is the distinction which divides the philosophic thought of the few from the popular beliefs of the many. The creed of the Sivites in its purest form is the creed of an Impersonal Universal Being, ruling the Universe by immutable law; while the creed of the Vishnuites is that of a Personal God, tending his creatures with love, answering to their daily prayers, supplying their daily needs. If the ancient poetry of India reflected the faith of Siva, the modern literatures of India drew their first inspiration from the legends of Krishna. ”

“ The caste Pandārams are staunch Saivites and strict vegetarians. Those who lead a celibate life wear the lingam. They are said to have been originally Sōzhia Vellālas, with whom intermarriage still takes place. They are initiated into the Saivite religion by a rite called Dhīkshai, which is divided into five stages, viz., Samaya, Nirvāna, Visēsha, Kalāsothanai, and Achārya Abhishēkam. Some are temple servants, and supply flowers for the god, while others sing dēvaram (hymns to the god) during the temple service. ”

“ Akâshmukhi.—A Saiva sect so called because they keep their face (mukha) turned towards the sky (akâsha) until the neck muscles become rigid, and the head remains fixed in that position. Some live a lonely, mendicant life: others associate in monasteries, where their natural wants are provided for by the piety of the faithful. They allow the hair of their head and face to grow, cover their bodies with ashes, and wear clothes dyed with ochre (geru) .
Alakhgir, Alakhnâmi, Alakhiya.—A Saiva sect said to have been founded by a Chamâr, named Lâlgir. ”

“ A large number of important Saivaite temples are known to have been built during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, and inscriptions speak of many learned and holy men who were devoted to this worship. The movement was probably accentuated by the opposition of the Jains, who seem to have been very powerful in the Western Deccan, and in Mysore. An inscription which will be more fully noticed later on tells of the God Siva specially creating a man in order to "put a stop to the hostile observances of the Jains and Buddhists." ”

“ Moreover, there is considerable attempt to modernise the religion to fit the new age, and many of the people follow the King in believing that it can be made the basis for a modern state, and can unify and uplift the peoples. All that helps to build up a nation is welcomed in Siam, and Christianity therefore has an open door here as in Ceylon and Burma. Burma is tolerant, but Siam desires the friendship of Western peoples, and being independent is freer to develop along its own lines. ”

“ Elephanta, then, perpetuates the synthesis of Hinduism. How royal was the heart that could portray no part of his people's faith—even though it held his personal conviction and worship—without the whole ! Not Saivite alone, but Saivite, Vaishnavite, and the still remembered worshipper of Brahma, go to make up the Aryan congregation. All alike, it is felt, must be represented. ”

“ We all know that there is nothing more unlucky for an inferior than to see one greater than himself prostrated before him. It is even said in India that if this occurs to you, your head will at once roll off. So out of sheer mercy to the Overlord, Siva could not do homage, and probably afterwards forgot all about the occurrence. But the poor god did not understand His reason, and thenceforth counted Him his enemy, hating Him with all his heart. Now Duksha had had many daughters, but they were by this time all married, except the youngest, who was so good that she was known as Sati. ”

“ You and your two men shall become indunas [368] in the royal impi. Never before has a white man been worthy to be taken into a Swazi impi, and you shall be the first!"
This was a decided shock. I had never thought I would like to be a Swazi, even if I were an induna. In fact, I would not have enjoyed being King of Swaziland, with all the power that Buno had. But here we were face to face with the proposition of being forced to become indunas in the crack impi of the new King of Swaziland. Even the distinction of being the first white men to be admitted did not lessen the blow. ”

“ The bearer was not to be asked to carry trays of food, or the khansaman to trim the lamps; the masalchi had no responsibility with regard to the boots, or the sweeper with scullery concerns; and so on, and so forth. It was all very bewildering and made her nervous. She cared too little for India to take much trouble to improve her knowledge of the country or of the people, and was content to remain as an honoured guest in her own house, with her precious babe to worship and cherish with jealous devotion. ”

“ Sivaji is a kind of Indian Ilia Moorometz, though his epoch is much nearer to our times. He was the hero and the king of the Mahrattas in the seventeenth century, and the founder of their short-lived empire. It is to him that India owes the weakening, if not the entire destruction, of the Mussulman yoke. No taller than an ordinary woman, and with the hand of a child, he was, nevertheless, possessed of wonderful strength, which, of course, his compatriots ascribed to sorcery. ”

“ There is no spot in India so full of a nameless terror for the natives; for they hold that the Siwaliks, the strange hills in the dense depths of the Doon jungle, heaped over ruins of long-forgotten dead cities, are the tombs of a race of giants who lived before the creation of man, whose spirits, noxious with malefic powers, haunt the resting-places of their dust. ”

“ The reality of intercourse with the west is attested by Roman, Jewish, Nestorian and Mohammedan settlements, but on the other hand the Brahmans of Malabar are remarkable even according to Hindu standards for their strictness and aloofness. As I have pointed out elsewhere, the want of chronology in south Indian literature makes it difficult to sketch with any precision even the outlines of its religious history, but it is probable that Aryan religion came first in the form of Buddhism and Jainism and that Sivaism made its appearance only when the ground had been prepared by them. ”

“ In the Sandwich Islands the king, personating the god, utters oracular responses; and his power "extends over the property, liberty, and lives of his people." Various Asiatic rulers, whose titles ascribe to them divine descent and nature, stand in like relations to their peoples. In Siam "the king is master not only of the persons but really of the property of his subjects; he disposes of their labor and directs their movements at will." ”

“ It may seem strange that a religion whose outward ceremonies though unassuming and modest consist chiefly of the worship of the linga, should draw its adherents largely from the educated classes and be under no moral or social stigma. Yet as an idea, as a philosophy, Śivaism possesses truth and force. ”

“ The history of the Siwash is tradition, as it is with all aborigines. The early tales of the Norsemen, the Gaul, the Celt, are mere matters of history, perhaps distorted, but withal, history. The lower the order of the race, the lower its mental capacities, the more truth there is in the lore—the tales of its past. The incidents of their lives which collectively become their history, are handed down from father to son, from generation to generation, plain and unembellished. ”

“ Just as in the fable respecting Charles V, one of the local Indian traditions asserts that Sivaji is not dead, but lives secreted in one of the Sahiadra caves. When the fateful hour strikes (and according to the calculations of the astrologers the time is not far off) he will reappear, and will bring freedom to his beloved country.
The learned and artful Brahmans, those Jesuits of India, profit by the profound superstition of the masses to extort wealth from them, sometimes to the last cow, the only food giver of a large family. ”

“ India has always boasted of the constancy and devotion of the beautiful Savitri to her beloved Sattyavân. After the death of her husband, she followed his soul into the spirit-world with fearless devotion and pleaded with the King of Death with so much passion and persistence for his return to life that he was finally restored to her in youthful vigour. ”

“ This is no Bráhman, this is some god come to deceive me, for such things often happen in this world.
Story of king Śivi:--So in former times there was a king named Śivi, self-denying, compassionate, generous, resolute, the protector of all creatures; and in order to beguile him Indra assumed the shape of a hawk, and swiftly pursued Dharma,* [10] who by magic had transformed himself into a dove. The dove in terror went and took refuge in the bosom of Śivi. Then the hawk addressed the king with a human voice; 'O king, this is my natural food, surrender the dove to me, for I am hungry. ”

“ Of one like Siva, perfect, infinite!
'Tis ever thus, the Mighty and the Just
Are scorned by souls that grovel in the dust;
Their lofty goodness and their motives wise
Shine all in vain before such blinded eyes;
Say who is greater, he who strives for power,
Or he who succours in misfortune's hour?
Refuge of Worlds, how should Siva deign
To look on men enslaved to paltry gain?
The spring of wealth himself, he careth nought
For the vile treasures that mankind have sought ”

“ A year ago I was in Siam, and the king told me he meant to take the railway to Kong Khai. It will be the best thing for the salvation of his country, and there is no Englishman present who does not wish to see Siam strong, independent, and wealthy, and capable of holding its own. For my own part, I shall never cease to feel the greatest and warmest interest in that singularly attractive country, and my own opinion is, that it is the duty of every British Government to see that the integrity of that country is not wiped out, and that its vitality is maintained. ”

“ We have already observed that the principle of the design of Saiva or Dravidian temples is derived from the stūpa. The two leading types of Buddhist imagery, the Yogi and the Bodhisattva king, also appear in Saiva sculpture, with this difference, that, even when absorbed in meditation, Siva is never shown in temple images without the royal tiara. The Great Yogi is represented in the sculptures at Elephanta, and is thus shown as a crowned king; but in Saiva sacred literature he often appears in the ordinary guise of a Brahman ascetic. ”

“ Once more the Semitic scholars protested. There was no end to the extravagant fantasies of the Assyriologists! The learned world was comfortably convinced that none but a Semitic or Aryan people could have been the originators of civilization, and to assert that the Semites had borrowed their culture from a race which seemed to have affinities with Mongols or Tatars was an outrage upon established prejudices. The Semitic philologist was more certain [25] than ever that Assyrian decipherment was the folly of a few “untrained” amateurs, and could safely be disregarded. ”

“ Siva is the second of the Hindu deities, and represents the primitive animating and destroying forces of nature. His symbols relate to these powers, and are worshiped more especially by the Sivaites—a numerous sect of this religion. The worshipers of Vishnu, called the Preserver, the first-born of Brahma, constitute the most extensive sect of India, and their ideas relating to this form of the Divinity are represented by tradition and poetry, and are particularly developed in the great monuments of Sanskrit literature. ”