68 BENARES, THE SACRED CITY

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 snow-
line 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
Brahma, 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 incor-
porated with the Aryan religion at a very early period,
as both the Aitareya and Taittiriya Upanishads con-
tain references to it,1 enjoining phallic worship as a
step leading to a knowledge of the Absolute. But
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 Sakta sects, and in the cults of
Vishnu.

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-

1 Ait., p. 83, and Taitt., p no. (Anandasram Edit.)