DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.636#0104
92 Saivism. Saiva Ceremonies.
arm was the sacred cord of three coils of cotton—the mark
of his second birth—and his right hand was inserted in a
GomukhT or bag. I asked what he was doing. ' He is
counting the beads of his rosary,' said a bystander, ' and each
time he tells a bead he repeats one of the 1008 names of the
god Siva, but this operation must on no account be seen, and
so the hand and rosary are concealed in the bag.'
No doubt he was muttering to himself, but in so low a tone
that no sound was audible; and his eyes were intently fixed, as
if in profound meditation, which neither my presence nor any-
thing passing around appeared to distract for a single instant.
Another devotee was also seated cross-legged outside the
entrance to the shrine, whose intoning of one of the Siva-
puranas and muttering of prayers (japa) was audible to every
one. He had before him a low wooden table, on which was
a Rudraksha rosary (see p. 82), a Linga-purana, a little
metal saucer of rice, a small lota of holy water on a three-
legged stand, a little spoon, a heap of Bilva leaves, a sacred
conch-shell (sankha)—sometimes blown like a horn or used as
a Saiva symbol, though usually appropriated to Vishnu—
three green mangoes, a small bell, a leaf full of dates, and a
little bag containing the Vibhuti or white ashes for marking
his forehead with the three Saiva streaks. While I was
taking this catalogue he took no notice of my proceedings,
but continued muttering his prayers with intense earnestness
as if quite abstracted from the world around him.
Though greatly interested in all I was allowed to witness,
I came away sick at heart. No one could be present at such
a scene without feeling depressed by the thought that, not-
withstanding all our efforts for the extension of education
and the diffusion of knowledge, we have as yet done little to
loosen the iron grip of idolatry and superstition on the masses
of the people. Indeed it would be easy to show that other
forms of Siva-worship are characterized by superstitious ob-
servances of a still lower type. Turn we, for example, to the
arm was the sacred cord of three coils of cotton—the mark
of his second birth—and his right hand was inserted in a
GomukhT or bag. I asked what he was doing. ' He is
counting the beads of his rosary,' said a bystander, ' and each
time he tells a bead he repeats one of the 1008 names of the
god Siva, but this operation must on no account be seen, and
so the hand and rosary are concealed in the bag.'
No doubt he was muttering to himself, but in so low a tone
that no sound was audible; and his eyes were intently fixed, as
if in profound meditation, which neither my presence nor any-
thing passing around appeared to distract for a single instant.
Another devotee was also seated cross-legged outside the
entrance to the shrine, whose intoning of one of the Siva-
puranas and muttering of prayers (japa) was audible to every
one. He had before him a low wooden table, on which was
a Rudraksha rosary (see p. 82), a Linga-purana, a little
metal saucer of rice, a small lota of holy water on a three-
legged stand, a little spoon, a heap of Bilva leaves, a sacred
conch-shell (sankha)—sometimes blown like a horn or used as
a Saiva symbol, though usually appropriated to Vishnu—
three green mangoes, a small bell, a leaf full of dates, and a
little bag containing the Vibhuti or white ashes for marking
his forehead with the three Saiva streaks. While I was
taking this catalogue he took no notice of my proceedings,
but continued muttering his prayers with intense earnestness
as if quite abstracted from the world around him.
Though greatly interested in all I was allowed to witness,
I came away sick at heart. No one could be present at such
a scene without feeling depressed by the thought that, not-
withstanding all our efforts for the extension of education
and the diffusion of knowledge, we have as yet done little to
loosen the iron grip of idolatry and superstition on the masses
of the people. Indeed it would be easy to show that other
forms of Siva-worship are characterized by superstitious ob-
servances of a still lower type. Turn we, for example, to the