Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Página 670

THE LINGAM ESTABLISHED
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like a clap of thunder, and they both died of grief
in the same position in which the gods and the peni-
Siva desired that the act
tents had surprised them.
which had covered him with shame, and which had been
the cause of his death, should be celebrated among
mankind.
My shame,' said he, has killed me but it has also
given me new life, and a new shape, which is that of the
You, evil spirits, my subjects, regard it as my
lingam
Yes, the lingam is I myself, and I ordain
double self
'
'
;
!
I
that men shall offer to it henceforth their sacrifices and
worship. Those who honour me under the symbol of the
lingam shall obtain, without fail, the object of all their
desires, and a place in Kailasa.
I am the Supreme Being,
and so is my lingam. To render to it the honours due to
a god is an action of the highest merit. The margosa-tree
If any one wish
is, of all trees, the one I love the best.
to obtain my favours, he must offer me the leaves, the
Hear once more, evil spirits,
flowers, and the fruit thereof.
my subjects. Those who fast on the fourteenth day of the
moon of the month Makha (February) in honour of my
lingam, and those who, on the following night, do puja,
and present to me leaves of the margosa-tree, shall be
certain of a place in Kailasa \
Hear yet again, evil spirits, my subjects. If you desire
to become virtuous, learn what are the benefits to be
derived from honour rendered to my lingam. Those who
make images of it with earth or cow-dung, or do puja to it
under this form, shall be rewarded those who make it in
stone shall receive seven times more reward, and shall
never behold the Prince of Darkness those who make it
in silver shall receive seven times more reward than the
and those who make it in gold shall be seven
last named
times more meritorious still.
Let my priests go and teach these truths to men, and
The
compel them to embrace the worship of my lingam
lingam is Siva himself it is white it has three eyes and
It existed before
five faces
it is arrayed in a tiger's skin.
the world, and it is the origin and the beginning of all
'
;
;
;
'
!
;
;
;
1
It
is
the bilva {Acglc Marmdos), not the margosa, which
Siva.— Ed.
is
sacred to