Phallic Miscellanies Part 1

Phallic Miscellanies.

by Hargrave Jennings.

CHAPTER I.

India, the home of Phallic Wors.h.i.+p-Linga described-The Bull Nandi-Linga puja-Large and small Lingas-Antiquity of Linga-puja-Growth of the Hindu Pantheon-Siva, the Destroyer-Sacred Bulls-Shrine of Ek-Linga-Legend relating to rivers-The Churning of the sea-Variety of Forms of Siva-Deities of India-Origin of the Universe-Hindu Triad-Aum and O'M.-Jupiter Genitor-Attributes of Siva-Wors.h.i.+p of Osiris-Ident.i.ty of Egyptian, Grecian, and Indian deities-Hindoo Temples-Ceremonies.

India, beyond all other countries on the face of the earth, is pre-eminently the home of the wors.h.i.+p of the Phallus-the Linga puja; it has been so for ages and remains so still. This adoration is said to be one of the chief, if not the leading dogma of the Hindu religion, and there is scarcely a temple throughout the land which has not its Lingam, in many instances this symbol being the only form under which the deity of the sanctuary is wors.h.i.+pped.

Generally speaking, the Linga may be described as a smooth, round, black stone, apparently rising out of another stone, formed like an elongated saucer, though in reality sculptured from one block of basalt. The outline of this saucer-like stone, similar in form to what is called a jew's harp, is called Argha or Yoni: the upright stone, the type of the virile organ, is the Linga. The whole thing bears the name of Lingioni. This representation of the union of the s.e.xes, typifies the divine sacti, or active energy in union, the procreative generative power seen throughout nature; the earth being the primitive pudendum or yoni, which is fecundated by the solar heat, the sun-the primeval Lingam, to whose vivifying rays, men and animals, plants and the fruits of the earth owe their being and continued existence. Thus, according to the Hindus, the Linga is G.o.d and G.o.d is the Linga; the fecundator, the generator, the creator in fact.

Lingas are of all sizes and of various forms. Sometimes they are extremely minute, being then enclosed in small silver reliquaries, and worn as amulets or charms upon the breast or arm. At other times they are several inches in height, as in the domestic examples, and often have the bull Nandi carved either at the end of the yoni or at the side of the emblem. The Hindus say that the bull will intercept the evil which is continually emitted from the female sacti. Upon the erection of a new village, in setting up the Linga, they are careful to turn the spout of the yoni towards the jungle, and not upon the houses or roads, lest ill fortune should rest upon them. These Lingams are of a much larger size than those just mentioned, being generally two or three feet in height. Early in the morning around these emblems may be seen the girls of the neighbourhood who are anxious for husbands, sprinkling them with water from the Ganges; decking them with garlands of bilwa flowers; performing the mudra, or gesticulation with the fingers, and while rubbing themselves against the emblem, reciting the prescribed incantations, and entreating the deity to make them the fruitful mother of children.

This is what is called the Linga puja. During its performance the five lamps are lighted and the bell frequently rung to frighten away the evil demons.

Still larger Lingas than any yet mentioned are found in the temples, some of them immense-as high as forty feet and measuring twenty-five feet in circ.u.mference. These large emblems are, as a rule, Lingas only, not in conjunction with the Yoni. Colonel Sykes in his "Account of the Ellora Excavations," (near Poonah, in the Bombay Presidency), speaking of the Bisma Kurm, says, "The first thing that meets the eye on entering the temple is the enormous hemispherical figure of the Ling (Lingam) at the end of the cave; it is always found on this scale in the arched Boodh excavations, and even at Tuneer, in a flat roofed cave, this emblem is forty-two feet in circ.u.mference, though its height is inconsiderable."

How long this wors.h.i.+p of the Lingam has prevailed in India it is impossible to say; it is positively known to have existed for at least 1500 years, and it is estimated that about two thirds of all the Hindu people, perhaps eighty millions of souls, practise it. The idols are often described as conspicuous everywhere, in all parts of British India from the Himalaya to Ceylon. We are told that throughout the whole tract of the Ganges, as far as Benares, in Bengal, the temples are commonly erected in a range of six, eight, or twelve on each side of a ghat leading to the river, and that at Kalna is a circular group of 108 temples, erected by a raja of Bardwan. Each of the temples in Bengal consists of a single chamber, of a square form, surmounted by a pyramidal centre. The area of each is very small, the linga of black or white marble occupying the centre. What race brought the Lingam wors.h.i.+p into India is not known, but it seems to have come from the basin of the Lower Indus through Rajputana, about the beginning of the Christian era. At Ujjain it was particularly celebrated about the period of the Mohammedan invasion, but probably long before, and one particular Linga was named Vinda-swerna; from Vindu, _drop_, Swerna, _gold_. At present there is a four-faced lingam, sometimes three-faced or tri-murti; and tri-lingam is said to be the source of the name Telinga and Telingana, the country extending north of Madras to Ganjam, and west to Bellary and Beder. The four-faced lingam is called the Choumurti Mahadeva, such as may be seen in the caves of Ellora, and of common occurrence in other districts; and a famous shrine of ek-linga, or the one lingam is situated in a defile about six miles north of Udaipur, and has hills towering around it on all sides.

This ek-lingam, or one phallus, is a cylindrical or conical stone; but there are others termed Seheslinga and Kot-Iswara, with a thousand or a million of phallic representations, all minutely carved on the monolithic emblem, having then much resemblance to the symbol of Bacchus whose orgies both in Egypt and Greece are the counterpart of those of the Hindu Baghes, so called from being clad in a tiger's or leopard's skin, as Bacchus had that of the panther for his covering.

There is a very ancient temple to Kot-Iswara at the embouchure of the eastern arm of the Indus; and there are many to Seheslinga in the peninsula of Saurashtra. At the ancient Dholpur, now called Barolli, the shrine is dedicated to Gut-Iswara Mahadeva, with a lingam revolving in the yoni, the wonder of those who venture amongst its almost impervious and unfrequented woods to wors.h.i.+p. It is said that very few Saiva followers of the south of India ever realize the lingam and the yoni as representations of the organs of the body, and when made to apprehend the fact they feel overpowered with shame that they should be wors.h.i.+pping such symbols.[1]

[1] See the Indian Cyclopaedia.

The age a.s.signed by the above writer to this particular kind of wors.h.i.+p falls very far short of what has been stated by others, and appears most probable. It has been a.s.serted that its history goes back two thousand years before the Christian era-that it was then, as it is now, in full force-that it witnessed the rise, decline, and fall of the idolatry of Egypt, and of the great Western Mythology of Greece and Rome. "And when we reflect," says a modern writer, "on its antiquity, and on the fact that hitherto it has scarcely yielded in the slightest degree to the adverse influence of the Mohammedan race on the one hand, or to European dictation on the other; and that it exercises by its system of caste, a powerful control over the manners, customs, costumes, and social status of the entire Hindu community, it becomes a subject fraught with interest to every cultivated mind, and offers an affecting but curious example of the power of a h.o.a.ry and terrible superst.i.tion in degrading and enslaving so large a portion of the human race."[2]

[2] Sellon.

It can scarcely be questioned, theorise as writers may, that the origin of this wors.h.i.+p is lost in antiquity; we seem able to trace it back to times when it was comparatively pure and simple-when it was the wors.h.i.+p of one G.o.d only, the Bruhm Atma, the "Breathing Soul," a spiritual Supreme Being. As time pa.s.sed, however, the primitive simplicity disappeared, and rites and ceremonies became complicated and numerous. The spiritual wors.h.i.+p of the Deity gave place to the wors.h.i.+p of a representative image of him-a block of stone called Phallus or Linga, representing the procreative power discerned in Nature. Even this was comparatively simple at first, but it soon spread itself out in a variety of directions, until an extensive Pantheon was formed and an elaborate ritual and wors.h.i.+p organised. It is computed that this Pantheon contains little short of a million G.o.ds and demi-G.o.ds.

It is more particularly with the G.o.d Siva we shall have to do in stating facts which ill.u.s.trate the subject of Phallic wors.h.i.+p, for the Lingam or Phallus was the emblem under which he was specially wors.h.i.+pped. It certainly does seem remarkable, as Mr. Sellon remarked, that of the host of divinities above mentioned, Siva should be the G.o.d whom the Hindus have delighted to honour. "As the Destroyer, and one who revels in cruelty and bloodshed, this terrible deity, who has not inaptly been compared to the Moloch of Scripture, of all their divinities, suggests most our idea of the devil. It may therefore, be concluded that the most exalted notion of wors.h.i.+p among the Hindus is a service of Fear. The Brahmins say the other G.o.ds are good and benevolent, and will not hurt their creatures, but that Siva is powerful and cruel, and that it is necessary to appease him."

The attribute of destruction is found visibly depicted in the drawings and temples throughout Bengal. To destroy, according to the Vedantis of India, the Susis of Persia, and many philosophers of the European schools, is only to generate and reproduce in another form: hence the G.o.d of destruction is held in India to preside over generation; as a symbol of which he rides on a white bull.

The sacred bull, Nanda, has his altar attached to all the shrines of Iswara, as was that of Menes, or Apis to those of the Egyptian Osiris.

He has occasionally his separate shrines, and there is one in the valley of Oodipoor, which has the reputation of being oracular as regards the seasons. The Bull was the steed of Iswara, and carried him to battle; he is often represented upon it with his consort Isa, at full speed. The Bull was offered to Mithras by the Persian, and opposed as it now appears to Hindu faith, formerly bled on the altars of the Sun-G.o.d, on which not only the Buld-dan (offering of the bull) was made, but human sacrifices. We do not learn that the Egyptian priesthood presented the kindred of Apis to Osiris, but as they were not prohibited from eating beef, they may have done so. The shrine of Ek-Linga is situated in a defile about six miles north of Oodipoor, the hills towering around on all sides are of the primitive formation, and their scarped summits are cl.u.s.tered with honeycombs. There are abundant small springs of water, which keep verdant numerous shrubs, the flowers of which are acceptable to the deity, especially the Kiner or Oleander, which grows in great luxuriance on the Aravulli. Groves of bamboo and mango were formerly common, according to tradition; but although it is deemed sacrilege to thin the groves of Bal, the bamboo has been nearly destroyed: there are, however, still many trees sacred to the deity scattered around. It would be difficult to convey a just idea of a temple so complicated in its details. It is of the form commonly styled paG.o.da, and, like all the ancient temples of Siva, its sikra, or pinnacle, is pyramidal. The various orders of Hindu sacred architecture are distinguished by the form of the sikra, which is the portion springing from and surmounting the perpendicular walls of the body of the temple. The sikra of those of Siva is invariably pyramidal, and its sides vary with the base, whether square or oblong.

The apex is crowned with an ornamental figure, as a sphynx, an urn, a ball, or a lion, which is called the kulkis. When the sikra is but the frustrum of a pyramid, it is often surmounted by a row of lions, as at Biolli. The fane of Ek-Linga is of white marble and of ample dimensions. Under an open vaulted temple, supported by columns, and fronting the four-faced divinity, is the brazen bull Nanda, of the natural size: it is cast, and of excellent proportions. The figure is perfect, except where the shot or hammer of an infidel invader has penetrated its flank in search of treasure. Within the quadrangle are miniature shrines, containing some of the minor divinities.[3]

[3] Tod's Rajasth, vol. I., p. 515.

Just here we may introduce a legend relating to Siva, which, if not of very great importance, is of some interest on account of its reported connection with one of our English rivers. The G.o.ds, after the creation, soon perceived that there were still many things wanting for the good of mankind, and more particularly on account of themselves.

In their numerous wars with the giants, many of the G.o.ds being killed, they were informed by Vishnu that it was possible to procure a beverage, which would render them immortal. The task, however, was immense; for it consisted of throwing all the plants and trees of the universe, according to some, but, according to others, only those that grew on the sides of the White mountain or island, into the White sea; which was to be churned for a long time, in order to obtain the b.u.t.ter of immortality, or Amrit, the ambrosia of the western mythologists: and the old moon, which was already of Amrit, would serve as a leaven to predispose the whole mixture. The old moon was inert, and of little use; they wanted also intoxicating liquors to exhilarate themselves, and celestial nymphs for their own amus.e.m.e.nt. This churning took place in the Dwapar, or third age of the Manwantura of Chacshusa, which immediately preceded that of Noah. It lasted exactly twenty-nine years and five months, or 10,748 days, 12 hours, and 18 minutes. This is obviously the revolution of Saturn, which was in use amongst the inhabitants of the Isles in the Northern Ocean, who celebrated with great pomp, the entrance of that planet into Taurus, according to Plutarch.

It is declared in the Puranas, and acknowledged by everybody that this momentous transaction took place in the White Sea, called the Calas-odadhi or the caldron-like sea; from its being an inland one, and surrounded on all sides, or nearly so, by the land; from which circ.u.mstance it was compared to a pot or caldron. This sea was contiguous to the White Island on one side, for on account of its contiguity, the Amrit is said, in the Matsya-purana and others, to have been produced on, or near the White or silver mountain, called there also the mountain of Soma or Lunus. On the other side it bordered on Suvarn-a-dwipa, or Ireland: for we are told in the Vrihat-Catha, that there was a sea town in that country, called Calas-a-puri, from its being situated on the Calas-odad'hi, or sea like a Calasa or caldron. This caldron-like, or landlocked sea, is evidently the Irish sea. Into this Calasa, according to the Varaha-purana, the G.o.ds flung all the plants, and agreed to churn it.

This they did, says our author, in Varunaleyam or Varunasyabyam, the abode, abyam, or st'han of Varuna, the G.o.d of the sea. His abode, to this day, is well known, and is in the very centre of that sea. The Manx and Irish mythologists, according to Col. Valancey, call Varuna, _Mananan-Mac-Lir_, Mananan, the son of the sea: and his abode, according to them, is in the Isle of Man, or Mannin, as it is called by the Irish bards. According to Gen. Valancey, it was called also Manand, which answers to the Monda of Ptolemy.

After the G.o.ds had fixed on the most proper time for the churning of the sea of milk, they soon perceived that it would be impossible for them to accomplish this tremendous work, without the a.s.sistance of giants. They made peace accordingly with them, under the most solemn promise of sharing with them the fruit of their joint labours. The G.o.ds in general are represented as a weak race, but full of cunning and very crafty; the giants, on the contrary, are very strong, and generally without much guile. The G.o.ds of the Goths, and of the Greeks and Romans, did not bear a much better character. Even among Christians there are old legends, in which the devil is most egregiously taken in by holy men.

Having thus settled the conditions, they all went to work, and gathered all the trees and plants, and flung them into the caldron-like sea. They then brought the mountain of Mandara with infinite labour. It is said that this mountain is in the peninsula, near the sea sh.o.r.e, and to the north of Madras. They placed it in the middle of the caldron-like sea, which they used for a churn, and mount Mandara as a churning staff. The serpent Vasuci served them instead of a rope, and they twisted him round mount Mandara, and the giants were allowed to lay hold of the snake by the head: his fiery breath scorched the giants, and they became black: the unfortunate reptile suffered much; he complained, but in vain. Mount Mandara began to sink; but Vishnu, a.s.suming the shape of a tortoise, placed himself under it. In the Scanda-purana chapter of the Sanata-c.u.mara-Sanhita, in the 75th section, we have a minute account of the churning of the White sea by Vishnu, the G.o.ds and the giants: the latter had Bali at their head. After churning for five years the froth began to appear: and after three years more, Varuni or Sura, with her intoxicating liquors. The cow Camadhenu or Surabhi appeared after another year's labour. According to the Brahman-da-purana, she was wors.h.i.+pped by the G.o.ds, and both G.o.ds and giants were highly pleased when they saw her.

One year after, the elephant Airavata made his appearance; and the next year a horse with seven heads. Three months after, the Apsaras with Rambha-Devi at their head. Chandra or Lunus, came one year after; then after three years more, was produced Cala-cuta, a most subtile poison, flowing in large quant.i.ties; and then Vishnu became black. It was of a fiery colour, and began to set fire to the three worlds.

Mankind, being alarmed, began to call out, Ah! Ah! The earth, in great distress, with Vishnu, waited on Siva, craving his a.s.sistance. Siva swallowed up the poison which stuck in his throat, and caused a most intolerable heat, which parched his throat and body. His throat turned blue; from which circ.u.mstance he is wors.h.i.+pped under the name of Nilacanteswara, or the lord with the blue throat.

Siva, after swallowing the poison, as related, went to Himalaya, where he buried himself in the snow. There are many places of wors.h.i.+p dedicated to Siva, under that t.i.tle; but the original one is in the White Island. It is very doubtful if our ancestors knew anything of this churning, and of the deadly poison produced by it, and of a deity swallowing it up. "In that case," says Major Wilford, "there was no such a place in the White Island. Yet I cannot resist the temptation; and I am inclined to believe it not altogether improbable, but that many of these idle legends originated in the west. If so, there might have been such a place; and it could not have been far from Camalo-dunum. The poison, which Siva drank up, is called in Sanscrit, Cala-cuta, or the black lump or mole, because it remained like a lump in Siva's throat, which looked like a cuta, a peak, also a lump or mole. Cala-cuta in Welh is y-duman, or the black lump or mole, and this was, according to Ptolemy, the name of a river in England, now called the Blackwater, in Ess.e.x. It might have been supposed once, that the black stinking mud of marshes and fens, and more particularly that of the mosses, so baneful to living creatures, was produced in consequence of this churning; probably the emblem used to signify some dreadful convulsion of nature in those parts. That such a thing happened in the western ocean, is attested by tradition: and such was its violence, and the dreadful consequences which attended it, that they could not but suppose that it had destroyed entirely the _Atlantis_ and left nothing in its place but mud. A deity is then introduced, putting a stop to the progress of this black and poisonous substance, ready, according to the Puranas, to overwhelm, not only the White Island, but the whole world also. The serpent Midgard, being at the bottom of the sea, like Ananta, and vomiting torrents of deadly poison, and surrounding the world like Seshanaga, is the subject of several fundamental legends in the mythology of the Goths: but absolutely unknown to the Greeks and Romans. This Cala-cuta, or black lump of poison, stuck in Siva's throat, like the apple that Adam ate, and occasioned that protuberance, since called Adam's apple or bit."[4]

[4] See Asiatic Researches, Vol. II.

We have already stated that Siva is usually deemed the third person of the Hindu triad, that he represents the destructive energy, and that he appears in such a variety of forms, and on so many occasions, that scarcely a step can be taken in any department whatever of eastern science, art, or subject of literature, without encountering him in some of his varied characters. The whole race of Hindoos, it seems, is divided into two cla.s.ses, denoting the wors.h.i.+p of Siva, or of Vishnu; Brahma, the first or creative power, having no wors.h.i.+ppers or temples.

These two cla.s.ses are also called Saiva-bakht, and Vishnu-bakht. We have also had occasion to inform our readers that destruction being used in the sense of renovation, the character of Siva is that of the renovator, or recreator; a.s.sociating him in character with Brahma, the producing or creative power. The variety of relations in which this and the other two members of the Hindu triad appear-whether they be introduced mythologically, metaphysically, or philosophically, has been exhibited as follows-all three are symbols of the sun, as he is typical of that great light, as the theologians express it, "whence all proceeded, and to which all must return."

Brahma Power Creation Matter The Past Earth Vishnu Wisdom Preservation s.p.a.ce The Present Water Siva Justice Destruction Time The Future Fire

But these characters, or attributes, are not exclusively applicable to the three powers, as indicated above. They coalesce and partic.i.p.ate, more or less in several. An attempt has been made to shew in what degree, more particularly, they represent their material forms of earth, water, and fire, thus:-

Brahma and Siva are Fire, in which Vishnu } does not partic.i.p.ate, Vishnu and Brahma are Earth, in which Siva } or partic.i.p.ates but Siva and Vishnu are Water, in which Brahma } remotely.

In his examination of the Vedas, or Indian Scriptures, Mr. Colebrooke gives the following description of the deities of India:

"The deities invoked appear, upon a cursory inspection of the Veda, to be as various as the authors of the prayers addressed to them: but according to the most ancient annotations on the Indian Scriptures, these various names of persons and things, are all resolvable into different t.i.tles of three deities, and ultimately of one G.o.d. The Nig'hanti, or Glossary of the Vedas (which is the first part of the Niructa), concludes with three lists of names of deities: the first comprising such as are deemed synonymous with Fire; the second with Air; and the third with the Sun. In the last part of the Niructa, which entirely relates to deities, it is twice a.s.serted that there are but three G.o.ds, 'Tisra eva Devatah.' The further inference, that these intend but one deity, is supported by many pa.s.sages in the Veda; and is very clearly and concisely stated in the beginning of the index to the Rigveda, on the authority of the Niructa, and of the Veda itself."

After citing several pa.s.sages, Mr. Colebrooke continues:-"The deities are only three, whose places are the earth, the intermediate region, and heaven: [namely] Fire, Air, and the Sun. They are p.r.o.nounced to be [deities] of the mysterious names severally; and (Praj.a.pati) the lord of creatures is [the deity] of them collectively. The syllable O'm intends every deity: it belongs to (Paramasht'hi) him who dwells in the supreme abode; it pertains to (Brahma) the vast one; to (Deva) G.o.d; to (Ad'hyatma) the superintending soul. Other deities belonging to those several regions, are portions of the [three] G.o.ds; for they are variously named and described on account of their different operations, but [in fact] there is only one deity, the Great Soul (Mahanatma). He is called the Sun; for he is the soul of all beings; [and] that is declared by the Sage. [The Sun] 'the soul of (jagat) what moves, and of (tast'hush) that which is fixed'; other deities are portions of him: and that is expressly declared by the Sage, 'The wise call Fire, Indra, Mitra, and Varuna, etc."

In the Manava Sastra or Inst.i.tutes of Menu the origin of the Universe is thus unfolded: "It existed only in the first divine idea, yet unexpanded, as if involved in darkness, imperceptible, indefinable, undiscoverable by reason, and undiscovered by revelation, as if it were wholly immersed in sleep. Then the sole self-existing power, who had existed from eternity, shone forth in person, expanding his idea and dispelling the gloom. With a thought he first created the waters, and placed in them a productive seed: this seed became an egg, in which he was himself born in the shape of Brahma, the great forefather of all spirits. The waters are called Nara, because they were the production of Nara, or the spirit of G.o.d: and since they were his first Ayana, or place of motion, he was thence named Narayana, or moving in the waters. In that egg the great Power sat inactive a whole year of the Creator: at the close of which, by his thought alone, he caused the egg to divide itself, and from its two divisions framed the world."

The name given by the Indians to their Supreme Deity, or Monad, is Brahm; and notwithstanding the appearance of materialism in all their sacred books, the Brahmans never admit they uphold such a doctrine, but invest their deities with the highest attributes. He is represented as the Vast One, self-existing, invisible, eternal, imperceptible, the only deity, the great soul, the over-ruling soul, the soul of all beings, and of whom all other deities are but portions. To him no sacrifices were ever offered; but he was adored in silent meditation. He triplicates himself into three persons or powers, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, and is designated by the word O'M or rather AUM.

This word O'M is a monosyllable of very profound import. It is supposed to be so holy and awful, like the name Jehovah of the Jews, as not to be guiltlessly p.r.o.nounced, even by a priest. It must be contemplated, or recited mentally; and it then is said to excite many efficacious aspirations. This awful monosyllable is triliteral, and perhaps therefore better written AUM, for three Sanscrit letters do in fact compose it: but in composition A and U coalesce in O. The first letter is supposed to be symbolical of Brahma, the creative power of the Deity; the second of Vishnu, the preserver; and the last of Siva, the destroyer or renovator. As all the inferior deities of the Hindoos are avataras or manifestation of, and resolve themselves into those three superior powers, so those superior powers resolve themselves ultimately into Brahm, or the supreme being, of whom the sun is the most perfect and glorious murti, or image. A combination of the three symbolical letters forms, therefore, a hieroglyphical representation of the union of the three powers or attributes, and a word that, if uttered, would be nearly expressed by our letters A U M, or O O M, dwelling a little on each letter. A name of Parvati, the consort of Siva, is Uma or Ooma, and it is perhaps hence derivable; as well as Omkar, one of the most sacred places of pilgrimage in India, dedicated to the wors.h.i.+p of this mysterious union.

In the Inst.i.tutes of Menu, many verses occur denoting the importance of this monosyllable, and of a text of the Veda closely connected with it, called the Gayatri. Among those verses are the following:

Chap. ii, v. 74. "A Brahman beginning and ending a lecture on the Veda, must always p.r.o.nounce to himself the syllable OM: for unless the syllable OM precede, his learning will slip away from him; and unless it follow, nothing will be long retained." A commentator on this verse says, "As the leaf of the palasa is supported by a single pedicle, so is this universe upheld by the syllable OM, a symbol of the supreme Brahm."

76. "Brahma milked out as it were, from the three Vedas the letter A, the letter U, and the letter M, which form by their coalition the triliteral monosyllable, together with three mysterious words, _bhur_, _bhuva_, and _siver_." These words mean earth, sky, and heaven, and are called the vyahritis.

77. "From the three Vedas, also, the Lord of creatures incomprehensibly exalted, successively milked out the three measures of that ineffable text beginning with the word _tad_, and ent.i.tled Savitri or Gayatri."

78. "A priest who shall know the Veda, and shall p.r.o.nounce to himself, both morning and evening, that syllable, and that holy text, preceded by the three words, shall attain the sanct.i.ty which the Veda confers."

79. "And a twice born man who shall a thousand times repeat those three (OM, the vyahritis, and the gayatri), apart from the mult.i.tude, shall be released in a month from a great offence, as a snake from his slough."

80. "The priest, the soldier, and the merchant, who shall neglect this mysterious text, and fail to perform in due season his peculiar acts of piety, shall meet with contempt among the virtuous."

81. "The great immutable words preceded by the triliteral syllable and followed by the gayatri, which consists of three measures, must be considered as the mouth or princ.i.p.al part of the Veda."