Linga

File:Linga dws.jpg

A Linga. These three white stripes evoke Śaivism. The appendage to the right is used to retrieve liquids poured on it during puja worship, as water or milk.

The linga is the primary symbol of the Hindu god Shiva and therfore the main cult object of Shaivism, the school of Hinduism which worships Shiva as the supreme divine being. Literally, the linga has three primary meanings: firstly, it refers to the penis; secondly, it denotes any mark, emblem, sign, or symbol that allows one to identify something, just as a member of the male sex may be recognized by the penis. Thirdly, the term refers to the foremost cult object of Saivites, the upraised cylindrical shaft with with a rounded top. In temples, such icons are commonly found in proximity of yoni, the vulvular symbol of female creative energy, or Shakti. Although the linga is phallic in form, it is not worshipped merely in its anthropomorphic reference, nor is it exclusively a symbol of sexual potency. Instead, the linga connotes a deeper acknowledgment of Shiva's infinite creative power as it exists in juxtaposition with his eternal chastity. The linga is considered the supreme representation of Shiva, since it does not rely upon a specific image of the god, and can be easily formed. Worship of the linga is most common in South India where Saivism is most prevalent, particularly among the Lingayats of Kartikeya.

Origins

Historical

The earliest known objects which resemble the linga have been found by archaeological expeditions in what was the Indus Valley of ancient India. These findings include stone replicas of human phalluses, about two feet in length are more explicitly phallic in shape than the linga as they are known today. In addition, archaeoloigsts have found an engraved seal depicting an inthyphallic male figure with horns and a strange face sitting in a yogic position. This image appears to represent a prototype of the diety Rudra, who would later develop into Shiva. The connection between the phalluses and the early conception of Shiva suggests that the conception of the god and his relationship with the male member was an ancient aspect of worship.

The makers of these images were later displaced by the Aryans, with whom their religion was synthesized. In the Rgveda, Aryan invaders complained about the inhabitants of the Indus Valley "having the phallus as a god" (10.99). Ironically, by the 1-2nd century AD it would become commonplace for these Aryans who had formerly disapproved of the linga worship to worship the very same symbol. However, by these later periods, the phallic realism was largely lost.

Linga worship had become very common during early Medieval period, which lasted approximately 700-1200 C.E., during which the Puranas were the main mythological and cosmological texts. The various Puranas exerted much influence upon religion as it was practiced, and the Kurma Purana provided the blueprint for linga worship. Although the text was originally said to be narrated by Kurma, an avatar of the God Vishnu, the text was recast by the Pasupatas, a group of Shiva worshippers devoted to that god in his form as Pasupati, lord of creatures. Pasupatas reworked the Kurma Purana to reflect their own concerns, including directions for Shiva worship through the linga.

Mythological

The mythological origin of the linga worship is recounted in the Kurma Purana, which tells the well-known story of a group of sages living out their "forest-dweller" stage of life to the Pine Forest (or devadaruvana) located in the Himalayas who are visited by Shiva. The minds of the forest sages were intent on continuing their existence, performing sacrifices prescribed in the Vedas. Thinking this line of thought to be erroneous, and believing the practice of renunciation to be insufficient for attaining liberation, Shiva intervenes, assuming the form of a well-muscled 19 year old. He was accompanied by Vishnu, who took the form of a beautiful young maid. In these forms Shiva and Vishnu frolicked with women and men of the town, respectively. In some tellings, Shiva is said to have made love to the ascetic's wives day and night for twelve years. Seeing these blasphemies, the sages chastized the incarnate Shiva, prohibiting him from participating in their austerities until he shunned his wife Vishnu, who was also engaged in wrongdoing. Shiva denied Vishnu's wrongdoing, which enraged the sages, who called him a liar, and proceeded to beat him. After this, the sages demanded that Shiva pull out his own linga. Shiva complied, ripping out his member, which point there "began strange portents, betokening danger to all worlds. The sun with its thousand rays did not shine. The earth began to tremble. All the planets lost their splendour, and the ocean roiled." (as quoted in Davis, 155).

At this point, Shiva's godhood became evident, and one man's wife identified the mysterious young man and his wife as Shiva and Vishnu. hearing this, the perplexed sages went to Brahma, the creator god, and recounted the story to him. Brahma pointed out the utter vainness of the sage's tribulations, noting that they had been fooled by appearances. Brahma revealed to them that this person was in fact Shiva, the supreme lord, and chastizes the sages for their failure to recognize Shiva, fooled by his maya. The sages immediatly wanted to know how they could connect again with Shiva, so as to make amends with the castrated god. Brahma offered them the following advice: "You should make a copy of the god's linga which you saw fall on the ground...and with your wives and sons attentively offer worship to that matchless linga, following Vedic rules only and observing celibacay. You should consecrate the linga usedn tehmantras from the Rg,Yajur and Sama Vedas pertaining to Shiva. Then, following the highest ascetic regime and chanting the hundred names of Shiva, you, your sons, and you kinsmen should worship it intently." Only by making a copy of the detached penis will they be able to perceive Shiva for his mark The sages then returned to the Pine Forest now able to recognize Shiva when he appears again, and proceeded to worship Shiva in this way.

The central motif of the story concerns the sages acquisition of the ability to see beyond mere appearances of form to perceive true reality. Thus, the linga comes to represent this ability, which is absolutely necessary for the atman. Should the men in the pine forest worship this image with baths, flowers and mantras, they will be worshipping atman, perceiving, seeing two phases as divine and human simultaneously, and allowing them to overcome attachment to birth or death, the goal of Hinduism. The cure for the ills of life is not to return to the original situation with wild and erotic expressions of creativy, which are rampant early in the story and represent a necessary phase of atman, but instead to escape this face. Isolated from the body and protruding from the earth, Shiva's excised member is a symbol of not only castration and also of chaste asceticism — a "pillar" of refusal to undertake creative action.

Another important myth involving the linga, recorded in Shiva Purana 2.1.6-9, describes an argument between Shiva's counterparts in the Trimurti, Brahma and Vishnu, over who was supreme creator God. They are interupted when Shiva appeared in the form of a brilliant column of light. Brahma and Vishnu came to an agreement that the first one who could scale the column was the supreme divinity. Vishnu took form of a boar so that he could dig under the column, while Brahma assumed the form of of a goose so that he could fly to the top. The more each god searched in their respective directions, the further the column stretched. When Brahma and Vishnu each realized the futility of their quest, the light revealed itself to be Shiva in the form of the linga. This linga is also known as the jyotir-linga, the pillar of endless light representing the supreme form through which Shiva makes himself manifest.

Worship

The linga is the main object of the Saiva cult, serving as the focal point of worship in both temples and family shrines throughout India. Worship of the linga is performed with offerings of fresh flowers, water, sprouts of grass, fruits, leaves and sun-dried rice. In carrying out the worship, purity of all materials offered to the linga is always of the utmost importance to the worshippers.

Lingas used in worship are of two varieties: those made by humans and those which occur naturally. While various canonical guidelines from the construction of linga provide sculptors for specific rules for height, width and curvature of the top of the linga, in reality lingas range from very small to very large. Smaller, disposable lingas typically made of sandal paste or river clay, while larger linga are often forged from wood or metal, and in some instances, precious stones. The yoni, a representation of the vulva imbued with comparable symbolic value, often forms the base of the erect linga. Lingas formed in nature are considered to be the among the most important, since Saivites believe that these lingas were self-created at the beginning of time. Nearly 70 of these naturally occuring lingas, or Swayambhu, are worshipped in the various parts of India in which they are located. The natural black stone, eight feet in diameter, which appears at Lingaraj temple at Bhubaneswar, is one such Swayambhu.

Worship of the linga in this form is more frequently used to acknowledge Shiva than anthropomorphic images of the God. However, some lingas do bear anthropomorphic traits. On some linga, a human head has been sculpted or adhered to the cylinder, or, alternatively four heads are positioned facing into each of the cardinal directions, implying a fifth head on the top. These are classified as mukhalinga.

Symbolism

While the less-frequently used visual images of Siva in a personified form serve to depict the manifestation of the god's particular roles, the linga is considered the most complete representation of the all-powerful, all-knowing essence of Siva. Fittingly, the linga is worshipped as an emblem of generative power, not only that of the supreme divine but also that which is present in the phenomenal world. The linga symbolizes creativity on multiple levels: biological, psychological, and cosmic, acknowledging the creative seed that has spawned and will continue to spawn the various aspects of material reality. Meanwhile, the linga also connotes the idea that this infinite creative power can also be restrained, transmuted and absorbed within the yogin just as it is within Siva, the lord of all yogins. The yoni, as the base of the erect linga, serves as a reminder that the male and female principles are inextricably linked. When put together, their collective creativity represents the totality of existence.

The linga is sometimes also present in anthropomorphic images of Shiva, rendered here as a more realistic sexual organ attached to the body of the god. Siva, along with his linga, is said to be creator and destroyer of the universe, thus his ithyphallic depiction represents his immense creativity. However, Shiva is also said to be eternally celibate, and it is in this dissolution of opposites that the linga attains it's immense symbolic value. This erect, never wilting phallus seems to suggest Shiva's status as the ideal renunciate: one able to control the body without forfeiting the power of the creative potency.

Lingayats

The linga represents the most basic symbol for a reformist Shaivite sect prominent in South India called the Lingayats ("bearers of the linga"), also known as the Virasaivas ("heroic Saivas") which formed along the border regions of Maharashtra and Karnataka in the mid-12th century. Legend has it that a Brahman named Basava or Basavanna (1106-1167), founder of the sect, was a devotee of Shiva, worshipping the god exclusively in temples. Basvanna quickly gave up this practice when a dream instructed him to leave his hometown and serve a distant king. Having been banished from his preferred temple, Basvanna cried out against Shiva's cruelty. However, the very next night, Shiva appeared from the mouth of a sacred bull bearing a linga, which he gave to Basvanna. Now, Shiva was with Basava at all places, and he was set free from his previous state of dependence upon temples.

Followers promptly gathered around Basvanna (who seems to have been furthering the work by Ekantada Ramayya, a contemporary who may have actually provided the movement with its initial momentum) enchanted by his rejection of religious formalities such as temple worship and Brahmanic domination made possible by hierarchies based on purities. No longer did the Lingayats accept divisions based on sex or class such as the caste system, nor did they accept remarriage of widows or marriage of children. For Lingayats, the body is considered the true temple, rendering all souls equal before Shiva. To this day, they are highly iconoclastic, with their only symbol being a linga with must be worn constantly in a tube fastened to the neck or to the arm, serving as a constant reminder to the devotee that no other focus is necessary. This linga takes the place of the sacred thread worn by most orthodox upper caste Hindu men. Loss of this linga is considered to be equivalent to spiritual death. Although the group condemns virtually all ritual, they still have several rites of their own, one of which states that they must pay homage to the linga they wear at least twice a day. Worship of any image other than the linga is forbidden. The sect now has 6 million adherents in Karnataka, though they are largely considered "backward" by mainstream Shaivites.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Bowker, John. God: A Brief History. New York: DK Publishing, 2002. ISBN 0-7894-8050-6
• Davis, Richard H. "The Origin of Linga Worship" in Religions of Asia in Practice, David S. Lopez, ed. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, 2002. ISBN 0-691-09060-2
• Elder, George R. "Phallus." Encyclopedia of Religion. Edited by Mercia Eliade. New York: MacMillan Publishing, 1987. ISBN 0029098505
• Gupta, Anand Swarup, ed. The Kurma Purana. Varanasi: All India Kashiraj Trust (1971). (2.36.49-2.37.169)
• Kramrisch, Stella. "Iconography: Hindu Iconography." Encyclopedia of Religion. Edited by Mercia Eliade. New York: MacMillan Publishing, 1987. ISBN 0029098505
• "Linga." The New Encyclopedia Britannica: Volume 7 Micropaedia. Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica Inc., 2002. 377.
• "Lingayat." The New Encyclopedia Britannica: Volume 7 Micropaedia. Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica Inc., 2002. 377.
• Padoux, Andre. "Saivism:Virasaivas." Encyclopedia of Religion. Edited by Mercia Eliade. New York: MacMillan Publishing, 1987. ISBN 0029098505

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1008 Lingas carved on a rock surface. Photograph is taken at the shore of the river Tungabhadra, Hampi, India