Linga
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 Karnataka.
Origins
Historical
The earliest known objects which resemble linga have been found in what was the Indus Valley of ancient India. Archeological findings in this region include stone replicas of human phalluses approximately two feet in length which are more explicitly phallic in shape than the linga as they are known today. In addition, archaeologists have found an engraved seal depicting an inthyphallic male figure with horns and an abnormal face sitting in a yogic position. This image appears to represent a prototype of the Vedic diety Rudra, who would eventually evolve into Shiva. The connection between the phalluses and the early conception of Shiva suggests that the relationship between this god and the erect 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 of the linga was largely lost.
Linga worship had become very common in early Medieval India (approximately 700-1200 C.E.), during which time the Puranas were the main mythological and cosmological texts informing the popular religion. The Kurma Purana provided the specifict blueprint for linga worship. Although the text was originally said to be narrated by Kurma, an avatar of the preserver 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, casting Shiva in a role similar to that held by Vishnu in the Bhagavadgita, in the process including directions worship of Shiva by way of the linga.
Mythological
The mythological origin of the linga worship is recounted in the Kurma Purana, which provides the well-known story of a group of ascetics living out their "forest-dweller" stage of life to the Pine Forest (or devadaruvana) located in the Himalayas. All the while, the minds of these forest sages were intent on continuing their existence, performing sacrifices prescribed in the Vedas so as to curry favour from the divine. Thinking this line of thought to be erroneous, and believing the practice of renunciation to be insufficient for attaining liberation, Shiva intervened, assuming the form of a well-muscled 19 year old. He was accompanied by Vishnu, who took the form of Shiva's beautiful young maid. In these iterations, Shiva and Vishnu frolicked with women and men of the town, respectively. In some tellings, Shiva is said to have made love to the sage's wives day and night for twelve years. Seeing these blasphemies, the sages chastized the incarnate Shiva, prohibiting him from participation in their austerities until he openly shunned the lascivious actions of his consort Vishnu. Shiva steadfastly denied that there had been any wrongdoing on Vishnu's part, which further enraged the sages. Calling the incarnate Shiva a liar, the sages proceeded to assault him physically. After this, the sages demanded that Shiva remove his own linga, which had caused so much trouble among the sages and their wives. Shiva complied, ripping out his member, at 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 entirely fooled by Shiva's maya. Brahma revealed to them that this young man who had removed his genitalia was in fact Shiva, the supreme lord, and proceeded to chastize the sages for their failure to recognize him. The sages immediatly wanted to know how they could connect again with Shiva, so as to make amends for the castratration they had forced upon him. 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 using the mantras 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 (as quoted in Davis, 157)
Only by making a copy of the detached penis would the sages be able to perceive Shiva for his mark. The sages then returned to the Pine Forest, now fully able to recognize Shiva should he have appeared 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 serves to represent this ability, which is absolutely necessary for the purposes of liberating the atman, or soul. Should the men in the pine forest worship this image with baths, flowers and mantras, they will be worshipping atman, perceiving simultaneously its phases as divine and human, thus allowing them to overcome attachment to birth or death, the ultimate goal of Hinduism. The cure for the ills of life is not to return to the original, most basic situation which is characterized by wild and erotic expressions of creativity, such as those which are predominant early in this story. Although this situation is important, it is one which must eventually be escaped. Isolated from the body and protruding from the earth, Shiva's excised member is not only a symbol of castration and also one 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 which of them was the supreme creator god. They were interrupted when Shiva appeared in the form of a brilliant column of light. With the identity of the pillar unbeknowingst to them, Brahma and Vishnu came to an agreement that the first one who could scale the entirety of this column should indisputably be 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 further each god searched in their respective directions, the further the column stretched. When Brahma and Vishnu finally 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 ultimate form by which Shiva manifests himself.
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. The unblemished purity of all materials given to the linga is always of the utmost importance to the worshippers making offerings.
Lingas used in worship are of two varieties: those made by humans and those which occur naturally. While various canonical guidelines for the construction of linga provide sculptors with specific rules prescribing ideal height, width and curvature of the linga, in reality lingas range from very small to very large. Smaller, disposable lingas are 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 provides the base for the erect linga. Lingas formed in nature, meanwhile, are considered to be the among the most important, since Saivites believe these monuments 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 in Madras, is one such Swayambhu.
Worship of the linga in this form is used to acknowledge Shiva more frequently than anthropomorphic images of the God. However, not all lingas are devoid of anthropomorphic traits. On some linga, a human head has been sculpted or adhered to the cylinder, or, in other cases, four heads are positioned in each of the cardinal directions, with a fifth head implied on the top. These are classified as mukhalinga.
Symbolism
While the less-frequently used visual images of Shiva in a personified form serve to depict the manifestation of the god's particular roles, the linga alone is considered the most complete representation of the all-powerful, all-knowing essence of Shiva. 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 ultimately inseperable. When put together, their collective creativity represents the totality of existence.
The linga is sometimes also included in anthropomorphic images of Shiva, rendered here as a more realistic sexual organ attached to the body of the god. Shiva, along with his linga, is said to be creator and destroyer of the universe, thus his ithyphallic depiction symbolizes his immense creativity. However, Shiva is traditionally said to be eternally celibate, and it is in this dissolution of opposites that the linga attains it's immense symbolic value. This ever-erect, never-wilting phallus seems to suggest Shiva's status as the ideal renunciate: one able to control the processes of the body without forfeiting the power of its creative potency.
Lingayats
While the linga is a symbol of great importance to all Saivite sects, it is the central object of all spiritual activity for one in particular. For the Lingayats ("bearers of the linga"), also known as the Virasaivas ("heroic Saivas"), a reformist Shaivite sect prominent which formed along the border regions of Maharashtra and Karnataka in the mid-12th century, the linga represents the most basic religious symbol. 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. Basava 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, Basava 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 Basava. With this token, Shiva now accompanied Basava at all places and times, and the Brahman was set free from his previous state of dependence upon worship in the temple.
Followers promptly collected around Basava (who seems to have been furthering the teachings of Ekantada Ramayya, a contemporary who may have actually provided the anti-Brahmanical movement in South India with its initial momentum), enchanted by his rejection of religious formalities such as temple worship and Brahmanic domination. No longer did they accept divisions based on sex or caste, nor did they accept remarriage of widows or marriage of young children. Taking after their leader, each of Basava's followers wore a linga in a tube fastened to the neck or to the arm, which took the place of the sacred thread worn by most orthodox upper caste Hindu men. Lingayats have continued this practice to this day. Otherwise, Lingayats are highly iconoclastic, and the linga is the only symbol they are permitted to acknowledge, since it alone serves as a constant reminder to the devotee that no other focus is necessary. Loss of this linga is considered to be equivalent to spiritual death. Although the group condemns virtually all rituals, 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. The sect now has 6 million adherents in Karnataka, though they are largely considered "backward" by mainstream Shaivites.
ReferencesISBN 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
