Forlong - Rivers of Life
Forlong - Rivers of Life Forlong - Rivers of Life
92 Rivers of Life, or Faiths of Man in all Lands. notion of his supporting the world; and hence that the peering out earth-fast rocks are his folds and thus appearing show the foundations of his power and prolificness. My sketch shows what is also usual under these trees—viz., the ordinary Linga on a platform. The common Syrian coins in the PIates are clearly meant to convey the same idea, and, in addition, that of Pandora’s Box, or Woman. Ossian seems to have been cognisant of the occult lore of half-hidden stones, for in Hermes Brittannicus, p. 70, we read from Ossian:— “ A tale of the times of old, the deeds of the days of other years, The murmur of thy streams, oh Lora, Brings back the memory of the past; Dost thou not behold a rock with its head of heath? There the flower of the mountain grows, the thistle is there alone, Two stones, half sunk in the ground, show their heads of moss; The deer of the mountain avoids the place, For he beholds the grey ghost that guards it, For the mighty lie in the narrow place of the Rock.” And “the mighty one,” “our Rock,” is a very common Old Testament phrase.
CHAPTER III. SERPENT AND PHALLIC WORSHIP. THE second great deity, and to us in this civilised and wholly changed state of existence, strange and ever horrible deity, is one still most prominent—the anguis in herba or mysterious “stranger in the grass,” who overcame with honied words the fabled mother of us all, and who, to the astonishedgaze of the primitive race, overcame by god-like power, man, as well as the strongest beast of the field. That as a mere reptile he was “subtler,” as the story says, than every other creature, has not since appeared, but his subtle mode of approach, his daring and upright dash, was pictured as god-like, and in nearly all Eastern countires he is still not only feared but worshipped as “the God of our Fathers” and the symbol of desire and creative energy. He is the special Phallic symbol which veils the actual God, and therefore do we find him the constant early attendant upon Priapus or the Lingam, which I regard as the second religion of the world. I take the liberty for many reasons of not devoting a specific chapter to Phallic faiths. I have tried on several occasions to do so, but find that I shall be quite as able, and more agreeably, to treat of these, if I can veil, like the priests and priestesses of its many mysteries, some of its grossest parts; it enters also so closely into union with all faiths, to the present hour, that it is impossible to keep it out of any chapter. On a bed of serpents, in a milky sea, Bramanic story tells us, sits the mighty Vishnoo or Narāyen and his spouse Lakshmee. The Hindoo calls Him, Vishnoo, so seated, “The Mighty,” the “Infinite One,” “The Abode of Life.” He it is who manifests Himself from time to time as man, in the richly woven tales of Vedic Avatārs. 1 He is the preserver of the gods, Dēvăs, and of men on the earth. He is “God in etemity,” the many coils of the snake representing Infiniteness and Eternity, especially so, as represented by Egyptians, with tail in mouth; or by Boodhists, as two fish, male and female, kissing each other under the fleur de lis, as seen in fig. 6 of my plate V. The Pooraāas call the snake four thousand hooded and four armed—“the bed, on which Chaos rested before creation, and must again rest alter creation,” and identify the serpent with the great Narāyen, sometimes calling it his Incarnation. There is no mythology or ancient sculpture in which the serpent does not bear a part. 1 In Sanskrit, Avatāra, signifies “Descent of a deity from heaven.”
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CHAPTER III.<br />
SERPENT AND PHALLIC WORSHIP.<br />
THE second great deity, and to us in this civilised and wholly changed state <strong>of</strong> existence,<br />
strange and ever horrible deity, is one still most prominent—the anguis in herba<br />
or mysterious “stranger in the grass,” who overcame with honied words the fabled<br />
mother <strong>of</strong> us all, and who, to the astonishedgaze <strong>of</strong> the primitive race, overcame by<br />
god-like power, man, as well as the strongest beast <strong>of</strong> the field. That as a mere<br />
reptile he was “subtler,” as the story says, than every other creature, has not since<br />
appeared, but his subtle mode <strong>of</strong> approach, his daring and upright dash, was pictured<br />
as god-like, and in nearly all Eastern countires he is still not only feared but worshipped<br />
as “the God <strong>of</strong> our Fathers” and the symbol <strong>of</strong> desire and creative energy.<br />
He is the special Phallic symbol which veils the actual God, and therefore do we<br />
find him the constant early attendant upon Priapus or the Lingam, which I regard as<br />
the second religion <strong>of</strong> the world. I take the liberty for many reasons <strong>of</strong> not devoting<br />
a specific chapter to Phallic faiths. I have tried on several occasions to do so, but<br />
find that I shall be quite as able, and more agreeably, to treat <strong>of</strong> these, if I can veil,<br />
like the priests and priestesses <strong>of</strong> its many mysteries, some <strong>of</strong> its grossest parts; it<br />
enters also so closely into union with all faiths, to the present hour, that it is impossible<br />
to keep it out <strong>of</strong> any chapter.<br />
On a bed <strong>of</strong> serpents, in a milky sea, Bramanic story tells us, sits the mighty Vishnoo<br />
or Narāyen and his spouse Lakshmee. The Hindoo calls Him, Vishnoo, so seated,<br />
“The Mighty,” the “Infinite One,” “The Abode <strong>of</strong> <strong>Life</strong>.” He it is who manifests<br />
Himself from time to time as man, in the richly woven tales <strong>of</strong> Vedic Avatārs. 1 He is the<br />
preserver <strong>of</strong> the gods, Dēvăs, and <strong>of</strong> men on the earth. He is “God in etemity,” the<br />
many coils <strong>of</strong> the snake representing Infiniteness and Eternity, especially so, as represented<br />
by Egyptians, with tail in mouth; or by Boodhists, as two fish, male and<br />
female, kissing each other under the fleur de lis, as seen in fig. 6 <strong>of</strong> my plate V.<br />
The Pooraāas call the snake four thousand hooded and four armed—“the bed,<br />
on which Chaos rested before creation, and must again rest alter creation,” and<br />
identify the serpent with the great Narāyen, sometimes calling it his Incarnation.<br />
There is no mythology or ancient sculpture in which the serpent does not bear a part.<br />
1 In Sanskrit, Avatāra, signifies “Descent <strong>of</strong> a deity from heaven.”