Forlong - Rivers of Life

Tree Worship.
where no distinct evidence is forthcoming as to how the veneration first arose, a proof
that the hostile faiths have drawn their inspiration from the same source—that is,
from an older faith. This is, I think, the case with the veneration of the Bo tree,
Toolai, and a dozen others.
All Indians, Hindoos, and Boodhists carefully plant and tend the sweet-scented
Basil, or Black Ocymum Sanctum, which both call Toolsi: this Sivaites particu-
larly honour, saying that Krishna, the Indian Apollo, turned his sky-nymph into
it, as the Grecian god turned his into a laurel. The Toolsi is specially worshipped by
women after bathing, and more particularly at the full moon of Kartika, if the
bathing be in the Ganges. In 1873, this festival fell on the 4th of November, which
nearly corresponds to the “Holy Well Day” of Christians, and the “Neptunalia”
of Ancient Romans, see my tables of Festivals in chapter on Solar Faiths.
All black, or blue-black shrubs and animals are sacred to the Indian Apollo,
whose name signifies blackness, and whose lingam is always black, as Siva’s
is white, and the Etruscan’s red. Siva’s faith may have thus come from the
north, but Krishna’s is thoroughly indigenous to the Indian continent. These
colours are very important towards the tracing of emigrant races and faiths;
and Dr Inman properly devotes much attention to the subject, see his Vol.
II., 265, and elsewhere. Krishma’s first great war was with a mighty serpent—
Kalya (suspiciously Kalaik or Sivaik)—that is, with a faith which this serpent represented;
from this cause he was changed to Krishna, or the Dark One. We are told
that the great Lingam which the Roman Emperor and his court worshipped in the
third century of Christianity was black; and if so, we may be pretty certain that it
came frow the Solo-phallic worshippers of India—Krishnaites. The symbol was
called Helio-ga-belus, which may be a shortening of the words Helio-agatha-belus,
or the Stone of the Sun and Love, as we have the same idea in the Agatha Demon, or
Lingam God of Egypt. The Roman Emperor married his “Black Stone” to the Moon
Goddess of Carthage, Astarte, and of course both were Phenician or Syrian. Krishna
is a great favourite with Vishnooites, because he is the Sun or fertilizer, so that in
Siva or Krishna we have a sort of light and dark sect—an Osiris and Nox. I fancy
Krishna was a sort of heretic like Abram, as when the patriarch forsook Ur, or the Fire
Worship of Kaldia, and came into Syria apparently desiring to worship only trees, wells,
and his Phallic God, El, Elohim. or Al-Shadai, the Tsur, or Rock; and sun stone, or Pillar.
It has been urged that certain shrubs become sacred to certain deities, because
the name of the shrub is similar to some other sacred object: as the Phalares, to
Venus, because of the similarity to a Phallus; the Kisos, or Ivy, to Bacchus, because of
Kittos; and Myrrh to Mary or Miriam; but we are scarcely yet sufficiently in-
formed on ancient rites and myths to decide this positiveIy. Such words as have their
roots in Phal, Pal, or Pul, and in Ma, Mee, Mwe, &c., have yet to be much investigated.
Undoubtedly they all point generally to the male and female energies.
53