[194] Mr. Fergusson, op. cit., p. 70. The serpent is connected with Vishnuism as a symbol of wisdom rather than of life.
[195] Op. cit., p. 71.
[196] Hence Siva, as Sambhu, is the patron deity of the Brahman order, and the most intellectual Hindus of the present day are to be found among his followers. See Wilson, op. cit., p. 171. Sherring’s “Sacred City of the Hindus,” p. 146, et seq.
[197] The bull of Siva has reference to strength and speed rather than to fecundity, while the Rig-veda refers to Vishnu as the former of the womb, although elsewhere he is described as the fecundator. Muir, op. cit., part iv., pp. 244, 292, 83, 64.
[198] This question has been considered by Burnoux, op. cit., p. 547, et seq. But see also Hodgson’s “Buddhism in Nepaul,” and paper in the “Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,” vol. xviii. (1860), p. 395, et seq.
[199] See Herring, op. cit., p. 89.
[200] Schlagenweit, op. cit., p. 181.
[201] Maurice’s “Indian Antiquities,” vol. vii., p. 566.
[202] As to the identity of Siva and Saturn, see Guigniaut, op. cit., vol. i., p. 167 n.
[203] Sherring, op cit., p. 305, et seq.