“The games and phalli consecrated to Bacchus, not only corrupt manners, but are considered shameful and disgraceful by all the world.”
Clement then speaks of a certain event, in commemoration of which, “was this mystery instituted, and phalli erected in every city in honour of Dionusos; so that Heraclitus even says that misfortune would ensue, if processions were not made, and hymns sung, and pudenda shamelessly worshipped, in honour of Dionusos. This then is the Hades and the Dionusos, in whose honour men become agitated with bacchanalian madness and fury; not so much, in my opinion, an account of natural inebriation, as in consequence of the reprehensible ceremonies which were first instituted in commemoration of that abominable turpitude.”
The event just referred to is this:—Dionysus was particularly anxious to descend to Hades, but was ignorant of the way; a certain man named Prosymnus offered to shew him the same, provided he would grant him a specified reward. “The reward,” says Clement, “was a disgraceful one, though not so in the opinion of Dionysus: it was an Aphrodisian favour that was asked. The god was not reluctant to grant the request made to him, and promised to fulfil it should he return, conforming his promise with an oath. Having learned the way, he departed and again returned: he did not find Prosymnus for he had died. In order to acquit himself of his promise to his lover, he rushed to his tomb, burning with unnatural lust. Cutting a fig-branch that came to his hand, he shaped the likeness of the membrum virile, and sat over it; thus performing his promise to the dead man. As a mystic memorial of this incident, phalloi are raised aloft in honour of Dionysus through the various cities.”
The character of Lingam worship may be gathered from the ritual prescribed in the Lainga Puran, which we find to be as follows: “Having bathed in the prescribed manner, enter the place of worship; and having performed three suppressions of the breath, meditate on that god who has three eyes, five heads, ten arms, and is of the colour of pure crystal, arrayed in costly garments, and adorned with all kinds of ornaments: and having thus fixed in thy mind the real form of Maheshwara, proceed to worship him with the proper prayers and hymns. First, sprinkle the place and utensils of worship with a bunch of darbha dipped in perfumed water, repeating at the same time the sacred word Om, and arrange all the utensils and other things required in the prescribed order; then in due manner and repeating the proper invocations, prayers and hymns, preceded by the sacred word Om, prepare thy offerings. For the padiam (water for the ablution of the feet), these should consist of ushiram (the root of the Andropogon muricatus), sandal, and sweet-smelling woods: for the achamanam (water for rinsing the mouth), of mace, camphor, bdellium, and agallochum, ground together; and for the arghya (a particular kind of oblation, which, consisted of different articles in the worship of different deities), of the tops of Kusha grass, prepared grains of rice, barley, sesamum, clarified butter, pieces of money, ashes and flowers. At the same time, also, must be worshipped Nandi (the principal attendant of Shiva, and supposed to be a portion of that god, who granted a son as a boon to a holy ascetic named Shilada, and also consented that he would be born as that son), and his wife, the daughter of Marut. Having then, with due rites, prepared a seat, invoke with the prescribed prayers the presence of Parameshwara, and present to him the padiam, achamanam and arghya. Next bathe the lingam with perfumed water, the five products of the cow, clarified butter, honey, the juice of the sugar-cane, and lastly pour over it a pot of pure water, consecrated by the requisite prayers. Having thus purified it, adorn it with clean garments and a sacrificial string, and then offer flowers, perfumes, frankincense, lamps, fruit, and different kinds of prepared eatables, and ornaments. Thus worship the lingam with the prescribed offerings, invocations, prayers and honours, and by circumambulating it, and by prostrating thyself before Shiva, represented under this symbol.”
Colonel Vans Kennedy says that at the present day the whole of this ritual is not observed, nor is this worship performed in that costly manner which is recommended in the Purans. But the worship of all the deities consists of sixteen essential requisites:—1, Asanam, the preparing a seat for the god; 2, Asahanam, the invoking his presence; 3, padiam; 4, achamanam; 5, Arghya; 6, bathing the image; 7, clothing it; 8, investing it with a sacrificial string: offerings of; 9, perfumes; 10, flowers; 11, incense; 12, lamps; 13, naivedya, i.e. offerings consisting of fruits and prepared eatables; 14, betel leaf; 15, prayers, &c.; 16, circumambulation. The more of these acts that are performed the more complete is the worship; but at present it in general consists of nothing more than presenting some of the prescribed offerings, and muttering a short prayer or two while the lingam is circumambulated: the rest of the acts being performed by the officiating priest.
This worship, it seems, need not be performed at a temple, any properly purified place will do; it is most efficacious when performed on the bank of some holy river, before a lingam formed of clay, which, on the termination of the worship, is thrown into the sacred stream.
Colonel Kennedy says:—“The legends respecting the origin of the worship of the lingam, cannot satisfy the philosophical enquirer; and the real cause, therefore, which produced the adoration of so singular an object might appear to be a curious subject of speculation. But, though in the Purans there are copious descriptions of the high importance of this worship, and of the spiritual advantages to be derived from it, still these works contain not the slightest indication from which any just conclusion could be formed, with respect to either the period when it was first introduced, or the motives which may have occasioned the substitution of this symbol for the image of Shiva. Yet it seems probable that this change had not been effected at the time when the Vedas were composed, and that the earliest record of this worship which has been preserved is contained in the Purans. But, as in those sacred books there is not the least appearance of its being either mystical or symbolical, it must be evident that if it originated in such causes they have long ceased to exist; and consequently that the speculations on this subject, in which the literati of Europe have indulged, are totally incompatible with the simple principles, as far as they are known, on which this worship is founded. For, in fact, both in the Purans and by the Hindus of the present day, the lingam is held to be merely a visible type of an invisible deity; and nothing whatever belongs to its worship, or to the terms in which this is mentioned, which has the slightest tendency to lead the thoughts, from the contemplation of the god, to an undue consideration of the object by which he is typified. But it is impossible to understand by what process of reasoning the founders of the Hindu religion were induced to place Shiva among the divine hypostases; for they supposed, at the same time, that dissolution and death proceeded from the fixed laws of nature, and that his power was not called into exertion until after the termination of twelve millions of years. During the whole, therefore, of this inconceivable period, what functions could be ascribed to this god consistent with his character of destroyer? This difficulty, however, seems to have been very soon obviated by investing him with the attributes of the Supreme Being, and even in the Purans it is under this character that he is generally represented. As, therefore, the attributes which are, according to the Hindus, peculiar to the one god are immovability and inaction, Shiva is described as being principally engaged in devout meditation, and as exerting his divine power through the means either of Devi (or his energy personified) or of certain forms which he creates for the occasion, such as Bhairava and Virabhadra. In Hindu mythology, consequently, there are only three legends, the destruction of the Tripura Asuras, and of the Asuras Audhaka, and Jalandhara, in which Shiva appears as the actor, unconnected with any reference to the worship of the lingam. But on the introduction of this worship, not a lingam seems to have been erected without its foundation having been ascribed to some miraculous appearance of Shiva; and hence have originated a multiplicity of legends in the highest degree puerile, and everyone erring against the just principle,—
Nec deus intersit, nisi dignus vindice nodus
Inciderit.