Lingua is given as the name or title of the King of Columbum (see [QUILON]) in the 14th century, by Friar Jordanus (p. 41), which might have been taken to denote that he belonged to this sect; but this seems never to have had followers in Malabar.
LINGAM, s. This is taken from the S. Indian form of the word, which in N. India is Skt. and Hind. liñga, 'a token, badge,' &c., thence the symbol of Śiva which is so extensively an object of worship among the Hindus, in the form of a cylinder of stone. The great idol of Somnāth, destroyed by Mahmūd of Ghazni, and the object of so much romantic narrative, was a colossal symbol of this kind. In the quotation of 1838 below, the word is used simply for a badge of caste, which is certainly the original Skt. meaning, but is probably a mistake as attributed in that sense to modern vernacular use. The man may have been a [lingait] (q.v.), so that his badge was actually a figure of the lingam. But this clever authoress often gets out of her depth.
1311.—"The stone idols called Ling Mahádeo, which had been a long time established at that place ... these, up to this time, the kick of the horse of Islam had not attempted to break.... Deo Narain fell down, and the other gods who had seats there raised their feet, and jumped so high, that at one leap they reached the foot of Lanka, and in that affright the lings themselves would have fled, had they had any legs to stand on."—Amír Khusrú, in Elliot, iv. 91.
1616.—"... above this there is elevated the figure of an idol, which in decency I abstain from naming, but which is called by the heathen Linga, and which they worship with many superstitions; and indeed they regard it to such a degree that the heathen of Canara carry well-wrought images of the kind round their necks. This abominable custom was abolished by a certain Canara King, a man of reason and righteousness."—Couto, Dec. VII. iii. 11.
1726.—"There are also some of them who wear a certain stone idol called Lingam ... round the neck, or else in the hair of the head...."—Valentijn, Choro. 74.
1781.—"These Pagodas have each a small chamber in the center of twelve feet square, with a lamp hanging over the Lingham."—Hodges, 94.
1799.—"I had often remarked near the banks of the rivulet a number of little altars, with a linga of Mahádeva upon them. It seems they are placed over the ashes of Hindus who have been burnt near the spot."—Colebrooke, in Life, p. 152.
1809.—"Without was an immense lingam of black stone."—Ld. Valentia, i. 371.
1814.—"... two respectable Brahmuns, a man and his wife, of the secular order; who, having no children, had made several religious pilgrimages, performed the accustomed ceremonies to the linga, and consulted the divines."—Forbes, Or. Mem. ii. 364; [2nd ed. ii. 4; in ii. 164, lingam].
1838.—"In addition to the preaching, Mr. G. got hold of a man's Lingum, or badge of caste, and took it away."—Letters from Madras, 156.