CHAPTER XXXII.
THE WORSHIP OF THE VIRGIN MOTHER.
The worship of the "Virgin," the "Queen of Heaven," the "Great Goddess," the "Mother of God," &c., which has become one of the grand features of the Christian religion—the Council of Ephesus (A. D. 431) having declared Mary "Mother of God," her assumption being declared in 813, and her Immaculate Conception by the Pope and Council in 1851[326:1]—was almost universal, for ages before the birth of Jesus, and "the pure virginity of the celestial mother was a tenet of faith for two thousand years before the virgin now adored was born."[326:2]
In India, they have worshiped, for ages, Devi, Maha-Devi—"The One Great Goddess"[326:3]—and have temples erected in honor of her.[326:4] Gonzales states that among the Indians he found a temple "Parituræ Virginis"—of the Virgin about to bring forth.[326:5]
Maya, the mother of Buddha, and Devaki the mother of Crishna, were worshiped as virgins,[326:6] and represented with the infant Saviours in their arms, just as the virgin of the Christians is represented at the present day. Maya was so pure that it was impossible for God, man, or Asura to view her with carnal desire. Fig. No. 16 is a representation of the Virgin Devaki, with, the infant Saviour Crishna, taken from Moor's "Hindu Pantheon."[327:1] "No person could bear to gaze upon Devaki, because of the light that invested her." "The gods, invisible to mortals, celebrated her praise continually from the time that Vishnu was contained in her person."[327:2]
"Crishna and his mother are almost always represented black,"[327:3] and the word "Crishna" means "the black."