Page:A History of Hindu Chemistry Vol 1.djvu/84

 rites as modified by changes and requirements of the time. The original inhabitants, "the Dasyus are described in the Rigveda as non-sacrificing, unbelieving and impious. They are also doubtless meant by the phallus-worshippers mentioned in two passages. The Aryans in course of time came to adopt this form of cult. There are many passages in the Mahábhárata showing that Siva was already venerated under the emblem of the phallus when that epic was composed."

By the VIIth century A. D., we find Siva's worship well established in India. In the life of King Harsa by Vána there is a graphic description of a weird ceremony performed by a Saiva saint named Bhairavácháryya. "Seated on the breast of a corpse which lay supine, anointed with red sandal and arrayed in garlands, clothes and ornaments, all of red, himself with a black turban, black unguents, black amulet, and black garments, he had