Page:Elements of Hindu Iconography Vol. 2 Part 1.pdf/41

 INTRODUCTION.

TNE of the oldest as also the most widely spread cult in India is that of Siva. It consisted once of several sects, of which only a few have survived to the present day. Some of them had the sanction of the Vêdas while others were classed as outside the Vēdas or as opposed to them; again, some of them had milder forms of worship, while others practised horrible and shooking rites. The ideas about life, action and liberation differed from It will not be without interest to sect to sect. examine in some detail the history, the main tenets and the ceremonies of a few of the leading sects of Siva in the following paragraphs.

First, as regards the origin of the sects classed as outside the pale of the Vēdas, the following account taken from the Varāla-purana will be of interest. In the forest of Dandaka, situated in the middle of Bharatavarsha, the rishi Gautama had his āśrama (hermitage), round which, he had