Page:Wanderings of a Pilgrim Vol 2.djvu/207

 Avataras. As the god of Justice, which character he shares with Yama and other deities, he rides a bull, the symbol of divine justice. As emblems of immortality, serpents are common to many deities, but this god is abundantly decked with them, and snakes are his constant attendants. A crescent on his forehead, or in his hair, is common in pictures and images of Mahadeva or Shiv[)u]. Serpents, emblems of eternity, form his ear-rings, called Naug Kundala: his pendant collar of human heads (Mund mala) marks his character of Destruction, or Time; and his frontal crescent points at its most obvious measurement, by the phases of the moon. He holds what has been considered as a small double hand-drum, shaped like an hour-glass, called damaru, probably a sand gheri. Shiv[)u] is called "the three-eyed god," and "the auspicious deity with uneven eyes." Sometimes he is represented with a battle-axe (gadha, or parasha), and an antelope (mirg) in his superior hands: and in many plates of the deity his loins are wrapped in a tiger's skin, and the goddess Gunga (the Ganges) flows from his mugut or head-piece. The followers of Vishn[)u] assert, that the blessed river flowed originally out of heaven, from the foot of Vishn[)u], and, descending upon Kailasa, the terrestrial paradise of Mahadēo, fell on the head of Shiv[)u]. Each sect is desirous of tracing the source of the sacred river to the head or foot of its own deity. The stream is sometimes seen issuing from the head of Shiv[)u], and sometimes she afterwards issues from a cow's mouth. It is said, that high up towards its source the river passes through a narrow rocky passage, which pilgrims, who visit the sacred cleft, imagine resembles a cow's mouth. This spot is hence called Gawmuki, and is a place greatly resorted to by pilgrims.

Viswaswara is the name by which Shiv[)u] is invoked at a beautiful and famous temple of that name in Kashi, or Benares; and it is said in the Purānas, that "The Vedas and Shastrs all testify that Viswaswara is the first of Devas, Kashi the first of cities, Gunga the first of rivers, and charity the first of virtues." Nandi is the epithet always given to the vehicle of Siva, the white bull: in his temples it is usually represented couchant.

Here I will mention some of the animals appropriated as