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The Ninth Lesson: The Religions of India. Part I.1305
and inner recesses of the Himalaya he held high revel and court, and was
accordingly feared and flattered by his followers among the people, who
sought to conciliate him by sacrifices and worship. As a symbol of the
reproductive principle of nature, he wore the token of the lingum or male
organ of generation; and as a symbol of subtle and malignant power, he wore
a garland of twined serpents—a horrible creature, calculated to inspire fear,
horror, and to induce propitiary offerings. He was wont to haunt the tombs
and graveyards at night, accompanied by his band of demons. Many of the
cruel self-tortures of the Hindu ascetics arise from the desire to propitiate
Shiva. But this horrible and fearsome creature, or god, with all of his malignant
qualities, drew many followers to him, who manifested the greatest love
and affection for him, equaling the love and devotion manifested by other
cults and sects toward his opposite, the beneficent Vishnu. It is a strange
psychological study in religion to witness the love, affection and devotion
bestowed by some of the lower cults of Shiva toward this god, whose image
is that of a naked, fierce being, with blue throat and red skin, or else of a
livid white color, with three eyes, besmeared with cow-dung ashes. Surely
in its lower forms, Shiva-worship is a refined form of devil-worship. But
there is a higher side of Shiva worship, as we shall see when we come to a
consideration of the various sects.
Akin to Shiva worship, and springing up by its side, is the worship known
as Shakta Worship. Shakti is the term given to the principle of Cosmic
Energy, or the Principle of Life Activities in the Universe, as contrasted with
the Principle of Being. Personifying these two principles as follows: Shiva
representing Being; and Shiva’s consort or bride, known as Parvati (or Uma;
Gauri; Tara; Kali; Durga, as the case may be) representing Shakti or the
Creative Energy—the Shaktas have built up a cult or sect, devoted to the
worship of Shakti. Shiva is the male-god, and Shakti the female-god. And the
worship is entirely that of the Female Principle of the Universe. The Shaktas
are divided into two schools, viz., (1) the Dakshinachari, or “Right Way
Walkers,” who worship both Shiva and Shakti—that is the male and female