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The Tenth Lesson: The Religions of India. Part II1325
people having these debased ideals. The fakirs of India—those false Yogis—
the mendicant class, ignorant, superstitious, and given to self-torture and
displays of low forms of magic and conjuring—all of these are numbered
among certain lower sects of the Shaivas. And the descendants of some
of the lower tribes of India—the semi-barbarous people who represented
the negative-pole of the Ancient Hindu race—have naturally evolved into
Shaivas of certain lower sects. The fanatical and almost savage people of
the more remote districts also incline toward certain forms of Shiva worship,
and many of their ceremonies and rites show an unpleasant resemblance
and origin from the rites and ceremonies of their barbaric forefathers. Many
of these tribes, you must remember, were of Non-Aryan extraction, and
are quite different from the Aryan races in culture and attainment. And,
even when we consider certain degenerate tribes and peoples of Aryan
extraction, we have only to compare them with some of the semi-barbarous
and brutal classes and sub-races of certain European countries, who, while
claiming the name of Christians, certainly are sunk in the deepest mire of gross
superstition and ignorance, and are incapable of even faintly understanding
the true principles of the religion whose name they bear. Comparisons like
these will give us a fairer perspective and point of view, as well as a clearer
understanding of the degenerate forms of certain sets of Shiva worship.
Among these sects worshiping this aspect of Shiva, some of the
representations of their deity are revolting and shocking. His images are
hideously ugly, disfigured by lines showing rage, anger, and the attributes
of the devil-gods of other peoples. Snakes are intertwined around his head,
and he is daubed with the ashes of cow-dung. Skulls form a part of his
adornment. His atmosphere is one of dread and terror. Demons and evil
spirits attend upon him, and the pallor of death is upon his countenance—
the fetid odor of the graveyards is his delight. The stage fittings and general
atmosphere surrounding Shiva, among such sects, are appropriate to the
conception or aspect of the god which attracts this class of his followers.
The sects favoring this aspect or conception of Shiva are of three classes,