Shiva and Worship of the Phallus

While talking of Shiva we cannot but mention the Linga (and Yoni) worship with which his name is associated. A hard look at the Linga and Yoni combination would suggest the close correspondence between the process of copulation. Linga correspondes to the male reproductive organ (the Phallus) and the Yoni to the femals one (Vagina). The container of water (Kalasha) that is suspended above the Linga and from which water drips over the Linga also corresponds with the idea of intercourse. Looking at it this way Linga worship in effect means worship of the reproduction function. This function would have been understood partially in tribal societies in the early stages of human social and psychological evolution and this incomplete understanding of something that had a sensual as well as emotive relevance,at which early humans marvelled found its expression in its deification. But how the Linga came to be associated with the personified Shiva remains a mystery.Thus the festival of Mahashivaratri is dedicated to a deity who origins are lost in the hoary past. But the practices that are associated with Mahashivaratri are eloquent in themselves. Apart from the fast which we observe on that day and the special prayers that we offer to the Lord of Kailas - the destroyer - the essential ritual is of fermenting bhang an intoxicating beverage. Only when devotees intoxicated with bhang dance themselves to a feverish pitch is Mahashivaratri considered to have been celebrated in its true 'spirit'.

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