{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/vp/vp015.htm","path":"hin/vp/vp015.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/vp/vp015.htm","text":"The Vishnu Purana, translated by Horace Hayman Wilson, [1840]\n11. The Linga Pur\u00e1\u0144a\n11. Linga Pur\u00e1\u0144a. \"Where Mahe\u015bwara, present in the Agni Linga, explained (the objects of life) virtue, wealth, pleasure, and final liberation at the end of the Agni Kalpa, that Pur\u00e1\u0144a, consisting of eleven thousand stanzas, was called the Lainga by Brahm\u00e1 himself 66.\"\nThe Linga Pur\u00e1\u0144a conforms accurately enough to this description. The Kalpa is said to be the \u00cd\u015b\u00e1na, but this is the only difference. It consists of eleven thousand stanzas. It is said to have been originally composed by Brahm\u00e1; and the primitive Linga is a pillar of radiance,\nin which Mahe\u015bwara is present. The work is therefore the same as that referred to by the Matsya.\nA short account is given, in the beginning, of elemental and secondary creation, and of the patriarchal families; in which, however, \u015aiva takes the place of Vish\u0144u, as the indescribable cause of all things. Brief accounts of \u015aiva's incarnations and proceedings in different Kalpas next occur, offering no interest except as characteristic of sectarial notions. The appearance of the great fiery Linga takes place, in the interval of a creation, to separate Vish\u0144u and Brahm\u00e1, who not only dispute the palm of supremacy, but fight for it; when the Linga suddenly springs up, and puts them both to shame; as, after travelling upwards and downwards for a thousand years in each direction, neither can approach to its termination. Upon the Linga the sacred monosyllable Om is visible, and the Vedas proceed from it, by which Brahms and Vish\u0144u become enlightened, and acknowledge and eulogize the superior might and glory of \u015aiva.\nA notice of the creation in the Padma Kalpa then follows, and this leads to praises of \u015aiva by Vish\u0144u and Brahm\u00e1. \u015aiva repeats the story of his incarnations, twenty-eight in number; intended as a counterpart, no doubt, to the twenty-four Avat\u00e1ras of Vish\u0144u, as described in the Bh\u00e1gavata; and both being amplifications of the original ten Avat\u00e1ras, and of much less merit as fictions. Another instance of rivalry occurs in the legend of Dadh\u00edchi, a Muni and worshipper of \u015aiva. In the Bh\u00e1gavata there is a story of Ambar\u00edsha being defended against Durv\u00e1sas by the discus of Vish\u0144u, against which that \u015aaiva sage is helpless: here Vish\u0144u hurls his discus at Dadh\u00edchi, but it falls blunted to the ground, and a conflict ensues, in which Vish\u0144u and his partisans are all overthrown by the Muni.\nA description of the universe, and of the regal dynasties of the Vaivaswata Manwantara to the time of Krish\u0144a, runs through a number of chapters, in substance, and very commonly in words, the same as in other Pur\u00e1\u0144as. After which, the work resumes its proper character, narrating legends, and enjoining rites, and reciting prayers, intending to do honour to \u015aiva under various forms. Although, however, the Linga\nholds a prominent place amongst them, the spirit of the worship is as little influenced by the character of the type as can well be imagined. There is nothing like the phallic orgies of antiquity: it is all mystical and spiritual. The Linga is twofold, external and internal. The ignorant, who need a visible sign, worship \u015aiva through a 'mark' or 'type'--which is the proper meaning of the word 'Linga'--of wood or stone; but the wise look upon this outward emblem as nothing, and contemplate in their minds the invisible, inscrutable type, which is \u015aiva himself. Whatever may have been the origin of this form of worship in India, the notions upon which it was founded, according to the impure fancies of European writers, are not to be traced in even the \u015aaiva Pur\u00e1\u0144as.\nData for conjecturing the era of this work are defective, but it is more of a ritual than a Pur\u00e1\u0144a, and the Paur\u00e1\u0144ik chapters which it has inserted, in order to keep up something of its character, have been evidently borrowed for the purpose. The incarnations of \u015aiva, and their 'pupils,' as specified in one place, and the importance attached to the practice of the Yoga, render it possible that under the former are intended those teachers of the \u015aaiva religion who belong to the Yoga school 67, which seems to have flourished about the eighth or ninth centuries. It is not likely that the work is earlier, it may be considerably later. It has preserved apparently some \u015aaiva legends of an early date, but the greater part is ritual and mysticism of comparatively recent introduction.\nxliv:67 See Asiatic Researches, vol. XVII. p. 287.","title":"The Vishnu Purana: Preface: 11. The Linga Pur\u00e1n...","type":"page"}