royer being more especially exhibited in his
consort--viz. the character of a generative power, symbolized in the
phallic emblem (_linga_) and in the sacred bull (_Nandi_), the favourite
attendant of the god. This feature being entirely alien from the nature
of the Vedic god, it has been conjectured with some plausibility, that
the _linga_-worship was originally prevalent among the non-Aryan
population, and was thence introduced into the worship of Siva. On the
other hand, there can, we think, be little doubt that Siva, in his
generative faculty, is the representative of another Vedic god whose
nature and attributes go far to account for this particular feature of
the modern deity, viz. _Pushan_. This god, originally, no doubt, a solar
deity, is frequently invoked, as the lord of nourishment, to bestow
food, wealth and other blessings. He is once, jointly with Soma, called
the progenitor of heaven and earth, and is connected with the marriage
ceremony, where he is asked to lead the bride to the bridegroom and make
her prosperous (_Sivatama_). Moreover, he has the epithet _kapardin_
(spirally braided), as have Rudra and the later Siva, and is called
_Pasupa_, or guardian of cattle, whence the latter derives his name
_Pasupati_. But he is also a strong, powerful, and even fierce and
destructive god, who, with his goad or golden spear, smites the foes of
his worshipper, and thus in this respect offers at least some points of
similarity to Rudra, which may have favoured the fusion of the two gods.
As regards _Vishnu_, this god occupies already a place in the Vedic
mythology, though by no means one of such prominence as would entitle
him to that degree of exaltation implied in his character as one of the
three hypostases of the divinity. Moreover, although in his general
nature, as a benevolent, genial being, the Vedic god corresponds on the
whole to the later Vishnu, the preserver of the world, the latter
exhibits many important features for which we look in vain in his
prototype, and which most likely resulted from sectarian worship or from
an amalgamation with local deities. In one or two of them, such as his
names Vasudeva and Vaikuntha, an attempt may again be traced to identify
Vishnu with Indra, who, as we have seen, was one of the Vedic triad of
gods. The characteristic feature of the elder Vishnu is his measuring
the world with his three strides, which are explained as denoting either
the three stations of the sun at