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Do not fill this in! === Lingam === {{Main|Lingam}} The ''Linga Purana'' states, "Shiva is signless, without color, taste, smell, that is beyond word or touch, without quality, motionless and changeless".<ref name="Daniélou1991p222"/> The source of the universe is the signless, and all of the universe is the manifested Linga, a union of unchanging Principles and the ever changing nature.<ref name="Daniélou1991p222"/> The ''Linga Purana'' and the ''[[Ishvara Gita|Shiva Gita]]'' texts builds on this foundation.{{Sfn|Kramrisch|1994a|pp=171–185}}<ref>{{cite book|first=Anantharaman|last=K.V|title=Siva Gita A Critical Study|url=https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/handle/10603/295754|chapter=Chapter X – Omnipotence of Siva Linga|hdl=10603/295754|access-date=16 July 2021|archive-date=30 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211230125037/https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/handle/10603/295754|url-status=live}}</ref> Linga, states [[Alain Daniélou]], means sign.<ref name="Daniélou1991p222">{{cite book|author=Alain Daniélou|title=The Myths and Gods of India |url=https://archive.org/details/mythsgodsofindia00dani|url-access=registration|series=Princeton Bollingen Series|year=1991|publisher=Inner Traditions / Bear & Co|isbn=978-0892813544|pages=[https://archive.org/details/mythsgodsofindia00dani/page/222 222]–224}}</ref> It is an important concept in Hindu texts, wherein Linga is a manifested sign and nature of someone or something. It accompanies the concept of [[Brahman]], which as invisible signless and existent Principle, is formless or linga-less.<ref name="Daniélou1991p222"/> The ''[[Shvetashvatara Upanishad]]'' states one of the three significations, the primary one, of ''Lingam'' as "[[Purusha|the imperishable Purusha]]", [[Brahman|the absolute reality]], where says the ''linga'' as "sign", a mark that provides the existence of [[Brahman]], thus the original meaning as "sign".{{sfn|Kramrisch|1994a|p=221}} Furthermore, it says "Shiva, the Supreme Lord, has no liūga", ''liuga'' ({{lang-sa|लिऊग}} {{IAST3|liūga}}) meaning Shiva is transcendent, beyond any characteristic and, specifically the sign of gender.{{sfn|Kramrisch|1994a|p=221}} Apart from anthropomorphic images of Shiva, he is also represented in aniconic form of a lingam.{{sfnm|Michaels|2004|1p=216|Flood|1996|2p=29}}<ref>Tattwananda, pp. 49–52.</ref> These are depicted in various designs. One common form is the shape of a vertical rounded column in the centre of a lipped, disk-shaped object, the ''yoni'', symbolism for the goddess Shakti.<ref name=britannicalingam>[https://www.britannica.com/topic/lingam Lingam: Hindu symbol] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011224444/https://www.britannica.com/topic/lingam |date=11 October 2016 }} Encyclopædia Britannica</ref> In Shiva temples, the ''linga'' is typically present in its sanctum sanctorum and is the focus of votary offerings such as milk, water, flower petals, fruit, fresh leaves, and rice.<ref name=britannicalingam /> According to Monier Williams and Yudit Greenberg, ''linga'' literally means 'mark, sign or emblem', and also refers to a "mark or sign from which the existence of something else can be reliably inferred". It implies the regenerative divine energy innate in nature, symbolized by Shiva.<ref>Monier Williams (1899), Sanskrit to English Dictionary, लिङ्ग, p. 901</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Yudit Kornberg Greenberg|title=Encyclopedia of Love in World Religions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nGoag6b3JvYC&pg=PA572 |year=2008|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1851099801|pages=572–573}}</ref> Some scholars, such as [[Wendy Doniger]], view ''linga'' as merely a phallic symbol,<ref>{{cite book|author=O'Flaherty, Wendy Doniger|title=Śiva, the erotic ascetic|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1981|isbn=0195202503|location=Oxford}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=O'Flaherty, Wendy Doniger|title=On Hinduism|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2013|isbn=978-0199360079|location=Oxford}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=O'Flaherty, Wendy Doniger|title=The Hindus: An Alternative History|publisher=Viking Press|year=2009|isbn=978-0143116691|location=United States}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Rohit Dasgupta|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bHytBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA107|title=Cultural Encyclopedia of the Penis|date=2014|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-0759123144|editor1=Michael Kimmel|page=107|editor2=Christine Milrod|editor3=Amanda Kennedy|access-date=14 July 2021|archive-date=19 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231019091517/https://books.google.com/books?id=bHytBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA107#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> although this interpretation is criticized by others, including [[Swami Vivekananda]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Sen|first=Amiya P.|title=The Indispensable Vivekananda|publisher=Orient Blackswan|year=2006|pages=25–26|chapter=Editor's Introduction}}</ref> [[Sivananda Saraswati]],<ref name="Sivananda 1996">{{cite book|last=Sivananda|first=Swami|title=Lord Siva and His Worship|publisher=The Divine Life Trust Society|year=1996|chapter=Worship of Siva Linga|chapter-url=http://www.dlshq.org/download/lordsiva.htm#_VPID_80|access-date=18 January 2009|archive-date=18 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180218010322/http://www.dlshq.org/download/lordsiva.htm#_VPID_80|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Stella Kramrisch]],{{sfn|p=26|Kramrisch|1994a}} [[Swami Agehananda Bharati]],<ref name="abha70">{{cite book|title=The Tantric Tradition|author=Swami Agehananda Bharati|year=1970|isbn=0877282536|publisher=Red Wheel/Weiser|page=294}}</ref> [[S. N. Balagangadhara]],<ref name="Balagangadhara, S.N., Sarah Claerhout 118–143">{{cite journal|last1=Balagangadhara |first1=S. N. |last2=Claerhout |first2=Sarah |date=Spring 2008|title=Are Dialogues Antidotes to Violence? Two Recent Examples From Hinduism Studies|url=http://www.jsri.ro/new/?download=19_balagangadhara_claerhout.pdf|url-status=dead|journal=Journal for the Study of Religions and Ideologies|volume=7|issue=19|pages=118–143|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090820023251/http://www.jsri.ro/new/?download=19_balagangadhara_claerhout.pdf|archive-date=20 August 2009|access-date=18 January 2009}}</ref> and others.<ref name="Balagangadhara, S.N., Sarah Claerhout 118–143"/><ref name="acahin">{{cite book|isbn=978-9385485015|author=Rajiv Malhotra|title=Academic Hinduphobia: A critique of Wendy Doniger's erotic school of Indology|year=2016|publisher=Voice of India}}</ref><ref name="inreinter">{{cite book|title=Invading the Sacred: An Analysis of Hinduism Studies in America|publisher=Rupa & Co.|date=2007|isbn=978-8129111821|chapter=The Hindu Goddess Reinterpreted}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://magazine.uchicago.edu/0412/features/|author=Amy M. Braverman|year=2004|publisher=University of Chicago|title=The interpretation of gods|access-date=19 July 2021|archive-date=10 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210410205947/http://magazine.uchicago.edu/0412/features/|url-status=live}}</ref> According to [[Moriz Winternitz]], the ''linga'' in the Shiva tradition is "only a symbol of the productive and creative principle of nature as embodied in Shiva", and it has no historical trace in any obscene phallic cult.<ref>{{cite book|last=Winternitz|first=Moriz|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JRfuJFRV_O8C&pg=PA543|title=A History of Indian Literature, Volume 1|author2=V. Srinivasa Sarma|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|year=1981|isbn=978-8120802643|page=543 footnote 4|access-date=8 June 2020|archive-date=19 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231019091516/https://books.google.com/books?id=JRfuJFRV_O8C&pg=PA543#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> According to [[Sivananda Saraswati]], westerners who are curiously passionate and have impure understanding or intelligence, incorrectly assume Siva Linga as a phallus or sex organ.<ref name="Sivananda 1996"/> Later on, [[Sivananda Saraswati]] mentions that, this is not only a serious mistake, but also a grave blunder.<ref name="Sivananda 1996"/> The worship of the lingam originated from the famous hymn in the ''Atharva-Veda Samhitâ'' sung in praise of the ''Yupa-Stambha'', the sacrificial post. In that hymn, a description is found of the beginningless and endless ''[[Stambha]]'' or ''Skambha'', and it is shown that the said ''Skambha'' is put in place of the eternal [[Brahman]]. Just as the [[Yajna]] (sacrificial) fire, its smoke, ashes, and flames, the ''Soma'' plant, and the ox that used to carry on its back the wood for the [[Historical Vedic religion|Vedic sacrifice]] gave place to the conceptions of the brightness of Shiva's body, his tawny matted hair, his blue throat, and the riding on the bull of the Shiva, the ''Yupa-Skambha'' gave place in time to the ''Shiva-Linga''.<ref name="E.U.Harding">{{cite book | last = Harding | first = Elizabeth U. | title = Kali: The Black Goddess of Dakshineswar | chapter = God, the Father | publisher = Motilal Banarsidass | year = 1998 | pages = 156–157 | isbn = 978-8120814509}}</ref><ref name="paris_congress">{{cite book | last = Vivekananda | first = Swami | title = The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda | chapter = The Paris congress of the history of religions | chapter-url = http://www.ramakrishnavivekananda.info/vivekananda/volume_4/translation_prose/the_paris_congress.htm | volume = 4 | access-date = 17 January 2009 | archive-date = 24 February 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210224162216/http://www.ramakrishnavivekananda.info/vivekananda/volume_4/translation_prose/the_paris_congress.htm | url-status = live }}</ref> In the text ''Linga Purana'', the same hymn is expanded in the shape of stories, meant to establish the glory of the great Stambha and the superiority of Shiva as Mahadeva.<ref name="paris_congress" /> The oldest known archaeological ''linga'' as an icon of Shiva is the [[Gudimallam Lingam|Gudimallam lingam]] from 3rd-century BCE.<ref name=britannicalingam /> In Shaivism pilgrimage tradition, twelve major temples of Shiva are called [[Jyotirlinga]], which means "linga of light", and these are located across India.<ref>{{cite book|author=Swati Mitra|title=Omkareshwar and Maheshwar|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_0RpUoGiou4C&pg=PA25|year=2011|publisher=Eicher Goodearth and Madhya Pradesh Government|isbn=978-9380262246|page=25}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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