THE HISTORY OF THE DEVIL AND THE IDEA OF EVIL FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO PRESENT

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KALI, After an Indian picture. (Reproduced from Schlagintweit.)

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myths and legends, in spite of the omnipotence of Siva, and the high place given him in Hindu dogmatology, she

p. 98

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is the main recipient of Hindu worship all over the country. As Kali she is identified with time, the all-devourer, and is pictured as enjoying destruction, perdition, and

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DURGA. Indian sculpture, (Reproduced from Schlagintweit.)

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murder in any form, trampling under foot even her own husband. There is scarcely a village without a temple devoted to her, and her images can be seen in thousands of forms. Her appearance is pleasant only as Pavarti; in

p. 99

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all other shapes she is frightful, and it is difficult to understand the reverence which the pious Hindu cherishes

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mKHA' sGROMA, THE TIBETAN KALI. Bronze. (Musée Guimet.)

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for this most diabolical deity, who among the Buddhists of Thibet is changed into a devilish demon under the name of mKha' sGroma.

p. 100

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The Pantheism which lies at the bottom of the whole Hindu mythology finds expression in the worship of HariHara, who is a combination of Vishnu and Siva. In

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KALI-DURGA IN THE HINDU PANTHEON. (Reproduced from Wilkins.)

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the Mahatmya, or collection of temple legends of the HariHara, a town in the province of Mysore, Isvara says:" 1


p. 101

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"There are heretics among men who reject the Vedas and the Shastras, who live without purificatory ceremonies and established rules of conduct, and are filled with hatred of Vishnu: so also there are heretical followers of Vishnu, who are similarly filled with hatred of Shiva. All these wicked men shall go to hell so long as this world endures. I will not receive worship from any man who makes a distinction between Vasudeva and my own divinity: I will divide every such man in two with my saw. For I have assumed the form of HariHara in order to destroy the teaching that there is a difference between us: and he who knows within himself that HariHara is the god of gods, shall inherit the highest heaven."

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HARIHARA. (Reproduced from Wilkins.)

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HariHara is depicted as a combination of the two gods in one figure, which is half male and half female, for according to the Southern version of the legend Vishnu assumed the form of a beautiful woman who was embraced so fervently by Siva that both became one.

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There are in Hindu mythology innumerable other deities, among whom Indra, the thunder-god, is the greatest, as the hero among the gods of secondary rank, reminding us of the Thor of the Norsemen; but Varuna, the Hindu Kronos, Agni the god of fire, have also at times been very prominent.