and this may have been
one of his earliest attributes, as it was probably associated with
his Vedic prototype Rudra. Whether Siva obtained his character as a
god of destruction from one only of the above associations, or from
a combination of them, is probably not known. Two great forces lend
the deity his character of a god of reproduction, the bull and the
phallic emblem. The bull tills the soil and renders it fertile and
capable of bringing forth the crops which form the sustenance of
mankind; while the phallic emblem is worshipped as the instrument
of generation. It is believed that there is a natural tendency to
associate these two objects, and to ascribe to the bull the capacity
of inducing human fertility as well as the increase of the earth. It
is in these two attributes that Siva is worshipped in the rural tract;
he is represented by the emblem referred to standing on a circular
grooved stone, which is the _yoni_, and in front of him is a stone
bull. And he is revered almost solely as a beneficent deity under
the name of Mahadeo or the Great God. Thus his dual qualities of
destruction and reproduction appear to be produced by the combination
in him of different objects of worship; the Himalayas, the moon,
the cobra and the lightning on the one hand, and the bull and the
emblem of regeneration on the other. Other interesting characteristics
of Siva are that he is the first and greatest of ascetics and that
he is immoderately addicted to the intoxicating drugs _ganja_ and
_bhang_, the preparations of Indian hemp. It may be supposed that
the god was given his character as an ascetic in order to extend
divine sanction and example to the practice of asceticism when it
came into favour. And the drugs, [371] first revered themselves
for their intoxicating properties, were afterwards perpetuated in
a sacred character by being associated with the god. Siva's throat
is blue, and it is sometimes said that this is on account of his
immoderate consumption of _bhang_. The _nilkanth_ or blue-jay, which
was probably venerated for its striking plumage, and is considered to
be a bird of very good omen, has become Siva's bird because its blue
throat resembles his. His principal sacred tree is the _bel_ tree,
[372] which has trifoliate leaves, and may have been held sacred
on this account. The practice of Sati or the self-immolation of
widows has also been given divine authority by the story that Sati
was Siva's first wife, and th