will of Vishnu; they are born of his
grace and his anger." In regard to Civa himself, his nature and place
in Vishnuism have been sufficiently explained. The worship of this god
is referred to 'Vedic texts' (the _cata-rudriyam_, vii. 202. 120);[38]
Vishnu is made to adore the terrible god (_ib_. 201. 69) who appears
as a mad ascetic, a wild rover, a monster, a satire on man and gods,
though he piously carries a rosary, and has other late traits in his
personal appearance.[39] The strength of Civaism lay in the eumenidean
(Civa is 'prospering,' 'kindly') euphemism and fear alike, which
shrank in speech and mind from the object of fear. But this religion
in the epic had a firmer hold than that of fear. It was essentially
phallic in its outward form (VII. 201. 93-96), and as such was deeply
rooted in the religious conscience of a people to whom one may venture
perhaps to ascribe such a form of worship even in the time of the Rig
Veda, although the signs thereof in great part have been suppressed.
This may be doubted,[40] indeed, for the earlier age; but there is no
question that epic Civaism, like Civaism to-day, is dependent wholly
on phallic worship (XIII. 14. 230 ff.). It is the parallel of Bacchic
rites and orgies, as well as of the worship of the demons in
distinction from that of good powers. Civa represents the ascetic,
dark, awful, bloody side of religion: Vishnu, the gracious, calm,
hopeful, loving side; the former is fearful, mysterious, demoniac; the
latter is joyful, erotic, divine. In their later developments it is
not surprising to see that Vishnuism, in the form of Krishnaism,
becomes more and more erotic, while Civaism becomes more and more
ghastly and ghoulish. Wild and varied as are the beliefs of the epic,
there is space but to show a few more characteristic sides of its
theology--a phase that may seem questionable, yet, since the devout
Hindu believes the teachings of the epic, they must all to him
constitute one theology, although it was gradually amalgamated out of
different creeds.

In connection with Civa stands, closely united, his son, Ganeca,
"leader of troops," still worshipped as one of the popular gods, and
the battle-god, Skanda, the son first of Agni then of Civa, the
conqueror of the demons, _d[=a]navas_, and later representative of
Indra, with whom the epic identifies him. For it is Skanda that is the
real battle-god of the later epic; though in its original form Indra
was still the warr