leaf, the threatener, the slayer, the vexer
and the afflicter." Here we see how an evil and disreputable god, the
patron of low castes and violent occupations, becomes associated with
the uncanny forces of nature and is on the way to become an
All-God.[343]

Rudra is frequently mentioned in the Atharva Veda. He is conceived
much as in the Satarudriya, and is the lord of spirits and of animals.
"For thee the beasts of the wood, the deer, swans and various winged
birds are placed in the forest: thy living creatures exist in the
waters: for thee the celestial waters flow. Thou shootest at the
monsters of the ocean, and there is to thee nothing far or near."[344]

These passages show that the main conceptions out of which the
character of the later Siva is built existed in Vedic times. The Rudra
of the Yajur and Atharva Vedas is not Brahmanic: he is not the god of
priests and orderly ritual, but of wild people and places. But he is
not a petty provincial demon who afflicts rustics and their cattle.
Though there is some hesitation between one Rudra and many Rudras, the
destructive forces are unified in thought and the destroyer is not
opposed to creation as a devil or as the principle of evil, but with
profounder insight is recognized as the Lord and Law of all living
things.

But though the outline of Siva is found in Vedic writings, later
centuries added new features to his cult. Chief among these is the
worship of a column known as the Linga, the emblem under which he is
now most commonly adored. It is a phallic symbol though usually decent
in appearance. The Vedas do not countenance this worship and it is not
clear that it was even known to them.[345] It is first enjoined in the
Mahabharata and there only in two passages[346] which appear to be
late additions. The inference seems to be that it was accepted as part
of Hinduism just about the time that our edition of the Mahabharata
was compiled.[347] The old theory that it was borrowed from aboriginal
and especially from Dravidian tribes[348] is now discredited. In the
first place the instances cited of phallic worship among aboriginal
tribes are not particularly numerous or striking. Secondly, linga
worship, though prevalent in the south, is not confined to it, but
flourishes in all parts of India, even in Assam and Nepal. Thirdly, it
is not connected with low castes, with orgies, with obscene or
bloodthirsty rites or with anything which can be called un-Aryan. It
f