nysus this would be valuable
evidence. But he clearly misunderstood many things in Indian religion.
Greek legends connected Dionysus with India and the East.]

[Footnote 337: Macdonell seems to me correct in saying (_J.R.A.S._
1915, p. 125) that one reason why Indian deities have many arms is
that they may be able to carry the various symbols by which they are
characterized. Another reason is that worship is usually accompanied
by dhyana, that is forming a mental image of the deity as described in
a particular text. _E.g._ the worshipper repeats a mantra which
describes a deity in language which was originally metaphorical as
having many heads and arms and at the same time he ought to make a
mental image of such a figure.]

[Footnote 338: But some forms of Sivaism in southern India come even
nearer to emotional Christianity than does Vishnuism.]

[Footnote 339: I cannot discover that any alleged avatara of Siva has
now or has had formerly any importance, but the Vayu, Linga and Kurma
Purana give lists of such incarnations, as does also the Catechism of
the Shaiva religion translated by Foulkes. But Indian sects have a
strong tendency to ascribe all possible achievements and attributes to
their gods. The mere fact that Vishnu becomes incarnate incites the
ardent Sivaite to say that his god can do the same. A curious instance
of this rivalry is found in the story that Siva manifested himself as
Sarabha-murti in order to curb the ferocity of Vishnu when incarnate
in the Man Lion (see Gopinatha Rao, _Hindu Icon_. p. 45). Siva often
appears in a special form, not necessarily human, for a special
purpose (_e.g._ Virabhadra) and some tantric Buddhas seem to be
imitations of these apparitions. There is a strong element of Sivaism
borrowed from Bengal in the mythology of Tibet and Mongolia, where
such personages as Hevajra, Samvara, and Mahakala have a considerable
importance under the strange title of Buddhas.]

[Footnote 340: The passage from one epithet to the other is very plain
in _R.V._ I. 114.]

[Footnote 341: Book XVI.]

[Footnote 342: In the play Mricchakatika or The Clay Cart (probably
of the sixth century A.D.) a burglar invokes Kartikeya, the son of
Siva, who is said to have taught different styles of house-breaking.]

[Footnote 343: A similarly strange collocation of attributes is found
in Daksha's hymn to Siva. Mahabharata, XII. Sec. 285.]

[Footnote 344: Atharva, V. xi. 2. 24.]

[Footnote 345: It is not