The Development of Hindu Iconography c12.22.2

c12.22.2

When they are compared to the numbers of phalli—they are so realistic that they cannot be explained in any other way (*cf.* the realism manifest in the earliest stone phalli of the historic period discovered at Gudimallam, Mathura and other places)—that have been discovered in the same region, there remains very little doubt about the truth of Marshall's explanation. But it must be borne in mind that in the Indus Valley both the phalli and the *yoni* stones appear to have served the purpose of cult objects separately, as seems to have also been the case with the early phalli and the *yoni* stones of subsequent days. In fact, the *lingam* in *arghya* (or *yoni*) design is comparatively late in appearance and even then in the conventional Sivalingas the spout-like projection, from which the *pūjābhāga* of the Sivalinga rises upward and which is taken by the uninitiated as symbolising *yoni*, is really a *praṇālī* or drain for the easy outflow of the volume of water usually poured on the top of the emblem by the numerous devotees of the god.¹ These phalli and the ring stones thus appear to have separately symbolised the principles of virility and fecundity, both of which are highly esteemed by all men in all ages. Marshall has referred to his own discovery of several curious stone discs, three of which were unearthed from the Bhir Mound at Taxila, one from inside the structures uncovered near the foot of Hathial (Taxila), and one at Kosam.