The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c11.19

v1.c11.19

**[ 137 ] First objection :** The 1st argument is founded on a passage in the *Saṃhitā* of the *Ṛgveda*. In the 21st hymn of the 7th *Maṇḍala*, Vaśiṣṭha prays to Indra to preserve his sacrifice from being defiled by the worshippers of the phallus, who are taken for granted to be inimical to Vedic rites, and classed with Rākṣasas, evil spirits, and disorderly beings. The passage runs thus : “Let not the Rākṣasas, Indra, do us harm ; let not the evil spirits do harm to our progeny ; most powerful ( Indra ), let the sovereign lord ( Indra exert himself in the restraint of disorderly beings, so that the *Śiśnadevāḥ* may not disturb our rite”.⁷ The word *Śiśnadevāḥ* literally means “those who have the phallus ( *śiśna* ) for their god ( *deva* )”. Yāska takes it to imply “persons who do not observe *Brahmacarya*” or continence, i. e., unchaste, ( *abrahmacarya ityarthaḥ* ) in the same way as gluttons are described in the Bible by the phrase “whose god is their belly ;” but this explanation is not satisfactory, inasmuch as the unchaste are nowhere reckoned in the Veda to be as low as Rākṣasas or evil spirits, nor the contamination caused by contact with them such as to require divine intervention ; on the contrary, a simple expiatory offering with butter, or a certain number of repetitions of the *gāyatrī*, is held sufficient to render the unchaste fit for the priestly office. The word is of rare occurrence, and a very different word is ordinarily used to indicate those who are addicted to carnal enjoyment. It may, therefore, be presumed to imply the aboriginal phallic worshippers, who are, likewise, the Dasyus, Asuras, Rākṣasas, and other evil spirits of the Vedic writings.