The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c11.44

v1.c11.44

**Sixth objection:** The principal worshipper of Śiva were either avowed heretics, or men who had lost their character among the people for the impious lives they led. Rāvaṇa was a Rākṣasa, or cannibal, who rose to power of the highest order by his devotion to Śiva. Bāṇa was an Asura, or demon, who thrived by the blessing of the same divinity. Jarāsandha was a great tyrant, who kept thousands of Hindu Rājās in confinement, and led a most infamous life; he was a favourite of several great non-Aryan chiefs whom the Brāhmans took great pains to put down, and he also owned allegiance to Śiva, and to Śiva only. The Nāgas, who were of a Tamulian race, and more or less inimical to the Brāhmanical orders, were adorers of that god; and most of the other aboriginal races likewise did, still do, follow that divinity. While on the other hand no distinguished Aryan chief ever selected Śiva for his tutelary god. This would scarcely have happened had Śiva originally belonged to the Hindu Pantheon.