The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c11.56

v1.c11.56

**Reply to the six objection :** The reply usually given to the sixth objection is, that Śiva is described in all the Śāstras as a god most inordinately attached to his votaries ; that, however sinful a man may be, he can always secure the grace of that divinity by his devotion ; and that the amount of devotion necessary to secure his grace, is much less than what is required for the mercy of the other gods. To indicate this peculiar character of Śiva, he is named Āśutoṣa or “the easily gratified” : and many are the stories told of the facility with which people obtained his favour by the performance of acts which can hardly be described as devotional. One of them is worthy of note. A hunter of a low caste once happened to be benighted in a forest, and failing to find his way home, mounted a *bel* tree to pass the night there. He had no food during the day, and his couch for the night was a thorny one, away from home and family, and tears were the only resource by which he could relieve himself of his painful feelings, and he shed them in abundance. One of them dropping on a ripe *bel* leaf hastened its fall, and brought it down on the head of an image of Śiva which happened to stand near the root of the tree. This so gratified Śiva, that he made himself manifest to the hunter, and showered blessings on him for his involuntary devotion.²⁰ Such a divinity, say the Śivites, cannot but be easily secured by people not usually particular in the observance of the mandates of religion. To the faithful this is a complete vindication ; but it may be added that the anti-Vedic people described in the Śāstras are generally those who were opposed to Viṣṇu and his followers, and the stories, therefore, may be accepted to represent in allegory the antagonism of the two rival sects of Śivites and Vaiṣṇavites, both Hindus, and not the rivalry of the aborigines and the Aryans.