History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c37.13
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c37.13
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v3.c37.13.1
Phallic emblems have been found in the ancient ruins at Mohenjo-daro (*vide* Sir John Marshall's work, vol. I. pp. 58-63). Except these finds the earliest known *liṅgas* so far discovered do not go beyond the first century B. C. But centuries before Christ the worship of images had become widespread in India. According to Haradatta on Āp. gṛ. 20. 1-3, where the offerings to Īśāna, his consort and his son ‘Jayanta’ (the conqueror Skanda) are described, images of these three are worshipped. The Mānava-gṛhya¹⁶⁹⁴ II. 15. 6 prescribes that if an image (of wood, stone or metal) were to be burnt down or to become reduced to powder (of itself) or falls (from its pedestal) or breaks into pieces, or laughs, or moves to another place, the householder (in whose house it had been established) should offer ten oblations into fire with certain Vedic verses. In the Baud. gṛ. II. 2. 13 when describing the ceremony of Upaniṣkramaṇa (taking the infant child out of the house for the first time) it is said that the father after performing homa goes out of the house, worships the images outside (the house), feeds the brāhmaṇas, makes them pronounce benedictions and then brings back to the house the infant.¹⁶⁹⁵ The Laugākṣi gṛhya (18. 3) speaks of devatāyatana (a temple). Gaut. (IX. 13-14) forbids a man from answering calls of nature in front of images or from stretching one's feet towards them and (IX. 66) requires a man to circumambulate a temple (devatāyatana) that he may meet on his way.
v3.c37.13.2
The Śāṅ. gṛ. IV. 12. 15 does the same and uses the same word (S. B. E. vol. 29, p. 125) and in II. 6. 6 mentions a *deva-kula* (god's house). Āp. Dh. S. (I. 11. 30. 28) has a similar rule. Manu (II. 176) directs the brahmacārin to worship images, requires a person to circumambulate images that he may meet with when on a journey (IV. 39), not to cross the shadow of images (IV. 130) and ordains that witnesses be sworn in the presence of the images of gods and brāhmaṇas (VIII. 87). *Vide* also Manu III. 117 and IX. 285. The Viṣṇu Dh. S. (23. 34, 63. 27) mentions the images of gods (devatārcā) and speaks of the worship of Bhagavat Vāsudeva as an image. In Vasiṣṭha XI. 31, Viṣṇu Dh. S. 69. 7, 30. 15, 70 13, 91. 10 the word ‘devatāyatana’ or ‘devāyatana’ occurs. Unfortunately the dates of all these works are far from being certain. But no scholar will assign the Mānava, Baudhāyana and Śāṅkhyāyana gṛhyasūtras and the dharmasūtras of Gautama and Āpastamba to a later date than the 5th or 4th century B. C. Pāṇini, whom no scholar will place later than 300 B. C. (though there are some who place him several centuries earlier), teaches ¹⁶⁹⁶ that an image by attending on which a person maintains himself and which is not for sale has the same name as the god whose image it is e. g. an image is called Śiva or Skanda when the worshipper makes his livelihood by attending on the image of Śiva or Skanda (and appropriating the offerings placed before the image) which is not for sale.
v3.c37.13.3
Pāṇini also teaches (IV. 3. 98) that 'Vāsudevaka' is a person who is a votary of Vāsudeva and Patañjali expressly says that Vāsudeva was not a mere kṣatriya, but that the word is the name of God. Patañjali comments on the former sūtra and vouchsafes the very interesting information that the Mauryas who were greedy of gold established or manufactured images, to which this rule would not apply, but it would apply to the images of gods that were in Patañjali's day used for pūjā (worship). According to Patañjali the images manufactured by the Mauryas would be called Śivaka &c. Patañjali, while commenting on Pāṇini IV. 1. 54, gives as examples an image with a long or high nose. The Ādiparva 70. 49, Anuśāsana 10. 20-21, Āśvamedhika 70. 16 speak of devatāyatanas (temples) and Bhīṣma 112. 11 in speaking of terrible portents refers to images in temples trembling and shedding tears. Khāravela, king of Kaliṅga (latter half of 2nd century B. C.) is said to have re-established an image of Jina carried away by Nandarāja and he is described as 'sarvadevāyatana-saṁkhāra-kāraka' (one who looked after the preservation and repair of all temples). In Kauṭilya's Arthaśāstra II. 4 (variously assigned to different dates from 300 B. C. to 250 A. D.) it is stated that in the centre of the capital shrines of Aparājita, Apratihata, Jayanta, Vaijayanta and temples of Śiva, Aśvins, Vaiśravaṇa, Lakṣmī and of Madirā (wine?) should be erected.
v3.c37.13.4
It follows from the above discussion that long before Pāṇini there had arisen professional men who made their livelihood by attending on images and that temples of deities must have existed even in the 4th or 5th century B. C.