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This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Excerpt from Oriental Illustrations of the Sacred Scripture Collected From the Customs, Manners, Rites, Superstitions, Traditions of the Hindoos, Vol. 4 The Síva of India is both male and female; his right side being of the former, and his left of the latter sex; and his wife assumed both appearances, as circumstances might require. "'The Babylonians called Succoth-benoth, Mylitta, signifying Mother.' The wife of Síva, and she only (as far as I know), is called Máthá, or 'Mother.' "Amongst the Assyrians, 'the daughters or women once in their lives had to make a sacrifice of virtue to that goddess, Succoth-benoth.' And Lempriere says of her: 'A surname of Venus, among the Assyrians, in whose temples all the women were obliged to prostitute themselves to strangers.' The wife of Síva, amongst many other names, is called Váli or Báli, under which appellation she assumed the form of a girl of twelve years of age. And in Madura, Balane, and other places, beautiful virgins used to go the temple once in their lives, to offer themselves in honour of the goddess. The story was, that a god had converse with them, In all the temples of Siva and his consort (where it can be afforded), women are kept to dance and sing before the idols. "Amongst the Assyrians and others, 'the votaries of the above-named goddess worship sometimes in the dress of men, and at other times in that of women." The dancing-girls of many of the temples on that continent of India, at the feast called Mánampu, do the same thing. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.