z:\ ambedkar\vol 04\vol4 03.indd MK SJ YS 21 9 2013/YS 8 11 2013 79
RIDDLE NO. 10 79
being’s linga except that of Mahesvara is now worshipped, or has formerly been worshipped, by the gods ? He whose linga Brahma and Vishnu, and thou (Indra), with, the deities, continually worship, is therefore then most eminent. Since children bear neither the mark of the lotus (Brahma’s), nor of the discus (Vishnu’s), nor of the thunderbolt (Indra’s), but are marked with the male and the female organs,—therefore offspring is derived from Mahesvara. All women produced from the nature of Devi as their cause, are marked with the female organ, and all males are manifestly marked with the linga of Hara. He who asserts any other cause than Isvara (Mahadeva) or (affirms) that there is any (female) not marked by Devi in the three worlds, including all things movable or immovable, let that fool be thrust out. Know everything which is male to be Isara, and all that is female to be Uma ; for this whole world, movable and immovable, is pervaded by (these) two bodies.”
The Greek Philosopher Zenophanes insists that polytheism or plurality of Gods is inconceivable and contradictory. That the only true doctrine was monotheism. Considered from a philosophical point of view, Zenophanes might be right. But from the historical point of view both are natural. Monotheism is natural where society is a single community. Where society is a federation of many communities polytheism is both natural and inevitable. Because every ancient community consisted not merely of men but of men and its Gods it was impossible for the various communities to merge and coalesce except on one condition that its God is also accepted by the rest. This is how polytheism has grown.
Consequently the existence of many Gods among the Hindus is quite understandable because the Hindu Society has been formed by the conglomeration of many tribes and many communities each of whom had their own separate Gods. What strikes one as a strange phenomenon is the sight of the Hindu Gods, struggling one against the other, their combats and feuds and the ascriptions by one God to the other, all things that are a shame and disgrace to common mortals. This is what requires explanation.
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