Siva—a living god—transcends all categories. He is existence—with all its paradoxes. Beyond existence, he is the indefinable absolute.

The most ancient and most sacred Indian text, the Rg Veda (c. 1200 B.C.), speaks of him as Rudra, the Wild God; he is known as a hunter with his arrow, his target the Creator himself. In the beginning a wild hunter, afire—Fire itself—let his arrow fly toward the Father, the Creator, in the shape of an antelope in the act of creation/procreation. The Father made love to his daughter; they alone existed in the wilderness of a cosmos to be. Some seed fell on the earth. Fire (Agni) had made the seed ready for the Father. Before that, nothing existed. It was the beginning of creation out of the uncreate.

Matsya Purana 3.43-44 “Brahma, fired with passion in her company, married Satarupa and began to pass his days in enjoyment inside a lotus. He enjoyed the company of Savitri for hundred years, and after a long time Manu was born to them.” Tr. Taluqdar of Oudh, edited by B.D. Basu

Chapter 4 of Matsya Purana justifies this act of Brahma saying that Devas beget progeny in quite different ways. It’s a conversation between Manu and Vishnu avatar Matsya,

Matsya Purana 4.1-11 “The king said, “O Merciful! I feel awfully grieved to hear that Lord Brahma married Angaja. Pray, tell me why he was not regarded as having committed a fearful sin by having done so. Remove my doubts, O, Master of the Universe! by graciously explaining to me why the offspring of Brahma were allowed to intermarry in their paternal circle without any regard for close-knit kinship.” The Lord Fish replied: “O king! such doubts only arise in the case of mankind, for men have atomic bodies and beget children in a different way, while the primeval creation is celestial in which Rajoguna predominates. The Devas do not have supersensuous bodies and they beget progeny in quite different ways. The celestial forms come into being in other ways, and it is very difficult for men having sensuous bodies to understand this great secret. Only supernatural intellect causes celestial creation; therefore those alone can understand its great sect who themselves possessed with such an intellect… O, King! the question of any prescribed order on prohibition does not arise in the deeds of the Devas. Only Their desire is taken into consideration in whatever they do. Other beings reap the fruits of their karma (doings) which the Devas do not. No doubts should therefore be raised regarding the doings of the Devas, nor should beings having sensuous bodies think of doing the same deed. Besides this, as Lord, Brahma is the governor of the Vedas, and so is the goddess Gayatri of the Brahmans (the sacred text, i.e., the Vedas). She is the better half of the Lord, and this is why she appeared from his body…He committed no sin by marrying Her. In spite of all this, Lord Brahma felt ashamed for not being able to suppress His passion in presence of His manasa sons…” Tr. Taluqdar of Oudh, Edited by B.D. Basu

The above verse not only justifies incest between Brahma and Saraswati but also clears many doubts. Some Hindu apologists are coming up with pathetic responses to Brahma-Saraswati incest like “If Saraswati was Brahma’s daughter then what was the name of her mother? She wasn’t his daughter.” And much more, Ganesh was made by Parvati from her waste all alone without a partner yet Shiva is considered the father of Ganesh, there are many characters in Hindu mythology who have taken birth without a father or a mother like Sita who had no father. So this is a pathetic excuse to explain the incest, the above verse from Matsya Purana like other verses clearly states that Brahma married his daughter, that should be enough to refute the rebuttal of apologists.

One-Faced Linga (Ekamukhalinga)

Kusana Dynasty - Mathura, Uttar Pradesh
First-second century AD | Mottled red sandstone
Height 50%" (78.1 cm)
Philadelphia Museum of Art - (Shown only in Philadelphia)
Anonymous gift

The paradoxical combination of Siva's linga-at same time his abstract, pillarlike symbol, and his phallus—with the head of Siva is fully explained in the Puranas

Introduction

In addition to the metaphysical argument of the texts, the sculpture gives visual form to the psychological, yogic experience of the ascent and transubstantiation of the seed from the organ of generation to the crown of the head, from procreative function to creative thought.

In this image, one face (ekamukha) of Siva is surmounted by a jatabhara, a curving mass of minute, coiled locks, across which a delicate "ornament"—a serpent—undulates. Xo other Indian god is as intimately connected and profusely associated with serpents as is Siva; however, this is the only known early representation of Siva where a serpent is his only cognizance.

The dome shape of the glans, the curve of the coiffure, and the two opposing arcs below the head unite the curved form of the linga with the modeling of the face, now unfortunately badly worn.

guidance from the Philadelphia Museum

‘Thought to be one of the oldest lingas in the world, here the god is literally manifesting in the world.’ and "A column symbolizing the world’s axis"

guidance from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in connection with an image of Shiva as Mahesha

‘……Shiva’s worshipers believe that he manifests himself in three stages, which move from the abstract to the concrete—symbolized by the undecorated linga (shaft); the linga with one or more faces emerging from it; and, finally, Mahesha……’

One-Faced Linga (Ekamukhalinga)

Gupta Dynasty Madhya Pradesh Early fifth century1 Sandstone
Height 58" ('47-3 cm)
Asian Art Museum of San Francisco - The Avery Brundage Collection

Only the cylindrical part of this complete sculpture of a linga was meant to be seen and worshiped. The octagonal and square prismatic shapes, their surfaces but roughly finished, would have been inserted into an altar or base. Nevertheless, though not visible during worship, the prismatic sections added their own significance to the meaning of the Iinga: the square one is assigned to Brahma the Creator (Brabmabbaga), and the octagonal, one to Vishnu the Maintainer of the Universe (Visnubhaga). Topped by the visible, cylindrical part, the part that is worshiped (pujabhaga) and to which the name Rudra is given (Rudrabhaga), the ekamukbalinga holds the presence of the three Great Gods of Hinduism.

The proportions of the three parts of the linga vary according to the caste of the donor. Brahmin, Ksatriya, Yaisva, or Sudra. These rules do not, however, reflect on the meaning of the Iinga (see Introduction), although they condition variations within its shape. Of particular importance are the minutely detailed rules for constructing different conic sections in making the top of the linga, umbrella, half-moon, or bubble shaped. In this fifth-century linga, the sculptor has left the lowermost part of the Rudrabhaga only roughly finished in the shape of a circular band that leads over to the octagonal and cylindrical parts.

The height of the Rudrabhaga is made proportionate to the height of the door of the temple's innermost sanctuary (garbhagrha), or to the sanctuary's width. The one face of the ekamukhalinga, directed toward the door, stands for the four visible faces, that is, for the total presence of Siva. If the innermost sanctuary has two, three, or four doors, the linga has two, three, or four faces, one facing in each direction.

The relation of the rounded pillar to the head is of great purity in this ekamukhalinga, the curvature of the top supplying the theme for the form of the head. The roundness of the forehead carries the third, vertical eye, which although only incised becomes a significant feature of the god's physiognomy. Straight strands of hair are pulled tight on the domed head and gathered on the top, while long strands fall in low relief behind the distended ears. Below the chignon, the cablelike twisted hair, and below the face, the bead necklace firmly attaches the salient head to the cylindrical shape of its ground.

The crescent of the moon that graces the top of the chignon is a symbol solely characteristic of Siva. Its meaning comprises the sojourn of the dead, the elixir of immortality, and also virility.

• Compare the ekamukbalinga in Udayagiri, cave temple 4, from the early fifth century, in Stella Kramrisch, The Art of India (London, 1954)
• See TA Gopinatha Rao, Elements of Hindu Iconography (1916; reprint, New York, 1968)

PUBLISHED

San Francisco, Asian Art .Museum, A Decade of Collecting: An Exhibition Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the Asian Art Museum of Sa?i Francisco, The Avery Brundage Collection (Winter 1976—Spring 1977)