Out Of Thirty-Seven
Thugs Caught By The Police There Were Twenty-Two Mahometans.
This
proves perfectly clearly that their religion, having nothing in
common with the Hindu gods, had nothing to do with their cruel
profession; the reason and cause was robbery.
It is true though that the final initiation rite was performed in
some deserted forest before an idol of Bhavani, or Kali, wearing a
necklace of human skulls. Before this final initiation the
candidates had to undergo a course of schooling, the most difficult
part of which was a certain trick of throwing the rumal on the neck
of the unsuspecting victim and strangling him, so that death might
be instantaneous. In the initiation the part of the goddess was
made manifest in the use of certain symbols, which are in common
use amongst the Freemasons - for instance, an unsheathed dagger,
a human skull, and the corpse of Hiram-Abiff, "son of the widow,"
brought back to life by the Grand Master of the lodge. Kali was
nothing but the pretext for an imposing scenarium. Freemasonry
and Thugism had many points of resemblance. The members of both
recognized each other by certain signs, both had a pass-word and
a jargon that no outsider could understand. The Freemason lodges
receive among their members both Christians and Atheists; the
Thugs used to receive the thieves and robbers of every nation
without any distinction; and it is reported that amongst them
there were some Portuguese and even Englishmen. The difference
between the two is that the Thugs certainly were a criminal
organization, whereas the Freemasons of our days do no harm,
except to their own pockets.
Poor Shiva, wretched Bhavani! What a mean interpretation popular
ignorance has invented for these two poetical types, so deeply
philosophical and so full of knowledge of the laws of nature.
Shiva, in his primi-tive meaning is "Happy God"; then the
all-destroying, as well as the all-regenerating force of nature.
The Hindu trinity is, amongst other things, an allegorical
representation of the three chief elements: fire, earth and water.
Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva all represent these elements by turns,
in their different phases; but Shiva is much more the god of the
fire than either Brahma or Vishnu: he burns and purifies; at
the same time creating out of the ashes new forms, full of fresh
life. Shiva-Sankarin is the destroyer or rather the scatterer;
Shiva-Rakshaka is the preserver, the regenerator. He is represented
with flames on his left palm, and with the wand of death and
resurrection in his right hand. His worshippers wear on their
foreheads his sign traced with wet ashes, the ashes being called
vibhuti, or purified substance, and the sign consisting of three
horizontal parallel lines between the eyebrows. The color of Shiva's
skin is rosy-yellow, gradually changing into a flaming red. His neck,
head and arms are covered with snakes, emblems of eternity and
eternal regeneration. "As a serpent, abandoning his old slough,
reappears in new skin, so man after death reappears in a younger
and a purer body," say the Puranas.
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