38, p. 455), “pay homage to I know not what god, which
they represent by a quadrangular stone.” The gross fetichism of the
Hindus, it is well known, introduced them to litholatry.
At Jagannath
they worship a pyramidal black stone, fabled to have fallen from
heaven, or miraculously to have presented itself on the place where the
temple now stands. Moreover, they revere the Salagram, as the emblem of
Vishnu, the second person in their triad. The rudest emblem of the “Bonus
Deus” was a round stone. It was succeeded in India by the cone and
triangle; in Egypt by the pyramid; in Greece it was represented by
cones of terra-cotta about three inches and a half long. Without going
deep into theory, it may be said that the Ka’abah and the Hajar are the
only two idols which have survived the 360 composing the heavenly host
of the Arab pantheon. Thus the Hindu poet exclaims:—
“Behold the marvels of my idol-temple, O Moslem!
That when its idols are destroy’d, it becomes Allah’s House.”
Wilford (As. Soc. vols. iii. and iv.) makes the Hindus declare that the
Black Stone at Mokshesha, or Moksha-sthana (Meccah) was an incarnation
of Moksheshwara, an incarnation of Shiwa, who with his consort visited
Al-Hijaz. When the Ka’abah was rebuilt, this emblem was placed in the
outer wall for contempt, but the people still respected it. In the
Dabistan the Black Stone is said to be an image of Kaywan or Saturn;
and Al-Shahristani also declares the temple to have been dedicated to
the same planet Zuhal, whose genius is represented in the Puranas as
fierce, hideous, four-armed, and habited in a black cloak, with a dark
turband. Moslem historians are unanimous in asserting that Sasan, son
of Babegan, and other Persian monarchs, gave rich presents to the
Ka’abah; they especially mention two golden crescent moons, a significant
offering. The Guebers assert that, among the images and relics left by
Mahabad and his successors in the Ka’abah, was the Black Stone, an emblem
of Saturn. They also call the city Mahgah— moon’s place—from an exceedingly
beautiful image of the moon; whence they say the Arabs derived “Meccah.”
And the Sabaeans equally respect the Ka’abah and the pyramids, which they
assert to be the tombs of Seth, Enoch (or Hermes), and Sabi the son of
Enoch. Meccah, then, is claimed as a sacred place, and the Hajar
al-Aswad, as well as the Ka’abah, are revered as holy emblems by four
different faiths—the Hindu, Sabæan, Gueber, and Moslem. I have little
doubt, and hope to prove at another time, that the Jews connected it
with traditions about Abraham. This would be the fifth religion that
looked towards the Ka’abah—a rare meeting-place of devotion.
[FN#21] Presenting this appearance in profile. The Hajar has suffered
from the iconoclastic principle of Islam, having once narrowly escaped
destruction by order of Al-Hakim of Egypt.
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