XIV. Phallus-Worship in the Mahabharata

Extract

For want of a critical edition of the Mahābhārata, such an eminent scholar as Professor Rhys Davids has been led to think that, though there is no mention of the worship of Śiva under the form of the Linga in the old Buddhistic records, “Phallus-worship is often mentioned, quite as a matter of course, in the Mahābhārata” (“Budhistic India,” p. 165). Whatever may be the date of the Mahābhārata Saṁhitā, it may be successfully shown that the Linga, as a form of Śiva, is not recognised in that great epic.