________________
MODERN HINDUISM.
discipline in a forest. It is said that Siva, in a quarrel with Brahma, cut off his fifth head, which, however, stuck to the destroyer's hand. To escape from a pursuing giant created by Brahma, Siva fled to Benares, where he became absolved from his sin and freed from the head of Brahma, thus causing Benares to become a specially sacred city.
In consequence of Siva's patronage of the bull as his steed, a strange custom has arisen in connection with the funerals of Sivaites. Whenever it is possible, a bull is set free to wander, and has a sacred character, so that
78
BRAHMA AND SARASVATI.
0000000000
no one dares to injure it; sometimes as many as seven bullocks are thus set free. This is believed to secure the favour of Siva. Similarly, since he was an ascetic, many of his followers pay court to him by a life of austerity and painful suffering. This was much more frequent in former times than now, for the British Government has discouraged or prohibited many of the most painful ex
Ascetic hibitions. Formerly many Siva worshippers Sivaites. would be swung from iron hooks fixed in their backs, or would jump from a height upon the edges of sharp knives. But it is not easy to put down such
