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17. SAIVISM
concepts within the culture. But the essential transforming element for these came with the coming of Christianity.
In the Saivite theological concept he is the god of love and probably the only god in all Hindu Panthenon who was willing to die for his creation ( He drank the poison that came out of the carelessness of the gods during the churning of the milky way lest it will destroy the whole creation) So the picture here is totally at variant from the Aryan Rudra god. The Saivite Siva is more like Yahvh of the Abrahamic people. I have elsewhere looked into a possibility of descendants of Abraham from his concubines coming to India who probably formed a component of Indus Civilization. Sumerian and Abrahamic culture therefore appears dorment in the religious evolution of Indus Civilization. The cultic stone in the form of linga is certainly Abrahamic. It is the traditional worship form of Saivites even today
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/ MakKebah.
Sacred stones are mentioned with great frequency in the Old Testament; they were erected by Jacob at Beth-el (Gen. xxviii. 18; comp. xxxi. 13), at Shechem (Gen. xxxiii. 20 [where naso should be read instead of name), at Gilead (Gen. xxxi. 52), and over the grave of Rachel; and by Joshua in the sanctuary of Shechem (Josh. xxiv. 26; comp. Judges ix. 6). The "stone of help" ("Eben-ezer") set up by Samuel (1 Sam. vii. 12) was such a "ma Debah"; and other sacred stones existed at Gibeon (II Sam. xx. 8), at Enrogel (1 Kings i. 9, "the serpent-stone"), and at Michmash (1 Sam. xiv. 33). Twelve stones of this characterwere set up by Moses near his altar at the foot of Mount Sinai (Ex. xxiv. 4), and a circle of twelve at Gilgal was ascribed to Joshua (Josh. iv. 20). Finally, Jachin and Boaz, the two
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