"The Indians commonly represent the mystery of their physiological religion by the emblem of a _Nymphœa_, or _Lotos_, floating like a boat on the boundless ocean; where the whole plant signifies both the earth and the two principles of its fecundation: the germ is both _Méru_ and the _Linga_; the _petals_ and _filaments_ are the mountains which encircle Méru, and are also a type of the Yoni; the leaves of the calyx are the four vast regions to the cardinal points of Méru, and the leaves of the plant are the _dwipas_ or isles round the land of _Jambu_. Another of their emblems is called _Argha_, which means a _cup_ or _dish_, or any other vessel, in which _fruit_ and _flowers_ are offered to the deities, and which _ought_ always to be _shaped like a boat_, though we now see arghas of many different forms, oval, circular or square; and hence it is that Iswara has the title of _Arghanatha_, or the lord of the boat-shaped vessel: a rim round the _argha_ represents the mysterious Yoni, and the navel of Vishnu is commonly denoted by a convexity in the centre, while the contents of the vessel are symbols of the _linga_. This _argha_, as a type of the _adhara-sacti_, or _power of conception_, excited and vivified by the _linga_, or _Phallus_, we cannot but suppose to be one and the same with the ship Argo, which was built, according to Orpheus, by Juno and Pallas, and according to Appolonius, by Pallas and Argus at the instance of Juno: the Yoni, as it is usually pronounced, nearly resembles the name of the principal Hetruscan goddess, and the Sanscrit phrase _Arghanatha_ Iswara seems accurately rendered by Plutarch, when he asserts Osiris was commander of the Argo. We cannot yet affirm that the words phala, or fruit, and phulla, or a flower, have ever the sense of Phallus; but fruit and flowers are the chief oblations in the _argha_, and triphala is a name sometimes given, especially in the West of India, to the trifula, or trident of Mahadeva. It can be shown that the Jupiter Triphylius of the Pauchœan Islands was no other than Siva holding a triphala, who is represented also with three eyes to denote a triple energy, as Vishnu and Prithivi are severally typified by an equilateral triangle, (which likewise gives an idea of capacity) and conjointly, when their powers are supposed to be combined, by two such equal triangles intersecting each other."[21] CHAPTER V. _Story of the Fire-God and his secret--Growth of Fire-Worship--Fire an essential in Hindu Worship--The Chaldeans--The Persians--The Hebrews-- Fire in Hindu Ceremonies--Duties of Hindu Life--The Serpent and Fire-- Phallo-Pythic Solar Shrines--Fire and Phallic Worship--Leaping through Fire--Fire-treading in Scotland--Fire-leaping in Russia--The Medes as Fire Worshippers--The Sabines--Fire and the Ancient Christians--The Roman Church and Fire--The Jews--Temple of Vesta--Fire Worship in Ireland--Phallo-Fire Worship of Greeks and Romans._