Note 2 — Chapter VII · A NIGHT-FESTIVAL IN A HINDU TEMPLE.

Mrs. Speir, in her Life in Ancient India, p. 374, says that we first hear of Siva worship about B.C. 300, and that it is described by Megasthenes as “celebrated in tumultuous festivals, the worshippers anointing their bodies, wearing crowns of flowers, and sounding bells and cymbals. From which,” she adds, “the Greeks conjectured that Siva worship was derived from Bacchus or Dionysos, and carried to the East in the traditionary expedition which Bacchus made in company with Hercules.”