Note 81 — Chapter IV · ANIMAL-WORSHIP.
Reading edition
Further, the phallic significance of the worship, in its modern form at least, and its connection with fertility cannot be altogether ignored.81 This is particularly shown in the close connection between Siva’s bull Nandi and the Lingam worship; and there seems reason to suspect that the bull is intended to intercept the evil influences which in the popular belief are continually emitted from the female principle through the Yonî. As we have already seen, the dread of this form of pollution is universal. Hence when the Lingam is set up in a new village the people are careful in turning the spout of the Yonî towards the jungle, and not in the direction of the roads and houses, lest its evil influence should be communicated to them; and in order still further to secure this object, the bull Nandi is placed sitting as a guardian between the Yonî and the inhabited site.82