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RELIGIOUS FESTIVALS
The performance of the ceremonies of the Sivarátri is possessed of enhanced efficacy when conducted at those places which are in an especial manner dedicated to Siva, partienlarly at the shrines which were known to have been celebrated seats of worship of the Linga before the Mohammedan invasion. Such is the temple of Vaidyanath in Bengal, about 110 miles w. by n. from Murshedábád. The Linga worshipped there is one of the twelve great Lingas which were worshipped in India at least ten centuries ago, and still retains its reputation. In consequence of the establishment of the Mohammedan rule, and its position in a rugged and mountainous country overrun with thickets, the shrine fell for a season into neglect and decay, but it was repaired and restored to popularity by a Maithila Brahman about two centuries since. An annual Melá takes place at Vaidyanath*, at the Sivaratri, when more than a hundred thousand pilgrims assemble. The meeting lasts three days, and the offerings made to the temple ordinarily exceed a lakh and a half of rupees. The shrine has some credit as an oracle, and a course of worship and fasting on the spot is productive of dreams, which are believed to convey the answers of Śiva to the prayers and petitions that have been preferred to him.
A still more numerous concourse of pilgrims occurs annually on the Sivaratri at the temple of Mallikárjuna ** in the Dekhan, also one of the twelve ancient
* [Sivapurána, c. 55.]
** [ib. c. 44.]
