4 h 47 minAudiobook13 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 4 h 47 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the shapes of sacred buildings hold traces of ancient beliefs about the power of life?
In Phallic Miscellanies, Hargrave Jennings explores fertility symbols in stone, ritual and myth. His survey moves through India, Egypt, Greece and Rome, asking how ancient peoples understood creation. In India, he gives special attention to Shiva worship and the paired forms of the lingam and yoni.
Jennings makes a sweeping claim: fertility emblems survive in later faiths, buildings and customs. Towers, spires, pillars and obelisks become clues in his search for hidden connections. This is a Victorian reading of religious origins, shaped more by resemblance and broad comparison than by strict proof.
What you’ll discover
- Life as a sacred force Explore Jennings’s claim that the power of birth and growth stands at the heart of ancient worship.
- Symbols across ancient lands Follow comparisons across India, Egypt, Greece and Rome, with fertility as the connecting thread.
- Shiva and sacred emblems Discover the place Jennings gives the lingam and yoni in his account of Indian worship.
- Hidden meanings in stone Consider his proposed links between fertility symbols and the shapes of towers, pillars and spires.
- A Victorian search for origins Encounter an age’s fascination with comparative myth, occult ideas and hidden lines of religious descent.
Who will love it
This book suits readers who love comparative religion, Hindu myth, old travelers' reports and Victorian scholarship, and anyone curious how Siva, Osiris and Bacchus came to share one argument.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A stone becomes a sacred symbol
- Siva destroys so life can renew
- Myths invite comparisons across ancient worlds
- Several tales explain the same worship
- Sacred shrines enter the historical record
- Basava makes devotion a reforming force
- Devotion takes outward and inward forms
- Jennings traces the worship to India
- Different voices shape the linga's meaning
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Phallic Miscellanies
by Hargrave Jennings · 1891
A smooth black stone stands in a stone dish in Indian shrines, and Jennings follows it from Siva to Osiris.
Challenging2–5 hours to read20 languages
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In short
Picture a smooth black stone standing upright in a shallow stone dish. At dawn, girls from the village come to it.
Phallic Miscellanies at a glance
- Reading time
- About 2 h 40 min2 h 5 min fast, 3 h 10 min slow
- Length
- 37,700 words
- Library level
- Challenging long sentences, a rich vocabulary
- First published
- 1891by Hargrave Jennings
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
India is the home of the linga
Jennings opens with a bold claim. India, he says, is the chief home of linga worship, and has been for ages. Hardly a temple lacks a lingam. In many shrines it is the only form in which the god is honored.
The emblem is a smooth black stone rising from a stone shaped like a long saucer, the argha or yoni. Together they stand for the union of the sexes and for the active energy seen throughout nature. Lingas come in every size. Tiny ones sit in silver cases worn on the arm. Village ones rise two or three feet. Colonel Sykes is quoted on the huge round linga in the cave temple at Ellora, and on another near Tuneer that measures forty-two feet around.
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Details
- First published
- 1891
- Language
- English
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Jennings, Hargrave. Phallic Miscellanies. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/phallic-miscellanies.
Jennings, H. (2026). Phallic miscellanies. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/phallic-miscellanies (Original work published 1891)
Jennings, Hargrave. Phallic Miscellanies. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/phallic-miscellanies.
@book{jennings2026phallic,
author = {Jennings, Hargrave},
title = {Phallic Miscellanies},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/phallic-miscellanies},
note = {First published 1891}
}
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What is Phallic Miscellanies about?
It is a collection of accounts of linga worship in India, centered on the god Siva. It covers temples, rites, myths, sects and history, and compares Hindu practice with the cults of Osiris and Bacchus.
What is a linga and what does it mean?
A linga is an upright black stone, often set in a dish called the yoni. Worshippers see it as a sign of Siva and of the creative power found throughout nature.
Who is Siva in this book?
Siva is the third god of the Hindu triad, linked with destruction and renewal. The book describes his forms, his names, his bull Nandi, his wives and the many legends told of him.
The author
Hargrave Jennings
1817–1890 · English occult writer
Hargrave Jennings was a British writer of the Victorian era who devoted himself to the study of occultism, Rosicrucianism, and the symbolism of ancient religion. Phallic Worship belongs to his lifelong inquiry into the hidden meanings behind sacred rites and emblems.
More by Hargrave Jennings
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