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{{Saivism}}
 
A '''lingam''' ({{lang-langx|sa|लिङ्ग}} {{IAST3|liṅga}}, lit. "sign, symbol or mark"), sometimes referred to as '''linga''' or '''Shiva linga''', is an abstract or [[Aniconism|aniconic]] representation of the [[Hinduism|Hindu]] [[Hindu deities|god]] [[Shiva]] in [[Shaivism]].<ref name="Britannica"/> The word ''lingam'' is found in the [[Upanishads]] and [[Indian epic poetry|epic literature]], where it means a "mark, sign, emblem, characteristic,"<ref name=mmw901/> the "evidence, proof, symptom" of God and God's power.<ref name="Britannica" /><ref name=mmw901/><ref name="Bonnefoy1993p38"/>{{sfn|Kramrisch|1994|p=221}}<ref name="Ger Wuj 01" /><ref name="Larson2001p190" /><ref name="Britannica" /><ref name="mmw901" />
 
The lingam of the [[Shaivism]] tradition is a short cylindrical pillar-like symbol of Shiva, made of stone, metal, gem, wood, clay or precious stones.<ref name="Britannica"/>{{sfn|Kramrisch|1994|p=217}}<ref name="Britannica"/> It is often represented within a disc-shaped platform,<ref name="Britannica"/><ref name="sivaya subramuniyaswami 2001" /> the ''[[yoni]]'' – its feminine counterpart,<ref name=dasgupta107/><ref name="Beltzp204">{{cite journal | last=Beltz | first=Johannes | title=The Dancing Shiva: South Indian Processional Bronze, Museum Artwork, and Universal Icon | journal=Journal of Religion in Europe | publisher=Brill Academic Publishers | volume=4 | issue=1 | date=2011-03-01 | doi=10.1163/187489210x553566 | pages=204–222 | s2cid=143631560 }}</ref> consisting of a flat element, horizontal compared to the vertical lingam, and designed to allow liquid offerings to drain away for collection.<ref name="britannica"/>
 
The ''lingam'' is an emblem of generative and destructive power. While rooted in representations of the male sexual organ, {{sfn |Doniger |2011 |pp=493–498}} the ''lingam'' is regarded as the "outward symbol" of the "formless Reality", the symbolization of merging of the 'primordial matter' (''[[Prakṛti]]'') with the 'pure consciousness' (''[[Purusha]]'') in [[Transcendence (religion)#Hinduism|transcendental context]].{{sfn|Grimes|1996|p=17}} The ''lingam-yoni'' iconography symbolizes the merging of [[Microcosm–macrocosm analogy|microcosmos and macrocosmos]],<ref name="Beltzp204"/> the divine eternal process of creation and regeneration, and the union of the feminine and the masculine that recreates all of existence.<ref name="britannica"/><ref name=lochtefeld784>{{cite book|author=James G. Lochtefeld|title=The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Volume 2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g6FsB3psOTIC&pg=PA784|year=2001|publisher=The Rosen Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-8239-3180-4|page=784|access-date=22 May 2021|archive-date=19 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231019091517/https://books.google.com/books?id=g6FsB3psOTIC&pg=PA784|url-status=live}}</ref>
 
The ''lingam'' is typically the primary ''[[murti]]'' or [[Cult image#Hinduism|devotional image]] in [[Hindu temple]]s dedicated to Shiva, also found in smaller shrines, or as [[Svayambhu|self-manifested]] natural objects.<ref name=doh>{{cite book|last1=Johnson|first1=W.J.|title=A dictionary of Hinduism|date=2009|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=9780191726705|edition=1st|url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198610250.001.0001/acref-9780198610250-e-1458|access-date=5 January 2016|url-access=subscription|archive-date=18 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160318040054/http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198610250.001.0001/acref-9780198610250-e-1458|url-status=live}}{{ODNBsub}}</ref><ref name="Fowler">{{cite book|last1=Fowler|first1=Jeaneane|title=Hinduism: Beliefs and Practices|date=1997|publisher=Sussex Academic Press|location=Brighton|isbn=978-1-898723-60-8|pages=42–43|url=https://archive.org/details/hinduismbeliefsp0000fowl/mode/2up}}</ref>
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Lingam, states [[Monier Monier-Williams]], appears in the [[Upanishads]] and [[Indian epic poetry|epic literature]], where it means a "mark, sign, emblem, characteristic".<ref name=mmw901>[http://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/cgi-bin/monier/serveimg.pl?file=/scans/MWScan/MWScanjpg/mw0901-lAvaNaka.jpg Linga] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200318211330/https://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/cgi-bin/monier/serveimg.pl?file=%2Fscans%2FMWScan%2FMWScanjpg%2Fmw0901-lAvaNaka.jpg |date=18 March 2020 }}, Monier Monier-Williams, Harvard University Archives, pp. 901-[http://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/cgi-bin/monier/serveimg.pl?file=/scans/MWScan/MWScanjpg/mw0902-liGgakAraNavAda.jpg 902] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200311201322/https://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/cgi-bin/monier/serveimg.pl?file=%2Fscans%2FMWScan%2FMWScanjpg%2Fmw0902-liGgakAraNavAda.jpg |date=11 March 2020 }}</ref><ref name=lochtefeld390/> Other contextual meanings of the term include "evidence, proof, symptom" of God and God's power.<ref name=mmw901/><ref name="Bonnefoy1993p38">{{cite book|author=Yves Bonnefoy|title=Asian Mythologies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r4I-FsZCzJEC|year=1993|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-06456-7|pages=38–39|access-date=1 October 2018|archive-date=24 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230424033253/https://books.google.com/books?id=r4I-FsZCzJEC|url-status=live}}</ref>
 
The word ''lingam'' is found in [[Sanskrit literature|Sanskrit texts]], such as [[Shvetashvatara Upanishad]], [[Samkhya]], [[Vaisheshika]] and others texts with the meaning of "evidence" of [[Brahman|God]] and God's existence,{{refn|{{sfn|Kramrisch|1994|p=221}}<ref name="Ger Wuj 01" /><ref name="Larson2001p190" /><ref name="Britannica" /><ref name="mmw901" /><ref name="Bonnefoy1993p38" />}} or existence of formless [[Brahman]].<ref name="ajai16" /> The original meaning of ''lingam'' as "sign" is used in [[Shvetashvatara Upanishad]], which says "Shiva, the Supreme Lord, has no liūga", '''liuga''' ({{lang-langx|sa|लि‌ऊग}} {{IAST3|liūga}}) meaning he is transcendental, beyond any characteristic and, specifically, the sign of gender.{{sfn|Kramrisch|1994|p=221}}{{sfn|Constance|James|2006|p=410}}
 
The term also appears in early Indian texts on logic, where an inference is based on a sign (linga), such as "if there is smoke, there is fire" where the linga is the smoke.<ref name=mmw901/> It is a religious symbol in Hinduism representing Shiva as the generative power,<ref name=lochtefeld390>{{cite book |author=James G. Lochtefeld |title=The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Volume 1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5kl0DYIjUPgC |year=2001 |publisher=The Rosen Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-8239-3179-8 |page=390 |access-date=1 October 2018 |archive-date=19 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119140900/https://books.google.com/books?id=5kl0DYIjUPgC |url-status=live }}</ref> all of existence, all creativity and fertility at every cosmic level.<ref name=dasgupta107/><ref name=eliade332>{{cite book|author1=Lewis R. Rambo|author2=Charles E. Farhadian|title=The Oxford Handbook of Religious Conversion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U03gAgAAQBAJ|year=2014|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-971354-7|pages=332–333|access-date=1 October 2018|archive-date=19 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231019091517/https://books.google.com/books?id=U03gAgAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>
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According to Dasgupta, the lingam symbolizes Shiva in Hinduism, and it is also a phallic symbol.<ref name=dasgupta107/>
 
Some extant ancient ligams, such as the [[Gudimallam Lingam]], unambiguously depict a male sexual organ.
 
====Sexualization in Orientalist literature====
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The insight of the Shvetashvatara Upanishad conveyed through the word ''liūga'' is formulated explicitly in [[Samkhya]] and [[Yoga (philosophy)|schools of Yoga]] or [[Darshana Upanishad|ways of looking at things]], that is, looking at their appearance and at Ultimate Reality.{{sfn|Kramrisch|1994|p=221}} ''Liriga'' here denotes the [[Three Bodies Doctrine#Sukshma sarira - subtle body|subtle body]], (liṇga śarīra) underlying and ontologically preceding anything perceptible.{{sfn|Kramrisch|1994|p=221}} The perceptible state, in this context, is the [[Three Bodies Doctrine#Sthula sarira - gross body|gross body]] (sthūla śarīra), or concrete reality as it appears to the sense organs. In between the Ultimate and concrete reality is [[Prakṛti]], also called [[Pradhana]]{{sfn|Kramrisch|1994|p=221}} which is the imperceptible substratum of the manifest world or pre-matter.{{sfn|Kramrisch|1994|p=122}} Out of this imperceptible cosmic substance, all things have come out, and to which they will return ultimately.{{sfn|Kramrisch|1994|p=221}}
 
===Early iconography and temples (3rd c.century BCE - first mill. CE)===
[[File:Gudimallam Lingam in-situ photograph.jpg|thumb|right|Gudimallam Lingam]]
[[File:Worship of Shiva Linga by Gandharvas - Shunga Period - Bhuteshwar - ACCN 3625 - Government Museum - Mathura 2013-02-24 6098.JPG|thumb|Linga inside a railing (left), being worshipped by [[Gandharva]]s winged creatures. [[Art of Mathura]], circa 100 BCE.<ref name="US435">{{cite book |last1=Singh |first1=Upinder |title=A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century |date=2008 |publisher=Pearson Education India |isbn=978-81-317-1120-0 |page=435 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H3lUIIYxWkEC&pg=PA435 |language=en |access-date=15 November 2020 |archive-date=19 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231019093549/https://books.google.com/books?id=H3lUIIYxWkEC&pg=PA435#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>]]
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The [[Gudimallam Lingam]], one of the oldest examples of a lingam, is still in worship in the Parashurameshwara temple, [[Gudimallam]], in a hilly forest about {{convert|20|km}} east of [[Tirupati]] in [[Andhra Pradesh]].<ref>{{cite book|author=John Guy|title=Indian Temple Sculpture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2YLqAAAAMAAJ|year=2007|publisher=Harry N. Abrams|isbn=978-1-85177-509-5|page=35|access-date=30 September 2018|archive-date=19 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231019092019/https://books.google.com/books?id=2YLqAAAAMAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> It has been dated to the 3rd-century BCE,<ref name="Britannica"/> or to the 2nd{{nbsp}}century BCE,<ref name="Klostermaier">{{cite book|last1=Klostermaier|first1=Klaus K.|title=A Survey of Hinduism|date=2007|publisher=State University of New York Press|location=Albany, N.Y.|isbn=978-0-7914-7082-4|edition=3.|page=111|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E_6-JbUiHB4C|access-date=24 September 2016|archive-date=19 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231019092030/https://books.google.com/books?id=E_6-JbUiHB4C|url-status=live}}</ref> and is mostly accepted to be from the 3rd- to 1st-century BCE,{{sfn |Doniger |2011 |pp=491–493}} though some later dates have been proposed. The stone lingam is clearly a representation of an anatomically accurate [[phallus]], with a figure of [[Lakulisha]], the [[Asceticism#Indian religions|ascetic]] manifestation of [[Shiva]],{{sfn|Srinivasan|2004|p=434}} carved on the front, holding an antelope and axe in his hands.{{sfn |Doniger |2011 |pp=491–493}}<ref name="elgood">{{cite book|last1=Elgood|first1=Heather|title=Hinduism and the Religious Arts|date=2000|publisher=Cassell|location=London|isbn=978-0-8264-9865-6|page=47|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tAcF8RgbtZ0C|access-date=24 September 2016|archive-date=15 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115081254/https://books.google.com/books?id=tAcF8RgbtZ0C|url-status=live}}</ref> He stands on top of a [[Apasmara]] ''(demon) dwarf'', who symbolizes spiritual ignorance, greed, sensual desires or ''[[Kama]]'' and nonsensical speech on the spiritual path, hence must be subdued in spiritual pursuits.<ref name=rao227>{{cite book |author=T. A. Gopinatha Rao |title=Elements of Hindu Iconography |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e7mP3kDzGuoC |year=1997 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-0877-5 |pages=223–229, 237 |access-date=30 September 2018 |archive-date=19 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231019091516/https://books.google.com/books?id=e7mP3kDzGuoC |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>[http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/24548 Shiva as Lord of the Dance (Nataraja), Chola period, c. 10th/11th century] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170215105555/http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/24548 |date=15 February 2017 }} [[The Art Institute of Chicago]], United States</ref><ref name="Arundhati2002">{{cite book|author=P. Arundhati|title=Annapurna : A Bunch of Flowers of Indian Culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cfK2LoH_j54C&pg=PA40|year=2002|publisher=Concept|isbn=978-81-7022-897-4|pages=40–45|access-date=30 September 2018|archive-date=19 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231019092523/https://books.google.com/books?id=cfK2LoH_j54C&pg=PA40#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>
 
In this earliest representation, the phallic representation illustrates the centrality of the energetic principle of '''''Urdhva Retas''''' ({{lang-langx|sa|ऊर्ध्वरेतस्}} {{IAST3|Ūrdhvaretas}}, lit. "ascent of vital energies or fluid") the upward flow of energy in spiritual pursuits and practice of [[Celibacy#Hinduism|celibacy]] ([[Brahmacarya]]),<ref name="govind52">{{cite journal|author=Ghurye, G.S.|year= 1952|title= Ascetic Origins|journal= Sociological Bulletin|volume= 1|issue= 2|publisher= Sociological Bulletin, 1(2)|pages= 162–184|doi=10.1177/0038022919520206|s2cid= 220049343}}</ref> contrary to fertility or release of vital energies.<ref name="brill72" /><ref name="urdhvaretas">{{cite web|url=https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/urdhvaretas|website=www.wisdomlib.org|title=Urdhvaretas, Urdhvaretās, Ūrdhvaretas, Urdhva-retas: 7 definitions|date=9 September 2014|access-date=15 July 2021|archive-date=15 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210715033141/https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/urdhvaretas|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Kramrisch|1994|p=26}}<ref name="abha70">{{cite book|title=The Tantric Tradition|author=Swami Agehananda Bharati|year=1970|isbn=0877282536|publisher=Red Wheel/Weiser|page=294}}</ref><ref name="urdh_dev18">{{cite book|title=Shiva to Shankara: Giving Form to the Formless|author=Devdutt Pattanaik|pages=13–14|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=9789352641956|year=2018}}</ref> Lakulisa as an [[Asceticism#Indian religions|ascetic]] manifestation of Shiva is seen in later peninsular [[Linga Purana|Indian scriptures]] whose ithyphallic aspects connotes [[Asceticism#Indian religions|asceticism]] and conserved procreative potentialities ([[Brahmacarya]] or [[Celibacy#Hinduism|celibacy]]), rather than mere [[eroticism]].{{sfn|Srinivasan|2004|p=434}}<ref>O'Flaherty, Wendy Doniger. "Asceticism and Sexuality in the Mythology of Śiva. Part I." ''History of Religions'' 8, no. 4 (1969): 300-37. Accessed September 7, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1062019 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210630063016/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1062019 |date=30 June 2021 }}.</ref> According to Stella Kramrisch, the pictorial symbol of the Gudimallam lingam should not be mistaken for fertility or eroticism, due to incomplete or impure understanding of the underlying refined principles.{{refn|name="ilph_rep_l"|group=note}}{{refn|group=note|Furthermore, the phallic shape, standing erect, always negates its function as an organ of procreation. Rather, the shape or pictorial representation is conveying that, the seed was channeled upward, not ejected for the sake of generation, but was reversed, retained and absorbed for regeneration as creative energy.{{sfn|Kramrisch|1994|p=555}}}}{{sfn|Kramrisch|1994|p=238}}
[[File:Natural Sivalinga near Ziro, Arunachal Pradesh.jpg|thumb|Natural rock linga, [[Arunachal Pradesh]]]]
 
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