Natural Shiva-lingas are readily encountered in cavern visits. The accompanying picture is of one such formation in Carlsbad Caverns National Park (New Mexico, USA). They are essentially rounded (baby?) stalagmites that grow by the excruciatingly gradual accumulation of minerals - the most common of which is limestone. The limestone arrives dissolved in water and is deposited very slowly, drop-by-drop, from a ceiling drip - usually, a companion stalactite. If childhood memory serves right, the colour of dissolved limestone is milkish.
I had really not thought of this parallel until now. I had always assumed that the use of a (copper) urn with a pointy nozzle to drip milk onto a Shiva-linga was a symbolic abhishek. Although, why it should drip like a Chinese-torture-in-progress I had never wondered ...
But now I'm putting stock into the notion (or, bold hypothesis?) that the Shiva-linga and the 'abhishek drip' are in reality motivated by what the ancients observed in limestone caverns. After all the drip 'feeds' the stalagmite, provides sustenance, and causes it to grow.
[Update] I've since learnt that there is a ice Shiva-linga inside Amarnath cave/temple that is a 'stalagmite' formed by the freezing of water drops that drip from the roof of the cave.
Note: The above is a slightly modified version of my [original] Facebook post on 07-Jan-2018.
[Update] I've since learnt that there is a ice Shiva-linga inside Amarnath cave/temple that is a 'stalagmite' formed by the freezing of water drops that drip from the roof of the cave.
Note: The above is a slightly modified version of my [original] Facebook post on 07-Jan-2018.
