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The view of Shivalinga as phallus has been debated by several scholars and philosophers. One of the earliest scholars to give this interpretation this was Monier Williams.

Meanings

The Sanskrit term लिङ्गं liṅgaṃ, transliterated as linga has many meanings, including a mark, sign or characteristic. It has a number of specific uses in Sanskrit that are derived from this general meaning. Vaman Shivram Apte's dictionary gives seventeen other definitions of the term, including these examples:

• A false or unreal mark; a disguise
• A symptom or mark of disease
• A spot or stain
• A means of proof, a proof, evidence
• The sign of gender or sex
• Sex
• The male organ of generation
• Grammatical gender
• The genital organ of Shiva worshipped in the form of a phallus.
• Image of a god; an idol
• The subtle frame or body, the indestructible original of the gross or visible body (in Vedanta philosophy)

Views

One of the interpretations of linga as phallus was from Monier Williams, Professor of Sanskrit at Oxford University. However, Monier Williams wrote in Brahmanism and Hinduism that the symbol of linga, is "never in the mind of a Saiva ( or Siva-worshipper) connected with indecent ideas, nor with sexual love."

Swami Vivekananda gave a lecture at the Paris Congress of the History of Religions in 1900 during which he refuted the statements of some Western scholars that referred to Shiva linga as phallic worship. Vivekananda's words at the congress were in connection with the paper read by Mr.Gustav Oppert, a German Orientalist, who tried to trace the origin of the Shalagrama-Shila and the Shiva-Linga to phallicism. To this Vivekananda objected, adducing proof from the Vedas, and particularly the Atharva-Veda Samhita, to the effect that the Shiva-Linga had its origin in the idea of the Yupa-Stambha or Skambha—the sacrificial post, idealized in Vedic ritual as the symbol of the Eternal Brahman. According to Vivekananda, the explanation of the Shalagrama-Shila as a phallic emblem was an imaginary invention. Vivekananda argued that the explanation of the Shiva-Linga as a phallic emblem was brought forward by the most thoughtless, and was forthcoming in India in her most degraded times, those of the downfall of Buddhism.

According to Swami Sivananda, the view that the Siva Lingam represents the phallus is a mistake;

This is not only a serious mistake, but also a grave blunder. In the post-Vedic period, the Linga became symbolical of the generative power of the Lord Siva. Linga is the differentiating mark. It is certainly not the sex-mark. You will find in the Linga Purana: Pradhanam prakritir yadahur-lingamuttamam; Gandhavarnarasairhinam sabda-sparsadi-varjitam—The foremost Linga which is primary and is devoid of smell, colour, taste, hearing, touch, etc., is spoken of as Prakriti (Nature).

The same sentiments have also been expressed by H. H. Wilson :

Although, however, the Linga holds a prominent place...the spirit of the worship is as little influenced by the character of the type as can well be imagined. There is nothing like the phallic orgies of antiquity: it is all mystical and spiritual. The Linga is twofold, external and internal. The ignorant, who need a visible sign, worship Śiva through a 'mark' or 'type'--which is the proper meaning of the word 'Linga'--of wood or stone; but the wise look upon this outward emblem as nothing, and contemplate in their minds the invisible, inscrutable type, which is Śiva himself. Whatever may have been the origin of this form of worship in India, the notions upon which it was founded, according to the impure fancies of European writers, are not to be traced in even the Śaiva Puráńas.

The novelist Christopher Isherwood also addresses the misinterpretation of the linga as a sex symbol as follows —

It has been claimed by some foreign scholars that the linga and its surrounding basin are sexual symbols, representing the male and the female organs respectively. Well — anything can be regarded as a symbol of anything; that much is obvious. There are people who have chosen to see sexual symbolism in the spire and the font of a Christian church. But Christians do not recognize this symbolism; and even the most hostile critics of Christianity cannot pretend that it is a sex-cult. The same is true of the cult of Shiva.

It does not even seem probable that the linga was sexual in its origin. For we find, in the history both of Hinduism and Buddhism, that poor devotees were accustomed to dedicate to God a model of a temple or tope (a dome-shaped monument) in imitation of wealthy devotees who dedicated full-sized buildings. So the linga may well have begun as a monument in miniature.…One of the greatest causes of misunderstanding of Hinduism by foreign scholars is perhaps a subconsciously respected tradition that God must be one sex only, or at least only one sex at a time.

The Britannica encyclopedia entry on linga also notes that the linga is not considered to be a phallic symbol; —

The linga was originally understood as a representation of the phallus, as sculptures from the early centuries of the Common Era make clear, but many—probably most—modern Hindus do not think of the linga in these terms. In fact, the stylization of the linga into a smooth cylindrical mass asserts a distinctively aniconic meaning, quite by contrast to the murtis (deities in image form) that serve otherwise as the most important foci of Hindu worship. This interplay is found in Shaivite temples, where the linga is apt to be at the centre, surrounded by a panoply of murtis.

According to Hélène Brunner, the lines traced on the front side of the linga, which are prescribed in medieval manuals about temple foundation and are a feature even of modern sculptures, appear to be intended to suggest a stylised glans, and some features of the installation process seem intended to echo sexual congress. Scholars like S.N.Balagangadhara have disputed the sexual meaning of lingam.

Notes

1. Apte, Vaman Shivaram (1957–59). The Practical Sanskrit-English Dictionary (Revised and enlarged edition ed.). Poona: Prasad Prakashan. p. 1366. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help)CS1 maint: date format (link)
2. Carus, Paul. The History of the Devil. Forgotten Books. p. 82.
3. ^ Vivekananda, Swami. "The Paris Congress of the History of Religions". The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda. Vol. Vol.4. {{cite book}}: |volume= has extra text (help); External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help)
4. Nathaniel Schmidt (Dec, 1900). "The Paris Congress of the History of Religion". The Biblical World. 16 (6). {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
5. Sen, Amiya P. (2006). "Editor's Introduction". The Indispensable Vivekananda. Orient Blackswan. pp. 25–26. During September-October 1900, he was a delegate to the Religious Congress at Paris, though oddly, the organizers disallowed discussions on any particular religious tradition. It was rumoured that his had come about largely through the pressure of the Catholic Church, which worried over the 'damaging' effects of Oriental religion on the Christian mind. Ironically, this did not stop Western scholars from making surreptitious attacks on traditional Hinduism. Here, Vivekananda strongly contested the suggestion made by the German Indologist Gustav Oppert that the Shiva Linga and the Salagram Shila, stone icons representing the gods Shiva and Vishnu respectively, were actually crude remnants of phallic worship.
6. Harding, Elizabeth U. (1998). "God, the Father". Kali: The Black Goddess of Dakshineswar. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 156–157. ISBN 9788120814509. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
7. Sivananda, Swami (1996). "Worship of Siva Linga". Lord Siva and His Worship. The Divine Life Trust Society.
8. Wilson, HH. "Classification of Puranas". Vishnu Purana. John Murray, London, 2005. pp. xli–xlii.
9. Isherwood, Christopher. "Early days at Dakshineswar". Ramakrishna and his disciples. p. 48.
10. "linga". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009.
11. Hélène Brunner, The sexual Aspect of the linga Cult according to the Saiddhāntika Scriptures, pp.87-103 in Gerhard Oberhammer's Studies in Hinduism II, Miscellanea to the Phenomenon of Tantras, Vienna, Verlag der oesterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1998.
12. Balagangadhara, S.N (2007). Invading the Sacred. Rupa & Co. pp. 431–433. ISBN 978-81-291-1182-1. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |editors= ignored (|editor= suggested) (help)

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