Sahasraliṅga, Sahasralinga
sk सहस्रलिङ्ग from साहस्र sāhasra ['thousand', 'by thousands', 'large number'] + लिङ्ग linga ['linga'] | kh (literal) លិង្គ១០០០ lengk poan "thousand phalluses"
Sahasraliṅga (सहस्रलिङ्ग) is a multiple man-made linga formation of anamorphic or anthropomorphic statues (at times on top of a yoni), or of images carved in natural rock wall and bed, usually for the purification and consecration of water.
Sahasralingas are associated with Saivism but can include representations of Brahma and Vishnu.
The Kbal Spean ក្បាលស្ពាន Thousand-Linga លិង្គ១០០០ site on the Siem Reap River, Cambodia, is a typical example of 'passive consecration' of running water.
At Prambanan temple (Java, Indonesia), collected rainfall goes underground through bulbous forms (lingas) as a "holy water machine", to use the phrase coined by Jeffrey Sundberg in 2022, around cellas hosting giant (3 meters high) monolithic images of Shiva, Brahma and Vishnu, all mounted on 1-meter high yonis.
In the Purana, Sahasralinga is the name of an ancient lake constructed by king Siddharāja Jaysiṃha from Anahillapur Patan (Gujarat). Sahasralinga or Sahastralinga is also a pilgrimage place on the Shalmala River near the town of Sirsi, Uttara Kannada (Karnataka state), India.
Source
- Jean Boulbet & Bruno Dagens, 'Les sites archéologiques de la région du Bhnaṃ Gūlen (Phnom Kulen)' [Archaelogical Sites of Phnom Kulen Area], Arts Asiatiques, 1973.
- Wisdom Library.
- Jeffrey Sundberg, "Hydro-architectonic Conceptualizations in Central Javanese, Khmer, and South Indian Religious Architecture: The Prambanan Temple as a Sahasraliṅga Mechanism for the Consecration of Water," in A. Acri & P. Sharrock, The Creative South: Buddhist and Hindu Art in Mediaeval Maritime Asia, Singapore, IEAS, 20022, vol. 2 : 167-209.