PART III RELIGION
PART III RELIGION
CHAPTER I
Origin of the Trimurti and the Primitive Idolatry of the Hindus.
Comparison between the Greek and Indian Divinities.— Peculiar
Idolatry of the Hindus.— Worship of the Elements represented by the Trimurti.
The Hindus understand by the word Trimurti the three
principal divinities whom they acknowledge. These are
Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva. The word properly signifies
1 the three powers,'* viz. Creation, the special attribute of
Brahma; Preservation, the attribute of Vishnu; and Destruction, the attribute of Siva \
These three divinities are represented sometimes singly with their special emblems, and sometimes joined together in a single body with three heads. It is under the latter form that they obtain the name of Trimurti, which means, at once, both the three bodies and the three powers. This union of persons is the allegorical symbol of the existence of things created, which can neither be produced nor preserved without the agreement and the sanction of these three powers.
The Trimurti is recognized and worshipped generally by all Hindus except the Jains. Although many Hindus are
specially devoted, some to Siva and others to Vishnu, nevertheless when these two divinities are united with
Brahma in a single body with three heads they all pay equal worship to the three without regard to the particular points of doctrine which otherwise separate them.
1
The first is the religion of activity and works; the second, that of faith and love; the third, that of austerity, contemplation, and spiritual knowledge. This last is regarded as the highest, because it aims at entire cessation of action and total effacement of all personal entity and identity by absorption into simple Soul. Monier-Williams.