22
HISTORY OF INDIA.
[Book IV.
A.D. — real or fancied, has been converted into a god, and the Hindoo pantheon now boasts of being able to muster 830,000,000 deities. It is ahnost needless to Monstrous obscrve that multitudes of these are duplicates and endless repetitions of the tiie Hindoo Same beings or objects, under a variety of names; and that it is possible, after religion. discarding the common herd, to give a sufficient view of the polytheism of the Hindoos by selecting for description only a few of the more celebrated divini- ties. The first place, of course, belongs to the Trimurti or Triad, consistino- of Brahma, the creator; Vishnu, the preserver; and Siva, the destro3-er. Thefe
1, Brahma. 2, Trimurti. — From Moore's Hindoo Pantheon.
The Hijidoo three have sometimes been supposed to constitute a trinity in the ordinary
triad. . . . , . -
sense of the term, and hence to present a singular coincidence with the Chris- tian doctrine of one Godhead in three Persons or hypostases. It seems, how- ever, to be established that the three are regarded as only separate forms, which the one supreme god assumes, according as he is employed in creating, preserv- ing, or destroying. According to the Brahmins this is the orthodox view ; but the popular idea is very different, and worshippers, so far from recognizing the identity or even the equality of Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, have become ranged in hostile sects, among which the main distinction is the place which they assign to each as supreme or subordinate. In the contests which have thus Br.ihnia. ariscu Brahma has fared worst. As creator, the primary place originally belonged to him, and in the usual representations of the triad, in which three heads are figured as rising from one body, he occupies the centre of the group, with the whole face displayed, while the other two, one on each side, are only in profile; but this barren honour is all that is left him, and while his colleagues count their shrines by thousands and their votaries by millions, he cannot boast of a single temple dedicated to him. In the temples of others a place is occa- sionally assigned to him, and he is seen standing or squatted, with a body usually painted red, and differing from the human only by the possession of four heads and fom- arms. The heads are encircled with an aureola or glory, and
