Brahma and the Hindu Trinity
It is often said that the Hindu pantheon has three gods at its head: Brahma,
the creator of the universe; Vishnu, the preserver of life; and Shiva, the
destroyer of ignorance.
Brahma is a representation of the impersonal
brahman in a human form, usually with four faces facing the cardinal
directions and four arms (see Karma and Liberation, this ch.).
In reality,
Brahma receives little devotion from worshipers, who may mention him in passing
while giving their attention to the other main gods. There are few temples in
India dedicated to him; instead, his image may stand in niches on the walls of
temples built for other deities.
Religious stories usually place Brahma as an
intermediate authority who cannot handle a problem and passes it on to either
Vishnu or Shiva. The concept of the trinity (trimurti ), expressed in
beautiful art works or invoked even by believers, is in practice a philosophical
construct that unites all deistic traditions within Hinduism into one
overarching symbol.
this content is derived in part or whole from the
U.S. Library of Congress Country Studies
