Trimurti

A Sanskrit compound formed of tri, “three,” and murti, “body” or “embodiment.” In Hinduism, it refers to the trinity: Brahm€ the creator, ViŠu the preserver, and ®iva the destroyer (or, more properly, the regenerator). On the island of Elephanta, off the coast from Bombay, there is a cave temple, carved into the rock, which houses a large trim™rti image, the three faces depicted in repose, carved from stone and integrated into a single head, one of the most powerful pieces of sculpture one could ever experience. In later Hinduism, ®iva and ViŠu received separate, often rival, sects and the idea of a Hindu Trinity seems to have died out except in the mind of theosophists and some educated Hindus.

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