THE TRIAD
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BRAHMA has four faces, though only three can be seen. He has matted hair, wears a pointed beard and the eyes are usually closed in meditation. He has four hands which may hold a variety of objects such as a rosary, a water-pot, a book (the Vedas), a sceptre, a spoon, a bow or a lotus. His four faces represent the four Vedas and the four hands the four directions. The rosary which he is counting represents timemay be in a boon-giving and protective attitudes. The whole universe evolves out of water, therefore Brahma carries water in the water-pot he holds in his upper left hand. |
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He is sometimes shown riding the goose, or sitting in the lotus position in a chariot being pulled by seven swans. The swan which is the symbol of knowledge, is his vehicle. According to other texts, he became a boar - a complaint prone in humans, but in his case he raised the primeval waters and thus created the world. He is described as assuming the appearance of a fish or a tortoise at the beginning of the ages. In much later developments of Hindu mythology these aspects are attributed to Vishnu, and Brahma assumes a secondary role. His worship slowly declined and has not been widespread since the 6th century AD.
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VISHNU is blue coloured and has four or more hands. He is shown holding two of his most characteristic symbols: the wheel and the conch-shell. He is always clothed in yellow. The wheel represents the Universal Mind and the powers of creation and destruction that form the revolving universe. The conch-shell is associated with the origin of existence through its spiral form and its connection with water. Vishnu also holds the club symbolising authority or the power of knowledge |
as the essence of life. One of his upper arms has an open upraised palm in the abhaya mudra gesture, expressing reassurance. He sometimes holds a lotus and is also known as Narayan. His vehicle is Garuda (eagle) halfman, half-bird.
Vishnu is normally shown reclining on a bed made up of the coils of the serpent king, Sheshanaga, with Lakshmi/Shri, his consort, seated at his feet. It signifies the cycle of Creation.
A cycle began with Brahma shown to have been born from a lotus springing from the navel of Vishnu. According to HIndu mythology a cosmological substance is left over from the last age of creation from which a new cycle may be brought into existence. This is symbolized by the many-headed serpent king. Shesha means the leftover floating on the ocean which is thought to be representation of the Universe.
During the interval in the cycle of creation, Vishnu lies asleep on the coils of Sheshanaga, protected by its hood, until he is ready to begin a new cycle.
SHIVA, the third god of the Hindu triad, has three eyes, the third one (between the eyebrows) being usually closed, except at the time of destruction of things. He wears long hair, supports the holy Ganga river on his head and the crescent moon on his matted hair. He has two to four arms, holds a trident in his hand, is naked except for a tiger-skin, besmears himself with ash and is decorated with snakes on his head, neck and arms. He is very fair-coloured but has a blue throat due to his having drunk poison during the time of the churning of the ocean by the gods. In his other hands he holds an axe, an antelope, and an hour-glass shaped drum called a 'damru'. He wears a garland of skulls and is also known as the lord of the cremation grounds. His consort is Parvati and he is the father of Ganesha (see below).
Shiva was not a Vedic god and in his earlier forms he was known as Rudra. In contrast to Vishnu's reputation as the benevolent creator god; Shiva represents destruction, austerity and the more malignant forces of life.
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SHIVA as NATARAJA , the Dancing Shiva, is a very popular image It illustrates a legend in which Shiva. accompanied by Vishnu - who is
disguised as a beautiful woman - set out to subdue ten thousand holy men living in a nearby forest. The holy men became angry and invoked a fierce tiger out of a sacrificial fire, but Shiva flayed it and wore its skin as a cape. Next he was attacked by a poisonous snake but Shiva tamed it and wore it around his neck as a necklace. |
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Then the Holy men sent a dwarf, but Shiva put his foot on him, and performed a dance which was so brilliant that the holy men acknowledged Shiva as their master.
The symbolism of the dance, called Tandava, can be interpreted in many ways. It may show Shiva as the moving force of the universe and his five acts of creation. preservation, destruction, embodiment and release (of the souls of men from illusion).
In the image'of Nataraja, Shiva is caught in the middle of the dance with one foot on the dwarf and the the other in the air. The dwarf is.said to be the embodiment of ignorance, the destruction of which is the pre-requisite to enlightenment, true wisdom and release. Shiva's long hair flies out while he plays the drum. The drum indicates that God is the source of sound, the Nada-Brahman.
The upper left hand carries the fire, the instrument for the final destruction of the universe.
The lower right hand bestows protection.
|The lower left hand points to the left foot, showing that his feet are the sole refuge of the individual souls. (No pun is committed in Hindi, fortunately
The lifted foot stands for release from illusion.) |
