sacred writings of the Hindoos, Faber observes:

"In the single character of Brahm, all the three offices of
Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva are united. He is at once the Creator,
the Preserver, and the Destroyer. He is the primeval
Hermaphrodite, or the Great Father and the Great Mother blended
together in one person."

The fact that a trinity in unity, representing the female and
male energies symbolized by the organs of generation, formerly
constituted the Deity throughout Asia is acknowledged by all
those who have examined either the literature or monumental
records of oriental countries. The Rev. Mr. Maurice bears
testimony to the character of Eastern religious ideas in the
following language:

"Whoever will read the Geeta with attention, will perceive in
that small tract the outlines of all the various systems of
theology in Asia. The curious and ancient doctrine of the
Creator being both male and female, mentioned on a preceding
page, to be designated in Indian temples by a very indecent
exhibition of the masculine and feminine organs of generation in
union, occurs in the following passage: 'I am the Father and
Mother of this world; I plant myself upon my own nature and
create again and again this assemblage of beings; I am generation
and dissolution, the place where all things are deposited, and
the inexhaustible seed of all Nature. I am the beginning, the
middle, and the end of all things.' "[42]

[42] Maurice, Indian Antiquities, vol. iv., p. 705.