From Brahm, the impersonal soul of the universe, emanated the personal and
active Brahma, who with Siva and Vishnu constitute the Trimurti or god
under three forms.

Siva is the second of the Hindu deities, and represents the primitive
animating and destroying forces of nature. His symbols relate to these
powers, and are worshiped more especially by the Sivaites--a numerous sect
of this religion. The worshipers of Vishnu, called the Preserver, the
first-born of Brahma, constitute the most extensive sect of India, and
their ideas relating to this form of the Divinity are represented by
tradition and poetry, and are particularly developed in the great
monuments of Sanskrit literature. The myths connected with Vishnu refer
especially to his incarnations or corporeal apparitions both in men and
animals, which he submits to in order to conquer the spirit of evil.

These incarnations are called Avatars, or descendings, and form an
important part of Hindu epic poetry. Of the ten Avatars which are
attributed to Vishnu, nine have already taken place; the last is yet to
come, when the god shall descend again from heaven, to destroy the present
world, and to restore peace and parity. The three forms of the Deity,
emanating mutually from each other, are expressed by the three symbols, A
U M, three letters in Sanskrit having but one sound, forming the mystical
name _Om_, which never escapes the lips of the Hindus, but is meditated on
in silence. The predominant worship of one or the other of these forms
constitutes the peculiarities of the numerous sects of this religion.

There are other inferior divinities, symbols of the forces of nature,
guardians of the world, demi-gods, demons, and heroes, whose worship,
however, is considered as a mode of reaching that divine rest, immersion