known in ancient days--are now mighty divinities; Indra is
almost entirely overlooked, and Varuna has been degraded from his lofty
throne and turned into a regent of the waters.

[Sidenote: New deities, rites, and customs.]
The worship of the Linga (phallus) has been introduced. So has the great
dogma of Transmigration, which has stamped a deeper impress on later
Hindu mind than almost any other doctrine. Caste is fully established,
though in Vedic days scarcely, if at all, recognized. The dreadful
practice of widow-burning has been brought in, and this by a most
daring perversion of the Vedic texts. Woman, in fact, has fallen far
below the position assigned her in early days.

[Sidenote: The Trimurtti, a triad of gods.]
One of the notable things in connection with the reconstruction of
Hinduism is the position it gives to the Trimurtti, or triad of
gods--Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva. Something like an anticipation of this
has been presented in the later Vedic times: fire, air, and the sun
(Agni, Vayu, and Surya) being regarded by the commentator[24] as summing
up the divine energies. But in the Vedas the deities often go in pairs;
and little stress should be laid on the idea of a Vedic triad. That
idea, however, came prominently forward in later days. The worship both
of Vishnu and Siva may have existed, from ancient times, as popular
rites not acknowledged by the Brahmans; but both of these deities were
now fully recognized. The god Brahma was an invention of the Brahmans;
he was no real divinity of the people, and had hardly ever been actually
worshiped. It is visual to designate Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva as
Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer respectively; but the generalization
is by no means well maintained in the Hindu books.

[Sidenote: The Avatara.]
The Puranas are in general violently sectarian; some being Vishnuite,
others Sivite. It is in connection with Vishnu, especially, that the
idea of incarnation becomes prominent. The Hindu term is _Avatara_,
literally, _descent_; the deity is represented as descending from heaven
to earth, for vindication of the truth and righteousness, or, to use the
words ascribed to Krishna,

For the preservation of the good, and the destruction of the wicked,
For the establishment of religion, I am born from age to age.

[Sidenote: The "descents" of Vishnu.]
The "descents" of Vishnu are usually reckoned ten. Of these by far the
most celebrated are those of Rama and Krish