the time of rising, culminating and
setting, or the triple manifestation of the luminous element, as the
fire on earth, the lightning in the atmosphere and the sun in the
heavens.

The male nature of the triad was supposed to require to be supplemented
by each of the three gods being associated with a female energy
(_Sakti_). Thus _Vach_ or _Sarasvati_, the goddess of speech and
learning, came to be regarded as the _sakti_, or consort of Brahma;
_Sri_ or _Lakshmi_, "beauty, fortune," as that of Vishnu; and _Uma_ or
_Parvati_, the daughter of _Himavat_, the god of the Himalaya mountain,
as that of Siva. On the other hand, it is not improbable that
_Parvati_--who has a variety of other names, such as _Kali_ ("the black
one"), _Durga_ ("the inaccessible, terrible one"), _Maha-devi_ ("the
great goddess")--enjoyed already a somewhat extensive worship of her
own, and that there may thus have been good reason for assigning to her
a prominent place in the Brahmanical system.

A compromise was thus effected between the esoteric doctrine of the
metaphysician and some of the most prevalent forms of popular worship,
resulting in what was henceforth to constitute the orthodox system of
belief of the Brahmanical community. Yet the Vedic pantheon could not be
altogether discarded, forming part and parcel, as it did, of that sacred
revelation (_sruti_), which was looked upon as the divine source of all
religious and social law (_smriti_, "tradition"), and being, moreover,
the foundation of the sacrificial ceremonial on which the priestly
authority so largely depended. The existence of the old gods is,
therefore, likewise recognized, but recognized in a very different way
from that of the triple divinity. For while the triad represents the
immediate manifestation of the eternal, infinite soul--while it
constitutes, in fact, the Brahma itself in its active relation to
mundane and seemingly material occurrences, the old traditional gods are
of this world, are individual spirits or portions of the Brahma like men
and other creatures, only higher in degree. To them an intermediate
sphere, the heaven of Indra (the _svarloka_ or _svarga_), is assigned to
which man may raise himself by fulfilling the holy ordinances; but they
are subject to the same laws of being; they, like men, are liable to be
born again in some lower state, and, therefore, like them, yearn for
emancipation from the necessity of future individual existence. It is a
sacred