n the following verses (51-54) is the expression 'the sacrifice and
he that sacrifices,' etc, together with the statement that Vishnu
plays 'like a boy with playthings,' with the crowds of gods,
Brahm[=a], Civa, Indra, etc. The passage opposed to this, and to other
identifications of Vishnu with many gods, is one of the most flagrant
interpolations in the epic. If there be anything that the Supreme God
in Civaite or Vishnuite form does not do it is to extol at length,
without obvious reason, his rivals' acts and incarnations, Yet in this
clumsy passage just such an extended laudation of Vishnu is put into
the mouth of Civa. In fact, iii. 272, from 30 to 76, is an
interpretation of the most naive sort, and it is here that we find the
approach to the later _trim[=u]rti_ (trinity): "Having the form of
Brahm[=a] he creates; having a human body (as Krishna) he protects, in
the nature of Civa he would destroy--these are the three appearances
or conditions (_avasth[=a]s_) of the Father-god". (Praj[=a]pati).[36]
This comes after an account of the four-faced lotus-born Brahm[=a],
who, seeing the world a void, emitted his sons, the seers, mind-born,
like to himself (now nine in number), who in turn begot all beings,
including men (vss. 44-47). If, on the other hand, one take the later
sectarian account of Vishnu (for the above is more in honor of Krishna
the man-god than of Vishnu, the form of the Supreme God), he will see
that even in the pseudo-epic the summit of the theological conceptions
is the emphasis not of trinity or of multifariousness but of unity.
According to the text the P[=a]ncak[=a]lajnas are the same with the
Vishnuite sect called P[=a]ncar[=a]tras, and these are most
emphatically _ek[=a]ntinas, i.e_., Unitarians (xii. 336; 337. 46; 339.
66-67).[37] In this same passage 341. 106, Vishnu is again
_caturm[=u]rtidh[r.]t_, 'the bearer of four forms,' an entirely
different conception of him (below). So that even in this most
advanced sectarian literature there is no real threefoldness of the
Supreme as one in three. In the following chapter (xii. 335. 1 ff.)
there is a passage like the great Ka hymn of the Rig Veda, 'whom as
god shall one worship?' The sages say to Vishnu: "All men worship
thee; to whom dost thou offer worship?" and he says, 'to the Eternal
Spirit.' The conception of the functions of Brahm[=a] and Civa in
relation to Vishnu is plainly shown in xii. 342. 19: "Brahm[=a] and
Civa create and destroy at the