Encyclopedia of Hinduism

Golden Age of Truth). It is 1,296,000 years in
duration. The Sun God is its presiding divinity.
Where in Krita Yuga pleasure was spontaneous,
this ends in Treta Yuga. Where there were no per-
manent homes in the Krita Yuga, in the Treta Yuga
trees become the homes for people. A beautiful
honey (not made by bees) could be found in holes
in the trees and was all the food people needed.
People were all happy, well fed, and healthy.
However, passion and greed began to increase
in this age. People remained truthful, but they
focused on worldly success. As people cycled
between greed and virtue, the trees would dis-
appear and reappear. In their absence, people
suffered from cold and heat and had to build
shelters.
Toward the end of the Yuga, people grew more
angry and more greedy, and men tried to possess
each other’s wives and wealth. In response, Lord
BRAHMA emitted the warrior class, the KSHATRIYAS,
to set limits in the world. Equality vanished as
classes were formed.

Further reading: Cornelia Dimmitt and J. A. B. van
Buitenen, Classical Hindu Mythology: A Reader in the
Sanskrit Puranas (Philadelphia: Temple University
Press, 1978); W. J. Wilkins, Hindu Mythology, Vedic and
Puranic, 2d ed. (Calcutta: Rupa, 1973).

trimurti
Trimurti (tri, three; murti, forms) is a common
term in Hindu texts, referring to the triad of
divinities BRAHMA, VISHNU, and SHIVA. Brahma is
the creator god, Vishnu is seen as the sustainer
of the world, and Shiva is seen as its destroyer.
In theistic Hinduism these three are often seen as
aspects of one divinity, either Shiva or Vishnu.
Shiva and Vishnu are the two divinities around
which the two great Hindu sects, SHAIVISM and
VAISHNAVISM, constellate. Brahma is not a sectarian
divinity, and there are only two temples dedicated
solely to Brahma in all of India. Though it resem-
bles the trinitarian conceptions of Christianity,

the trimurti is a much looser concept and was not

emphasized theologically or theorized upon in

any way as the Trinity was in Christianity.

Further reading: Anant Ramchandra Kulkarni, Buddha,

the Trimurti, and Modern Hinduism (Nagpur: Kulkarni,

1980); Kurian Mathothu, The Development of the Concept

of Trimurti in Hinduism (Palai: Sebastian Vayalil, 1974);

Margaret Stutley, The Illustrated Dictionary of Hindu Ico-

nography (Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1985).

Trinidad

Hinduism first arrived on the Caribbean island of

Trinidad on May 30, 1845, with a group of 197

Image of the Hindu trinity: Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva,

Elephanta Caves, Bombay (Mumbai) (Constance A. Jones)

Trinidad 453 J