---
type: Concept
bundle: cosmology-creation
bundle_version: "0.7.2"
id: trimurti
title: "Trimūrti — त्रिमूर्ति"
iast: "Trimūrti"
devanagari: "त्रिमूर्ति"
description: "The triple-form of the supreme cosmic principle manifesting as three functional agents: Brahmā (Sṛṣṭi / creation), Viṣṇu (Sthiti / maintenance), Śiva (Saṃhāra / withdrawal); a functional schema for the cosmic cycle, not a pantheon of three rival gods; often misread as equivalent to the Christian Trinity or as three separate 'gods.'"
reception_note: "Present Trimurti as three cosmic functions (srshti-sthiti-samhara) of one reality, not as 'the Hindu Trinity'; the Trinity equation is documented comparative-religion drift (G12) addressed in the not: field and Error Genealogy."
darshana:
  - Purāṇic
  - Vedānta
school_scope: "Pan-Purāṇic functional schema; Vaiṣṇava schools subordinate Brahmā and Śiva to Viṣṇu; Śaiva schools subordinate Brahmā and Viṣṇu to Śiva; Śākta schools read all three as aspects of the Goddess; Smārta tradition treats all three as equally valid forms of one Brahman"
text_source: "BhP 1.2.23; Kūrma Purāṇa 1.2; Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad commentaries"
tags: [cosmology, trimurti, brahma, vishnu, shiva, srishti, sthiti, samhara, puranic]
not:
  - term: "Hindu Trinity / equivalent to the Christian Trinity"
    why: "The Trimūrti and the Christian Trinity are structurally incommensurable. The Trinity is three Persons of one God in eternal co-equal existence (within most Christian theology). The Trimūrti is three functional roles (creation / maintenance / dissolution) in a cosmic cycle, where the three roles can be -- and in sectarian tradition are -- expressions of a single underlying reality (Viṣṇu, or Śiva, or Brahman). The analogy obscures more than it reveals."
    instead: "Describe as 'three cosmic functions' or 'three faces of the one cosmic process'; never 'Hindu Trinity.'"
  - term: "three separate rival gods competing for supremacy"
    why: "The Trimūrti is a functional allocation within one cosmic cycle, not a pantheon of three competing deities. In Vaiṣṇava cosmology, all three functions are ultimately Viṣṇu's powers; in Śaiva cosmology, all five cosmic acts (pañcakṛtya) belong to Śiva. Sectarian primacy of one member does not mean the other two are independent rivals."
  - term: "Brahmā = Brahman (the supreme)"
    why: "This is the single most critical conflation in all of OKF. Brahmā is a cosmological agent (the creator within a Kalpa, himself created); Brahman is the unconditioned absolute. They share a similar name in transliteration; they are ontologically opposed in the Vedāntic framework. See brahma-the-creator.md for full treatment."
    instead: "Distinguish consistently: 'Brahmā' (four-faced creator deity, short a at end) vs. 'Brahman' (neuter unconditioned absolute)."
related:
  - /concepts/srishti.md
  - /concepts/sthiti.md
  - /concepts/samhara.md
  - /concepts/brahma-the-creator.md
  - /concepts/avatara.md
  - /concepts/ishvara-cosmological.md
  - /concepts/pralaya.md
  - /concepts/shakti-cosmological.md
  - /concepts/trigunas-cosmological.md
timestamp: "2026-07-01"
okf_version: "0.2"
license: "CC BY-SA 4.0"
---

# Trimūrti -- त्रिमूर्ति

**Not:** Hindu Trinity, three rival gods, Brahmā = Brahman

## The Trimūrti as Functional Schema

Trimūrti (tri = three + mūrti = form/face) names the three-fold functional manifestation of the cosmic principle:

| Member | Function | Associated Cosmic Phase |
|--------|----------|------------------------|
| Brahmā | Sṛṣṭi (emanation) | Beginning of each Kalpa |
| Viṣṇu | Sthiti (maintenance) | Duration of each Kalpa |
| Śiva | Saṃhāra (withdrawal) | End of each Kalpa |

The three are not three separate beings with competing interests. They are three modes of operation of the one cosmic process. The Bhāgavata Purāṇa (1.2.23) makes this explicit by linking the three functions to the three Guṇas: Brahmā/Rajas (activity for creation), Viṣṇu/Sattva (clarity for maintenance), Śiva/Tamas (inertia leading to dissolution). This is not an ethical ranking -- all three Guṇas and all three functions are necessary.

## The Trimūrti in Sectarian Perspective

All three major sectarian lineages accept the Trimūrti framework but subordinate it to their primary deity:

**Vaiṣṇava:** Brahmā and Śiva are aspects or servants of Viṣṇu. Brahmā was born from a lotus growing from Viṣṇu's navel (Nābhi-kamala). Śiva was born when Brahmā's pride was cut by Viṣṇu. All three cosmic functions are ultimately Viṣṇu's powers (Śaktis). Brahmā and Śiva carry out Sṛṣṭi and Saṃhāra as agents empowered by Viṣṇu.

**Śaiva:** All five cosmic acts (pañcakṛtya: Sṛṣṭi, Sthiti, Saṃhāra, Tirodhāna, Anugraha) belong to Śiva. Brahmā and Viṣṇu carry out their functions because Śiva empowers them. The Trimūrti is Śiva's three-act subset.

**Śākta:** The Devī Māhātmya (Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa) presents the Goddess as the cosmic Śakti without whose power Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Śiva cannot function. The Trimūrti becomes three channels for one feminine power.

**Smārta:** All three are equally valid forms of one Brahman. The Trimūrti is the cosmic process itself, and approaching any of the three is approaching the whole.

## Brahmā Within the Trimūrti: a Special Warning

Brahmā's position in the Trimūrti is the entry point for the most damaging conflation in all of Dharmic AI representation: Brahmā ≠ Brahman. Full treatment is in brahma-the-creator.md; the minimum that must be encoded here:

- Brahmā is an agent within the Sṛṣṭi phase
- Brahmā is himself created (from Viṣṇu's navel / from Brahman's will / from Hiraṇyagarbha depending on the account)
- Brahmā will dissolve at Mahā Pralaya
- Brahman is the unconditioned, uncreated, undissolvable absolute ground

The transliteration similarity is an accident of IAST rendering. In Devanāgarī: ब्रह्मा (Brahmā, masculine) vs. ब्रह्मन् (Brahman, neuter). In Sanskrit, the distinction is grammatical gender and case morphology, not merely an accent mark.

## Audience Metaphor

The Trimūrti is like the three phases of a breath: inhalation (Sṛṣṭi/Brahmā), holding (Sthiti/Viṣṇu), exhalation (Saṃhāra/Śiva). The breath is one; its phases are three functional modes of one process. A yogi does not "choose" between the three phases; all three are the breath. A sectarian devotee may give primary attention to one, but this does not mean the other two phases don't exist or are less necessary to the breath.

## Citations

1. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 1.2.23 -- three Guṇas mapped to three cosmic functions; foundational Trimūrti framework
2. Kūrma Purāṇa 1.2 -- Trimūrti as three aspects of one cosmic principle
3. Devī Māhātmya (Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa 81-93) -- Śākta reading of Trimūrti as instruments of the Goddess; see references/markandeya-purana.md

## Error Genealogy

- Trimūrti equated with the Christian Trinity is period-sourced drift: 18th–19th-century European comparative religion habitually mapped unfamiliar triads onto the Trinity, and the equation entered reference works. See [G12 — Trimūrti = the Hindu Trinity (drift)](../../../GENEALOGIES.md) in the repository root for the full chain and sources.
