Storia do Mogor 245: What they say of their False Trinity called Brahma, Vishnu, and Rutrin (Rudra).

245

There was a woman called Paracceti (Para^akti) — that is, 'Superior Power' and 'Most Excellent.' This woman had three children. The first, so they say, had five heads and is called Brahma — that is, 'Knowledge.' To him she granted power over all things visible and invisible. The name of the second is Vishnu ; to him she gave the power of preserving all that his brother created. The third is called Rutrim (Rudram) ; of him, too, it is said that he has five heads, and that his mother granted him power of destroying and dispelling all that his brother should do or create. They follow this up by saying the woman married her own sons. But as they are never clear in their beliefs, they split off here into five different opinions. Some say that the mother of these three, she who is called Parachety (Parasakti), is the First Cause and the Veritable God ; others that it is the eldest son, Brahma, who is First Cause; others—and these are the most numerous—that it is the second son, Vishnu, who is alone God and the First Cause; others assert it is the third son who is God. Finally, the last group, to reconcile this diversity of opinions, say that all three jointly are the First Cause and Veritable God. They also assert that none of them by himself nor the three jointly can be God, for whatever is human like other men could never be God. What they say to this effect seems reasonable enough; but they hardly ever adhere long to these views. For, through the number of changes made by them in their discourse, they are unable to carry on an argument in form. It now remains to give the life of each of these separately.