Vastu-shastra (Vol. I: Hindu Science of Architecture; Vol. II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting) v2.c75.s1.2

v2.c75.s1.2

**Trimūrti.**—The reason why Trimūrti icon is first taken up is not very difficult to understand. It represents not only historical background of the evolutionary processes of the later (i.e. Paurāṇic) sectarianism, but also keeps up intact the lofty idealism of Upaniṣadic monism, already initiated by the Ṛṣi in the Ṛgveda when he proclaimed ‘Ekam sad Viprāḥ bahudhā vadanti’. Trimūrti and other compound mūrties, though regarded as representing syncretistic tendency, in the opinion of scholars like Dr. J. N. Banerji, as a reaction to the morbid sectarianism, really represent, in a nut-shell the truth of the Vedic Henotheism and Vedāntic Monism.