The period of maintenance or stability is the period of life that exists for each individual in a particular form. And the destruction that is symbolized by Shiva evokes for the Hindu not a final act of destruction but simply the destruction of a particular body, a specific chapter in the long-running biography of each soul as it cycles up and down the ladder of life forms until it can escape reincarnation (Flood, 2003, p
This model of reincarnation (which is also described as the transmigration of souls) is carried out not only in human life but also in the divine pantheon, for gods and goddesses as well as humans can be reincarnated. Gods can in fact be reincarnated in human form, thus linking the divine cycle of creation-stability-destruction even more closely to human life (Jansen, 2003, p
This triad of deities is also sometimes referred to as Great Trinity and may be addressed as "Brahma-Vishnu-Mahesh." The trimurti is sometimes depicted in art as three heads on one neck or as three faces on a single head, each looking in a different direction (Zimmer, 1972, p