Shiva+and+Vishnu


 * //[[image:shiva.jpg width="218" height="251" align="right" caption="Shiva"]]Shiva (another name is Mahadeva),//** also known as The Destroyer and also The Restorer, is the third in the triad (known as the Trimurtis) of three great gods of Hinduism along with Brahman and Vishnu. Hindus who choose to believe and follow Shiva are considered as Shaivas. The earliest mentionings of him are in the Upanishads and the Mahabharata. He is associated with Rudra, a fiery Vedic god, and is seen as either the great ascetic or the symbol of sensuality, a wrathful god and the herder of souls- presenting a contradiction. He is pictured with a third eye, a blue throat, the symbol of the crescent moon on his forehead, matted hair (from which the River Ganges flows), smeared ashes, on a tiger skin adorned in snakes, holding a trident. http://www.answers.com/topic/shiva

http://www.answers.com/topic/vishnu
 * //Vishnu (can also be found as Narayana),//** also known as The Preserver as well as The Protector of the universe as well as dharma, is second in the triad (known as the Trimurtis) of the three major gods of Hinduism and Indian Mythology. He is the epitome of mercy and goodness. At first he was only considered a minor deity in the Veda, but his popularity grew from the 1st millenium B.C.E. Early epics such as the Mahabharata and the Ramayana exhibit considerable am[[image:vishnu.jpg width="204" height="243" align="left" caption="Lord Vishnu"]]ounts of influence. Known principally via his avatars, he expresses his different forms when needed to fight evil. He has many different forms (repeated by the devoted as an act of worship) that number around 1,000, but only 10 are most common. According to some Purana, he is omnipresent and shapeless, but when depicted in icons and other forms of art, he is shown with four arms, "new-cloud blue" colored skin, with a crown and earrings, a necklace with a jewel, marks on his chest (to symbolize the mark of a sage and the mark of his consort), while on Ananta, the immortal and infinite snake. He is also shown with 4 things associated with him, the conch shell, the mace, the lotus flower, and the chakra ( a discus-like weapon that can spin sharply).

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