Between approximately 300 BC and AD 500, the earlier Vedic religion of India, which involved sacrifices, rites, and prayers performed by an elite priestly caste, was superseded by a pantheistic, sectarian-based form of personal worship now known as Hinduism. The temporal cycles of the universe became paramount and were personified and worshipped in the form of three gods: the creator Brahma; the preserver Vishnu, who maintains harmony and order; and the destroyer Shiva, whose obliteration of the universe enables it to be reborn in the next cosmic era. Vishnu and Shiva each became the devotional focus of a major sect of Hinduism, Vaishnavism and Shaivism, respectively. Brahma's importance waned, although he is still worshipped in certain life rituals such as marriages.
In addition to the gods, and often surpassing them in popular belief and reverence, are the various Hindu goddesses that are associated with a wide range of philosophical principles, creative and destructive powers, virtues such as compassion and devotion, and social ideals such as caste duty. Unlike male Hindu divinities, which are regarded as complex individual deities, Hindu goddesses are generally considered to be alternate manifestations of a single primal transcendental goddess, Devi (The Great Goddess), who reveals herself in various guises to fulfill different purposes.
Here, in an expression of sectarian rivalry, the frightful goddess Kali, the destroyer of time, is being adored by Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva.
