Trimurti of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva and the Christian Trinity of God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit. Comparing Trinity and Trimurti, religious scholar Anuradha Veeravali (Indian Philosophies, Encyclopedia of Religion) draws parallels between Brahma and God, Vishnu and the Holy Spirit, and Shiva and Jesus, but persists in the common idea that Christianity is a monotheistic faith while Hinduism is polytheistic. However, Bede Griffiths, a Christian priest living in India, dared to challenge this firm notion of polytheism, offering comparisons between the Christian Trinity and a different Hindu triad - Brahman/Atman/Purusha - to conclude that both faiths ultimately share the faith in the One Supreme Power. By analyzing both comparisons - that between Trimurti and Trinity and that between the "other" Triad and Trinity - we can establish that Hinduism, like Christianity, can be considered a monotheistic faith. Anuradha Veeravali argues that, like the Christian concept of the Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, there is also a Trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva in Hinduism. Outlining the primary functions of the three deities that make up the Hindu Trinity, the author parallels their roles with their counterparts in the Christian Trinity. Explaining this position further, the author says that Brahma is analogous to God (in the Christian concept) since he is also considered the creator; Vishnu is the all-pervading (Holy) Spirit, and Shiva is like Jesus in Christianity and Muhammad in Islam: Shiva's function, in his words, is to "destroy the duality of unity and plurality". Thus he is the beginning and the end, the first and the last, marking at the same time the destruction of plurality and the realization... middle of the paper... of monotheistic religion. The creation of the world and the comparison of Brahman with the Word clearly indicate the belief in Brahman as the One Supreme power of creation. The similarities present between the fundamental concepts of Brahman, Atman and Purusha and the Trinity in Christianity lead us to believe that both these religions follow different paths towards the same Universal Truth. Works Cited • Triads - Geoffrey Parrinder (Encyclopedia of Religions) • Indian Philosophies - Anuradha Veeravali (Encyclopedia of Religion)• The Great Triad- René Guénon, Henry D. Fohr, SD Fohr• Bede Griffiths: An Introduction to His Interspiritual Thoughts- Wayne Teasdale• A survey of Hinduism- Klaus K. Klostermaier• The Upanishads• The Bible• Britannica- http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/45474/avatar• Wikipedia- http://en.wikipedia .org/wiki/Panini