in Hinduism, triad of the three great gods Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. Scholars consider the doctrine of the trimurti to be an attempt to reconcile different approaches to the divine with each other and with the philosophical doctrine of ultimate reality ( brahma). The doctrine was given classical expression in Kalidasa (Kālidāsa)'s poem Kumarasambhava (“Birth of the War God”; c. 4th–5th century CE). In trimurti symbolism, the three gods are collapsed into a single form with three faces. Each god is in charge of one aspect of creation, with Brahma as creator, Vishnu as preserver, and Shiva as destroyer.