The
most wicked, however, after being purged of their crimes by ages of
suffering, and by repeated transmigrations, may ascend in the scale
of being until they finally enter heaven and attain the highest reward
of all good, which is incorporation with the Divine Essence.
Like more enlightened systems of religion, the Hindoo faith has
degenerated from the purity originally inculcated. The Monotheism,
though still existing, has been almost smothered by a system of
innumerable incarnations; by means of which the attributes of an unseen
Deity were to be brought to the understandings of the ignorant; and,
as might be expected, the hidden symbol has been almost lost in the
tangible reality. The later Scriptures, or Puranas, are believed to
have been compiled between the eighth and sixteenth centuries, A.D.;
and though still upholding the existence of a Supreme Being, by whom
all things are composed, they introduce a variety of incarnations
and divinities almost innumerable. Of these, the three principal are
Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, representing respectively the creating,
preserving, and destroying principles; and their wives, Sereswutee,
Lukshmee, and Dewee.
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