Hinduism recognises three faces of God : Brahma (the Creator), Vishnu (the preserves) and Shiva (the destroyer). Lord Shiva is known by many names. As the god of destruction, he is Rudra, (the Red One), as the Lord of Mount Kailash, his Abode in the Himalayas, he is Kailasanathar. As the Ultimate Reality, he is Purusha, or Iswara, himself, as the Lord of the beings, He is known as Pasupatinath, as the consort of Uma, the Mother Goddess, He is known as Umapathi. Partenered by his wife Parvati and worshipped by his children Ganesha and Kartikeya, he became a symbol of the ideal householder to his devotees despite his well known image as the ideal ascetic. Temples to Lord Shiva have been built all over India and elsewhere. By 2,000 years ago, the fame of Lord Shiva had spread beyond the Indian subcontinent and as Hindu culture spread, Shiva temples were built in places like Java, Champa (Indo-China), Kambhoja (present day Kampuchea) and in other areas as early as 5th Century A.D.

Ganesh is one of the most recognisable faces of Hinduism. The son of Shiva and Parvati, Ganesh has an elephant head. He is the Lord of success and the destroyer of obstacles. He is also worshipped as the god of education, knowledge, wisdom and wealth. He is one of the five prime Hindu deities (Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva and Durga being the other four) whose worship is part of the panchayatana puja. The story of the birth of Ganesh is that Parvati, while bathing, created a boy and asked him to guard the entrance to her bathing area. When Shiva returned, he was angered to find a stranger denying him access and cut off the boy’s head. Parvati broke down in grief and to soothe her, Shiva went out to fetch the head of any sleeping being. He found a sleeping elephant and brought back its severed head, which he attached to the boy’s body thus restoring his life and made him the leader (pati) of his troops (hence his name ‘Ganapati’). Shiva also bestowed a boon that people would worship him and invoke his name before undertaking any venture.

Sri Krishna is considered by many authorities to be the 8th incarnation of Vishnu. Others, such as Jayadev, consider him to be greater than an incarnation being the source of all incarnations. Whichever view may be correct, all Hindus accept that if he was an incarnation, he was the only full descent (purnaavatar) of God. In his own words (Bhagavad Gita Ch 4 verse 7, he states “Whenever and wherever, (there is) a decline of righteousness and a predominance of unrighteousness, at that time I manifest Myself personally and in verse 8 “For the protection of devotees, for the annihalation of miscreants, to fully establish righteousness I appear in age after age.“). The Bhagavad- Gita is considered by scholars worldwide to be among the greatest spiritual books the world has ever known. Using the positions of the stars and constellations mentioned throughout the Mahabharata, the Kurukshetra war has been dated at 3067 BC. As Sri Krishna is stated to be 80 years old at that time, his date of birth can be approximated to be 3147 BC