The Shaiva cosmogony mirrors the Vaishnava one with the roles reversed. Shiva, wishing the worlds to be made and kept, draws a radiant being of pure sattva from the left of his own body and calls him Vishnu, then draws Brahma from his right and Rudra from his centre, and gives each his office: Brahma to make, Vishnu to sustain, Rudra to dissolve. The Shiva-focused Puranas elsewhere say Brahma and Vishnu were created by Ardhanarishvara. This is the Shaiva theology of rank and is recorded as such.
Origin of Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu — templepurohit.com unverified; Shiva Purana, Rudra Samhita, Srishti khanda 8 — Boloji serialised paraphrase; Vishnu — Wikipedia; Shiva Purana — Wikipedia
Sources: Origin of Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu — templepurohit.com; Shiva Purana, Rudra Samhita, Srishti khanda 8 — Boloji serialised paraphrase; Vishnu — Wikipedia; Shiva Purana — Wikipedia
Shiva and Parvati must choose between their two sons.
The Maitri Upanishad names Brahma, Rudra and Vishnu together as portions of one being, matched to the three gunas.
The sage Atri and his wife Anasuya earn great merit through their conduct and austerity.
Vishnu and Shiva are shown as one figure divided down the middle.
A seven-metre three-faced bust fills the south wall of Elephanta's Cave 1.
Three Pallava shrines on one platform: Shiva in the centre, Vishnu on the right, and a disputed left shrine read as Brahma by Vogel but as Subrahmanya or Brahmasasta by later scholars; a Durga panel stands beside.
Shiva alone exists before the world.
Brahma's body splits into a male and a female half.