Note 536 — Chapter I

The changes in the seasons are attributed by some to Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahesha (Shiva), the gods of the Hindu Trinity. Brahma sends down the rains and produces corn, grass, etc., Vishnu protects and nourishes the harvests in winter, and Shiva causes the heat of the summer.536 There is also a belief that these three gods go down in turns to the pātāl (nether regions) and stay there for four months. Vishnu descends on the eleventh day of the bright half of Āshādh, and on that day the rainy season begins. When Vishnu comes up and Shiva takes his place, people experience the cold of winter: but as this god always keeps a dhuni537 burning near him, the waters under the surface of the earth, such as those in the wells, remain hot during this period. Such waters are cooled when Shiva returns and Brahma goes down to the pātāl: but the return of Shiva causes summer on the earth.538