Trimukha

Trimukha, from Sanskrit, literally means “three-faced.” The term is used in Hindu iconography and literature to describe deities or manifestations depicted with three faces. The three faces may be oriented in different directions or may symbolize a triadic set of powers or aspects. Because the identity and symbolism of a Trimukha form can vary, the epithet is not tied to a single, canonical deity in the way that other multi-face forms are.

In practice, Trimukha forms appear in various regional art and tantric contexts. They can be associated with fierce or protective aspects of the divine, or interpreted as representing intersecting domains such as knowledge, action, and grace, or the past, present, and future. The exact attribution of a Trimukha form—whether to a form of Brahma, Shiva, or another deity—depends on textual tradition and local iconographic conventions. By comparison, Brahma is more commonly depicted with four faces, so three-faced depictions are comparatively less standardized and tend to occur in specific temples, manuscripts, or ritual contexts.

Scholars of Hindu iconography and temple art discuss Trimukha as part of broader investigations into how multi-face or multi-directional forms convey theological ideas about omniscience, universality, and the integration of diverse powers within the divine. Etymologically, the term combines tri- “three” with mukha “face,” reflecting its core visual and symbolic concept.