But, meantime, as we have seen, the worship of Vischnu had been extending itself in one region and that of Siva in another.

Then took place those mysterious wars between the kings of the Solar and Lunar races, of which the great epics contain all that we know.

And at the close of these wars a compromise was apparently accepted, by which Brahma, Vischnu, and Siva were united in one supreme God, as creator, preserver, and destroyer, all in one.
It is almost certain that this Hindoo Triad was the result of an ingenious and successful attempt, on the part of the Brahmans, to unite all classes of worshippers in India against the Buddhists.

In this sense the Brahmans edited anew the Mahabharata, inserting in that epic passages extolling Vischnu in the form of Krishna.

The Greek accounts of India which followed the invasion of Alexander speak of the worship of Hercules as prevalent in the East, and by Hercules they apparently mean the god Krishna.[78] The struggle between the Brahmans and Buddhists lasted during nine centuries (from A.D.500 to A.D.