T R I 



T R I 



TRIMITHUS, in Ancient Geography, a town in the 

 eaftern part ot Cyprus, at fome diftance from the coafts, N. 

 fflf EucoUa, and E. of the promontory Pedalium. 



TRIMMANIUM, or Triamammion, a town of Lower 

 Moifia, on the Danube ; marked in Anton. Itin. on the route 

 from Viminacium to Nicomedia, between Scaidana and Ex- 

 antaprillis. 



TRIMMER'S, in Arch'tteaure, pieces of timber framed 

 at right angles to the joints, againft the ways for chimneys, 

 and well-holes for ftairs. 



TRIMODIA, among the Romans, a bag like an in- 

 serted cone, in which fowers carried their feed. It was 

 fufpended from their neck, and was fo called from its con- 

 taining three bufhels. 



TRIMONEER, a corruption o{ timoneer. 

 TRIMONTIUM, or Trimantium, in A>icient Geo- 

 graphy, a town of Albion, belonging to the Selgova;, ac- 

 cording to Ptolemy ; probably lltuated where Annan now 



ftands Alfo, one of the names of PhilippopoHs in Thrace. 



Ptol. 



TRIMPEN, in Geography, a town of Pruffia, in Barten- 

 land ; 12 miles S. of Infterburg. 



TRIMURTI, in the theological difquifitions of the 

 Hindoos, is a word of myiHcal and varied import. Its 

 moft obvious meaning in the Sanfcrit tongue is three forms ; 

 but as fome fefts of Eaftern theologians profefs to recognize 

 the unity of the deity, the term is ufed Angularly, and is 

 equivalent to triform. In the Trimurti, the Hindoos fancy 

 a luiion or reunion of the three great powers or attributes 

 of the godhead, perfonified in Brahma, Vifhnu, and Siva ; 

 or creation, prefervation, and deftruftion. Many other triune 

 conjunttions are found typified by this myfterious affemblage, 

 of which fome notice is taken under our articles O'm, Siva, 

 and Trisula. 



The Trimurti, or divine triad, is reprefented to the fenfcs 

 under the form of three heads joined. The well-known 

 nionftrous fculpture in the Elephanta cavern temple is of 

 this fubjeft. Of this triune buft, Niebuhr, Maurice, and 

 others have given rcprefentations. (See Elephan'TA and 

 Mahakala.) One very like it was dug out of the ruins 

 of an ancient temple on the ifland of Bombay, by the au- 

 thor of the Hindoo Pantheon, and an engraving is given of 

 it in plate 8i. of that work. A fecond Trimurti was fsund 

 at the fame time, but inftead of being merely three heads, 

 they are furnilbcd with a body. This unufual form is alio 

 engraved for the work juil mentioned ; and the granite ori- 

 ginals of both plates are depofited by the author in the mu- 

 feum at the Eaft India Houfe. The miniature buft of the 

 gigantic fculpture in the Elephanta cave is i"o large as to 

 weigh feveral tons. The Hindoos have other modes of re- 

 prefenting the Trimurti ; three heads and bodies on one leg, 

 and other fimilar whimlicalitics, not unlike the crude delinea- 

 tions of the early Trinitarians of the Weft. 



The Hindoos are very prone to combinations of three in 

 one, and fancy they fee fomething very myfterious in fuch 

 typifications. As well as that juft noticed of the powers or 

 attributes of the deity, they combine three letters in a mo- 

 nogram, and have fuch a reverence for it, that the found 

 which its articulation would convey is never uttered, or 

 uttered moft reverentially. Thefe charaders are equivalent 

 vo our A, U, M, and the found would be like O'm. 



The fun is a Trimurti, his properties of creative heat, 

 preferring light, and ihjlruttive energy in an igneous form, 

 comprehending the grand attributes of the deity, perfoni- 

 fied in Brahma, Viflinu, and Siva. 



The Hindoos have a female Trimurti, compofed of 

 courfe of the conforts or Saktis, or energies of the great 

 Vol. XXXVI. 



powers. Thef^ are Saraftuati, Laijhmi, and Parvati ; which 

 iee. 



Comparing the Hintloo triad with three of the gods ot 

 Greece, Cronus, Jupiter, and Mars, are thofe neareft in 

 charafter'and attributes to the Eaftern polytheiftic trinity. 

 But the Greeks, largely as they feem to have borrowed from 

 the mythology of the Hindoos, do not appear to have po- 

 pularly adopted their male Trimurti. The female triad may 

 be recognizable in the Parcx of the Weft, as noticed under 

 Sakti. The three goddelTes give each a name to a facred 

 river, and a fuppofed juntliou of thefe waters is a fruitful 

 fubjeft to the Hindoo enthufiaft or poet. See Tbiveni 

 and Saraswati. 



Several other articles beginning with the Sanfcrit word 

 tri, contain fomething illuftrative of the propenfity of the 

 Hindoos to triune combinations. 



TRINACIA, or Trinacria, in Ancient Geography, a 

 rich and powerful town of Sicily, and confidered as the 

 chief town of the ifland. Some writers have called it 

 Tiracia. 



TRINCA, in Geography, a town of South America, ia 

 the province of Tucuman ; 66 miles N. of St. Miguel de 

 Tucuman. 



TRINCATTY, one of the Nicobar iflands. N. lat. 

 8° 6'. E. long. 94° 5'. 



TRINCAVELLI, Vettor, in Biography, an eminent 

 phyfician, was born at Venice about 1491. He ftudied at 

 Bologna and Padua ; and having graduated at the latter 

 univerfity, he fettled at Venice, where he became profcflbr 

 of philoibphy, and acquired dittinftion in the praftice of 

 medicine. In 1 55 1 he was promoted to the chair of medi- 

 cal profefTor at Padua, with a very confiderable ftipend. 

 He died at Venice in 1563, and was honoured with a pubhc 

 funeral. He was a good Greek fcholar, and was the firft 

 profefTor at Padua who commented on the works of Hip- 

 pocrates m the originals. He alfo tranflated many of Ga- 

 len's treatifes ; and edited in the original Greek the works 

 of Themiftius, of Johannes Grammaticus, the Manual of 

 Epiftetus with Arrian's Commentary, Arrian's Alexander's 

 Expedition, Stobaeus, Heiiod, and other Greek writers. 

 A colleftion of his works has been printed in 2 vols. fol. 

 Haller. Gen. Biog. 



TRINCIATELLA, in Botany, Ambrof. Phyt. 543. 

 Camer. Hort. Med. 1731 See Thrincia. 



TRINCOLI, in Geography, a town of the ifland of 

 Ceylon, near the E. coaft ; 84 miles E.S.E. of Candy. N. 

 lat. 7° 10'. E. long. 82° 6'. 



TRINCOMALEE, or Trincomalf.y, a town and 

 harbour of Ceylon, lying in N. lat. 8° 30'. E. long. 81° 

 24'. The town runs in a N.E. direction along one branch 

 of the bay. The country around it is mountainous and 

 woody ; the foil uncultivated and barren ; and the whole ap- 

 pearance wild. The woods, which are very thick, contain 

 abundance of wild beafts of various defcriptions ; particu- 

 lariy wild hogs, buffaloes, and elephants. The latter often 

 come down to the lakes in the neighbourhood of the fort 

 to drink and bathe ; and have been frequently fhot within a 

 mile of the town. Trincomalee, from its fituation and con- 

 ftruaion, is naturally ftrong. It occupies more ground than 

 Columbo, but contains a much fmallcr number of houles, 

 and thofe inferior in fize and appearance to any that are 

 met with in feveral towns on the S.W. coaft. The circum- 

 ference of Trincomalee, within the walls, is about three 

 miles ; within this fpace is alfo included a hill, or rilmg 

 point, immediately over the fea, and covered with a great 

 quantity of thick jungle, in which wild deer and other gan»e 

 find fhelter. This rifing ground is very little mhabited, 

 Nn raoH 



