Brahmā, Vişnu, and Śiva, respectively Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer, constitute a trinity in Hinduism, as three aspects of the operation of the one creative substance. After the seventh century B.C., Brahmā, declining in importance, became merely the creative agent of Visnu. Thus Hinduism today is divided into two main camps, one devoted primarily to the creator-preserver Vişnu, the other to Śiva, the world-destroyer, who unites the soul to the eternal. But these two are ultimately one. In the present myth, it is through their joint operation that the elixir of life is obtained.